Sunburst stumbled into his home at around midnight, just after finishing his work day at ‘his’ library. It was dark inside, which would have made him question something if he hadn’t been beyond tired at that point. Instead he just blamed Event Horizon and moved on, turning on the lights as he dropped his saddlebags by the door.

After turning on the lights, he heard a soft groaning from the living room, otherwise known as Sunburst’s ‘bedroom’. Sighing, Sunburst walked the very small distance between the door and his ‘room’, only to find Event curled up on the pull-out sofa. Unfortunately, the sofa was still in its sofa stage, so Sunburst couldn’t just curl up beside his best friend as he’d had to many many times before.

Again, Sunburst let out a sigh as he gave a tired smirk. “Gosh darn it,” he mumbled to himself before approaching the sofa from the front. It almost hurt him to wake Event up, as he was kind of adorable as he slept.

He slept with his back to Sunburst, curled up around the pillow he had snuggled against his chest. His breathing was soft and calm, probably the only time in his life that something like that could be said about him. He even had a small smile on his face, which made Sunburst feel even worse about planting a hoof on his side and roughly shaking him awake.

Event was startled, of course, as he was so rudely awoken. That fear was quickly quelled the second he was picked up in his friend’s familiar bright yellow magic. It had a slight warmth to it, an odd trait for a Unicorn’s aura, and it made him want to go back to sleep. That and the fact that he was having a pretty nice dream about sleeping on the sofa. He was a stallion of low standards, you see.

Anyway, Sunburst set Event gently on the ground beside him and quickly reclaimed the sofa before anything else happened. He could bedify it after Event found his own.

Speaking of Event, he blankly stared at Sunburst for a few moments, not quite understanding what just happened due to his sleep addled state. “Why’re you home?” He asked. “It’s only, like, ten. You should be stacking books or somethin’.”

“I finished up with ten about two hours ago,” Sunburst said as he reclined in comfort, “You know it’s midnight, right?”

Event continued his blank staring, the information running very slowly through his mind. He could have sworn it was ten just a few seconds ago. Then he closed his eyes, and then Sunburst appeared. It was simple math. Of course, it was then that a very dim light bulb popped up above Event’s head. “Did I fall asleep?” He asked.

“Probably.” Sunburst responded. “Why were you on my bed though? Were you waiting for me?”

The lightbulb got brighter as Event remembered that was exactly what he was doing. “That’s exactly what I was gonna do.” He said as he scrambled back onto the couch, taking the little space that Sunburst left for him. He then pouted at Sunburst. “You never told me what happened yesterday. With you and the girl.”

Sunburst made a small, questioning sound. His escapades with Starlight were the furthest thing from his mind at that point, especially after pushing them away to focus on work. And yet here they came flooding back as he grimaced. “What about it?” He asked, not wanting to keep info from his best friend, but also not wanting to talk about it.

“Well, am I going to have to rent a suit yet?” Event teased. “I just wanna know what went down. Whether I should be buying something for a wedding or a baby shower first.” This is where Event was expecting Sunburst to chuckle or something. He knew that Sunny’s sense of humor wasn’t the best, but most of the time he at least laughed where he thought the joke was. Event pursed his lips slightly. “Things didn’t go that well, I take it?”

“Things went perfectly.” Sunburst said in the most neutral tone he could. “Starlight is opening up to me, and I think she really trusts me. And, if I’m being entirely truthful, I think I trust her as well. For the most part.”

“Why the most part?”

Sunburst let out a long sigh. “She’s an interesting one. Weird interesting, not the good kind. Well, maybe both, but... “ He didn’t finish that sentence, just biting his lip slightly. He looked over to his best friend. “Can I trust you to not say anything that I tell you?”

Event nodded. “Of course, dude. I don’t have much of anyone to tell anyway. Unless you’d like to hear your own secrets.”

Sunburst smiled a bit at that. “Okay well, Starlight is pretty freaking interesting in that she, uh,” he braced himself a small bit, “She ran her own town. One that had her, and I’ll quote her directly here, ‘stripping other ponies of their special qualities’, and I really have no clue of how to deal with that.”

There was a moment of silence before Event cleared his throat. “Well, that’s definitely interesting. Are there any details, or, like, is that all she said?”

Sunburst shrugged. “I honestly cannot remember. I was, uh, a bit sidetracked after that.” He sat up a bit in his seat, preparing to explain. “So, she and Princess Twilight managed to figure how to time travel years in the past and I couldn’t let that opportunity slip past me.”

“That’s very interesting,” Event said nodding in feigned understanding, “Did you two kiss or anything?”

“She hugged me.” Sunburst said simply. “I hugged her back.”

“Like, a romantic hug?”

“A friendship hug,” Sunburst corrected,” We’re just friends.”

“Friends.” Event repeated to himself with a nod. “Was it a good hug, at least?”

Sunburst shrugged. “It was a bit forced, but definitely still nice. I’d do it again, definitely.” He then sighed, stretching his back out a bit. “I guess I’m a bit thrown off by her…” He stopped, trying to find the correct word to use.

“Insanity?” Event suggested innocently.

“Hey!” Sunburst reprimanded suddenly, throwing off even himself, as he shot an angry glare at his friend. He quickly caught himself, though, and apologized. “Sorry, I just don’t want anyone to make fun of my friends. Not even my friends.”

Event waved it off, deciding that he wouldn’t fight his friend. Not yet. “Don’t worry. I understand perfectly. But maybe you shouldn’t hang out with her? She seems like a bad influence.”

“Hey, bad influences is how we met, isn’t it?” Sunburst reminded, thinking back to the antics they got down to when they were little colts.

“I didn’t enslave ponies, did I?” Event Horizon responded.

“You didn’t,” Sunburst said, trying his hardest to keep his cool, “But you didn’t live in a horrible town without any friends either.”

“You know that’s absolutely not true.” Event said, frowning, as he finally became the slightest bit serious.

“You’ve had me for the past fifteen years,” Sunburst reminded, “From what she’s told me, she didn’t have much of anyone.”

“So you left her behind, and it’s somehow your fault? She can’t make any friends?”

Sunburst grit his teeth, finally losing it. He had a choice to make here. Either side with his friend of fifteen years, or his friend from fifteen years ago. There were no real winners here. And still, he made his choice.

“Can you please just lay off her?” He asked with a stern glare at Event. “She’s been through enough as it is. She admitted to me that what she did was horrible, and she regrets every second of it, though those weren’t her exact words.” He took a deep breath, clearly needing it to finish his rant. “I can’t say that what she did wasn’t awful, but she’s clearly trying to repent in any way she can. She’s been making new friends in Ponyville and learning what true equality is under Princess Twilight’s watch. She’s trying in vain to get to know me better, but you and I both know how that’ll go.” He gave a small, humorless smile at that. “And, beyond anything, I trust her. Shouldn’t you?”

Event bit his lip, suddenly in the spotlight. He then shook his head slowly. “No, honestly.” But, before Sunburst could respond in anger, he raised a hoof. “But, I do trust you. So, if you want to do this, I won’t be stopping you. I’ll just, you know, be watching if anything goes wrong.”

Sunburst, sort of giving up on helping his friend through this, just shrugged. “Sure, that works.” He then opened his forelegs wide, offering a hug to his friend. “Now come here. I’m sorry for yelling at you, and all that.

Event jumped at the chance to hug his friend, trapping him in a warm embrace. It was a closer hug than any Starlight had given him. And more full of loving nuzzles. Still, this wasn’t any different from any other hug they’d shared before, therefore it wasn’t weird. Right?

Sunburst grinned widely. “I love you, buddy.”

Event Horizon grimaced slightly. “I, uh, love you too...bro.” A large blush grew on his face. “And I’m sorry for that. I know you get mad when I mention it.”

And just as soon as they came together, they separated. The rest of their conversation was on not-Starlight subjects and, therefore, isn’t very important. They just watched wrestling, falling asleep on top of each other during the second hour and ending up cuddling the next morning.

No homo.

Author's Notes:

I'm slowing down with these chapters, I know.
I can't promise it getting better either.
I'm sorry.