Sunburst spent the rest of the day preparing mentally and physically for his duel the next day. Most of the day was spent being tutored by Twilight on the finer arts of dueling. What better a teacher than one who has first hand experience, no? Even still, she gave very formal, stilted explanations on the events to proceed. She also seemed very annoyed that Celestia hadn’t issued the duel in an official, sanctioned way. They had just skipped, like, five steps. There wasn’t even a chance to negotiate a peace.

That’s what frightened Sunburst. He could memorize every counterspell in history, and he was kind of being forced to by Twilight, but he had absolutely no idea how Celestia would be treating this. When he’d dueled her before, in a severely controlled environment, she was both playful and inventive with her spells, but not giving up a sense of command in doing that. How would she be when he had wronged her so much?

The very thought made him want to run, but then he looked over at Starlight as she rushed in between books while she tried to come up with something, anything, that could give Sunburst an advantage in the duel. He wanted to tell her to rest, especially after catching her nodding off in a pile of books on magic theory, but he knew she would just smoosh his face and tell him to shut up.

On the side, Sombra gave Sunburst tips on surviving an actual duel with Celestia. He had done so years and years back, after all, so he was probably someone to listen to. From what he told Sunburst, she was a particularly vicious duelist who would attack at any weak point she spotted. And she certainly spotted very many.

The one thing that seemed interesting in Sombra’s whole slideshow was that Celestia gravitated towards more harmless spells, intending to incapacitate instead of maim. This had the added benefit of catching whatever pony she was dueling off guard, seeing as not many had memorized how to unglue hooves from the ground. Sunburst quickly got to work on reliving his childhood and relearning all of those spells once again.

He spent many many hours in the library, just reading. Every now and then, Spike would come in to bring him food, or to keep him company and watch him work. Sunburst reminded him of Twilight in that right, as he was just pouring over the books and absorbing every little bit of knowledge he could in the time he was given.

Even still, the hours turned into many and everyone had to go to sleep in order to prepare for the big day. Every single one of them would be behind Sunburst. Even Twilight, who had signed on as Celestia’s number two.

Sunburst was starting to doze off, every now and then bumping snoots with his book and sleeping until his snoring woke him up. Starlight, the only one to stay with him after night had long ago fallen, noted this and approached him from behind, nuzzling at his back. She told that it was time to go to bed and he, noting the drool that had dripped upon his book, decided that she was right.

The two retreated to their rooms, though Sunburst, unable to walk for a few feet without stumbling and falling asleep on the floor, was forced to bunk with Starlight. He wasn’t complaining, of course, as he draped his hoofsies around Starlight and held her close. Much like he would with a pillow. He fell asleep almost instantly, leaving her to deal with the snores.

The both were woken fairly early in the morning, somewhere around nine, so that more preparations could be had. Starlight was woken first, though she could do nothing without the waking of Sunburst. She was trapped in a cuddle, which most certainly wasn’t the worst way to die. Still, she jabbed him in the ribs which seemed to wake him up almost instantly.

The orange horse let out a sound that resembled a mix between a groan and a snort. Even still, he gripped Starlight closer to him as he tried to figure out what just caused him so much pain. Then he looked down at Starlight and forgot all about any pain he was in.

“Heya Lighter.” He said, still a bit sleepy as he buried his muzzle into her mane. Not too long after did he close his eyes and start snoring once again.

Starlight sighed. She didn’t have time for this. She jabbed him in the ribs again and, while he was confused and had lost his grip, slipped out from between his forelegs. She went around to behind him and started to push him with her snooter. “It’s time to get up, Sunny. Princess Celestia is gonna be here in a couple hours.”

Sunburst let out a weak sigh at that, hiding his face with his hooves. As courageous as he was the previous day, he most certainly didn’t want to face the music today of all days.

This forced Starlight to take drastic measures as she harrumphed, laying her body over Sunburst’s and pouting. She nuzzled against his neck. “Sunburst, don’t throw away your shot on this. You’ve got all of us to help you and everything.”

Sunburst groaned softly. “Fiiiiiiiiiiine.” He whined before leaning back to sneak a kiss on Starlight’s cheek. He slowly slipped from the bed, standing up and stretching his back until there were crackling sounds that definitely didn’t sound healthy. He grimaced as he looked to the door, knowing that he would have to rise up to face everything at some point.

He looked back at Starlight, still laying on the bed, and grinned. “C’mon. Let’s go and practice some more. I need a plan to win, don’t I?”

Starlight nodded, and so they left together.

The next few hours were spent entirely on practicing counterspells, quick spells, and the art of the duel itself. Twilight and Sunburst went back and forth for an hour, just firing color change spells. Of course, everything was interrupted when both got tired and their magic ran low. They both had to eat a good meal after that, Sunburst’s being larger as he needed all the magic he could get.

All they got was two and a half hours though, as Princess Celestia arrived at precisely 11:30. Thirty minutes before the duel.

Her arrival was fairly low-key considering a mare of her regality. She just teleported into the main room of the castle, a large burst of light and a loud pop being the only things that signaled her appearance.

Sunburst, still in the library studying while he ate, almost immediately hid under the table and started shaking. Starlight, looking for more books, quickly soon after got under the table to comfort him.

“You can do this, Sunny.” She told him as she pulled him into a hug. Her hooves played against his back, trying to calm his shuddering breaths down to close to normal. “You’ve studied for this. She won’t know what she’s goin’ up against.”

“She’s ages old, Starlight.” Sunburst rebutted. And yet he still wrapped his hooves around her. She was most certainly helping. “She has tricks upon tricks hidden in her regalia. Whether figuratively or literally.” He let out a loud sigh, pressing himself closely to his girlfriend. “I just feel like I’ve run out of time. If I had more of it, then maybe it would have made a difference.”

“Would that be enough?” Starlight asked, a plan already blooming in her mind of how she could help. “I do know a spell that could help with that. For a while, at least.”

This garnered a small chuckle from Sunburst. “As hard as it is to say no to this offer, I don’t want to trouble you like that.” He undid Starlight’s hooves around him, sliding out from under the table with a sigh. “I’ll never be satisfied until I master every single spell and counterspell ever. And that’s gonna take a whole lot of time. More than I have.”

Starlight also unhid herself, standing right beside Sunburst. “Just you wait. You may find a way some day.”

Sunburst shrugged. “Yeah, some day.” Then, looking at the door, he put on a courageous smile and left the room with his girlfriend right beside him. Celestia would rue the day she fricked with the two of them.

Celestia awaited in the dining hall, sipping on tea as she waited for Sunburst in order to finalize the duel. She sat beside Twilight, making very awkward conversation as the two waited for Sunburst to finally arrive.

Sombra and Spike were also there, sharing glances but not saying much of anything. They just sat there and drank their tea.

Sunburst didn’t take too long though, only making them wait in agonous awkwardness for some minutes. He got lost. Don’t blame him. Anyway, he entered the room like he wasn’t well past even fashionably late. He did his best to avert his gaze from anything Celestia related, instead keeping his eyes on her second, Twilight.

She seemed oh so nervous. It was understandable, considering that this was the first time in her life that she wasn’t completely on The Princess’ side on something. It was a terrifying, yet intriguing prospect. Were this her story, she would be having an epiphany at the moment about how she is the one thing in life she can control, but that’s an if.

Sunburst sat down across from Celestia at the table, Starlight sitting to his left to mirror the other side’s placement. It was at this time that he was forced to look at his opponent. To look into her eyes and see her intentions and feelings on what was to go on. And yet he saw nothing different. The same mirth, regality, and general air of mysteriousness were still there. Though they were all hidden under the same mask she tended to put on constantly, so there was no telling what she was bringing to the table.

The Princess was the first to speak, pressing her hooves together as her elbows rested on the table. “I hope that you weren’t up all night studying because of me.” She smiled softly at Sunburst, almost as if she hadn’t issued a duel on the previous day. “I know firsthoof what kind of effects that can have on somepony’s magic.” She then looked down to Twilight who was trying her hardest not to explode under the pressure. “I remember back when both you and Twilight were learning under me. Her first, and only, duel with me ended with her collapsing due to studying without any sleep for it.”

Twilight blushed, turning her head away as she pouted. “Well I still passed.”

Celestia nodded, smiling at her student. “Of course you did. I said it was your only duel, did I not?” She turned to face Sunburst once again. He took this as an insult, as if she was saying Twilight was better because of it. She just enjoyed that two of her favorite students were spending time with each other.

“So, how are we going to do this?” Sunburst asked, cutting to the chase of all of this. He only had about ten minutes until he had to duel her. He might as well have spent that time getting some insight. “This obviously isn’t a normal duel between us, so I’d like us both to have equal knowledge of the happenings on this.”

There was an audible as the sun goddess looked between the ponies and dragon sitting around her as they all looked at her for an answer. She then furrowed her brow at the question, giving an oddly mortal response. “Not a normal duel? What, did you all decide upon something before I came here?” She sighed softly, pouting a little. “You all, of all people, should know I dislike surprises.”

More audible silence, though this time it was confusion that caused it. There were many varying answers that the others in the room expected, from trial by fire to actual murder, but that was most certainly not one of the options.

“Then what was that letter about?” Sunburst asked, then looking over everyone else who was with them. “The letter clearly stated…” He then stopped when he realized that they were all now looking at him in a confuzzled way. “What?”

“You’re the only one who actually read the letter.” Spike said, the first to speak up against the orange stallion. He then started to pout once again, crossing his arms. “I wanted to, but no. Apparently it was too important for me.”

The group couldn’t help but smile at the fact that, no matter how well spoken and adult the small dragon was, he was still a child. And this was probably his most childish act yet. For now.

“Spike,” Twilight chimed in, shaking her head, “How about you get the letter for us then? I think it’d be fairly important.” She looked over to Sunburst. “Where exactly would that be?”

“Oh, it’s probably still on my bed.” He told her, thinking back on it. “I left it there when I, uh, retreated.” He scratched the back of his neck, blushing just a little bit. “I didn’t go back to my room after that, so I doubt I moved it.”

“Then where did you sleep?” Sombra asked as he lay his head on the table, honestly wishing he could go back to bed as well. He’d spent all of his sleeping time training an idiot for a duel that wasn’t going to happen, dredging up bad memories as he did so. This made him annoyed. And tired.

This just caused Sunburst to just blush harder and harder as he thought it through. “Well, I kinda bunked with Starlight last night.” He gave a small shrug, trying to downplay it a bit. “I was too tired to care. And she offered.” He looked over to Starlight for any form of help.

She blushed and looked away. “Spike, could ya go and get the letter already?”

Spike, disgusted by the quick turn to the romance, and also sad that he wasn’t with his romance partner at the moment, slid out of his chair with a sigh. “I’m on it.” And then he scampered on off to do the thingie.

While he beeped off to Sunburst’s room, the rest were just ready to settle down. The atmosphere around them was calmer, at the very least. Everyone was still a bit high strung, understandable considering the previous few hours.

Celestia was the one leading the small talk, but it didn’t take long for everyone else to get caught in the fervor of her conversation. She was a very charismatic woman, of course, due to her years of social experience. Though some of it was natural as well.

They all spent a good amount of time chatting, and laughing, and having a good time while Spike was gone. And it was all gonna continue if Spike hadn’t entered with the scroll in his hand, grinning wildly and full of pride. “I got it!” He told them with a good amount of happiness. He then moved over to Celestia so that she could read the letter that she herself dictated.

She breezed right through it, of course, as the letter was barely twenty words long. Then she set it down on the table and breathed a sigh. “Well, this is probably the letter I dictated to Raven. I can’t actually remember it all that well. She may have said something about spicing it up a little.”

“So, I’ve been worrying about nothing?” Sunburst asked, a bit peeved that he wasn’t about to have the duel of his life. He was relieved, yes, but he had just spent the past few hours expecting that death would befall him. Or something even worse.

Princess Celestia just shook her head, chuckling a good bit. “Well, you’re more well prepared than you have ever been. Maybe you’ll be getting your certification just in time for Hearth’s Warming.”

“Ugh.” Sunburst laid his head on the table to join Sombra, grumbling in agreement, as he breathed a huge sigh. “I wanna go back to bed.”

With that, the town’s clock tower chimed loudly. It was finally high noon.

Celestia grinned at her orange student as he cringed heavily. “Well, I suppose it’s time to get to work.”

Celestia and Sunburst stood across from each other in Twilight’s dueling room. A room that she didn’t quite know was there until The Princess had pointed it out. It was right across from the smooching room, oddly enough. What great surprises that came from the beautiful castle they were in.

Sunburst was slinking close to the ground, terrified of the failure that he was sure was going to come from the ending of this duel. Still, he managed a smile at his teacher, hoping that she would be gentle with him.

She most certainly wouldn’t. But she smiled anyway, just in order to catch him off guard. She, like most ponies, enjoyed how flustered he got when he got messed with. Though, sadly, it didn’t seem that he would be doing much being flustered at the moment. Maybe later. Some day.

Being the only thing resembling a fair judge, Twilight stood between them. Sombra, Starlight and Spike stood off to the side sharing a bag of popcorn. This was probably going to get good. Or maybe not. It all depends on your humble author’s writing skills.

We’re screwed, I tell ya. I can only write romance and make references to better things. Like Hamilton. If you hadn’t yet noticed. Just you wait. It’ll happen more.

“I suppose I can trust the both of you to put up a fair fight.” Twilight said as she looked between the two battle-ready ponies.

Princess Celestia shrugged, her smile growing a bit wider. “I don’t know. I have been known to use ‘dirty tactics’ to win a few of my duels.” She looked over her competitor, then looked back at Twilight. “I suppose it all depends on how he decides to play it.”

That was not nice news. It only served to make Sunburst more terrified to face up against her. Still, he was going to go through with it. He had promised Starlight that much, and he’s already gone through enough breaking promises he’d made to her.

“I’m going to play it however way I want to.” Sunburst told her, then nodded at Twilight. “I’ll still be fair though. No reason to break any rules.”

“Oh calm down.” Celestia joked, waving a hoof gently. “I was only kidding. I’m going to keep this all very fair. Though I suppose I may goof about just a bit.” The mare pressed a hoof to her muzzle, giggling softly.

Twilight nodded, looking between the two ponies again. “I guess we can start then.”

“Uh,” Sunburst thought for a good second, then looked over to Starlight, “I need just one second.” He quickly walked over to his love, wasting no time as the wrapped his hooves around her and buried his muzzle into her neck, sighing softly as he did so. He waited for several more moments, nuzzling against her neck, before he looked up at her with a big grin. “I love you, Starlight.” He told her softly, just so that only she could hear.

Instead of reciprocating, Starlight simply swatted the stallion lightly on the snooter. “We can do this after you beat her, Sunburst.” Even still, she leaned down to smooch the dumb horse. He’d need it. As a reminder of what he was really fighting for.

And so Sunburst just scampered off back to where he was standing before. He was finally out of excuses to delay, so he would have to face forward and do the thing.

Twilight most certainly wasn’t going to allow any more distractions to happen. She was running on a schedule, and the running was already late. Silently, she set the two ponies facing away from each other. She made sure that their hindlegs were pressing against each other before taking a step back.

“Alright, start counting.” She commanded, sitting back to watch the sparks fly between the two opponents.

Both ponies nodded and, in perfect concurrence, started counting as they stepped in time. “Un, deux, trois, quatre, cinq, six, sept, huit, neuf.” It was a bit of a habit for the both of them to do this during a duel. Sunburst picked up the habit years ago from his first duel, and Celestia picked it up a near millennia ago from some flamboyant Prench revolutionary. To the side, Twilight crossed her hooves and pouted. That was their thing, not his!

“Dix!” And with that, the two ponies swung around fully prepared. And then they…

Well, they had a duel.

Confession time, here’s what I got. Your humble narrator, the driving force behind this tale, has found difficulties in transcribing thoughts into words and, therefore, has decided to forego it almost entirely. Even still, they can give you the notes and ending. That’s the best that can be done, sadly.

Celestia, baring massive amounts of magic power, spent most of the duel sending volleys of spells at Sunburst, forcing the stallion to either dodge or counterspell and leaving no room for him to fire back at all. Her tactic is just to tire him out and make him forfeit. Like always.

Of course, those times were all in a neutral environment in Celestia’s castle. For reasons unbeknownst to anyone but the plot, a large mirror hung on the wall for Sunburst to steal and reflect a few spells back at Celestia with. This bought him enough time to look over to Starlight and blah blah blah that’s the power of love. Some revelation was supposed to happen revolving around how he needs to loosen up and be a bit more creative with his spells.

And so he does be more creative. More magic beams are shot from horns, this time an equal amount from each party dueling. It went back and forth for a good while, but then Sunburst started to tire out.

Obviously, now it was time for a finishing blow to Celestia. Even if she didn’t have half a health bar down. Something about not throwing away his shot would be fairly apt at the moment, but I don’t know an exact quote to use. I’m not going to wait for it.

So, Sunburst glued his hooves to the ground to stabilize himself for his next spell. Then, taking a page out of Starlight’s book, he glued a good amount of prank spells he’d personally used against Celestia years and years back, along with whatever spells he picked up from his hurried studying. And then he fired a massive beam of magic at Celestia, knocking her back and wasting the rest of the magic he was allowed without ruining himself.

And then he took a nap on the floor. That’s where we’ll pick up next time.

Author's Notes:

Pretend this was uploaded on the 24th.
Please direct all your hate comments to the comment section and/or my PMs, please.