Tangled Words, Simple Hearts
Starlight Glimmer loved Sunburst. Which, ironically, was the problem.
For the record, it wasn’t that she didn’t want to tell him. It was more that she was terrified he might not feel the same way. That…was super irritating! Their relationship had started with him being head over hooves for her. Back then, her biggest worry had been that she didn’t love him enough. Now? Now?! She slammed her hoof onto the table, making her teacup rattle. “Darn it, Luna, why does this have to be so hard?”
Across the table, Luna raised an eyebrow, her starry mane shifting as she calmly sipped her tea. “Forsooth, tis the trials of the heart that make love all the sweeter. Who would wish it any other way?” Her lips twitched in sardonic amusement.
“Well, can’t we lower the difficulty? Like those human video games Sunset keeps writing about?” Starlight slumped, resting her chin on the table with a pout.
Luna sighed, hiding her (loving) exasperation behind her teacup. Two years of these “tea dates,” and she was still surprised at how often she ended up playing therapist to this mare. One would think becoming headmare of the School of Friendship would have ironed out all the kinks, but… “Starlight Glimmer, I do not know about these ‘video games,’ but I can tell you this—Lady Rarity’s advice was perfectly sound.”
“Yes, yes, I know.” Starlight blew out a gusty sigh.
“As a school headmare, this dilemma is straightforward and well within your skillset.” Luna’s voice took on the sharp edge of someone who’d been roused far earlier than they’d prefer. She’d been perfectly happy in bed before this. Waking dream guardians before 2 PM should be a crime. She had half a mind to request Twilight Sparkle decree it. Yet, for her dear friend, she would suffer the inconvenience. She reserved the right to grumble about it, all the same. “So I must ask—why have you not acted on it?”
“Because it’s hard!” Starlight groaned, sitting up only to slouch again. “Do you know what this requires, Luna? Vulnerability. I think I’d rather have blunt bangs again.”
Luna’s lips quirked into a small, wry smile. “Ah, the true crux of the issue. Look like a mare hiding her prodigious forehead or confess the truth of your fanciful heart!”
Starlight’s eyes widened and she touched a hoof to her head. “M-My forehead’s big?” Her hooves ran frantically over her mane. “Why didn’t anypony tell me?!”
“It’s practically bursting with your worry.” Luna brandished a scone at her young friend. “You are overcomplicating things again.” She only frowned a little when she said it. It wasn’t for consternation this time, but rather…
The princess’ lips pressed together as she watched Starlight fuss with the front of her mane. She’d nearly led Starlight astray once with her well-meaning advice. Truly, Starlight and Sunburst would not even be a couple had Luna’s projected concerns unearthed more fear than Starlight’s senses could handle. But here, Luna saw a chance at redemption. If she had to hit Starlight over the head with it, she would.
“Rarity advised you to be frank, did she not? Confess your love, and query the stallion’s interest in a deeper commitment. Give him time to answer and do not take it personally if that time lengthens.” Luna’s eyes turned to the ceiling. “Tis not as if either of you are famed for emotional finesse. A pity I cannot dream-walk into your relationship and fix it myself.”
Starlight nodded grimly. Then her eyes lit up. “Hey! Maybe—”
“No.”
“But—”
Luna let slip an undignified chuff as she narrowed her eyes and pinned her ears. “Starlight, do we want to experience the dream with the mutant porcupines and nattering donkeys again?”
Starlight went still and pinched her mouth shut. “Nope! I’ll drop it.”
“Thank you.” Luna sighed, lifting her teacup again. “Now, let us enjoy five minutes without your existential angst if you please.”
The other mare nodded, wordlessly taking a sip of her no-doubt cold tea. Luna smiled with some relief as the comfortable silence descended on them. With raised eyebrows, she offered Starlight a scone. Her friend took it with a tiny smile.
One minute passed. Two. Three…
“Okay that’s it, I need a hat. Luna, can I borrow one? Or do you only own tiaras? Wait, if you’re retired, are you even allowed to keep tiaras? Do you think one would fit over my forehead? Or would that count as impersonating a royal? Could I be imprisoned for that?!”
Luna pushed her teacup back, then dropped her head on the table with a clatter of the silverware.
Perhaps battling nightmares wasn’t so bad after all. She’d take the mutant porcupines over this.
Talk to him. Talk to him! As if all the world’s problems could be solved with words. Sometimes Starlight Glimmer missed the days when everything could be fixed with a spell or two. Though, "fixed" was being generous. She winced as she thought of all the times she’d used magic as a shortcut.
She was in charge of a school now. A school of friendship no less. It wouldn’t do for her to be hung up on such an elementary problem. This was not a time to regress.
There really was only one thing to do, wasn’t there? Just…talk. Be honest. Tell Sunburst her feelings and then hope he’ll understand.
It was their weekly trip to Sugarcube Corner tonight. They enjoyed a cupcake with some oat milk, chatting mostly about work and the latest gossip, then took a stroll through town before they’d later stop at the crystal castle. Since Twilight now resided full-time at Canterlot, she’d let Starlight take over the master suite.
There had been tentative talks of Sunburst moving in. Encouragingly, he’d been the one to bring up the idea twice, and she’d tried to support the idea without seeming too eager. The truth was, she was tearing her mane out wondering why it hadn’t happened yet. Her shadowed eyes tensed as ponies they passed did double takes.
Did he only bring up moving in because he thought that was what she wanted to hear? Did he not actually want to do it? Then again, she’d been pretty reserved, if still positive, when they’d discussed it. Was her lack of enthusiasm somehow giving off the wrong impression? She was just trying not to scare the stallion off!
“This is so hard,” Starlight groaned without thinking during their walk.
Sunburst glanced at her, blinking. “Erm, what is?”
Starlight looked at him in alarm as her cheeks heated up. “Oh! Um. I just…had some things on my mind.” She chewed her lip and added, “About us.”
Now her friend and lover raised his eyebrows. “Oh? Is everything okay?” His eyes narrowed. “This isn’t about eating your lunch salad again, is it? I already apologized for that—!”
“It isn’t about the salad, Sunburst. It’s…” Starlight blew out her cheeks. She sat on the bridge that led to Ponyville’s town hall and gazed out at the stream glittering in the setting sun. “I’ve been thinking about our future.”
Sunburst went very still, his mane blowing in the light breeze. “Ah. I-I see.”
Starlight nodded glumly. She didn’t want to have this conversation any more than he did. But she needed to have it, or she’d go crazy. She leaned her forelegs on the bridge’s stone parapet and looked up at the burning evening sky.
“Sunburst, are you happy with me?”
“Yes.”
The answer came so swiftly that Starlight blinked and looked at him. He gazed back at her steadily, though his cornflower blue eyes were huge with trepidation. Starlight smiled at him shakily.
“Great. Because I’m happy with you.” She frowned a little. “But I’m a bit confused.”
He rose up and placed his hooves on the parapet next to her. Their shoulders touched as he leaned against her. “Why?”
Starlight sighed. “I don’t understand why our relationship seems to have stopped…growing. It’s been two years.” She watched the dark minnows in the stream swimming about. “Sunburst, I…want more.”
He adjusted his glasses with a trembling hoof. Then asked, “Want more of what?”
“Closeness. Commitment.” She turned her face away. “We’ve talked about moving in together, but haven’t done it. I mean, I live in a crystal castle, arguably the best real estate in all of Ponyville! So I’m sure it’s not an issue with the home. But then what? My one solid guess was that it was…me. That you weren’t ready to get any closer. That maybe… You weren’t interested in getting married someday.” She bit her lip and looked at him, her eyes gleaming wetly. “Is any of that true, Sunburst?”
Sunburst stared at her with a long face. His glasses slid down his nose, and he opened his mouth, but no words came out. After a very long pause, he finally squeaked. “That’s what you’ve been worrying about?”
Starlight furrowed her brows. “Yes! So is any of it true?”
Sunburst sat back on the bridge and rubbed at his head. “That’s what you’ve been… Oh dear.”
She glared at him, vexed that her lover was getting tangled in a thought track again. She’d learned to bear this with some patience after being with him this long, but tonight it felt insufferable. “Sunburst, just answer the question! It’s me, isn’t it? That’s why you don’t want to take the next step!”
Sunburst just blinked at her, his starry cape askew. Then he threw his head back and laughed.
Her chest tightened, her ears pinning back as the sound of his laughter hit her like a slap. It wasn’t funny. Was it? Did he think this was all just a joke? She blinked hard, trying to stop the tears from falling. Her instincts had been spot on! He didn’t love her like she loved him. Maybe he didn’t really care about her at all—!
“Starlight Glimmer, I was afraid I’d scare you if I said anything of the sort!”
Starlight sniffled, wiping at her eyes. “You… What?”
Sunburst, still chortling, put a foreleg around her and pulled her into a side hug. “Starlight, I want to move in with you. I was just worried my habits would upset you! In case you haven’t noticed, I’m a bit…ah…messy.” He adjusted his glasses and grinned crookedly. “I’ve been trying to work on it.”
Her mouth hung open. He had wanted to live with her all this time?
“You’ve been worried about that?” Starlight hung her head and groaned. “Sunburst, we’ve been together for years! Did you really think I was going to break up with you over a little clutter?”
“Er, yes?”
She slapped a hoof over her heart, horrified. “Ouch! Am I that critical?”
He shook his head. “Not exactly, but you’ve got, let’s say, an aura of efficiency. I worried that I’d inconvenience you. Anyway, are we forgetting that I was the one who brought up the idea? Twice?”
“But whenever you did you always seemed so reluctant, even when I tried to hint that I was interested!”
He shrugged, his cheeks pink. “Starlight, you must understand. You can be a very intimidating mare. I was trying to be cautious.”
She threw her hooves up into the air. “But I told you we could try it!”
Now Sunburst raised an eyebrow at her. “Yes, well, sweetheart, you’re very good at playing hard to get. A little too good. You may have sounded polite every time I brought it up, but you never exactly gave me a ringing endorsement. Unless you think telling me that I could maybe have one drawer to put my things in sounded ‘eager’ to you?”
Starlight blushed. Well. Maybe she could have baited her hook better. “I… I was trying not to come across like some crazy mare trying to tie you down.” She smiled weakly. “The truth is that Twilight and Rarity’s wedding had me thinking we were behind the curve. They only started dating a few months before us, you know.”
Sunburst grinned at her sardonically. “You’re comparing and despairing again, Starlight. I know Twilight’s your mentor, but her love life doesn’t need to be our ruler.”
Starlight winced. “Darn it. I keep doing that without even realizing it…”
She giggled when Sunburst nuzzled her, and then kissed her cheek. “It’s a good thing you’ve got me around to help you see, huh?” He wagged his eyebrows at her.
She winked at him. “I could think of a few more reasons to keep you around.”
Starlight placed her hooves on his face and kissed him, gently. Once upon a time, such public displays of affection would have mortified her. Now she just wanted Sunburst to hold her and whisper sweet nothings in her ear at any given moment.
He leaned in, his lips tickling, and she shivered as he whispered: “Starlight…what’s with the hat?”
She squinted one eye. Okay, that wasn’t quite what she’d been hoping for, but… She pulled away and touched the brim of the wizard’s hat she’d borrowed from Luna. “Er, this?”
Sunburst nodded, frowning up at it. The hat was dark blue with a crooked tip. The brim was wide enough that he had to duck just to sit under it. “It’s so…large.”
Starlight tugged the hat down nervously. “I picked it for a reason… Um. D-Do you think my forehead’s big?”
The stallion just gazed at her for a long moment. Then his horn lit up and he threw the hat into the stream. Starlight reached for it frantically. “H-Hey, that’s not mine!” she shrieked, watching the hat drift downstream like a little doomed ship.
Before she could reclaim her hat, Sunburst grabbed her and kissed her again, deeper this time, making her bend backward as he held her tightly with both forelegs. Starlight yelped a little in surprise before her eyes slipped closed and she returned the kiss. He had learned to be bolder with her, and it never failed to send a zing of excitement and pleasure down her spine. When they ended their kiss, he was smiling self-consciously and she was looking at him like she wanted to devour him on the spot.
“Should we discuss this some more back at the castle?” she asked breathlessly, biting her lip.
He blushed and chuckled. “You’ve got a one-track mind.”
She toyed with his beard and fanned her eyelashes like Rarity had taught her. “Why wouldn’t I when I’m with a stud like you?” But even this line reached too far, and they both laughed at the corniness of it.
“Okay, I’m a little lewd. But seriously… Do you want to stay with me tonight?” She looked at him hopefully as her forelegs squeezed around his neck.
Sunburst smiled. “Yes. Let’s go home.”
Starlight sighed happily. Then her expression froze. “Uh, first I need to go get Luna’s hat back. She’ll wring my neck if I lose it.”
“Luna’s—what??” He scrambled, legs tangling with hers as they hastened after the hat.“Starlight, why didn’t you say something sooner?!” he yelped.
Much later in the night, when Sunburst was dozing soundly in their bed, Starlight slipped away with a soft kiss to write a quick letter.
Dear Princess Luna,
Okay. You were right. As usual. We talked it out and it turns out it was a big misunderstanding. Sunburst is planning on moving in this weekend, and while he didn’t immediately drop down and propose, we started talking about what a wedding would look like, and whether or not we wanted foals. I’d like one. He wants three. I had to pick my jaw up off the floor, Luna. Three! Can you believe that? Sunburst’s insane! Can you imagine me tending to so many foals?
And you’d better stop nodding your head with that expression, you silly old mare! You can only agree with me up to a point.
Anyway… I’ll bring your hat back next tea date. Turns out I don’t need it. Sunburst says he loves my big ol’ forehead. So there!
Blowing Raspberries Your Way,
Starlight Glimmer
P.S.
Thanks. I love you. I needed the swift kick to the flank. Again. You really are the best.
Author's Note
They are such cute and cuddly dorks, I LOVE THEM SO MUCH.
I feel like this would have been a good song to cap off the ending of the first fic with, but it still works here.
Starlight and Sunburst are such a good pair. I was really happy to write another fic for these two. If you haven't yet, please check out my first story with them, Sincerely, Starlight!
