Passing Through

Chapters

Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Epilogue

Prologue

The mid-day train to Appleloosa slid to a halt in the town’s station, jerking slightly as the breaks were applied. This was expected by most of the passengers on the train, preparing themselves to not be thrown off by the sudden shift.

All except for one.

Sunburst, having been nodding in and out of sleep for most of the two hour trip, had finally been able to get a few moments of rest. Using his blue cloak as a blanket and one of his many bags of luggage as a pillow, he managed to find a bit of comfort even on the uncomfortable train seat.

But then the train lurched forward.

Sunburst immediately snapped awake as he felt his world shift, but only had a few seconds to scramble together before unceremoniously tipping over onto the floor.

But at least the floor was cushioned with more of his luggage. Sadly, the books inside didn’t provide much comfort to the poor stallion.

Sunburst groaned softly, shifting to-and-fro in order to prevent the books from cutting into his ribs. But ultimately this proved fruitless, as the books surrounded him completely. And he couldn’t stick around for much longer, lest the train take off again with him trapped inside.

He had business to attend to, and he couldn’t exactly wait around for the train to visit Appleloosa again.

Slowly, with an undue amount of effort, Sunburst peeled himself off of the floor and shook off the pain and tiredness, though they still remained. He took a moment to clip his Wizardly Robe back on, finding small discomfort in his brief lack of clothing, before lighting his horn and sweeping all of his luggage up in his golden magic. With a small sigh, he trudged his way towards the exit and disembarked the train.

The first thing that hit Sunburst was the Appleloosan heat. He had been told that the town could get a bit hot in the summers, but he didn’t expect the absolutely overbearing heat that surrounded him. The dry desert air was nothing like the temperate weather that Ponyville made him more than used to. It brought a sweat to his brow almost immediately, though it was a mixture of worry and heat that did it to him.

Without a second thought, he cast a basic temporary cooling spell on his robe, cursing the fact that he hadn’t thought to do it before. As it stood it would only last for a few hours, but as he stood he was moderately more comfortable than before.

And then he was approached. While distracted in casting his spell, Sunburst wasn’t aware of the tall earth pony stallion walking towards him.

“Well howdy there!” The yellow stallion said with a wave and friendly grin towards Sunburst. “Y’must be Sunburst. AJ told me you’d be showin’ up today to help us with our little… problem.” His face flashed a look of discomfort for a brief moment, but quickly went back to a warm smile as he extended his hoof to Sunburst. “I’m Braeburn! Sorta the town’s unofficial welcome committee.”

“Well, uh, consider me welcomed. It’s nice to meet you Braeburn.” Sunburst gave an uneasy smile as he accepted the hoofshake. Having experience with The Apple Family, he expected his hoof to be crushed but, to his relief, he was able to pull it back without injury.

Noting Sunburst looking down at his hoof with a mix of relief and confusion, Braeburn gave a loud chuckle. “Hah, guess AJ and Mac are still takin’ grown stallions out with a hoofshake, huh?”

“I had to keep my hoof on ice for a few hours after meeting Big Mac.” Sunburst explained. “And Applejack nearly sent me to the hospital.”

Braeburn laughed loud again, then clapped Sunburst on the shoulder with a hoof. “Well don’t you worry, partner. I’ve got a bit of a lighter touch than my cousins.”

Feeling the pain in his shoulder, Sunburst was no longer sure who to trust. But he still nodded shyly, then cleared his throat. “So, uh, about this… problem. Applejack was too busy with the harvest to tell me more than that it was related to your orchard, so do you think I could have a look?”

“Of course!” Braeburn said with a bright grin. He then let out a small chuckle. “Figured you’d’a wanted a tour of the town first but-”

Before Braeburn could finish his sentence, he heard his name being called from across the station. Both stallions turned to see a group of ponies trying their hardest to pull a large apple tree through the door of the last car of the train. At first, Sunburst was confused as the open roof of the car left an easier way to excavate the tree.

But then he realized the group was 100% composed of Earth Ponies.

Braeburn let out a gentle sigh. “Ah ‘scuse me for a sec. I should probably take this.”

As Braeburn dashed off to be of assistance, Sunburst stayed behind to take a breath. He let his luggage rest on the ground for a minute, giving his magic a break before he overtaxed himself too much.

And he had a moment to take a break before, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Braeburn waving him over.

“Hey, uh, Sunburst?” He called. “Hate to bother, but do you think you can lend a horn? We’re kinda a li’l wedged, so we probably need to get it through the top instead.”

Sunburst blinked. It took him a few seconds to realize what was going on but, as soon as he did, he rushed over to the crowd to inspect the problem at hand.

The tree was wedged with the thick trunk only a partial way through the doorway. That much was clear. There were a few beefy earth ponies that were still trying to unstick it with their massive muscles, but it was clear that a more deft touch was necessary.

Sunburst took a deep breath, lighting his horn with a golden glow as a similar glow overtook the large apple tree. Using his magic, he gave the tree a cursory wiggle to see which ways it wanted to move. Through this, he found he could tilt the tree just enough to force it back through the door, making lifting it up through the open roof a breeze.

Sunburst cringed as he felt the full weight of the adult apple tree in his magic. The vegetation weighed heavy on his horn, much more than he was anywhere near prepared for. His horn began to flicker in warning, threatening to release its spell at any moment. In a panic, Sunburst sweating heavily, he quickly found a safe place on the ground to drop the tree and did so unceremoniously.

Sunburst panted, shaking his head as he tried not to stumble and fall over from the stress of his magic.

He then jumped as a hoof graced his shoulder, then he turned to see Braeburn looking him over with a strange gaze.

“Sorry ‘bout makin’ you do it like that. We’ve normally got a few unicorns to help, but they’re a mite busy over at the orchard.” Braeburn explained. His gaze held on Sunburst for another moment, eyes flicking up towards his horn to see the stallion’s magic still flickering on and off. “Y’alright? You were lookin' a li'l outta sorts for a bit there.”

“No, no, I’m fine.” He said, waving the notion away with a hoof almost immediately. “I just… overextended a bit. I really should stop trying to cast while I’m exhausted.” He sighed, trying to shake off the wave of tiredness that his casting brought on, then took in a deep breath. “Sorry about dropping the entire tree like that. I hope I didn’t hurt it or anything.”

Braeburn chuckled, shaking his head with a wry grin. “Naw, takes more than that to hurt an Apple Family tree. ‘Sides, a bruised apple is better than no apples, And that’s all we got for now.” He shrugged, then waved all of that away with a hoof. “Aaaanyway, I could still probably give you that tour of the town I mentioned. If you’d like.”

Sunburst considered this prospect briefly, looking out to the small desert town and wondering just what kinds of secrets it held.

And then he looked back towards the mass amounts of luggage he’d left sitting on the train station floor.

“Well, I should probably stow my things away first. And then it’d probably be for the best if I take a look at the orchard problem myself.” Sunburst decided. He then hesitated, clearing his throat as he pushed his glasses up his muzzle. “I, uh, I mean I appreciate the offer. Maybe a rain check on that?”

“Wantin’ to get right to work? I can respect that.” Braeburn nodded along, then looked over to the pile Sunburst had to carry. “Heck of a lot of stuff you brought though. Think you’ll be needin’ all of it? ‘Cause I dunno if my guest room can fit all that.”

“Well, I didn’t know exactly what I’d be dealing with, so I figured bringing all of the books I could find on plant-related maladies was the best solution.” Sunburst explained with a blush. Only afterwards did what Braeburn said fully register, his blush only growing more apparent on his orange cheeks. “W-w-wait, guest room? Not that I mind, but I thought I’d be staying at a hotel of some sort.”

Braeburn laughed. “Well you’d be hard pressed to find one out here, partner. But don’t you worry, I’ve been told I’m one heck of a host.” He smiled, then gestured off toward a quaint little house that sat opposite the town, right next to the apple orchard. “It’s just a short little wander over yonder if you wanna take a look.”

Sunburst smiled softly. “I’d like that, but, uh…” He attempted to light his horn briefly but, as it began to flicker again, he just let out a sigh and ended any casting immediately. He looked towards Braeburn bashfully, then nodded towards his luggage. “I don’t think I’m going to be able to carry my things on my own. Do you think you could…”

Despite Sunburst’s trailing off, Braeburn knew exactly what was needed. With an undue amount of energy for the task at hand, he sauntered on over to the pile of luggage and threw a few bags onto his back without a second thought.

“Whew!” He laughed loudly. “Y’sure there’s just books in here? Feels more like you packed bricks!” Though, as he said this, he showed no signs of effort in lifting five bags on his back.

“Sorry.” Sunburst said again, following behind and placing the final bag onto his back. He grunted, his legs wobbling as he did his best to maintain his balance.

Braeburn chuckled again, clapping Sunburst on the shoulder with a hoof while, somehow, maintaining his balance. “Aaaaaalright! Let’s get some work done!”

Sunburst gave a small yelp as he finally collapsed under the weight of his own luggage.

Braeburn then decided that it would probably be for the best that he took all of the luggage on his own.

After Braeburn stored the luggage safely within his home to be further stored later, he was finally able to give Sunburst the tour of the orchard that he so desperately wanted.

And as they walked, Sunburst found himself looking around with no small amount of confusion as he realized with horror:

It looked like an apple orchard.

He had no idea what the problem was.

He gave it a few more moments to try and understand before turning to Braeburn with a worried expression. “I know this is probably a dumb question, but what exactly is the problem with the orchard?” As he asked this, he reached up to grab an apple off of the tree. It may have been a bit lighter than he was used to, but it was certainly apple. “The trees seem to be healthy, and the apples are growing-”

Braebrun interrupted Sunburst’s speech by grabbing the apple right out from his hooves. Before he could complain or apologize, Braeburn cut in further. “Y’might wanna cover your nose. Definitely don’t wanna breathe this stuff in.”

Braeburn waited for a very confused Sunburst to follow his suggestion and, while he really wanted to question the command, Sunburst found no reason to not just resist the urge to breathe for however long he needed to. He also covered his nose with a foreleg, just in case whatever Braeburn wanted to show him had a habit of forcing its way into any of his cavities.

After living in Ponyville, he was more than used to things like that.

Braeburn dropped the apple onto the ground, then stomped on it with a hoof. Instead of the uncomfortable squishing sound that Sunburst expected, there was a loud popping noise that nearly made him jump out of his fur. He fought to keep from gasping out in shock, especially as a putrid black smoke filled the air between the two stallions.

The boys held their breath for a few moments as the smoke filtered into the air, thankfully fading instead of holding and torturing them both further.

Sunburst stared up at the smoke as it diffused itself into the open air. “That, uh, doesn’t seem very healthy!” He decided as the inky black smoke continued to dissipate. He looked down at the remnants of the apple beneath Braeburn’s hoof, seeing that only the thin skin remained. He leaned down, adjusting his glasses as he continued to stare. “Veeeery interesting… It seemed so solid when I was holding it, but it was full of smoke? What kind of smoke even is it? Is it… is it deadly? Did we nearly die?”

As Sunburst looked up towards him with worry, Braeburn simply scoffed and shook his head. “Naw, nothin’ like that. I’d never risk somethin’ like that with a new friend! The smoke just… puts you to sleep for a while, is all.”

“For a while?” Sunburst asked. “Well, depending on how long a while is, I don’t really see the problem here. I mean, if all I have to do to get a good sleep is eat an apple then I’ll, uh… I’ll take your whole stock!” He gave a light, nervous giggle that quickly transitioned into a loud yawn.

Braeburn laughed along with, though his constitution was far too strong for a yawn to be forced upon him. Instead he gave a slight sigh, his natural smile fading briefly as he nodded towards the tree Sunburst had plucked. “Well, it ain’t just plain luck you picked one’a the bad apples. Dang near the entire orchard’s infected at this point, so we’re runnin’ a bit low on apples around here.”

“Oh.” Sunburst blinked. “Well, that’s probably a bad thing.”

“Eeyup.” Braeburn confirmed drearily, then pressed a hoof against one of the trees. “It ain’t too bad, I guess. If we keep gettin’ shipments from the Ponyville orchard, we can set up another orchard across the way, then cull this one.” His expression darkened slightly at this prospect. “Kinda wanna avoid all that, so I was hopin’ y’all could help me figure this out.”

“We’ll figure it out, Braeburn. Don’t worry.” Sunburst said softly, gently placing a hoof on Braeburn’s shoulder. “Just… how did this even happen? I may not know much about tree diseases, but I didn’t come across anything like this in the studies I was able to do on the train.”

“Probably has a li’l somethin’ to do with this.” Braeburn said, reaching into a pocket in his vest and pulling out a small vial to show to Sunburst. “A couple’a two-bit scammers showed up and started peddling some dodgy sleep potions. We ran ‘em outta town as quick as we could, but we found an open pile of these in the center of the orchard.”

Taking the vial from Braeburn, Sunburst inspected it for a few moments. “Well, that could probably explain it. You never know what ponies put in their potions these days.” He lit his horn, intending to cast something to identify what little potion remained in the vial.

Instead, all he got was the sharp pain of his magic telling him to stop casting and take a rest.

Sunburst shook his head, his magic flicking off for what would probably be the final time for the day. “Ach, that was dumb! My, uh, magic hasn’t exactly recharged yet, so I’m not sure how much use I’ll be of today.” He looked over to Braeburn bashfully for a moment, then looked away. “I hate to say it, but I might have to spend the rest of the day studying instead of casting.”

“Ain’t a problem. If you can’t cast, then there’s no need to force it.” Braeburn shrugged, then gestured over to his house just a bit away. “It’s gettin’ close to lunchtime anyway, and you’re welcome to join me if you want. I don’t wanna toot my own horn, but I’ve been told I’m one heck of a cook!”

Sunburst didn’t even have to consider the offer, just smiling softly with a nod. “I think I’d like that.”

Sunburst sat patiently in Braeburn’s dining room. It was a small, yet quaint room, brightly lit by a large window to Sunburst’s right. A few family photos and paintings were spread sparsely across the green walls, matching the sparse, almost minimalist decoration of the rest of the room. Just a few chairs, and a dark wooden table sat in the center.

He had been told to make himself at home while he waited for Braeburn to finish cooking their meal, so he was doing exactly what he did best.

He currently had three books open on the table, each one detailing a different kind of tree-related disease that had swept and ultimately brought a town to its knees. Truly a light pre-meal read.

Though as hard as he tried, he couldn’t seem to focus on any of the books at all. His stomach growled loudly, the smell of Braeburn’s cooking serving to only intensify his craving for food further. It seems that skipping breakfast in favor of a few more hours of attempting to sleep was a bad idea after all.

And then he noticed that there sat an apple in the center of the table. It waited there ominously, practically begging for him to consume it and satiate his hunger for the time being. And the temptation was strong. Practically stronger than he’d ever known before.

He reached over to grab the apple with a hoof, staring at it with narrowed eyes. “Alright, so there’s a 50/50 chance that you’re a Nap Apple.” He said to the apple. “Now, what are the chances that Braeburn would leave one of those just lying around for anyone to eat?”

The apple, being mostly inanimate, did not respond.

“Probably low, but definitely possible.” Sunburst concluded. Yet, despite this, he continued to stare with an inquisitive stare. “But, if it is a Nap Apple, is there anything wrong with giving it a try anyway? I would say it’s my scholarly duty to know, first-hoof, exactly what this fruit does to a creature. And especially if I’m to cure them completely.”

He said with hunger in his eyes.

He held his stare for another few moments, salivating at the thought of eating an Apple Family apple. Finally, with a resounding “For Science!” he leaned in to take a bite.

The apple popped, releasing an inky black smoke that, upon his scared gasp, Sunburst inhaled readily. There was only a second of shocked realization from Sunburst, who immediately realized what a bad idea this really was.

“Oh son of a…” Sunburst said softly, trailing off as the tiredness overtook him like a wave. His tired eyes finally slid shut, slumping over onto a book depicting one of the many famines that faced Trottingham.

“Weeeeell, I hope you’re hungry, ‘cause I made a lot!” Came Braeburn’s voice from the kitchen. Moments later, he pushed open the swinging saloon doors separating the two rooms, carrying with him a platter of food.

Upon entering, he saw Sunburst snoring peacefully which brought a soft smile to his face. He sighed, glad that his loud outburst hadn’t woken the snoozing unicorn up.

But then he spotted the discarded apple skin on the ground.

“Y’know, I really shoulda seen this one coming.” Braeburn said with a sigh, shaking his head.

Chapter 1

Sunburst slowly awoke to light filtering in through the window, striking him directly in the face. He opened one eye just enough to glare at the sunlight, cursing it for having the gaul to wake him up in such a way.

He had half a mind to roll over and ignore the call of the morning, instead favoring the idea of covering his head with his blanket and getting at least another hour of sleep. But his “doctor” once told him that it was a “bad idea” and would ruin his “sleep schedule”, so he instead decided against it.

Instead, he sat up in bed, stretching his forelegs above his head with a loud yawn. As he came down from this yawn, he affixed his glasses to his face and took a second to look around and realized with a bit of a start:

This was not his bedroom.

The luggage and books littering the floor were familiar to him, but they littered a bedroom much more spacious than his own. Instead of bookshelves filled to near spilling out, the walls were mostly empty other than some tasteful paintings of orange and apple trees and other rustic fare. The furnishing, as sparse as it was, seemed to be rustic and hoof-crafted from wood as well.

This all served to confuse Sunburst, and it took him a few moments to remember that he was currently in Appleloosa to help solve a magical issue. And it took him just a bit longer to remember he put himself to sleep with one of the apples he was tasked to heal.

He breathed a sigh of relief, glad that he hadn’t been kidnapped. But also glad that his scientific experiments hadn’t risked his life so hard.

Again. And again.

After a few moments of just sitting and letting awakeness wash over him, Sunburst finally decided that it was time to finally throw the blanket off and get out of bed. Lest the urge to go right back to bed keep growing.

As there was work afoot, he crawled out of bed. He shook his head in an attempt to shake off the remaining tiredness and, to his surprise, instead of sticking to his brain like usual, the tiredness just slid off of him entirely.

“Curiouser and curiouser.” Sunburst muttered to himself. Instead of looking into the issue further, he decided to not look a gift horse in the mouth. He just lit his horn, picking up his folded cloak from the bedside table and quickly hooking the clasp around his neck.

He gave a gentle sigh, shaking his head again before finally leaving the bedroom.

Looking around the hallway outside Sunburst could see two mystery rooms, one across from him and the other to his right at the end of the hall. While he was curious what they were, he felt as if Braeburn would think him strange were he to just start exploring without permission. So he left them alone for now.

To his left was a staircase leading down. This briefly confused Sunburst, wondering how he got from the ground floor to the first, before he realized there was a very easy explanation.

His face flushed a bright red as he tried to get the image of Braeburn lifting him up a flight of stairs with ease.

It did not work, but at least he tried.

Descending the stairs, keeping his head down in attempts to hide his flushed face until it corrected itself, Sunburst’s nose twitched as the scent of cooking food entered it. His stomach growled loudly, reminding him that he’d accidentally slept through lunch.

Practically beelining it to the kitchen, Sunburst knocked on the swinging doors before sticking his head in.

Braeburn, currently tending over multiple pots and pans on his stovetop, practically jumped out of his stylish vest at the sudden intrusion of noise. He took a second to ensure nothing he was working on would burn or overflow from lack of attention paid.

And then he swung around with a small scowl, ready to give the interruption a piece of his mind for halting his cooking.

But his scowl quickly fell to a soft grin as he saw Sunburst standing in the doorway, a gentle blush still on his face.

“Well g’morning, Sleeping Beauty.” Braeburn said, then trailed off to a gentle yawn. He shook his head, attempting to shake off the tiredness but only serving to drop his hat on the ground. Slowly, he leaned down to pick it up. “Heh, whoops. Looks like I’m a li’l bit of a clutz today.”

As Braeburn stood back up to reaffix the hat to his head, Sunburst could see dark bags under the stallion’s eyes. For a moment, he considered asking Braeburn about them, but quickly decided against it. He didn’t want to pry.

Instead, he fully stepped into the kitchen. “Uh, good morning I suppose! I hope I’m not interrupting anything…” He smiled bashfully, scratching the back of his head with a hoof. “I mean, I guess that I already interrupted your cooking once today with the whole apple thing, but I really hope I didn’t do it again.”

It took Braeburn a second to process, but he quickly waved Sunburst’s worries away with a chuckle. “Oh don’t worry about none of that. I’m just glad you’re alright.”

“I’d say more than just alright.” Sunburst said with a grin. “I feel more well-rested than I’ve been in a while!”

Braeburn chuckled again, but it again trailed into a yawn. “Guess that’s what happens when you sleep through a whole day, huh?”

“A whole day? Like, 24 hours?” Sunburst asked, to which Braeburn nodded to confirm. He blinked. A few times. He then let out a groan, covering his face with a hoof. “Ugh, and here I was hoping I could take a look at some more spells after my nap.”

“Eh, I’d say the sleep is probably worth it. ‘Specially if you’re feelin’ so good now.” Braeburn said with a shrug. He then turned around, opening the oven to pull out a tray of golden brown biscuits. He still turned his head slightly to speak towards Sunburst. “It ain’t like y’can’t study some today, right?”

“Well I was hoping to have a gameplan to work with today, but…” Sunburst trailed off with a shrug. After a beat of silence, he cleared his throat and willingly drew his attention to something to distract himself with. His eyes quickly fell upon the very pots and pans Braeburn was working with.

Drawing slightly closer to Braeburn, Sunburst timidly extended a hoof. “Oh! Uh, is there any way I can help you out here? I don’t want to impose, but I’d feel a little weird if you did all the work.”

“Well these potatoes here’ve only got a li’l bit left on them.” Braeburn said, but then turned to gesture to a set of wooden cabinets to his right, hanging above his kitchen’s counter. “If you want though, I need two of the big plates from up in there. Then dinner should be all squared away.”

The mention of dinner made Sunburst’s stomach growl loudly again. As he blushed at Braeburn’s attempt to hide his chuckling, he quickly made his way over to the cabinet Braeburn was gesturing to. He got up onto his forelegs and opened the doors to reveal his dilemma.

There were numerous plates of varying sizes, none of which seemed appropriately ‘big’ to him. He gave a confused look to the tableware, but was stopped from further questioning by the sound of movement behind him. In a panic he took two similarly sized, but otherwise questionably wanted plates from the cabinet and turned to look at Braeburn.

Braeburn shrugged. These plates were fine.

Sunburst grimaced. They were fine, but not correct.

Sunburst had to fight every urge to not just begin stuffing himself full the very second he sat down at the dining table. Everything, from the gravyed biscuits to the mashed potatoes to even the okra, looked absolutely delicious. His stomach fought him, growling and groaning as it told its owner just how it felt about his sudden fasting.

But thankfully, Braeburn entered the room carrying with him two glasses of water.

“Sorry ‘bout the wait!” He said as he placed the waters down, one to Sunburst’s side and one at his own side as he moved to sit down. He gave a small sigh, looking up to spot Sunburst’s uncomfortable stare towards him, then down a little to see Sunburst’s untouched plate. “Aww, y’all didn’t have to go and wait for me. Go ahead and dig in if you’re hungry.”

Sunburst didn’t have to be told twice. In fact, he barely had to be told once.

The next few minutes were quietly spent with him absolutely tucking into the meal, perhaps a bit too eagerly eating all he had on offer. His fork and knife were practically a blur in his hooves as he consumed, though he did his best to at least remain mostly respectful as he pigged out.

Taking a moment to finally have a sip of water, Sunburst finally noticed that Braeburn was staring at him as he ate.

A massive blush covered his face, Sunburst quickly stopping his eating to grab a napkin and wipe his face off. “Oh s-sorry. I’m probably not being very polite right now, am I?” He cleared his throat, then bashfully took up his utensils and began to eat again, though this time much more slowly.

“Naw, you’re fine. Just glad you’re enjoying the food.” Braeburn said with a chuckle, though his eyes still hadn’t left Sunburst. “Just thought it was a bit strange you eat with your hooves, is all. Most unicorns I’ve met can’t stand using hooves.”

“Oh it’s, uh, complicated. Not, like, complicated complicated like I’ll have to explain a lot of things to you, but…” Sunburst trailed off, drooping lower in his seat with a sigh.

“Complicated like y’ain’t one to tell someone you just met?” Braeburn asked.

There was a small, embarrassed delay before Sunburst nodded his head. “Yes, something like that.” His blush grew stronger, and he took to distracting himself by cutting one of his biscuits in half. “I’m not the best at talking about myself in general, but that’s definitely something I keep close to my chest.”

“Well then I hope you’ll forgive me for tryin’ to pry.” Braeburn said, tipping his head and pressing a hoof to his chest.

“No need to apologize. You didn’t know.” Sunburst waved it off with a hoof. “And you can hardly call that prying. If you want to see prying, I should introduce you to my mother.”

Braeburn raised an eyebrow, a sly grin forming on his lips. “Well, not tryin’ to pry, but I take it the two of you don’t get along?”

“I don’t think I’d go that far, but she’s just-” Sunburst stopped his rant short to instead clench his hooves and jaw for a few moments, pursing his lips and then releasing a deep sigh. “She’s a mother. My mother, to be specific, and that means she’s a bit neurotic, overprotective, and definitely controlling. And while I love her, I could do without her constantly pestering me about my life, love or otherwise.”

There was a solid beat of silence where neither stallion quite knew where to take the conversation.

Then Sunburst’s head popped up as a lightbulb went off within it. “Oh right, conversation. Uh, how’s your relationship with your parents? I mean, being an Apple, I bet you’re all a bit close.”

“You’d think, wouldn’t ya?” Braeburn said with a chuckle, though this one bearing a different ring than the usual. “We… ain’t exactly seein’ eye to eye these days. Never have on account of my ‘running away’ and ‘not acting like a true Manehattanite’, whatever that means.” He gave a shrug, a calm smile crossing his face. “Don’t matter to me much. I’m happier ‘round here bucking apples than I’d be at another dumb dinner party.”

Sunburst’s head tilted as he tried to decide which part of that to tackle first. “You’re… from Manehattan?” He decided to begin with.

“Y’all’re darned right! Can’t ya tell from th’accent?” Braeburn asked, his decidedly southern accent getting thicker as he did so. Just as Sunburst began to dissect his speech for even a hint of Manehattan, Braeburn laughed out loudly, shaking his head with a wide smile. “Naw, I just moved there with ‘em when we got outta Dodge Junction. They loved it and my sis was too young to care, but I hated it. Only thing that place gave me was a taste for suits and a whole bunch of issues.”

For a moment, Sunburst was too occupied with the image of Braeburn in a suit to respond. Quickly filing that away for later, he nodded his head in agreement. “I’m with you on the issues front. Living and going to school in Canterlot did wonders for my anxiety and my self-esteem.” He breathed a ragged sigh, then shrugged his shoulders. “Well, at least Ponyville is treating me better. It may be a hotspot for every danger known to Equestria, but it sure beats high school.”

“Now ain’t that the truth.” Braeburn said. “Runnin’ away to help Appleloosa grow into the town it is now’s probably the best decision I ever made. Some’a the ones I made after though? Probably not too great.”

Sunburst paused, then raised his eyebrows with the slightest hint of a grin. “Alright, I feel like that one has a story to it.”

“Ehhh, try a couple dozen barely connected ones.” Braeburn elaborated, however poorly. “When I left Manehattan to join up in growin’ this tiny town, I started to get a touch lonely after a while. So I just started gettin’ close to whatever stallions’d get close right back.” He paused to let out a sharp laugh, shaking his head. “And lemmie tell you, these were some real slim pickings back when I got here. Shame is they were only passin’ through, so whatever I had didn’t last too long.”

“That’s… terrible.” Sunburst said after a moment, shooting Braeburn an empathetic look. “I can't imagine doing that to someone without at least warning them first. And even then…" He shook his head as he trailed off.

“The only ones I’ve got a problem with are the ones that said they’d write me after. Only one ever really did.” Braeburn explained, unsure why Sunburst’s face got bashful as he did. “It ain’t so bad if you know you’re gonna get from it. The few days are nice, and I’ve learned to move on quick.”

A few seconds passed before Braeburn chuckled softly. “Whew, I sure did kinda kill the mood there, didn’t I?” He asked before gesturing a hoof towards Sunburst. “How’s about you? I’m sure a nice guy like you has someone waiting back at home for you.”

“Ah, no, nothing like that.” Sunburst said, shyly avoiding Braeburn’s gaze to look down at his empty plate. “I’ve never really had the time for relationships until now, so I feel like I’ve missed out on all the lessons you learn when you’re dating as a teenager.”

“Naw, I’m sure you’ll pick it up anyway. You’re smart enough.” Braeburn told him before finally standing up from the table, taking with him his empty plate. “And while I’d love to give you a couple pointers, not that they’d be any good comin’ from me, I think we should go check on the field before it gets too late.”

“A-ah, right!” Sunburst quickly jumped from his seat, taking his plate up as well and trailed behind Braeburn into the kitchen. “Here, let me help you out with the clean up.”

By the time the two finished cleaning and packing away leftovers, night had fallen. And with the night came a sea of stars and a full moon bright enough to light the way.

For most ponies.

As the stallions made their way through the orchard, Sunburst, still nightblind enough to need a guide, nervously stuck close behind Braeburn who periodically stopped to check on a tree they were passing. Every time, he just frowned and moved on.

Sunburst let this happen two more times before he stopped in his tracks. “Forgive me for asking, but what exactly are we doing here?”

Braeburn stopped at the next tree, pressing a hoof to the trunk before turning to look at Sunburst. “Just gotta check on which trees are infected and which ain’t.” At this, Braeburn shut his eyes to focus. After a moment he clicked his tongue, shaking his head with a frown. “That’s the third that’s been infected since last time I checked. This problem’s gettin’ worse.” His sad gaze held strong on the tree for a few seconds before he caught sight of Sunburst fidgeting to the side. Hoof still held on the tree, he turned his head towards Sunburst. “You can probably just sit down if you want. This is gonna take a while.”

Sunburst thought about it briefly. His hooves were already fairly tired from all the walking, and he knew that he still had a lot of studying to do if he were to be of any help.

But he wanted to be useful now.

“I, um, think I might have something to help?” Sunburst said with all the confidence he could manage. He slowly drew a book from his cloak, flipping it open and tilting it so that he was able to read it in the moonlight. He hemmed and hawed over the book for a few moments until, just before Braeburn was about to interrupt, he gave a soft squeak of joy. “I think I’ve got it!”

Sunburst lit his horn, bathing his surroundings in a golden light. The glow quickly got brighter as he ensnared the tree Braeburn had his hoof on in his magic. And then another. And another.

Soon, all the trees within Sunburst’s field of vision were wrapped up in his golden magic. But as soon as it happened, he shut his aura off with a confused squint towards the book still in his hoof.

Braeburn was quick to approach Sunburst warily, extending a hoof towards him but not yet touching. “Y’alright there? Magic on the fritz again?”

It took a bit for Braeburn’s words to break Sunburst’s hasty reading. Looking up from his book, he shook his head. “Not quite. This spell is just finicky and only lets me scan plants I can see. And I can’t exactly see the orchard through the trees.” He hastily fixed his glasses, pushing them up his face, then sighed. “This is something I can probably only cast once today, and I want to get it right the first time. But to do that, I need a way to see all of the trees.”

As Sunburst began to puzzle over this dilemma, Braeburn simply looked up towards the cliffside that overlooked the entire orchard. “I think I’ve got the solution.” He said, pointing towards the cliff.

Sunburst followed the gesture, then gave a small grin. “Oh!” He exclaimed. “That’s much better than my ‘shrink the orchard’ idea. A lot less magic used too.”

In a brisk walk, Braeburn lead Sunburst up a winding path up towards a cliff overlooking the apple orchard.

Sunburst stood near the edge of the cliff, overlooking the orchard that, in the bright moonlight, was completely visible to him now. He turned to look towards Braeburn with a soft grin. “This is pretty perfect for what I need. “Wow, the view up here is beautiful! Have you been up here before?”

Instead of looking at Sunburst, Braeburn’s gaze remained fixed upwards. “Guess you could say I come here a lot.”

Curious, Sunburst followed his eyes and looked up towards the sky as well. And his eyes widened.

Now out from under the orchard’s semi-dense tree covering, the full breadth of the night sky was revealed to them, and with it came a full sea of stars. They shone more brightly than Sunburst had ever seen before, and it made the constellations he could see burn brighter because of it.

Sunburst continued to stare up in awe for a few more moments before attempting to shake it off. There was time for stargazing later.

He took a cursory step towards the cliff’s edge, taking in the full brunt of the orchard beneath him. With a deep breath, he closed his eyes for a brief moment to focus himself.

He lit his horn, opening his eyes just enough to see the orchard, and let his magic wash over all of the trees. The golden glow hung around the trees for a few moments, shimmering gently before intensifying into a bright flash of light and fading into nothing but a few golden sparks.

Sunburst blinked, a wave of tiredness washing over him after finishing his casting. With a sharp breath he shook his head in an attempt to fight it off, but it only served to make him lightheaded.

Seeing Sunburst begin to stumble, Braeburn rushed forward to catch him. He wrapped a hoof around Sunburst to stabilize him, slowly kneeling down to bring both of them safely to the ground.

“Let’s just take a li’l break.” Braeburn told Sunburst, his hoof still around him for a brief moment. “Y’alright, or do you need me to get someone?”

Sunburst took a second to take stock of his physical health, then gave a soft sigh and a tired look towards Braeburn. “I think I’m fine. The spell just took more than I expected.” He admitted, then looked out towards the orchard. “It worked though! Out of your hundred trees, only sixty-nine of them are infected.”

“That’s nice, but are you sure you’re alright?” Braeburn asked again, this time with a more concerned look. “AJ’s probably gonna kill me if I let anything happen to one’a her friends, so maybe y’all should take it easy for a couple days.”

“I’m fine, Braeburn. I swear!” Sunburst insisted with a gentle giggle. “I appreciate the worry, but I’m used to overextending myself like this by now. All I need to do is rest, and I should be fine by tomorrow.”

“Well what better way to rest than under an Appleloosan night sky?” Braeburn asked with a giggle. As he did so, he gave Sunburst a gentle squeeze with the hoof he still had wrapped around.

Immediately, with simultaneously bright blushes, both stallions realized that Braeburn was still holding Sunburst tightly against him. Both froze for an instant then, with a soft squeak, Braeburn quickly unwrapped his hoof and scooted a more respectable distance away from Sunburst.

HeHe dipped his head, attempting to hide his blush with the brim of his hat. "Heh, 'scuse me for that. Hopin' I didn't make you too uncomfortable."

Sunburst readily shook his head with a blush of his own. “N-no, nothing like that! You were just helping me down, and I don’t mind if you want to stay close to me to keep warm from the cold.”

Braeburn tilted his head.

The cold?

It was normal for Appleloosa nights to get a bit cold, but it wasn’t anything Braeburn wasn’t used to.

And yet, looking over at Sunburst who was giving a compassionate smile, Braeburn couldn’t help but force a bashful nod. “I suppose it’s a mite cold tonight. Though I don’t wanna impose, if’n you-”

Sunburst cut Braeburn off by scooting closer to him, closing the distance between the two stallions yet again. “It’s no problem to me.” He said with a smile. “I lived in the Crystal Empire for a while, back when it wasn’t protected by the Crystal Heart, so the cold doesn’t bother me much. In fact…” He unclipped his cloak with a hoof, then did his best to extend as much as he could over Braeburn. “It’s, um, not much. But it should help?”

Braeburn’s face flushed redder as he felt Sunburst’s warmth fully against him now. He turned away to hide his blush, dipping his head again. “Thank ya kindly, partner.” He said softly, his voice wavering slightly.

Sunburst simply smiled, then looked up towards the sky. “The stars sure are beautiful tonight, huh?”

Braeburn sighed, thankful for the distraction, then nodded eagerly. “Eeyup, but they look like that every night ‘round here. It’s one’a the reasons I stuck around here so long, ‘cause you can’t get stars like this in Manehattan.”

“Not even in Ponyville, I think.” Sunburst agreed with a sigh. “It’s a shame. The stars have gone dark around most of Equestria due to light pollution. But at least now I know there’s somewhere I can see the Pillar constellations in their entirety.”

Braeburn tilted his head. “Pillar constellations? Y’all might gotta help me out a li’l here. Most I can find up there is a Dipper or two.”

Sunburst’s eyes lit up as he quickly extended a hoof towards the sky. “Well if you look up there next to the Big Dipper, up and to the right a bit, you can start to see four stars in sort of a trapezoidal shape, then three stars trailing down.” As he said this, he slowly traced his hoof against the sky to demonstrate. “Back when the Pillars of Equestria were still around saving the world, ponies took to calling that one Rockhoof’s Shovel after, you know, Rockhoof.”

Braeburn squinted his eyes and craned his neck to look closer at the stars. “I guess I can sorta see what you’re talkin’ about.”

Sunburst beamed at this, quickly pointing to another set of stars. “And there’s one for each of them! Like right there is Somnambula’s Blindfold, and there’s Magnus’s Shield, and Mistmane’s Flower, and Meadowbrook’s Mask.” With each name he rattled off, he traced his hoof against another set of stars in the same general area. After this, his hoof held on a sixth set of stars, and then a seventh. “And now these last two are kind of contested. Before the Pillars disappeared, the constellation we now know as Orion’s Belt was Starswirl’s Horn, and this square shaped one over here was Stygian’s Grimoire. After Stygian became the Pony of Shadows, Orion became Orion, and it’s now Starswirl’s Spellbook. And now Stygian is leading a movement to reclaim his constellation, which is kinda funny when you think about it.”

As Sunburst gave a gentle chuckle, he could see Braeburn nodding out of the corner of his eye. At first he was glad that someone was finally enjoying one of his impromptu infodumps but, as he turned his head towards Braeburn to fire off a few more Star Facts, he was instead given pause as he saw the true reason.

What Sunburst took for nodding was really Braeburn’s nodding off, his eyes held shut and breathing gentle as he very obviously toed the line between awake and asleep.

Sunburst let out a soft sigh, his face falling from the eager grin it held before. “I’m probably boring you, aren’t I?”

At this, Braeburn jerked awake for the moment, quickly shaking his head. “It ain’t you, I swear. Just forgot to do some sleeping last night, and it’s finally catching up to me.” He gave a soft yawn, then smiled tiredly at Sunburst. “But don’t let that make you think I ain’t listenin’. Y’all sound so passionate about it, it’s kinda hard not to listen.”

Sunburst blushed again, then looked back up towards the stars. “I don’t know if I’d say passionate. I’ve just spent a lot of time reading about the many myths and legends of Old Equestria.” He let that statement sit momentarily before his eyes lit up again, turning to look at Braeburn yet again. “Like, did you know that for the longest time ponies believed the Pillars would return to assist Nightmare Moon in her reign of Eternal Night? Of course, this came from a severe misunderstanding of where they disappeared to in the first place but I thought it was interesting.”

“Interesting maybe, but I dunno if I’d buy it.” Braeburn said with a shrug. “Ms. Meadowbrook didn’t seem like the Eternal Night kinda mare when I met her.”

“Well it wouldn’t be the first time a good pony went evil. Stygian, King Sombra, Princess Luna… Heck, a good portion of my friends have morally questionable pasts.” Sunburst said with a soft giggle. “But it was mostly just ponies trying to figure out which stars would aid in Nightmare Moon’s escape. It’s not a hard sell for it to be the group of ponies who disappeared around the time she was sealed away in the moon, right?”

“Makes sense.” Braeburn said with a slow, tired nod.

“Only if you don’t think about it for too long. I mean, like you said, most of them probably wouldn’t even think of helping her create an everlasting night.” Sunburst said. “I could maybe see it from Stygian, but only for more time to study by moonlight. Which, while I can understand completely, probably seems like a bit much, right?”

He waited a beat for Braeburn to respond. And then another. On the third, he looked to his side to see why the usually talkative stallion was clamming up so suddenly.

Braeburn slumbered peacefully beside Sunburst, his head resting upon crossed hooves as he softly snored. Sunburst hadn’t noticed before, but he could feel Braeburn’s weight pressing against him as he slept.

Sunburst sighed softly, a gentle grin on his face. “And here I thought you’d last a little bit longer. Not that I can complain too much.” He said, doing his best to be as quiet as possible. “I know I can be a bit of a bore, but I’m glad that you gave it a shot anyway. You’re a nice guy, Braeburn.”

With a brief yawn, he took to crossing his hooves in front of him and laying his head down upon them, mirroring Braeburn’s admittedly comfortable looking pose.

As he looked out to the orchard again, he grumbled softly. “And I’m going to find some way to fix your orchard. I just need a bit more time, and I know I can make it happen. And I’ll be studying whatever I can until then.”

Looking over to Braeburn’s home in the distance, he had a small form of realization.

“But first I need to figure out how to get both of us down, huh?”

Chapter 2

Mornings began early for the ponies of Appleloosa, most of the residents out of their homes and on their way to work just as the sun began to rise in the sky. By sunrise, most of the shops had opened, most farmers were well on their tasks, and the saloon was preparing to open later in the day for said farmers to take a rest.

By 7 AM, almost every Appleloosan was hard at work making the town function.

Except one.

Though not normally one to sleep in, Braeburn could still be found asleep in his room well into the morning. It was only at noon that the stallion even began to stir awake.

His eyes slid open slowly to see the morning light filtering in through his window. He jerked awake immediately after, shooting up to a seated position and turning to his alarm clock with no small amount of fear and confirming that the time was, indeed, in the middle of the afternoon.

Braeburn breathed a sigh that quickly became a groan, knowing that, despite everything, he would have to find a way to drag himself out of bed. And so, very unwillingly, he pulled himself out from under his comfortable blanket and forced himself into the waking world.

Before leaving his bedroom, he took a moment to visit the window. There he breathed another sigh as his unicorn workers frantically moved from tree to tree, lighting their horns and seemingly trying different spells to no avail.

“Well, l guess I better go ahead and join ‘em.” Braeburn said with a shake of his head.

After dressing himself and making his way out of his room, he took a detour to poke his head into the guest room and see how Sunburst was holding up. He mostly expected to see the unicorn still snoozing the day away and hoped to entice him with promises of breakfast and a visit to the town library.

Aaaafter the tour, of course.

Instead, what Braeburn saw was a room that was full of suitcases, but empty of cute unicorn. And even the luggage seemed to be empty aside from a few articles of clothing and general toiletries.

Tilting his head curiously, Braeburn quickly rushed downstairs to see what was up.

Rushing first to his dining room, he saw exactly what was up, and it was the same up that it usually was.

Sunburst was yet again asleep at his dining room table, but this time surrounded by even more books than before. Twenty books of varied sizes littered Braeburn’s table, all of them open and presumably being read at once before Sunburst passed out from the exhaustion of studying.

Braeburn approached Sunburst warily, part of him assuming he’d yet again eaten a Nap Apple again, but the lack of apple residue quickly convinced him otherwise.

He still watched Sunburst for a moment, watching the stallion snore gently with his head resting on a copy of Mage Meadowbrook’s treatise on sleep-based pandemics. Truly a light read.

Sunburst mumbled softly in his sleep, his horn flickering on and off as he did so.

Braeburn took a large step back, not wanting to catch a laser beam to the eye.

Sunburst’s ears flicked towards the sound of falling hoofsteps, and slowly he began to stir awake. He whipped his head up and squinted towards the source of the sound. Seeing only a yellow and brown blob set along the blue wall.

Excusing himself to quickly grab his glasses from the table, he set them on to then see Braeburn looking at him strangely.

“Oh.” Sunburst said, then quickly rubbed the sleep from his eyes with a hoof. “Good morning, Braeburn. I hope you slept well.”

“I did! Though I dunno if I slept as good as you did.” Braeburn gave a short laugh, then gestured over to Sunburst’s book fort with a hoof. “Y’all were sleepin’ so hard you were probably drooling all over that nice book of yours.”

Sunburst quickly looked down at the book to check for any water damage, then shook his head. “No, I usually have my books magically treated against liquids just in case…” He trailed off, snapping his head up to squint at Braeburn yet again. “Hold on, are you making fun of me?”

“Just pokin’ fun, not making any.” Braeburn said as he finally made his way back across the dining room, sitting down across from Sunburst with a kind smile. “So how’s all the studying going anyway? Wouldn’t blame you if you just conked out after all the fun last night.”

“Quite the contrary, honestly. I think I might have figured something out!” His attention was once again brought to the book, and he traced a hoof across the current page as he reread it for the hundredth time. “I was inspired by last night’s conversation to take a look at Mage Meadowbrook’s dealings with sleeping spells and happened upon a solution she’d used for an infected water supply.”

“Seems simple enough.” Braeburn said with a nod. “Though I’ve been ‘round the block enough to know these things ain’t ever as simple as they seem.”

“It’s an Earth Pony spell. And one by an extremely skilled Earth Pony mage.” He flipped through a few pages in his book, then sighed and looked up at Braeburn. “These things don’t usually come with a translation to Unicorn Magic, so I’ll have to make due. The other problem is that I don’t know what it’ll do to the apples.”

“I’m willing to try anything at least once. ‘Specially if it might help.” Braeburn decided after a moment.

“There is, however, a small chance that the apples will explode into poisonous gas when I cast this spell.” Sunburst said, then gestured towards the door. “Shall we?”

Braeburn gave a deep sigh. “I’ll go get the gas masks.”

While he was mostly joking about the gas masks, Braeburn still took the time to evacuate the orchard of any workers who could get in the way or be infected if things were to go wrong.

Now just the two stallions alone in the orchard, Sunburst gestured Braeburn over to the first infected tree he saw.

“Oookay, I’ll need you to work your magic and check on the infection while I cast this spell.” Sunburst said as he placed both of his hooves upon the trunk of the tree. “Let me know if things get better, and if things get worse then… I guess we’ll just be sleeping together until someone comes to find us.”

The sentence held in the air for a long moment before Sunburst’s face broke out into a blush. He turned to face away from Braeburn, clearing his throat as he did so. “Let’s, uh, just get into it.”

“Y’got it, partner.” Braeburn laughed gently, though his face reddened slightly as well. He moved in closer to Sunburst, placing a hoof on the tree right next to Sunburst’s hoof. “Ready when you are.” He said, smiling down at Sunburst.

Sunburst’s face reddened deeper still.

He lit his horn despite this, shutting his eyes tightly to force himself to focus. Instead of wrapping his aura around the tree like he normally would, he breathed an uneasy sigh as he let his magic trickle down his body and then pushed it into his forehooves. It made his entire body tingle, but his hooves felt like they were practically vibrating as golden sparks flashed off of them.

With a flash of his horn and hooves, he forced the spell into the tree. It sent a pulse through his body, making him slam his hooves upon the ground to steady himself.

“Well, it’s definitely doing something.” Braeburn looked down at Sunburst with a small frown. “Think you’ve got enough in you to give it another shot?”

“Maybe.” Sunburst shrugged, readying himself along the tree yet again. “Let’s find out together!”

Sunburst cast the spell again, slowly drawing magic from his horn through his body and out his hooves. And again.

It was as Sunburst was preparing to cast the spell a fourth time that Braeburn placed a hoof upon his shoulder to stop him. He then leaned up to grab an apple with his other hoof.

Sunburst looked on in horror as Braeburn brought the apple to his mouth, taking a massive step back and blocking his snout off with his foreleg as Braeburn moved to take a bite.

And bite Braeburn did.

To the surprise of both of the stallions, the apple did not pop and instead gave a tell-tale crunch with Braeburn’s bite. Braeburn chewed for a few moments, tilting his head curiously as he swallowed.

“It’s a bit tart, but it ain’t bad.” Braeburn decided, then shot Sunburst a big, cheesy grin.

Sunburst smiled as well, though his was far more bashful as he blushed. He wasted no time in drawing a book from his cloak, burying his face in that to distract himself. “The, uh, book says that the spell should only last for a few days, though I don’t know if the changes in casting would change that as well or not.” He peeked up above his book at Braeburn before his eyes flicked back down. “Seeing as it isn’t too intensive a spell, I could definitely teach it to your unicorns. Just in case I’m not able to provide a non-bandaid solution before I have to leave.”

Braeburn nodded along for a second before hesitating, his face falling to an uncharacteristic frown before forced back to a neutral smile. “I kinda figured y’all’d be leaving at some point, but how soon have you gotta head out?”

Sunburst thought for a moment, bringing a hoof to his chin. “I’ve been in town for two… No, three days. Sleeping off that Nap Apple really threw my timing off.” He gave a short giggle, then refocused. “I think I’m supposed to catch a train back tomorrow night. Just so I have enough time to help grade mid-terms.” A look of panic quickly crossed his face. His head jerked to look towards Braeburn’s house. “I, uh, I should probably get back to studying. I’d hate to leave you with an imperfect solution.”

Just as Sunburst moved to turn away, Braeburn placed a hoof on his shoulder to stop him. “No ya don’t!” He said with a shake of his head, sidling up to Sunburst. “Just ‘cause it ain’t perfect doesn’t mean we can’t celebrate a little. And I’d be damned if I let you leave without showing Appleloosa off a li’l bit.”

While Sunburst thought it over for a moment, the stallion to his side and hoof still on his shoulder were far more convincing than he expected. “I suppose I could… kill two birds with one stone.” He said, half mumbling as he shuddered. “What do you suggest?”

“We’ve got one heck of a good hayburger place ‘round here.” Braeburn said with a grin. “If you’re hungry, that is.”

Before Sunburst could even try to respond, his growling stomach did it for him. And as he flushed red yet again, Braeburn just laughed and pat his shoulder gently.

“I’ll take that as a yes.”

Now out from under the shaded cover of the orchard, Sunburst was quickly reminded just how hot Appleloosa was during the day, especially with the sun hanging so high in the sky. He didn’t even get far into the walk before he began to sweat profusely, which was especially embarrassing when he compared his discomfort to Braeburn’s unfettered stride.

Deciding against simply casting another cooling spell, wanting to save his magic for later, Sunburst simply stashed his cloak in Braeburn’s guest room, foregoing his usually clothed nature.

This was, almost immediately, proven to him to be a large mistake on his part.

The stares he was getting from the moment he entered Appleloosa proper would have made him feel exposed normally, but the lack of a cloak he could hide behind made him feel far more embarrassed than usual. It was all he could do to just smile politely at the prying eyes and give a small nod.

Braeburn, walking along suspiciously close to Sunburst, gave him a gentle nudge with his shoulder. “Don’t worry ‘bout them too much, partner. It’s not every day one’a Princess Twilight’s friends shows up to help fix a normal problem for a change.” He explained while waving at the ponies they passed. “Usually it’s magic theft, clan wars, or buckball matches.”

“Buckball?” Sunburst asked, looking towards Braeburn to keep his anxious eyes off of the crowd.

Braeburn nodded, his eyes lighting up momentarily. “Eeyup! It’s a sport that’s gotten real popular ‘round here. Y’see, each team has a pony of each race and they-”

“Oh, n-no.” Sunburst quickly cut Braeburn off with a hurried wave of his hoof. “I know what buckball is. I’ve, uh, practically heard your cousin and Rainbow Dash talking about it enough that I’ve practically memorized all of the rules.” He gave a short chirp of a laugh. “I just… wasn’t aware that it was that big in Appleloosa.”

“Shoot, and here I was sure AJ’d still be talkin’ about how she and her friends whooped our butts at the championships that one time.” He laughed, shaking his head. “‘Course, she’d also have to tell you how we beat theirs worse right the next year.”

Sunburst thought for a moment, then nodded. “I suppose that makes sense. They’ve been insistent on me joining their team ever since their unicorn moved to Vanhoover for his studies.”

“Heh, ‘s a shame. That colt might have been a few apples short of a bushel, but he was one heck of a player. It’s just so hard to get a good unicorn to play for long.” Braeburn sighed, shaking his head. He then tilted it, looking towards Sunburst curiously. “Say, if you ever wanted to play for a winning team, we’d be happy to take you on board.”

“I appreciate the offer, but I’m not exactly the sportiest stallion.” He gave a dry chuckle. “It’s easier for me to sit on the sidelines or, preferably, in a library far away from the crowds.”

“Another shame. I figure you’d look pretty cute in one of the uniforms.”

Sunburst’s face flushed red again as Braeburn gave him a gentle nudge. He opened his mouth to respond in some way, but was quickly silenced as he realized their walking had stopped at some point in the conversation, though he wasn’t sure when. Too much attention paid to his companion, perhaps.

mpanion, perhaps.

Braeburn gestured openly to the establishment they had been standing in front of. It was a rustic wooden building, painted a dark green and with a sign emblazoned “The Salt Lick” at the front. Sunburst could already hear the clamor of activity behind the swinging saloon doors, and the level of sound took him a bit aback.

This didn’t look like any restaurant Sunburst had seen before, if anything it looked like a saloon, but he wasn’t going to make waves about it. When in Cloudsdale and so on.

“Welcome to The Salt Block, Appleloosa’s premier saloon!” Braeburn chirped quite loudly.

Sunburst nodded. It looked like a saloon because it was, in fact, a saloon.

Braeburn gestured again, this time less grandly, towards the doors of the building. “Head on inside and grab us a table. Just gotta have a li’l chat with the owner real quick, and I’ll join you shortly.”

Sunburst hesitated briefly, but quickly followed orders and pressed into the establishment without any complaint.

The second Sunburst stepped into the saloon, all of the commotion he heard inside stopped. Ponies who were formerly in the middle of jovial conversations instead turned to face the newcomer, eyeing him up warily as he did so.

The sheer amount of attention that fell on specifically him made Sunburst physically recoil, pulling back and, for a moment, considering running right back out despite just how much more awkward it would make this moment.

But his fear was quelled as Braeburn entered behind him seconds later. He stood beside Sunburst and gave the patrons of the saloon a short wave, imploring them to return to their conversations and leave his Wizard alone. He then turned to Sunburst, clapping him on the shoulder with a hoof.

“Don’t let ‘em scare you, sugarcube.” Braeburn said with a gentle grin.

Though Sunburst said nothing, he gave Braeburn a thankful smile and nod of his head. He then walked off through the saloon, keeping his head low as he searched for a seat in this mostly packed establishment.

Thankfully it didn’t take that much time for him to find one despite this. After a few minutes of skulking around the saloon, dodging patrons and workers alike, he stumbled upon an empty booth tucked in the corner that was far enough from the revelry to appeal to him. He took a seat and patiently began to wait for Braeburn to find him, cherishing the fact that the seat he picked muffled the sounds around him at least a little bit.

It only took him a few minutes before he pulled out a book, this one about the intricacies of tree law, and began to nervously read to distract himself. At the slightest hint of movement, he looked up from his reading in hopes that it was Braeburn returning. Or in fear that it was someone to take his order or offer him a drink.

As the minutes ticked on, he was beginning to worry that neither would happen. That he would be forgotten in this western-themed purgatory he found himself in. Just a book to keep him company and the hopes that one day he’d be freed.

His release came sooner than he expected in the form of a smiling Braeburn. Even less expected was the tray that Braeburn carried with him, on it two of the largest hayburgers he’d seen and an absolute avalanche of potato wedges that surrounded said burgers.

Sunburst’s mouth was watering even before Braeburn set the tray down, and he set his book aside to prepare for the meal.

“Sorry ‘bout the wait.” Braeburn said as he sat down across from Sunburst. “Rye ain’t the most talkative stallion usually, but he sure is a chatterbox when it comes to this establishment here.”

“Well I hope that talks went well. Whatever they may have been.” Sunburst said to Braeburn, though his hungry eyes never left the large burgers sitting before him. His hooves twitched, but he held back the urge to just grab and start eating.

“Oh, it ain’t anything too big. Just lettin’ him know how the orchard is going.” Braeburn said. He then showed a lack of the restraint that Sunburst exhibited, popping one of the potato wedges into his mouth and sighing happily. “Mmm, with fries like these it’s hard to remember why I don’t come by too often. Feel free to dig in, I got enough for the both of us.”

Sunburst didn’t have to be told twice, immediately foregoing the wedges for the burger that had been taunting him for minutes at this point. As he picked it up in his hooves, feeling the sheer heft of the hayburger, he began to question just how he was supposed to begin eating a burger bigger than his mouth.

As he took a tentative bite, still feeling like he needed to unhinge his jaw to do it, he found himself reeling at the sheer amount of flavor that seemed to be packed into the hay of the burger. There was a sweet, somewhat tangy flavor to whatever sauce it seemed to be battered in.

“Apples?” Sunburst asked as he looked up at Braeburn, who was similarly enjoying his own burger. Though with an increased proficiency.

It took a moment for Braeburn to realize what Sunburst was asking, but he gave a small chuckle when he did. “Eeeeyup! Most all of the dishes ‘round here are premiere Apple Family apples. Just Ponyville brand, for obvious reasons.” He sighed, shaking his head with a small frown. “It’s a shame ‘cause of how much it costs to get a few hundred bushels on a train, but Rye seems happy we’ll get it covered in a week or so.”

Sunburst let out a sharp laugh at that, though he quickly shook it off apologetically. “Well, I don’t really see it taking that long. At this rate, I could see this orchard business being solved right on schedule, depending on how hard I study Ms. Meadowbrook’s work.” He pursed his lips, then looked down at the burger he’d only begun to polish off. “It’s a shame, because I could see myself coming back to this establishment. Just… maybe for a smaller meal.”

Sunburst’s eyes fell just in time to miss the frown crossing Braeburn’s face. By the time they flicked back up at Braeburn’s movement, it was back to a normal, though somewhat forced, smile again.

Braeburn shugged, giving a bit of a chuckle. “You’d be hard pressed to find anything smaller ‘round here. ‘S part of the reason I had to stop eating here so often. Started gettin’ bigger than my britches, if you get my meaning.” He then gestured towards his stomach, then a few inches outward with another laugh. “Could hardly fit in my vest after the first couple months.”

Sunburst barely managed to stifle a laugh at Braeburn’s gesturing, having to look away from the slim yet muscular stallion to prevent a full laughter breakdown.

Braeburn just grinned sheepishly in response, waving a hoof loosely. “Yeah yeah, yuk it up. But I know y’all’d be in the same way in my position. Heck, maybe even worse considerin’ how quick you polished off that burger there.”

Sunburst quickly looked down to his hooves, finding that where once there was a burger was now only empty air. He briefly wondered what had happened to his delicious meal, but quickly realized that he’d devoured it without even noticing. His face flushed, and he reached over to grab a napkin and wipe his face off.

“It’s not my fault.” Sunburst whined after finishing his cleaning. “These hayburgers are much better than anything I can get in Ponyville.” He then wasted no time in digging into the remaining potato wedges.

“Now try eating all this after getting used to Manehattan ‘cuisine’ for a few years.” Braeburn said with a deep sigh, continuing to pick at the wedges along with Sunburst. “It’s a good thing I learned to cook quick, or I’d be the size of a house by now.”

Sunburst laughed again, shaking his head. “Well if I had to pick between a burger here and a home cooked meal, especially one like yours, I’d absolutely pick the latter.”

“Well thank ya kindly.” Braeburn grinned wryly, tipping his hat in appreciation. “But if you’re all good and full, we could probably get a move on. That is, unless you wanted to stick around and drink with the crowd.”

As Braeburn gestured to the ponies sitting all around them and crowding the establishment, Sunburst’s focus on Braeburn was unfocused and he became suddenly aware of how loud the saloon had gotten while they were chatting. His ears flicked to and fro anxiously before finally deciding to fold back entirely.

“We should probably get back.” Sunburst decided quickly, already moving to stand as the sound continued to get to him. “If I’m to get all of this solved in time to make the train tomorrow, I’ll have to spend all the time I can looking for a solution.”

“Aw, you sure you wanna go back to studyin’ so soon?” Braeburn asked, mirroring Sunburst’s urge to get up and, once standing, gestured to the saloon once again. “I mean, even if you don’t wanna stick around here, there’s still a lotta Appleloosa to see! Y’all ain’t even seen our show stage yet, or we could swing by the Buckball Stadium and watch a pick-up game, or even visit the library and-”

Braeburn was quickly interrupted with a wave of Sunburst’s hoof, though once Braeburn’s attention was solely on him again he was quick to avert his gaze and stammer. “W-well, I mean, while that sounds lovely I really do need to start reading some of the books I-” He then blinked, tilting his head in thought for a moment before his eyes lit up eagerly. “Did you say library?”

“Sure did!” Braeburn said with a soft chuckle at Sunburst’s sudden change in tune. “In fact, if y’all were interested, we recently got a li’l gift from Mage Meadowbrook as apology for not bein’ available to help with the orchard. Just one of her journals she thought might help.”

“One of Mage Meadowbrook’s personal journals‽”Sunburst asked with more of an excited yell. His excitement was quickly cooled by the stares of the patrons around him, but still kept alight by Braeburn’s warm smile. Sunburst quickly cleared his throat, calming himself down before continuing. “I mean… I suppose I could maybe take a few minutes to look it over. If you think it’ll help.”

Hours later, both stallions emerged from the library with books in tow. Sunburst bounced with a gleeful energy as he cradled the very journal he had been promised, while Braeburn carried with him a few books on gardening and one high-fantasy romance novel that seemed a bit out of place.

Both stallions were taken aback at how the sunlight they had been expecting to greet them had faded to moonlight without them noticing.

Braeburn chuckled, scratching the back of his head with a hoof. “Whew, guess that couple’a minutes took a li’l bit longer than we expected, huh?”

“As it usually does when at a library. It’s just so easy to get lost in the books.” Sunburst said with a wide, eager grin. It did, however, falter as he looked down to the journal curiously. “Though I don’t normally expect the books to get lost from me. It’s just so strange how this little book kept going missing.”

“Eeyup, that is one heck of a mystery right there.” Braeburn said nervously, averting his gaze from Sunburst. He then drew one hoof across his chest, then rubbed it gently up and down his other foreleg. “Well dang, it sure is cold out tonight. Maybe we should turn ourselves around save ourselves from walkin’ home though this.”

Sunburst took a moment to feel the temperature, and he supposed it was quite a bit colder than it was earlier, but by no means was it cold enough to hide away from. In fact, compared to the Crystal Empire pre-Flurry, it was quite pleasant.

“As much as I’d love to stay overnight at a library with you, I don’t think your librarian would appreciate that.” Sunburst said with a soft giggle. “Either way, it’s a little bit overkill, don’t you think? I mean, it’s not the longest walk back to your home.” Not waiting for a response, he began to quickly walk back to Braeburn’s house.

“S’pose you’re right.” Braeburn said softly, rushing to follow right beside Sunburst.

He tailed Sunburst silently for a few moments, perhaps a bit too closely even, before the saloon they’d been in hours prior caught his attention out of the corner of his eye as they neared the edge of town. With a sly smirk, he picked up his pace to draw Sunburst’s attention.

“Say, we could always grab a drink before you start studying.” Braeburn suggested, stopping in front of Sunburst and gesturing towards the saloon in hopes to tempt. “It’ll probably help get you nice and relaxed. I’ll even buy a round for you!”

Sunburst blinked, then shook his head. “Oh, no, I don’t drink. All of my studying is done relatively sober. Except for, uh, a few times at Canterlot Academy.” He pursed his lips, blushing, before clearing his throat and moving on. “Eeeither way, if you’d like to drink then I won’t stop you, but I’ve really got to-”

“Ah, how’s about I take you shopping! Y’know, there’s a hat store ‘round here that sells the best cowboy hats in Equestria if you wanted a souvenir of your trip!”

The look that Sunburst gave Braeburn was a mixture of confusion and bewilderment, and it was enough to force Braeburn to trail off completely.

Sunburst waited a moment, unsure whether Braeburn was really finished or not, then shook his head. “I’m not sure if I understand. I am here to help you with the orchard, correct? I mean, I’m well known to get confused sometimes, but I believe that’s what Applejack told me before I left.”

Braeburn was quickly taken aback by the sudden line of questioning, “Well yeah, that’s what we asked Princess Twi to send someone over for, but…”

“Then why aren’t you letting me do my job?” Sunburst asked as soon as Braeburn’s sentence trailed off. “Why do you keep trying to distract me?”

Braeburn blinked, tilting his head to feign ignorance. “I can’t say I have any idea what you’re talkin’ about here. I would never-”

“Books don’t just play hide-and-seek when I’m trying to find them, Braeburn!” Sunburst said with an uncharacteristic loudness, though one that quickly faded as he shook his head. “Well, not outside of Canterlot and Ponyville anyway. But that’s beside the point.” He looked at Braeburn for a moment, then looked away with a sigh. “I think I should probably get my studying done elsewhere.”

Sunburst hesitated for a moment, but eventually managed to drag himself away from the conversation and turn around, beginning to walk his way back into town.

Braeburn moved to follow Sunburst again, reaching toward him with a hoof. “Sunburst, I-”

His advance was quickly stopped by Sunburst turning to look behind him, not with an expression of malice or anger, but sheer disappointment and sadness. “Alone, Braeburn. Please.”

And as Sunburst returned to his walk, Braeburn stood silently at the edge of town. For as much as he wanted to follow his wizardly companion, he simply began his lonely walk to his house. His head low and his ears tucked back with shame.

Chapter 3

Sunburst’s forehead rested on the smooth, wooden surface of the bar top he sat at. His eyes squeezed shut as he tried to drown out the cacophony of laughter and sounds of enjoyment that surrounded him in the overfull bar. For some reason, he thought he could just treat the only bar in Appleloosa like a quiet, hole-in-the-wall coffee shop and get some work done while enjoying a drink.

His thinking was sorely wrong, and now he couldn’t string a single thought together with all of the noise. And it didn’t help that his thoughts kept going back to the argument he’d had with Braeburn only an hour earlier.

And the stool he was sat on wasn’t nearly as comfortable as a coffee shop chair. So many difficulties.

“You ready to order something yet, kid?”

Sunburst’s head shot up. While he’d certainly expected the overwhelming sound around him to continue, in fact he dreaded it, he never expected it to be pointed at him in any way.

And now he was staring directly at the very unamused bartender. And he didn’t look too keen on repeating himself.

“Uh… Kahlua and Cream?” Sunburst said after a few seconds. “Please?”

The bartender said nothing, just let out a small, amused scoff. This confused Sunburst, but he didn’t have much time to bring it to question, as the bartender quickly stepped away to continue tending the bar.

And as he walked away to hopefully begin making Sunburst’s drink, Sunburst was yet again left alone in a crowd. Left to look over Mage Meadowbrook’s booklet of musings and potions that, while very insightful and interesting, weren’t of much help when it came to a sleep plague ripping its way through an entire orchard. There were, however, a few on maintaining and boosting plant growth that Sunburst wrote down on a napkin for later.

He had a cactus at home in dire need of help, and maybe a Potion of Plant Cure was the solution.

As he scribbled down the recipe and a few places he knew he could go to grab some of the ingredients, the bartender returned to quickly place his requested drink down and rush off with as little fanfare as possible. Barely letting Sunburst get out a quick, mumbled “Thank you” before leaving.

Normally Sunburst would have appreciated this level of customer service, one with as little actual interaction as possible, but right now he was in dire need of someone to bounce ideas off of. Or maybe a rubber duck to talk at until he figured things out.

Instead, he had a drink he didn’t exactly want that cost an amount of bits he didn’t exactly want to spend.

But at least it was something to focus on other than the massive amounts of sound going on around him. And with that thought, he lifted the glass and took a tentative sip of the alcoholic beverage.

And he recoiled immediately how much alcohol he could taste in the drink, despite everything.

“Take it Rye went a li’l too hard on the Kaluha side again?” Came a familiar voice to Sunburst’s side.

Flinching at the sound of a voice he didn’t exactly want to hear at the moment, Sunburst turned to see Braeburn standing beside him.

“Howdy.” Braeburn said with a bashful smile, lifting his hoof to give a very small wave.

Sunburst immediately moved to get up from his seat and abscond, but was quickly stopped as Braeburn placed a hoof on his shoulder.

“I ain’t here to bother you with nonsense again, I promise.” Braeburn said softly, just barely audible over the sound of ponies around them. “Just stopped by to bring you something I figure you’d wanna grab anyway.”

Reaching behind him, Braeburn pulled the large dark blue bundle of starry fabric from his back and hoofed it over to Sunburst with a soft smile.

“I, uh, figured you’d wanna have your robe if you’re gonna walk home in the cold.” Braeburn said, wrapping Sunburst’s cloak around the Sunburst’s shoulders. “I took the liberty of giving it a wash first, and I tried to get all the books and doodads back into the pockets after.”

After clasping his cloak around his neck, Sunburst took a moment to check his pockets and found that things were in mostly the same places, though his candy pouch and Things To Chew On pocket had swapped sides. There was absolutely no way this could go wrong.

After his quick check, Sunburst turned to Braeburn with a smile. “Thank you! It’s, erm, probably been a little longer than I’d like to admit since it's been washed, so it means a lot.”

“Don’t mention it.” Braeburn said with a chickle, waving the thanks away with a hoof. He lingered for a moment, waiting and wanting to say something more, but sighed as he came up with nothing. “Well, I suppose I’ll just leave you to it then.”

“W-wait!” Sunburst said loudly just as Braeburn turned to leave. "Would you like to join me? I could really use someone to bounce ideas off of, and I don’t think anyone around here would be interested in my rambling.”

Braeburn didn’t have to be told twice, eagerly sitting down in the empty stool right next to Sunburst.

As Braeburn sat down, Sunburst shuffled nervously in his seat, absentmindedly organizing the napkins he was using as note paper into an ordered pile. He avoided reading any of the words he’d scrawled on them in his fevered, distracted state. He knew he’d have to rewrite it all eventually, when his mind was more clear, so reading any of it would only serve to frustrate him further.

Braeburn, on the other hand, leaned over eagerly with a friendly smile, peering over at whatever it was that Sunburst was so very quick to cover with his hooves. “Those your notes?”

Sunburst’s first instinct was to detach, distract, and dissociate, but upon looking at that kind grin, he realized it would be rude to do that to a friend. Instead, he gave a deep sigh and pushed the stack of napkins towards Braeburn. “It’s… I was trying to collect my thoughts on the spread of the Nap Apples and what Mage Meadowbrook’s notes could add to what I already know, but I ended up getting lost in the weeds so to speak.”

As Sunburst took another sip of his drink, flinching again at the alcoholic taste, Braeburn made himself familiar with the unicorn’s writing. He skimmed the panicked and feverish writing for a short few seconds before letting out a small hum.

“Well, I like the part where you wrote ‘Dear Celestia I have no idea what I’m doing here’.” He said as he pressed a hoof to the paper. “And y’all even underlined it. Five times. Must be important.”

Sunburst let out a long, mournful sigh. “It was gonna be six, but I felt it would be a little too much.” He explained. “All I’ve provided so far is a bandage that, as far as I know, is going to fall off eventually when the trees start infecting each other. And I can’t figure out how to cure all of your trees at once, because there’s really no precedent to this event, so there’s no spell for me to copy.” His face fell as he let out yet another sigh, taking a hard swig from his drink and fighting any discomfort it caused.

Braeburn pursed his lips briefly, then placed a hoof on Sunburst’s own, looking at him sternly. “Bandage solution or not, y’all still helped us out more than you’d like to think. I mean, I was havin’ the time of my life tryin’ to get this mess handled before you showed up. Now all I’ve gotta do is find a few more unicorns willing to move here and zap a few trees until we can get this problem fully sorted.”

“Hopefully it’s not too expensive. The Crystal Empire was offering up a pretty penny to solve their whole Eternal Winter problem.” Sunburst said softly, then gave a soft chuckle. “I don’t think I ever even claimed that bounty, but it might be a bit too late at this point.”

“I don’t care about the cost, so long as I can keep my orchard running at some sorta profit.” Braeburn sighed.

Hesitating for a moment, Braeburn’s stern look hardened as he continued to stare down at Sunburst who, conversely, was doing everything he could to not look directly at him.

And then it softened, and his hoof’s grip on Sunburst’s grew tighter as he inched himself closer.

“I promise this ain’t some underhanded tactic to get you all distracted or anything but…” Braeburn took a deep breath, then released it as a sigh. “I think you need a break.”

Sunburst blinked, then tilted his head in confusion and a raise of his half empty glass. “That’s what this is, isn’t it? I’m… breaking. Currently being broken. Why else would I be in a bar?” He punctuated this question with another swig of his drink.

“Y’know what I mean.” Braeburn said with a roll of his eyes. There was a brief moment where his trademark smile faltered, but it was quickly redoubled as he turned his attention to Sunburst’s notenapkins. “I think y’all are too rooted down in this here problem. Thinking about work all the time can’t be that healthy.”

“It’s strange to hear an Apple say that.” Sunburst mused with a soft smile. He opened his mouth to continue, but suddenly cut himself off as he squinted his eyes in thought.

Sunburst quickly reopened Mage Meadowbrook’s journal, flitting through pages before finally landing on one and giving a mad grin. “I think I’ve got it!” He squeaked loudly as he looked up at Braeburn. Extracting his hoof from under Braeburn’s, he then placed it atop Braeburn’s hoof and gave it a quick squeeze. “You’re a genius, Brae!”

Without elaborating at all, Sunburst collected his belongings and quickly rushed out of the saloon. Assumedly, heading towards the orchard to follow through with whatever plan he had thought up.

After watching Sunburst leave, his starry cloak billowing in the breeze of the night, it was now Braeburn who found himself alone in a crowd.

“Well, so much for takin’ a break.” Braeburn said very softly to himself.

Breathing a small sigh, Braeburn stood up from his seat, tossed a few bits on the counter to pay for Sunburst’s drink, and began his walk to the door.

”Might as well get this thing over with.”

Braeburn rejoined Sunburst in the orchard minutes later, the wizardly stallion bathed in the light of the moon as he used it to read the journal he held in a hoof.

Hearing the sound of hoofsteps behind him, Sunburst quickly whipped around anxiously, but was happy to find that it was only Braeburn behind him.

“Oh! I was wondering where you went.” Sunburst said with a bright smile, then gave a gentle gesture towards the orchard. “Thanks to you, I think I finally understand what went wrong with the spell. So, if you’d like to join me, we can figure out if it works, uh, together?”

While Braeburn did indeed join, walking to stand just beside Sunburst, he tilted his head with no small amount of confusion as he squinted to read the journal in the moonlight. “I’m not sure I follow. As far as I remember, all I said was you should take a break. And I’d be shocked if that’s what fixed that spell of yours.”

“As nice as that would be, sadly no.” Sunburst said with a gentle chuckle. “But you did say something about how I’m too rooted down in this orchard problem and, you know, trees have roots too! They are, if I’m reading this journal correctly, very integral to the life of a tree because they drink up all the nutrients from the soil.” He quickly looked over the journal to ensure he wasn’t horribly incorrect, then looked over to Braeburn and giving another, louder laugh. “Look at me, explaining how trees work to an apple farmer.”

“Well I get that much, but I dunno how…” Braeburn trailed off, squinting his eyes as he thought it over for a moment before, as if a lightbulb suddenly came on in his head, he came into full realization. And as he did so, he stomped the ground with a hoof. “Gosh dang it, it’s been the soil this whole time hasn’t it?”

“It’s been the soil. This whole time.” Sunburst confirmed. “The soil took in a huge amount of bootleg sleeping potions and will continue doing so until there isn’t any left. So, we could either wait it out ooor…” Taking a pause, Sunburst lit his horn with a grin. “I could try my hoof at a more magical solution.”

For as much as Braeburn wanted to try the longer solution, he could see in Sunburst’s eyes that he very much wanted to try the magical option.

So he forced a smile, gesturing towards Sunburst with a hoof. "Be my guest, sugarcube."

Sunburst beamed. He took a few steps towards the center of the orchard and closed his eyes, focusing himself and his magic.

As he did earlier in the morning, Sunburst drew his magic inwardly and let it build it within him, letting it trickle down into his hooves instead of his horn. He breathed an uneasy sigh, his hooves yet again thrumming with an unnatural amount of energy.

And he hesitated, holding the magic there for a few moments and wondering if this was really the best course of action. But at that point he felt it was far too late to be second guessing himself, and so he loosed his hold on the magic in his hooves.

Even through his shut eyes, Sunburst could still see the large flash of golden light emitted the second he pushed his magic into the ground beneath him. It only lasted a moment, but it left his hooves numb and jittery, and his legs weaker than usual.

Sunburst let out a soft yelp, fighting to remain standing and, thankfully, not falling right on his face like he’d expected.

“I, uh, I think that’s it.” Sunburst said softly.

He quickly whipped around to face Braeburn, but was distraught to find that there was no one to be found.

“Uh… Brae?” He asked the air, looking around to find the unexpectedly disappeared farmer.

Thankfully it didn’t take too long to find Braeburn. After taking a moment to check the house and finding it empty, he quickly began the slow trek towards the cliff overlooking the orchard.

And it was there that Sunburst found Braeburn. Laying on the ground near the edge of the cliff, looking up towards the stars.

Sunburst hesitated, holding back in the shadows a few feet behind Braeburn with an undue amount of anxiety. He had no idea if Braeburn would prefer to be alone or, in fact, why he’d rushed off so quickly in the first place. So he just stood, shuffling nervously on his hooves as he was filled with indecision.

But he pressed forward despite this.

Slowly, Sunburst trotted up behind Braeburn.

Hearing the sound of hoofsteps behind him, Braeburn slowly turned his head to look at the intruder. Seeing it was Sunburst, he gave a small frown. “Oh.” He said. “Howdy.”

“H-hey.” Sunburst said as he forced a soft smile, waving gently with a hoof. “You, uh, kinda disappeared, so I went looking for you.”

“Sorry ‘bout that. Just figured I’d let you do your magic thing.” Braeburn shrugged softly, then looked out toward the orchard beneath him. “I saw that light show of yours. Pretty impressive, but I figure it means you’re near on your way out, huh?”

“Not necessarily. I mean, we still don’t know if the spell worked or anything, but, uh…” Sunburst trailed off, taking a slight tentative step towards Braeburn. “Is everything alright? I mean, you’ve been acting a bit off all day, and I was just wondering if I did anything wrong? I’m well known for missing social cues, so you’ll have to tell me if I-”

“Y’all didn’t do anything, I promise.” Braeburn interrupted, waving Sunburst’s anxieties away with a hoof. “It’s just, I dunno… It’s been great spendin’ time with you, and I guess I’m just bummed it’s all gonna be ending soon.” Braeburn shrugged, sighing sadly, then looked again upwardly towards the stars.

Sunburst took another step towards Braeburn, this one larger and more decisive. Now standing directly behind Braeburn, close enough to be able to reach out and touch him, he hesitated yet again. “Well, I’m not gone yet.” He told Braeburn. “I don’t leave until tomorrow, so there’s still more than enough time to spend. As a break, for a change?”

Braeburn smiled at that, turning back to look at Sunburst with a smirk. He gently scooted over to provide room, then pat the ground beside him with a hoof. “Care to join me?”

Sunburst smiled, not needing to be told twice. He proceeded to lay down beside Braeburn in a way one might call too close. Neither stallion would, however, as both enjoyed the warmth of the stallion laying beside them.

A gentle silence bloomed between the two as they shared in each other’s company, both staring up at the bright night sky and the hundreds of stars that littered it on this night.

“I wish you didn’t need to go back to Ponyville.” Braeburn said softly after a few moments. “Not this soon, at least. Feels like we only started gettin’ acquainted, and I can’t believe it’s near over already.”

“It doesn’t have to be.” Sunburst said. He looked up at Braeburn, hesitating briefly before placing his hoof atop one of Braeburn’s. “I, uh, do have to go back to Ponyville for work, but that doesn’t mean I’m gone forever. I’d like to come back to Appleloosa as soon as possible.”

Braeburn turned away from Sunburst’s gaze, giving a small sighing laugh. “Yeah, heard that one before. Most ponies say that, then I never see ‘em again.”

“Well I’ve been told that I’m not like most ponies!” Sunburst said, giving Braeburn’s hoof a soft squeeze. “I mean, usually it’s said in a more derogatory sense, but…” He trailed off briefly, then shook his head to refocus himself. “What I mean to say is, I’m not one to just forget about a pony. Especially not one like you.” He looked towards Braeburn again, a gentle smile across his face. “I like you, Braeburn. You’re quite possibly the sweetest non-married stallion I’ve ever met, and I’d like to spend a lot more time with you. Whether it be something like this, or I could take you up on that hat shopping offer.”

Braeburn sighed, rolling his eyes. “I ain’t ever gonna live that one down, am I?” He said with a light chuckle. After which, he looked down at Sunburst with a warm smile, placing his unoccupied hoof atop Sunburst’s. “I’m mighty fond of you too, Sunny, and obviously I wanna spend more time with you. It’s part of the reason I was tryin’ so hard to distract you.”

“I figured that was the reason. Either that, or you really just didn’t want to have an orchard anymore.” Sunburst said with a soft giggle. He then sighed, leaning gently against Braeburn’s side. “But now that that’s all over, you have my full attention. Is there anything you’d like to do with it?”

Braeburn hesitated for a moment, then looked up towards the sky and the bright stars glittering in it. “Y’know, I never did get to hear you finish talkin’ about the Pillars and their constellations. On account of me so rudely passing out on you, o’course.” Tipping his hat in shame, he looked towards Sunburst and offered a bashful smile. “Think you’d wanna give it another shot? I promise I won’t fall asleep on you this time.”

Sunburst used a hoof to unclip the clasp of his starry cloak, then lit his horn and used his magic to extend the cloak across both he and Braeburn. Taking a moment to scoot even closer to the stallion beside him, Sunburst sighed happily and looked upwards.

“It would be my pleasure, Brae.”

Epilogue

The mid-day train to Appleloosa slid to a halt in the town’s station, a loud whistle sounding as its breaks were applied and it slowly slid to a stop.

Braeburn flinched, not at the sound but at what it meant for him, and looked down towards Sunburst with slight unease.

Sunburst looked up, sharing the look, but giving a gentle smile soon after. One that he hoped would put Braeburn at ease. “Looks like that’s my train.” He said, though made no intention to move from his spot next to Braeburn. Instead, he leaned up to give his neck a gentle nuzzle. “I, uh, should probably get going.”

“Probably should.” Braeburn agreed, leaning down to nuzzle Sunburst right back. “You say safe now, y’hear? Anything happens to you, and I’m gonna give AJ one heck of an earful for lettin’ it happen.”

“Brae, I’ll be fine~” Sunburst giggled as he jokingly pushed Braeburn away. “I’m just a Vice Headma-, er, Headstallion. The worst that’s going to happen to me is a papercut or two.”

“Well still.” Braeburn said softly with a sigh. “I’m just…”

“Not ready to see me go?” Sunburst finished as Braeburn trailed off. “Brae, I’ll be back as soon as I can, I promise. Unless, do you not believe me?”

“I believe you! I do…” Braeburn said, frowning deeply. “It’s just, the stove only needs to burn you a few times before they all start to scare you.”

“Then, uh, let me see if I can assuage your fears a little.” Sunburst said. He took a quick step away from Braeburn, then pressed a hoof against the clasp of his cloak. “This cloak was given to me by my friend right after I got my cutie mark, and right before I left to join the Canterlot Unicorn Academy. She said every real wizard needed to have a cloak of their own, and it definitely gave me comfort when it was proven I wasn’t exactly what the wizard I wanted to be.”

Braeburn blinked, then smiled confusedly at Sunburst. “That’s sweet and all, but I’m not sure how it-”

“I want you to have it.” Sunburst said, quickly undoing the clasp. “Not to keep, of course. Starlight would probably kill me if that happened. Just, you know, to borrow until I come back. As insurance.” He lit his horn, using his magic to move the cloak from him to rest on Braeburn instead, closing the clasp around his neck.

Looking at the sight of the farmer stallion wearing a wizardly cloak too small for him, Sunburst couldn’t help but laugh. “And it even looks great on you!” He reached towards the cloak with a hoof, fixing the fabric around Braeburn. “It, uh, also came with a hat, but I’m not really one for headware. Ponies say hats make me look dorky.”

Taking a moment to get used to the feeling of a thick, yet surprisingly cooled, cloak atop his usual vest, Braeburn looked at Sunburst with a bemused grin. “Well if y’all are gonna insist on it.” He reached up and removed the hat from his head, placing it atop Sunburst’s head in one fluid motion. “It ain’t much, not a gift from a childhood friend or nothin’, but hold onto my hat for me ‘til you get back. Was the first thing I got here in Appleloosa, so make sure to take good care of it.”

“It’s so great to finally have a Real Appleloosan Hat.” Sunburst said with a snicker. “Now you don’t even have to take me hat shopping.”

“I swear, y’all are lucky you’re cute.” Braeburn said with a deep, deep sigh.

Sunburst moved to banter back, but was quickly interrupted with the cry of “All aboard!” from the train conductor.

The mood between the two stallions darkened considerably as Sunburst lit his horn and used his magic to heft his many bags of luggage. “I guess this is it.” He said softly, giving Braeburn one last lingering look before turning to face the train.

“Guess so.” Braeburn said as he watched Sunburst turn and walk off. Just as he’d done with so many stallions before.

But Sunburst’s walking stopped moments later, the stallion setting his bags down upon the ground and turning to face Braeburn yet again. He quickly rushed towards Braeburn and, upon reaching him, leaned up to give him a gentle peck on the cheek.

Coming down from the gentle kiss, Sunburst looked at Braeburn with a gentle smile and blush. “That’s, uh, just a thank you for being such a gracious host. It’s been a pleasure getting to know you, Brae.”

“Aw, aren’t you a sweetheart.” Braeburn beamed widely, leaning down and planting a kiss against the white splotch on Sunburst’s muzzle. “If I knew how much you’d appreciate stayin’ in the guest room, I’da let you stay in my room instead.”

There was a beat of silence before both Braeburn and Sunburst’s faces flushed red, though Sunburst broke out into a light chuckle while Braeburn hid his face in embarrassment.

Clapping a hoof on Braeburn’s shoulder, Sunburst looked upwards at him while still chuckling lightly. “Well, maybe we can revisit that idea next time I’m in Appleloosa.” He said with a soft, teasing grin.