Sunburst woke up in the early afternoon of the next day. Once being lead to his room in the castle, one right across the hall from Starlight’s, he couldn’t help but collapse on the bed and take his very, very long nap right then and there. Starlight had to let herself out, but not before fawning over how cute Sunburst looked when he was asleep, unconsciously grabbing a pillow and cuddling it close to his chest. It was absolutely adorable when he started to murmur in his sleep, stilted phrases from his dreams about odd and somewhat meaningless subjects.

Then he rolled onto his side and started to snore, making Starlight feel that it was time to leave.

But still, that was asleep Sunburst. We’re dealing with slightly awake Sunburst now.

He woke up sprawled across the bed, one foreleg hooked around the pillow he was having an intimate evening with. Can’t blame him, really, as it was enchanted to be warm and smell pleasant to whoever interacted with it. Smelled like home to him. Not his apartment in Canterlot. Just home.

His eyes slid open only to see a fancy headboard sitting in front of him. Certainly not something he owned. Then again, he didn’t own a bed for himself as well, so that was also confusing. His foggy little mind tried to force the pieces together, but he was still much too tired to accomplish such a feat. So he just pressed his muzzle into the soft bed and tried to fall back asleep.

Keyword: tried. The heating spell he had put on his robe on the previous day had faded, leaving him freezing in his guestroom. He opened his eyes and huffed softly, seeing his breath in the air. This was most certainly not normal for Canterlot.

Because it wasn’t Canterlot, he remembered, as he was visiting Starlight in Ponyville. He smiled at that. The fact that he and Starlight were together again. Just the thought made him wrap his forelegs around the pillow he had, grinning like a dumb horse.

Then there was a knock at his door, making him jump with a squeak. He quickly rolled out of bed, approaching the door with his head drooped low, as if he was afraid of what could be waiting behind it. As he opened the door, he was hoping for Starlight.

Nope. Former King Sombra stood in front of him instead, looking just as menacing as always. The tall, black stallion looked down at Sunburst, giving him an unintentionally disinterested glare. He didn’t mean it. He’s just a naturally tired stallion, given the many nightmares he has on any given night, so he just constantly glared. His lack of social cues didn’t help as well.

Sombra sighed heavily as he looked down at the terrified stallion in front of him. “Princess Sparkle and Starlight would like you to join us for lunch.” He explained. His voice was notably lighter sounding today, almost as if Sombra was making a very large attempt to not spook Sunburst as they chatted.

It didn’t exactly help much, as Sombra had the kind of intimidating aura about him that made Sunburst quiver as he stood. Still, he managed to somewhat regain his composure. Enough to respond without embarrassing himself, at least.

“Well, uh,” Sunburst dipped his head low, still feeling the need to show the utmost respect for the stallion, “Thank you, uh, sir. Tell them that I’ll be there in a minute. If it isn’t too much trouble, that is.” He breathed a small sigh, shuddering as he tried to not cry under the oppressive personality that Sombra exuded constantly.

Sombra frowned, though on his scared face it looked more like a scowl. Twilight told him that he still had a sort of effect on ponies around him, but this was the first actual evidence that he saw of it. A, seemingly, well-adjusted stallion was made a sniveling mess just from a few words and attempts at welcoming expressing.

The ebony stallion breathed a heavy sigh, dipping his head slightly as he closed his eyes. “Well this is not good.” He said softly. He raised a hoof slowly as he tried his best to calm the small stallion down. “Listen, I am not exactly trying to scare you. I know that I may seem very…” He sighed through his nose, scrunching his face as he tried to come up with the term. “I may seem very frightening, but I promise you that it is not intentional.”

Of course, Sunburst didn’t seem to be convinced. All of the better villains in stories he’d read throughout the years were ones that convinced the protagonist that they were most certainly not evil. And this egotistical bastard seemed to think that it was him who was protagonisting. To be fair, he was, but that’s still just not an assumption you make.

Sunburst looked over Sombra carefully, slowly coming back from cowering in front of the big stallion. He watched for any sign of movement or magic being used. After realizing that the massive stallion in front of him truly meant no harm, for now, he smiled slightly. “Uh, sorry for all that. You’re just absolutely terrifying when you glare like that.”

Sombra was slightly taken aback by that. Was he glaring? This was just how his face seemed to fall when he was trying to be nice. He pursed his lips slightly, then lowered his head. “I apologize then. I certainly am not intending to come through as scary. I have no clue how to not be imposing, I suppose.”

Sunburst thought for a moment, tapping his chin as he considered how to make this very spooky stallion less spooky. “Maybe you could growl less? Smile more?” He suggested, hoping that Sombra wouldn’t eat him for it.

“Do I growl?” The stallion growled in the form of a question. Sunburst didn’t have the courage to nod, but Sombra knew that the answer was yes. He took a deep breath, shaking his head, then decided to make the attempt.

Sombra did his best to smile. For a stallion that had never smiled in his very, very long life, he did kind of well. He knew the mechanics behind smiling, at least, as he’d seen Twilight do it very often when they talked. So he emulated.

Now, the problem here was that Twilight tended to show teeth when she smiled. Sombra had teeth that were frighteningly sharp, seemingly only good for tearing meat from bone. That was really just a misconception due to his formerly umbrum physiology. He was really more of a fan of vegetables.

Anyway, enough about headcanons. Sombra smiled, showing all of his sharp teeth. Now, this would be terrifying to Sunburst if the smaller stallion hadn’t focused on Sombra’s eyes. The big lug was looking down expectantly at Sunburst while also trying his hardest to hold a smile for as long as possible.

It didn’t take that long for said smile to fall though. He looked down on Sunburst, the smaller stallion holding back giggles, and frowned. A much easier facial expression for him. “What?” He demanded a bit too loudly. “What is so funny?”

Sunburst immediately straightened up, clenching his teeth as he froze in a sort of statuesque position.

Sombra let out yet another sigh, waving a hoof loosely. “At ease.” He then shook his head, his frown deepening heavily. “It seems that smiling is not quite my speed. I should try something else.”

“Or just keep trying this.” Sunburst suggested. “Just, you know, in front of a mirror and not me.” He dipped his head slightly lower at that, fighting back a sigh. “Your teeth are scary.”

“My teeth?” Sombra asked before he ran his tongue across them, nearly cutting it in the process. That garnered a deep chuckle from the stallion. “I do suppose they are still a bit sharp. Maybe I should see one of those ‘dentists’ that Princess Twilight was informing me about.”

“That could be for the best, sir.” Sunburst told Sombra, blushing a bit at his unintended formality. Thankfully, neither had a chance to dwell on that for very long, as Sunburst’s tum did a rumble. As it so happens, he had forgotten to eat at all the previous day, nervousness threatening to expel anything he made an attempt to eat at all. So he was a bit hungry.

Sombra chuckled once again, his face somehow contorting itself to resemble a soft smile. Though it still did show a bit of teeth, solidifying his intimidating persona even when he was trying to be normal and not a big meanie.

He let out a soft sigh. “We should probably join Princess Sparkle and Starlight for lunch now. They must be worried about where we both have been off to.” He took a large step back, then gestured a hoof down the hall. The overly long hall that branched off a bunch of times. “Shall we embark?”

Sunburst nodded, stepping out of his room as he cast a heating spell on his robe once again.

The two then embarked on a long trip to find the dining room of the castle. A room Sombra had only been a few times.

It took them a good amount of time and a whole lot of walking. There was also many silences between the two of them, neither knowing how to hold a conversation with another stallion without either consciously or unconsciously flirting.

So it was just walking and silence. If you’ve ever watched Gerry, you would probably know how it went down. Just replace sand with crystal flooring and the melodious singing of Kyle Kallgren, we all know you didn’t watch the full thing, with rhythmic stepping. Alright, that was in Gerry as well, but whatever.

Anyway, the two, after several minutes, happened upon the dining room by mere chance. Both Sunburst and Sombra assumed that they would be walking another of Twilight’s smooching rooms, but, lo and behold, they instead bumped into a severely long table, both Twilight and Starlight sitting near the head.

Also sitting with them, across from Starlight and with Twilight to his right, was a small purple dragon who was currently chewing on a few rubies. Very very vaguely, Sunburst could remember a dragon of the same color scheme being carted around on Twilight’s back on the rare occasions he saw her. If he remembered correctly, he explicitly made it a rule with Event to never involve the baby dragon in any of his pranks.

They all turned to face the newly arrived pair, making Sunburst blush and dip his head a bit. “Sorry I’m late.” He told them all, hoping his voice would carry far enough. “I was pretty tired when I went to sleep. Still didn’t think I was gonna nap for that long.” With that, he scampered on over to Starlight’s side of the table, sitting next to her and resisting the urge to nuzzle her. Instead, he just smiled bashfully at her.

“How was that ‘nap’, Sunburst?” Starlight asked a bit teasingly as she smiled at her doofy, bleary eyed boyfriend.

Sunburst’s smile grew ever so much wider as his girlfriend smiled at him. He was going to attempt to playfully glare at her for a moment before answering, but he just couldn’t manage to do it. Instead he let out a small sigh and responded. “Good enough for me to sleep longer than I have in years.” He grinned even wider, chuckling a small bit. “Heck, more than I have in years at all, probably.”

As the two lovebirds flirted, Spike shot a glance to Sombra, sitting to his left, who shot a similar one to Twilight. Sombra had informed her of the other two’s romancing over their solo dinner. So, the mare cleared her throat, wanting to interrupt the two before anything escalated. “Sunburst,” she started with raised eyebrows, then gestured to Spike. “I don’t believe you’ve formally met Spike yet, have you?”

“Oh, uh,” Sunburst jerked his head to face forward once again, looking at the baby dragon who had stopped mid-chew to awkwardly look across the table. Sunburst scratched the back of his neck, grinning oddly as he just wanted this to end so he could eat. “I suppose that we haven’t. It’s nice to finally meet you, I guess. You may remember me as the colt that Twilight probably whined a whole lot about.”

Twilight was, of course, quick to rebut. “I didn’t whine. I complained.”

Sunburst just shrugged. “Oh, tomato, tomahto.” He chuckled a bit before looking over to Spike once again. “I hope I didn’t cause any harm, indirectly or otherwise.”

It was now Spike’s turn to shrug, very obviously wanting to go back to eating his lunch in silence, then go back to his nap. “I don’t remember anything about you, so I guess you didn’t do anything.” He was then about to start eating his gems once again, but then he remembered his manners. “It’s, uh, nice to meet you too, Sunburst.”

Twilight nodded. It was nice to see that Spike still could keep his manners up when he wasn’t talking to someone he knew well. She had sheltered him for much too long, so she could never be too sure. Then, looking over to Sombra, she wondered if she could train whatever he had wrong with him out.

She shrugged. It was probably better to worry about that after lunch. She looked down at her already partially eaten daisy sandwich. “I guess we should just dig in then.”

There were murmured noises of acknowledgement from the rest of the ponies at the table, Spike already taking the initiative to loudly chew everything on his plate. The rest followed suit shortly after.

They got to eat for a good few seconds before Spike was wracked with coughs. The company around him was fairly worried, thinking maybe he had swallowed a gem whole once again, but most had their fears quelled when the little dragon belched a mighty plume of green fire. The flames coiled in the air, compressing and forming themselves into the form of a small scroll with a regal seal holding it closed.

Spike grumbled softly, grabbing the scroll and flicking the seal open with his thumb claw. “Dear Spike, the next scroll is meant for Sunburst and I would like it if he’s the first one to read it.” Just as Spike was about to question the letter, he once again breathed a fire of scroll.

The little dragon harrumphed, crossing his arms as he pouted at the new scroll. He didn’t quite like scrolls he wasn’t allowed to read, being the nexus of royal gossip that he was. Now he wouldn’t have anything to tell Sweetie Belle when he visited the Carousel Boutique after lunch.

Ignoring the miffed dragon, Sunburst grabbed his scroll from the center of the table and turned it over in his hooves. It was certainly the kind of parchment that Celestia would write on. And, if that wasn’t enough to convince him, the sun shaped seal holding it shut was most certainly enough.

He swallowed what little fluid his mouth contained, fairly obviously nervous at whatever the message could say. Just the fact that Celesia knew where he was was a bit odd, but moreover was the fact that he had, well, no-showed an appointment of hers.

Still, he broke the seal. It was probably just well-wishes for the holiday that she had forwarded over to Ponyville due to his vacation. Yep. That was it.

Dear Sunburst,

Twilight’s dueling room.

Noon tomorrow.

You won’t be getting away that easily.

Your reckoning,

Princess Celestia.

Sunburst didn’t say anything as he rolled the letter back up, resealing the scroll with a heating spell on the wax. He just stared forwards, past Sombra, and nodded as he let out a massive sigh. Before anyone could ask him what the letter said, his horn lit up for a split second, then he and the scroll disappeared in a flash of yellow light.

From way, way, way down the hall, the four remaining could hear anguished screaming echoing from what they all assumed to be Sunburst’s room.

With a small sigh, Starlight nodded. She stood up from her chair, pushed her chair in, then looked at Twilight. “I should probably take care of him.” She dipped her head a small bit. “Thank you for the meal though, Twilight. What I ate of it, at least.”

Twilight nodded, smiling gently at her friend. “I can keep it in the fridge if you’d like.” She turned her head to face Sombra, who nodded and gripped her plate in his magic. He quickly sauntered off to the kitchen so that it didn’t spoil.

And then there were three. Starlight shot an odd look at Twilight. “I guess I’ll just go and check on Sunburst then.” She told her.

“Alright.” Twilight said with a nod. Then she scrunched her face the smallest bit, thinking back to what had happened moments earlier. “See if you can find out what the letter was about. It seems a bit suspicious that The Princess would send something that she didn’t want me to look over through Spike.”

What a weird request. Still, Twilight was Starlight’s friendship advisor, so she must know something. Though this may not have anything to do with friendship. Even still, Starlight nodded. “I’ll see if I can get that out of him. Only after I comfort him though.”

And with that she swooced right out, rushing down to Sunburst’s room before he did anything that would raise the maturity level of this story. We’ll save that for a spin-off fanfic, maybe. We’ll see.

Sunburst’s door was still partially open, the stallion not remembering to shut it after he ran away for what had to be the hundredth time at this point. He was much too busy packing what little he had laid out the previous night.

He didn’t bother organizing anything, just throwing them back in the bag as he held back barely restrained panic. His heart was still beating wildly, breathing ragged as he just absolutely needed to get out of there now. Before Celestia found him.

He briefly thought over leaving a note, but decided that it both would take much too much time and would also be too dramatic for him. Best to leave without a trace, he decided. So he attempted to do just that, strapping his saddlebag to his back and hurrying out of his room.

Sadly, instead of being able to run like the coward he was, he bumped snoot first into Starlight. Both the horses fell back onto their rumps, a bit shaken as they shook their heads. Sunburst recovered first, stood up, and offered a hoof to help Starlight up. She graciously accepted.

“I hate to do this, Starlight, but I really have to go.” Sunburst told her nervously, his eyes shifting back and forth as if looking to catch any movement. “I probably won’t be headed back to Canterlot for a while, so don’t look for me there. I think Trottingham is nice this year.” He added absentmindedly before stiffening up. “You didn’t hear me say that.” He told her a bit sternly before pushing past her, shaking his head and mumbling to himself.

Of course, Starlight wasn’t having any of that as she pulled a page from Twilight’s book and wrapped her magic around Sunburst’s tail. Sunburst kept walking for another moment before falling on his face.

The stallion grumbled softly as he picked himself, then looked back at Starlight to glare for just a brief second before his face fell once again. His head drooped low as he looked at her apologetically. “Listen, I’m sorry that I have to go. I’d love to spend more time with you so we can do, you know, things.” He hoofed at the crystal flooring, briefly considering staying and facing the music just so that he could have a cuddle with Starlight. He shook his head moments later though, thinking it wouldn’t be worth the embarrassment. “I just can’t stay.” He decided before attempting to walk away once again. He also fell once again.

“Sunburst,” Starlight started as she, too, got on the ground, but this was to wrap her hooves around a prone Sunburst, “I don’t care what that letter said, whether it be blackmail or threats. You’re either staying here or taking me with you.”

Sunburst shook his head wildly. He couldn’t imagine taking her on the run with him. They would be like a modern day horse Bonnie and Clyde, minus the deaths, or a horse Thelma and Louise, minus the deaths and most of the gay. Most. Were they to leave together, they could bet on meeting a traveling magician at some point.

But enough about better plot ideas.

“I just can’t do it, Starlight.” Sunburst admitted, though he made no attempt to shake off the mare who had her hooves wrapped around his waist. If anything, he leaned against her for comfort. “Princess Celestia is going to be here tomorrow to duel me for the Mage Exam. I just can’t fail again. So I’m going to run instead.”

Starlight wrapped her hooves tighter around Sunburst, resting her chin against his neck. “No running. I just finished unpacking my stuff and I don’t wanna have to do that all over again.” She nuzzled against his shoulder, kissing him softly. “I know you’re scared, but I can help you through it. Both me and Twilight can.”

Sunburst just shook his head again. “I don’t want to drag you down too. I already ruined Event. I don’t want to hurt you.” He balled his hooves in anger, clenching his eyes shut. “Me coming here was just a mistake. I should have known this would happen.” And yet, he still didn’t make a movement to leave. Instead he nuzzled his head back against Starlight, sighing softly.

“And yet you’re not leaving.” Starlight pointed out. “Something tells me that you don’t really wanna run.”

“I don’t.” The scared stallion admitted after a few moments of heavy thought. “I just have to. I can’t beat Princess Celestia. I don’t know how anyone can!”

“Shush.” Starlight said, putting a hoof to Sunburst’s muzzle. “We’ll figure it out. Together. You know how the duel has evolved over the years, Twilight passed the exam years ago, I have oddly creative ideas behind my magic, and Sombra…” Starlight scrunched her face, thinking. “Well, Sombra has something to bring to the table as well. Years of knowledge, I guess.”

Sunburst did a grumble in response to that, pouting a bit at the thought that he should accept any help with something he was oh so capable of performing alone.

Another boop to his snoot was enough to quiet his displeasure with the scenario. “We’re helping you, Sunburst. Your friends are going to help you through this.”

Sunburst didn’t respond. He just pushed Starlight back a small bit so that he could turn around. He couldn’t quite hug her back any other way, right? So, he wrapped his hooves around her, cradling her head as she nuzzled against his neck. His head sat above her own, chin resting on her horn. He held her tight, not bearing the chance of letting her go for even a moment.

Starlight giggled lightly as she tried her best to become comfortable in her new position. “So, I guess I’ll take that as a yes?”

“It’s a yes.” Sunburst told her softly, nuzzling his muzzle against her mane. Despite him thinking it was oddly creepy, the smell of her mane helped him calm down and feel safe as they held each other. “I guess I can give it one last try before I go into hiding. I probably couldn’t hold it up for long anyway. I’d miss you and Event a whole lot. Mostly you though.”

“Good thing you’ll pass this year and never have to leave me.” Starlight told him, shaking her head softly. “Never ever ever. Ever.”

Sunburst nodded in agreement. “I’ll stay. Even if I’m a failure of a stallion.” That garnered a swat from Starlight, followed by a nuzzle from Sunburst. “Fine. I’m gonna do great. I’ve got a Mage, a creative, and someone to intimidate the Princess if she doesn’t let me pass.”

Starlight couldn’t help but smile at that. “Now you’ve got it.” She closed her eyes, dipping deep into the cuddle and sighing softly. “So, how’s about we go and do one of those training montages? Spike and his girlfriend can do the music.”

Sunburst chuckled, muffled slightly as he pressed his muzzle against hers for just a moment. “Not a bad idea. But let’s do that later. I wanna keep this up for a little while longer.” And, with that, he went back to nuzzling her mane in an attempt to keep himself calm. Still, there was one last thing to say. “Thank you for this, Starlight. I probably woulda run all the way to the Griffon Lands if you didn’t stop me.”

“You’re my boyfriend, Sunny. I gotta keep you from disappearin’. Otherwise I’m a bad date, or something.” She gave a shrug, then buried her face into Sunburst’s neck scruff.

“I still feel like I gotta say it, you know?” He pouted a small bit, wishing then that he’d just stayed quiet about it all. Still, he was in the thick of it now. He needed to continue. “So, you know, about all that stupid stuff I was saying about leaving you behind and stuff.”

He sighed, giving a small, tired smile as he thought of what he could possibly say to fix what it is he had brought upon the two of them. He pulled her closer to his chest, constantly needing more and more comfort. “I’m sorry.”

Author's Notes:

I was going to have these last few chapters released in real time. Sadly, next chapter has yet to be wroiten.
Little under a week at best, depending on quality.
Or, you know, later than that.