After that affair, Sunburst woke up in his room a few hours later. Unlike his slow, almost romantic awakening the previous day, this time he snapped awake the moment he felt a dark presence looming over him. As such, he jerked awake with a startled cry.

Sombra, looking Sunburst over while he slept to check his breathing, was slightly taken aback at Sunburst’s sudden screaming. Not enough to emote, but enough to pull back just the smallest bit. The large stallion sighed softly. “Well, at least I know that you are well enough to scream. A good sign, I would say.”

Sitting up in his bed, Sunburst slightly questioned why anyone would be worried about his vital signs. He also wished he could go back to bed. He was having a fantastic dream about napping with Starlight. And yet he was sure there was something he was missing.

After moments of thought, it hit him. Literally. Sombra threw a document in his face. A very important piece of paper got stuck to his face.

Ripping it off, Sunburst just figured it was yet another letter from Celestia saying that, while she would love to give him his certification and end this sham the two had been running for years, he had failed yet again. He almost wanted to tear the thing up.

Thankfully he didn’t. Otherwise asking Celestia to give him another certification because he ruined it would have been very awkward. Instead, he read it. And, in doing that, he learned that Celestia didn’t have anything against him passing his exam. He was just screwing up and making her do the thing. She didn’t wanna do it.

Sunburst smiled. Well, more grinned. Widely. Massively. With tears in his eyes. As he hugged the certification to his chest, crumpling it horribly. It would never look right in a frame now. Making his eyes tear up more as he pulled it back to look at it in horror. He nearly started to sob because he felt it was ruined.

Sombra just sighed and pushed over a framed plaque with the original placed in it. No worry. Celestia thought of everything. Like always. What a smart horse.

As such, Sunburst tossed the ugly copy away and took his real certificate. The first thing he decided to do, surely on a mission to ruin every copy, was to kiss the beautiful, framed display of how good he was at magic. Years after he was supposed to earn it. Literally years after he was intended to get it. What a loser.

And yet he was so ecstatic when he held it to his chest once again, squeeing loudly. And also forcefully. All he wanted to do was share his accomplishments with the world. Starting with one pony, obviously.

He couldn’t resist before dashing out of his bed, tangling himself in the sheets and slamming down on the floor with a thud. Not really caring about the pain, he stood back up, shook himself off, then escaped the room to find Starlight’s.

Sombra just sighed loudly and shook his head before moving to reset the sheets for later. “Merry Hearth’s Warming to you too.” He grumbled softly to himself.

Of course, Sunburst was too busy crossing the hall to even hear Sombra. Not that he cared. He was basically the help anyway. The attractive, yet very frightening maid. And yet nothing compared to his true love.

But enough about Event. That would make Starlight jealous.

Sunburst knocked on Starlight’s door, practically bouncing as he waited for her to open it. He couldn’t wait to tell her that he, for once, didn’t screw something up. And then they could hug and cuddle until the next day. Then he could give her the present he found for her. That’d be nice.

The grumbling heard from the other side of the door sort of ruined that plan for him. Through the door, Sunburst could hear grunting, fumbling, and a heavy amount of sighing. He was a bit worried, but he managed to not break down the door with his newly found Mageitude.

But then more plan ruining came from Starlight opening the door. She stared, almost glared, at Sunburst with very tired eyes. Letting out another sigh, she tried her best to smile at him. It didn’t go over that well. She stopped soon after. “Whaddya want, Sunny? It’s, like, later than I feel like measuring time in.”

Sunburst tilted his head for a moment, then, eyes tracing over to the window behind Starlight, noticed that it seemed like night had long fallen. “Wow,” he said in slight disbelief, “Did I sleep that long?”

“Well, you used up almost all your magic on that last attack, you know.” She informed, reaching up to softly swat his snooter. “Don’t be so dumb for your next duel, you dummy.”

The orange stallion shot her a grin that could only be fueled by a good night’s sleep. This annoyed her severely. “What makes you think I’d be dueling anyone again?”

Starlight reached up and booped his forehead with a hoof, right under his horn. “You’re gonna annoy some pony somewhere with that big brain of yours, and you won’t have enough smarts to apologize for anything.” Even as she insulted him, she leaned in for a kiss that he was all too willing to allow. It didn’t last for long, of course, Starlight pulling back to quip more. “At least I know you’d have enough sense to let me be your second.”

Sunburst shook his head. “I’m not gonna duel anyone. Unless they say something mean about you, that is.”

“I can fight my own battles.” She quipped back.

Sunburst just shrugged. “Never said you couldn’t. Fighting to defend your honor just kinda sounds like it’d be fun.” He grinned at her, hoping to indicate he was joking slightly. “Oh, I’d bleed and fight for you,” he sang in an absolutely off-key tune, “I’d make it right for you.”

Starlight stuck her tongue out, disgusted in his horrible singing skills that would surely disappear once a group song happened. Or something to push the plot along. “Stop it,” she whined playfully, pushing a hoof against his chest, “You’re ruining a song from a show I haven’t even seen yet.” She then frowned very largely.

Sunburst leaned down to nuzzle Starlight, then eyed the room she was in once again. “Do you think we could continue this inside? I feel like sitting down, really.”

“You just want an excuse to cuddle with me.” She responded, seeing right through the stallion.

“Absolutely.” Sunburst nodded. Nothing’s wrong with being honest about your needs. It’s not healthy to lie to your significant other.

This was all Starlight needed to hear as she backed up to allow him entrance. He smiled kindly and pushed into the room, nuzzling her as he passed. Quickly Sunburst took a position on the edge of her bed, making sure to leave enough room for her to sit down right next to him. She took her position with a small sigh, slightly wishing that he would prefer snoozing over chatting. Give it time.

But for now, Sunburst was happy enough to snuggle up against Starlight. He wrapped a hoof around her, pulling her close to him and nuzzling his snoot up against her neck. “I love you, Lighter.”

Starlight sighed, leaning against Sunburst to hold herself up. “As much as I’d like to entertain you for a while and tell you, maybe show you, exactly how much I love you,” she gave a small yawn, cutting off her entirely, but letting her finish moments later, “I just wanna go back to bed.”

“Can I, uh,” Sunburst started to blush for absolutely no reason. The two were dating for heck’s sake. Even still, he smooched her neck to calm himself. “Would you mind if I joined you?”

“Isn’t that what you came in here to do?”

There was a moment of silence.

“Oh. Yeah. Right.”

They then immediately moved to laying down on the bed, hooves wrapping around the other’s body as they faced each other. They held each other fairly close, muzzles either pressing into necks or buried in manes.

Sunburst looked down at Starlight with a big grin. “So d’ya hear how I did on the exam?” Obviously she could just read his face and see that he, for once, was happy to speak about the exam. And that would be the answer.

And yet she already knew the answer, of course. Twilight had told her after Sombra told Twilight which only happened after Sombra nagged Celestia for an answer. “You passed. You’re finally the wizard you always wanted to be. Yay. It’s time for bed.” With that, she pressed her muzzle into his neck with a ‘hmph’.

“At least be happy for me.” Sunburst whined with a very sad sniffle. “And here I thought you’d wanna party after hearing the news.”

Starlight grumbled softly. “I wanted to party when I first heard the news. At least twelve hours ago. Night time isn’t party time.”

“Depends on the type of party, really.” Sunburst retorted. This garnered a swat to his muzzle. An experience that was becoming much more common for him. He recoiled a little bit, but was back with a kiss soon after. “Fine. Let’s go to bed. Even if I did just have a really long nap not too long ago.” This is when Starlight nearly swatted his nose once again, but he dodged by hugging her closer.

Instead of following it further, Starlight just accepted that her boyfriend was a doof and attempted to fall asleep in his warm embrace. The key word here is attempted, of course. As it always is. While Sunburst did follow her lead soon after, he was bitten by the thought that he was missing something. Something important.

He attempted to think it through as he nuzzled her softly, trying his best to not wake her from her slumber. That, of course, stopped when he remembered exactly what he’d been missing in the first place. “Oh frick.” He muttered as he pulled back. “I forgot that I had something to give you, Lighter.”

Starlight groaned extremely loudly, fairly angry that she had to give up her precious sleeping time for this dumbo. What a nerd. How could he sleep at night? With Starlight cuddling him, o’course. “It can wait ‘til tomorrow, Sunburst.”

“It can’t.” Sunburst decided quickly, not even letting Starlight nestle against him once again. “It’s, uh, pretty really important, honestly. I dun wanna forget about it, or I might leave it in my bags when I go back to Canterlot.”

Starlight let out a very loud sigh, but lightened up on her holding of Sunburst, letting him leave. “Do it quick. Better not be anything loud or bright.”

“You’ll love it. I swear.” He assured with a grin. And, with that, he made a quick exit to cross the hall once again. He entered his room, dove across his bed, then dug through his saddlebags for a small framed picture that he absolutely knew Starlight would love. Well, it all depended on how she saw her past, at least. He was sure she would love it though. Mostly. Almost. Kind of.

Before that number could drop any further, Sunburst dove over the bed once again and sauntered off back to Starlight’s room. Hopefully before she fell asleep once again.

Entering, Sunburst saw Starlight splayed across the bed, breathing softly as she slept. Sunburst moved in quickly and nosed her playfully, shaking her awake in no time.

Her eyes slid open and she stared at Sunburst, daring him to do anything at all. Sunburst, the dimmest light bulb in the box, set the photo down on her chest with a very large smile. Starlight took a minute before picking it up, quickly going over in her mind the repercussions that could come from going back to bed right now.

Then she looked at Sunburst and decided that, no matter what came from it, it would be a mean thing to do. She couldn’t do that to him. Just look at his happy little face. As such, she picked the thing up and stared at the photo.

She didn’t regret it after that.

The photo was a winter shot of two very smol horses working their hardest to piece together an okay looking snowpony before the sun went down. I say working their hardest, but the small orange colt was just sitting on his rump with his hooves in the air, looking like he was directing the purple filly instead of helping her. Said purple filly, her mane tied up in twintails even in the dead of winter, seemed to be glaring at the colt as he ordered her around. All the while, she was rolling up a massive ball of snow for their snowhoers. Neither of them seemed to notice the pony that was taking their picture, whoever it might have been.

Starlight stared at the picture, trying her best to remember when it was that this picture was taken. She had a vague memory of Sunburst telling her what to do, but that was kind of a constant during their childhood. Even still, she didn’t need the memory. She gave a small smile while she looked up at Sunburst. “Where’d you find this?”

Sunburst scratched the back of his neck, fighting down the massive amount of pride that came from getting her a gift as awesome as that one. “I kinda stopped by Sunnydale a week or two back. Finally caught up with my mom and dad after, like, ten years.” He breathed a very small sigh. “I really shouldn’t have waited that long.”

“Well, you and I have the same issue.” Starlight said softly before looking back down at the picture. “I don’t even know where my parents are, honestly. They could have moved years ago for all I know.”

Sunburst moved to sit down next to his gril. “They’re still next door to my parents. We all had dinner together, actually. I even told them I’d bring you back one of these days.” He then shrugged and wrapped a hoof around her, checking out the photo as well. “They really miss you, Starlight.”

“I dunno.” Starlight told him, slumping a bit. “It’s been so many years. I don’t think I can catch up with anyone after that long.”

Sunburst thought of a multitude of things to say. So many jokes he could make about how wrong that sentence was, but instead he just nuzzled her with a soft smile. “I’d never force you to do anything, Lighter. Just keep it in mind. Maybe you could sleep on it.”

Just the mention of sleep made Starlight yawn loudly. She leaned over to snuggle against Sunburst just the smallest bit. “Yeah, sleeping on it sounds good.” With that, she grumbled softly while closing her eyes, only to open them a moment later. “Oh yeah, Twilight wants to take us to the Hearth’s Warming play in Canterlot. The one she’s taking part in.”

“I’ll sleep on it.” Sunburst decided fairly quickly. “I was never a fan of plays. Musicals are great, but plays are not.”

“It has music in it.” Starlight protested.

“Doesn’t count.” Sunburst told her as he grabbed the picture, setting it up on her nightstand as he argued with her. “ ‘Cookie’ is a musical. That dumb Hearth’s Warming play can’t even come close to compare.” And then he flopped down onto the bed, readying himself for the sleepings.

Starlight didn’t debate. She didn’t quip. She didn’t even have a second thought before laying down next to him and reclaiming her position from before. “Are you gonna go to sleep now?” She asked with many a hope in her heart.

“Eh, maybe.” He told her as he wrapped his hooves around her. “I can always talk more. Though that could help you sleep too.”

“Just get on with it.”

He was about to open his mouth, but he decided, upon seeing the large bags under Starlight’s eyes and how she could barely keep said eyes open, maybe it wasn’t the best of times to talk about his future living arrangements and job. Instead he shook his head. “Nevermind. We can talk about it in the morning.”

That was all Starlight needed to hear. Moments later, she had her head nestled against Sunburst’s chest and she was snoring up a storm. A small storm. Very soft snoring.

Sunburst just chuckled lightly, softly enough that it didn’t wake her up. “Nighty night, Lighty Light.” He then chuckled slightly louder at his dumb joke, swearing that he would use it when she was awake some day.

Author's Notes:

Pretend I uploaded this at, like, 2AM on the 25th.