Unbreakable

It was Sunday, and Starlight remembered her promise to Sunburst from the bus ride on Friday. Just promise me you’ll practice magic with me later. Well, now was later, and she decided to go over to Sunburst’s house so they could practice their magic.

“Dad! I’m going to Sunburst’s house!” Starlight called.

She heard Firelight’s footsteps coming closer, until he was right next to her. He put a hoof in her hair and ruffled it, and then he tied her hair in two pigtails. “See you home by dinnertime. And don’t talk to strangers!” he added.

Starlight rolled her eyes and walked a few blocks over to Sunburst house.

When she arrived at Sunburst’s doorstep, she didn’t even need to knock. They were close friends. She walked into the living room, where she found him reading books. “Are you ready to do some spells?” she asked.

“Of course I am!” Sunburst grinned. “I have been since the last time we had fun with magic.”

Starlight giggled. “Then let’s get started!”

“Okay,” he agreed. “I found this spell, called the ascender spell. It’s pretty much a levitation spell, but it allows you to easily lift more things.” Sunburst showed Starlight the page in the book, allowing her to study it while he demonstrated. He slowly lifted all the books off of the bookshelf, and was soon joined by Starlight. They dropped all the books on the floor and sighed.

“That was probably one of the hardest spells I’ve ever done,” Starlight breathed.

“Yeah, it’s pretty hard, but if you tried to lift all those books with a simple levitation spell, it would be even harder.” Sunburst tried a levitation spell and struggled to lift the books off the ground, even when Starlight helped him.

They dropped the books, and they fell down. “You’re right, that is so much harder,” Starlight admitted.

They practiced the ascender over and over again, until they sat down, sweating and breathing heavily. They walked to the kitchen for a snack, which they ate very quickly in hopes of having more fun with magic.

“Hey, we can make this into a game!” Starlight suggested.

“What do you mean?” Sunburst wondered.

“Jenga!” Starlight squealed.

Sunburst rubbed his chin. “I’ve never heard of that game before. How do you play?”

“Usually, we use blocks to play, but since we’re practicing magic, we can use those instead,” Starlight started, pointing at the books. Sunburst nodded, following along so far. “We can use the ascender spell to set up the game.”

“How?”

“It’s like a tower, but made of books. Just put 2 books for each floor, and make each floor face the opposite direction. If you know what I mean.”

Sunburst nodded, and they started to lift the books off of the ground, though Sunburst thought it was a bit easier this time. Starlight beamed and took the first move of the game, removing a book that was near the middle and placing it on top. “That’s basically how you play, and the pony who makes the tower fall loses,” Starlight explained.

“Easy enough,” Sunburst scoffed, taking out the book that was on the bottom of the one Starlight removed. Starlight and Sunburst went on for a while, betting each other that they would be the one to win.

Starlight took a risky move that made the tower shake, but only temporarily. She giggled. “Think you can beat that?”

Sunburst made a nervous face as he wiggled a blue book out of its spot and placed it on top. He sighed a breath of relief and sat down, satisfied with the game. The tower was as high as the tallest window in the house! Starlight clapped her hooves, with a cheerful face on.

She made a smug face, standing up and changing her look to a determined one. She stuck her tongue out in an effortful way, pulling out a book, making the tower unstable. She heard a bit of creaking and looked up, dropping the book when she saw that their tower was falling. Not only that, but it was going to fall on her!

Starlight backed away and cowered, covering her face, shaking in fear. But, just when the books were about to hit her, they stopped, surrounded by a yellow magic aura. Starlight opened her eyes, to see that the books were backing away from her, Sunburst lifting them towards himself. He started floating in the air, the books orbiting him as he started glowing.

Starlight blocked her eyes from the light and squinted, but could still see that the books were being placed back on the shelf. Starlight slightly gaped as Sunburst landed back on the ground, only his flank glowing. Both of them saw what was on his flank when the light had faded away: his cutie mark. It was a sun, bursting and letting out rays of light, and it glimmered, too.

Starlight was too in awe to say anything, to do anything but Sunburst was really excited. He jumped, a big smile on his face, and ran outside to show everypony. Everypony but Starlight.

Starlight walked to the door, slightly frowning, watching as Sunburst’s dad lifted him off the ground, walking away and laughing, cheering, making plans for magic school. Her frown became bigger, and she bit her lip, tears forming in her eyes. Starlight blinked and let the tears drop. She sadly walked into Sunburst’s house, knowing that Canterlot was far from Sire’s Hollow. Which meant, her best friend was far from her.

Starlight buried her face in her pillow, tears still heavily flowing. She tried to cry as quietly as possible, so that her Dad wouldn’t hear her and find out how she was feeling. If he did, he’d probably keep her home from school tomorrow, comfort her in her old “blankie,” bake cookies for her, and read her a bedtime story. She was old enough to handle little things like emotions on her own.

Starlight wiped her tears and sat up in bed, angry with herself. “It’s time to get over this, Starlight,” she said, slapping herself, though it didn’t hurt nearly as much as the pain Sunburst gave her did. “Don’t be a big baby. Just accept that he’s gone, and that friendship just isn’t worth it.” Starlight almost cried at that last sentence, but stopped herself. She was done with sadness. She laid down on her pillow, which was soaked. Starlight rolled her eyes and flipped her pillow over.

Starlight squeezed her eyes, trying to forget all of the sadness she felt when Sunburst left her. Surprisingly, it worked. Her sadness turned to anger at cutie marks, at friendship, at Sunburst. She would never make another friend again, in case they left her with as much pain as Sunburst did. Starlight fell asleep, thoughts swirling around her head like storm clouds in a tornado, her breath so heavy, it was as strong as a storm.