It didn’t take long for the two to reach the park, just about ten minutes of slow walking. It didn’t feel long either, what with the two of them chatting each other up and bantering all over the place. Still, they made it.

It was, as anything in Canterlot is, massive. It was cut into several sections by walking paths and roads for chariots and the odd automobile, but it was still one frighteningly large ‘park’.

Starlight, seeing how huge the park was and not seeing the main road on the other side, looked up at Sunburst. “I thought you said this was a park.”

“This is a park.” He responded as they stepped onto the grass. Sunburst didn’t bother to look around, knowing exactly where he was headed.

Starlight continued focusing attention on him as he sped up slightly. “How big is this place anyway?”

Stopping dead in his tracks, Sunburst thought for a moment. “Very.” He finally decided upon, then took up walking again.

Thankfully, the spot he had in mind wasn’t too far off. All the two had to do was walk around a fairly large pond that was almost circular, but was a bit concave on one side. Sunburst picked that exact concave to start setting up his area.

As Starlight took a step back to watch him work, he pulled out from his saddlebag a quilted blanket that was more than large enough for the both of them to fit on. Next, he pulled out a very fancy looking bottle of wine, though wine always looks fancy as heck, and two glasses that were previously wrapped in the blanket. He set the objects down in the middle of the blanket, laid down, and looked up at Starlight expectantly.

Starlight looked at the scene; the pondside view, the gentle moonlight that bathed the park, the secluded area where they were about to enjoy on their lonesome, the wine, and the Sunburst who was almost posing without trying. It was frighteningly romantic, to the point where it almost worried her.

She thought through her response to this everything that assaulted her senses, hoping that it wouldn’t offend him too much. “Are you trying to tell me something with this?” She then gestured to the aforementioned everything she was referring to.

Sunburst, bless his heart, tilted his head innocently. “What do you mean?”

“This!” Starlight repeated, gesturing more wildly. “It’s like you took this all straight from one of those dumb romance novels.”

“I still don’t know what you mean.” He said, slowly looking over everything he’d prepared. He definitely saw it as fine. Looking back up at Starlight, he responded with: “Event never seems to have a problem with us doing something like this. Is it the wine?” He picked up the bottle and inspected it. “I just thought it’d be a good way for us to open up. Me more than you, I guess.” He shot her a shy grin, hoping that was a fine explanation.

Starlight stared at him blankly, then laid down across from him without breaking her gaze. “Alright, start sharing then.”

There was a noticeable beat before Sunburst broke out into chuckles over her overt bluntness. He took the bottle of wine up in his magic, popped the cork, and poured two glasses full of very red wine. “I’m not sure where to start, if I’m being honest,” he said, setting down the bottle to separate the two of them, “Is there anything you’d like to know? Don’t be shy.”

Starlight blinked, not expecting to be in the hotseat so soon. She went in with the subconscious thought that she’d be down three or four glasses of wine before any focus was on her. She shuffled a bit, taking a small swig of her drink and sighing. “How about recent events?” She asked. “Is there anything interesting happening any time soon?”

“Oh uh,” Sunburst scrunched his face, thinking long and hard about just about anything he could talk about. In all honestly, his life wasn’t cool enough to have things happening constantly. All he had was book. But, there still was one thing. He remembered that one thing, scratching the back of his neck and trying to look casual. “I guess there’s the third part of the Mage Exams coming up soon. That’s, uh, something. I’ll probably be going a whole other year without getting my teaching license.”

“I’m sure you’ll do fine.” Starlight said, full of hope. Sunburst didn’t seem to share in her optimism, shaking his head. Not wanting her friend to have too much of a pity party, she decided to subtly change the subject. “So, how does the exam work anyway?”

Sunburst perked up a small bit, finally being able to look at it from an analytical point of view. He sat up and prepared his hooves to gesture wildly as he talked. And boy did they gesture wildly. “Well, it, uh, starts with a test on practical uses of magic, magic theory, other magic forms and stuff like that. It’s a few hundred questions, but most of ‘em are multiple choice so I never have a hard time. Usually there are around five hundred ponies from all around Equestria taking this test, but the number is generally halved by the time the second portion begins. I always pass that bit, so I wasn’t worried at all.

“Second,” he gestured both hooves straight ahead of him, indicating that he was on 2 of 3, “After Celestia grades all the tests, using unpaid labor from her students I might add, then comes the student teacher portion. Whoever passed the last test got to teach one of Celestia’s students a spell of their choosing and were graded on how well the student can perform the spell versus how difficult the spell is to perform. This one is a little hit or miss with me, ‘cause every now and then I get a little troublemaker who I can’t work with.”

“Just like you were back then?” Starlight interjected, seeing the perfect moment to add herself back to the conversation. She didn’t hate that Sunburst was leading everything, it was kind of entertaining, but she didn’t have much to do but listen.

Sunburst looked at his friend and smiled, giggling a little bit as he didn’t expect that kind of ‘shade to be thrown’, as the kids say. “I guess I was a bit rude to the few that came my way. Still, they always passed and, hey, I ‘passed’ too this year.” He added the air quotes to emphasize, causing Starlight to tilt her head. “This year my kid sort of disappeared for a while. After she learned an invisibility spell. Naturally, she was found in the guards’ locker room.” After a pause, he gave a small shrug. “Still, it was off the clock. The spell itself was still impressive enough to get me through. Even if I’m not allowed to teach that spell ever again.”

“Did the filly see anything?” Starlight asked, oddly interested.

“Nah, nothing she wouldn’t see if she had an older brother.” Sunburst shrugged, scratching the back of his neck. “Her mother certainly gave me an earful like she’d seen something though. But still I get to move onto....”

He gestured to the right with his hooves. “Part three. The one-on-one assessment.” He stopped for a second. “I’m going to fail it and have to do this all over again next year.” He let out a very small sigh and took a very large sip of his wine.

Starlight was taken aback at how pessimistic he was being. That was her job, gosh darn it. “You don’t think you’ll get it this time?”

“I don’t think I’ll ever get it,” he responded before taking another large swig, then poured himself another glass “I just can’t beat Celestia. She’s too powerful. I have no clue how anyone passes, but I’ve basically given up.”

“So why are you still taking the exam?” Came Starlight’s confused response.

Sunburst tensed up. “I have my reasons.”

“Alright,” Starlight said, understanding that he didn’t want to talk about it at this time. Instead, she tried to change the subject. “Has Event passed the test yet?”

Only after saying that did Starlight realize how stupid the sentence probably was. This was furthered by the growing tenseness in Sunburst. Slowly, steadily, he sighed and closed his eyes. He rotated his shoulders, calming himself as much as possible. He opened his eyes after a moment, looking at Starlight and giving her a small, tired smile. “He’s uh… not able to take the test. He dropped out of the academy, so isn’t eligible.” He looked to the side, off into the distance, and frowned. “Not that staying would have helped matters much.”

Before Starlight could get slightly annoyed at how vague he was being, Sunburst continued his harrowing tale. “He can’t exactly use magic. He understands it well enough, but can’t do any. No aura left, I guess.”

“He was born without magic?” Starlight asked, jumping ahead a bit. “How did he get into the academy in the first place?”

Sunburst shook his head slowly. “No, he had magic. He got into the academy with magic, and almost graduated with magic. Then I went and hecked it up.” His voice quivered slightly, his hoof stomping as he did a swear.

Starlight herself was taken aback by his lurid swearing. Surely this meant this was a serious situation. “I’m sure it’s not all your fault.”

“But it is.” Sunburst said softly, voice still shaking. “He burnt his magic out because of me being an absolute idiot.” He set his jaw, then sighed. “Well, I don’t want to lie to you and the omission of truth is still lying, so I’ll just. Spell. It. Out for you.” Of course, he took a second to chuckle at his little joke.

Still, even after slightly lightening the mood, in his eyes at least, he hesitated to look Starlight in the eye. So, he just looked down. “I wasn’t the most healthy during those times, both physically and mentally. I was in study mode 24/7 and it got to the point where I wouldn’t leave my room for anything but classes. Event was the only reason I was eating semi-normally, really. Graduation year was probably the worst for me, especially during exams, and that was apparently the straw that broke the camel’s back.” He took a small, deep breath and shook his head, steeling himself. “I was studying, like always, and I just wasn’t getting it. It was ritual magic, I think, which has never been my favorite. Somewhere down the line, fifteenth time I read through my notes, something broke. Nothing felt right. I don’t know what happened next, but suddenly I’m looking down from the roof of the academy’s dorms.”

Starlight gasped slightly at the fairly obvious outcome. She scooted closer to Sunburst, trying in some way to comfort him.

And yet, Sunburst continued. “I must have blacked out during the walk. And then again, as next thing I know I’m crying into Event’s chest. I didn’t notice at the time, but his horn was pretty much smoking. He burnt his magic out on what I can only assume was a teleportation spell, taking him up to the top of a six story building. Just for me.”

Starlight stood up abruptly, without a word. Sunburst looked up slightly, expecting her to walk away after being thoroughly disgusted in him. Instead, she approached him, positioning herself beside him, and laying down. She nuzzled him in a very platonic way, trying to be as comforting as possible.

“You didn’t do anything wrong,” she said softly, “You were just in a bad place at the time. Event probably doesn’t blame you either.”

“He won’t even talk to me about it.” Sunburst said with a grimace. “He treats it like I never had a mental breakdown that landed me in the hospital for a few weeks.”

“Maybe he just wants to keep it that way.” Starlight suggested.

“Maybe.” Sunburst repeated with a little nod, scooting a little closer to Starlight. There was silence for several moments as they enjoyed each other’s company.

Still Starlight, not quite wanting it to end on that, decided that it was time for more talking. Because that’s what everyone wants. “Seeing as you’ve divulged your darkest secrets, I feel like I should do the same.”

Sunburst looked down at Starlight with a raised eyebrow, as he was quite liking the silence. “You don’t really have to. I mean, you told me enough about your town already. Fair trade, I think.”

“I didn’t tell you everything.” Starlight admitted. “I think I cut about half of the story off in order to save face.”

“I don’t judge.”

“I essentially brainwashed ponies into complacency, stole their cutie marks, and ruled over them as some sort of tyrant of equality.” She let the statement sit there for a few moments before continuing. “You wouldn’t be the first to judge.”

Sunburst swallowed hard, processing everything. “I won’t judge too harshly.” He corrected, then he looked at Starlight in surprise. “You stole cutie marks?”

She said nothing and just nodded.

Sunburst let out a sharp sigh, shaking his head. “You’re a magical marvel, ain’t you? Time travel, talent removal, what’s next?” He chuckled softly to himself. “You’re something else, Starlight. Maybe I should ask Princess Twilight if she’ll teach me too.”

“She’s not really the one that taught me anything.” Starlight informed her friend. “To be honest, I learned everything I know from three places. Books, trial and error, and some colt I used to know in Sunnydale. He may have been pretty dumb, but he knew a thing or two about magic.”

Sunburst laughed at that. “And yet somehow you can do a whole bunch of things that I can’t. Maybe you shoulda been the one that went to an academy.”

“I think I like learning on my own more. I don’t have to care about the rules until I screw up.”

“But the rules are what makes magic.” Sunburst snapped quickly then, after realizing himself, looked off to the side a bit. Letting out a sigh, he stretched out his forelegs and laid his head down on the blanket between them. “I should probably take a page out of your book on this, I think. The academy didn’t do me much good either.”

“Would you go back and fix it?” Starlight asked before being shot an odd look by Sunburst. “I mean figuratively.”

He couldn’t help but smiling at the comment. “I’m not really sure. I mean, I wouldn’t be half of what I am right now without that school, for better or for worse.” He then shrugged. “But still, it’s what tore us apart, right?”

Starlight nodded before adding: “And it’s why I started the town in the first place.”

It took a moment for the two of them to realize what Starlight said. Now, Sunburst was willing to be the gentleman and let it slide, as they were, by his measurements, figuratively drowning in wine. Starlight had other ideas.

“I just really shoved my hoof in my mouth, didn’t I?” She asked rhetorically, drawing full attention to her statement.

“You sure did.” Sunburst said before taking a sip of his wine. “I’m honestly not sure how to respond. I mean, I kind of figured.”

“You what?” Starlight nearly shouted, her eyes wide as heck. “When?”

Sunburst gave a small shrug. “Not even five minutes ago, I guess. I kinda guessed that it was my fault anyway. My leaving had to have done something, right?”

“And you didn’t even say bye.” Starlight added sadly.

“Are you joking?” Sunburst asked, eyebrows furrowing in confusion as he side-eyed her. “I most certainly said goodbye. I even have the picture of that my dad took at the train station.”

And now it was Starlight’s turn to be confused. “I remember none of that. The last thing I remember is you getting your cutie mark.”

Sunburst pursed his lips slightly, choosing his words carefully. “So you didn’t, uh,” he couldn’t help but tense up a small bit, “You don’t remember what I said back then?”

“Pretty sure I don’t.” She responded, wondering where exactly this was going.

Sunburst gave a big sigh, as it was now his turn to regret his words. But there wasn’t any room to stop the feels train here. Might as well keep going. “I, uh, you know, made a promise that I ended up not keeping to.” He flexed his hooves, I won’t even explain that one, as he looked down at his pal of pals. She was hecka warm, which certainly helped during the ‘cold’ winter night. I say cold, but it wasn’t even snowing temperature. But it’s still cold to Sunburst, dammit.

While he silently mused on about the abject horror that never witnessing snow was for his life, Starlight had more pressing issues to deal with. Namely, jogging her memory for whatever it was Sunburst was talking about. She vaguely remembered the scenario, but it was still foggy.

She kind of remembered the meeting at the train station. She’d cried the night before, so her eyes were pretty red come the morning that Sunburst’s train was due to leave. Sunburst didn’t mind. He was just happy to see his best friend for the last time. They talked for a while, sitting close together on a train station bench. Much closer than they were now, almost leaning on each other with their hooves on top of each other.

No hetero, of course.

They talked and talked and talked until the train came. As it rolled into the station, Sunburst’s hoof gripped Starlight’s tightly. He looked over at her desperately, not wanting to leave her so soon, then suddenly dragged her into a tight hug. He started sobbing then, unable to hold back his feelings. Starlight embraced him loosely, rubbing his back for comfort.

Still, the moment could only last for so long before Sunburst pulled back, tears still streaming down his face. He said something. Something that ended with "...I promise,” but she just couldn't make it out.

She ran the memory back in her head, trying to figure it out before she was nudged in the side by a snooter.

“You alright?” Sunburst asked, “You kinda spaced out there for a few seconds.” He picked up the wine bottle and stared closely. The words were so small that, even with his glasses, he couldn’t really read any of it. “Maybe we should just stop drinking.”

“It’s not that.” Starlight said, shaking her head a bit. “I was just thinking. I remember the day you’re talking about, but I just can’t remember what you told me before hopping on the train.”

Sunburst resisted the urge to breathe a sigh of relief, as he’d have to share sooner or later. Instead he just raised a ‘People’s Eyebrow’ at Starlight, just like he’d practiced for hours on end in front of the mirror. “That’s a bit strange,” he muttered, “I could always remind you, of course.”

“I think it’d be helpful if you did.”

Sunburst nodded, staring off into the distance. He tapped a hoof on his chin, feigning deep thought. “Now, what was it that I said to you?” He hmmed and scrunched his face up, despite knowing exactly what it was he said. I mean, it’d be weird to just have it on the mind every day for the past fifteen years, right? Right?

So, the two of them were either thinking or ‘thinking’, which caused, as you might assume, a momentous occasion of silence.

Then suddenly, almost like a lightbulb appeared above her head, Starlight remembered exactly what it was that was said. And almost as if by pure chance, or a writer nearly giving up, this was when Sunburst decided to courage and fess up.

“At the train station, uh,” he took a deep breath, “What I, uh, said was…”

“I’ll write you when I get to Canterlot, I promise!” Starlight remembered the small, squeaky colt crying out before rushing to his train. The present Sunburst repeated those words, though with much less emotion than he had before.

“Well, I remember that now.” She said with a decisive not. “But why did you bring it up?”

Sunburst blanched, blinking slowly at Starlight. “I thought you’d, uh, care a bit more, honestly. I broke a pretty important promise and probably had a hand in everything that happened.”

Starlight lightly swatted him on his snoot, making him recoil. “Don’t you start with that. You broke your promise, but keeping it means we wouldn’t have done all this.” She gestured to the beautiful scenery that is totally beautiful guys. Trust me. “I think I prefer this over hearing all your dumb jokes over fifteen years.”

Sunburst shrugged. “And I guess you wouldn’t have been Princess Twilight’s student if you hadn’t had a stint as a tyrannical dictator.” He looked down at Starlight with a moderately sized grin. “I guess we turned out alright.”

“Definitely alright,” Starlight agreed, “Coulda been better.”

Sunburst sighed happily, his grin getting slightly wider. The two didn’t say much after that, just opting to take in the scenery and share small talk and a few jokes and jibes at the other. It was fine, and fun for the both of them as they took turns trying to re-cork the very nearly virgin wine. At this point, the moon was fairly high in the sky. It was getting pretty late and the both of them would need bed.

Sunburst turned to look at Starlight in order to say... something. It was forgotten in an instant as he really looked at her. He hadn’t noticed before, somehow, but she looked absolutely gorgeous, especially under the moonlight. He was stunned by how radiant she looked, and how stupid he was to have not noticed before.

Noticing a lull in the conversation, Starlight looked up at Sunburst to see him lovestruck. Unlike him, she didn’t see anything different about him in the moonlight. He was still the dumb, cute colt who tried his best to make everything right.

And that was really all she needed, she decided as she leaned her snoot in close to his. Now, the failure to describe what exactly the kiss was like is not on me, your humble narrator, as I am just wanting to spare you the gory details. These were two ponies who had never kissed the opposite gender, or anyone in Starlight’s case, and so, without any prior knowledge, you can probably tell that it wasn’t very pretty. It was frightfully awkward, even.

Still, the two made it out of it alive. They didn’t mind how their faces awkwardly smooshed together as they kind of tilted their heads in opposite directions to make it sort of work. It was still a kiss. They felt what most romance novels would describe as ‘The Spark’ which, in actuality, was kind of more like a tingle down their spine.

They looked at each other in awe, neither quite expecting what had just transpired. Then Sunburst, his pride at an absolute low point after not being the one to initiate first contact, nuzzled Starlight in a completely romantic fashion. “I’m gonna see you off tomorrow, alright?”

Starlight was surprised, not only by the act of affection but also by the completely off topic comment. Still, she couldn’t disagree with either. Nuzzling back, she made a sound of approval in her throat.

It was just kind of like this for the rest of the night. Nuzzle party plus a bunch of one-off comments from one or the other. It was kind of cute, but definitely just fluff to pad out word counts. Anyway, the ‘rest of the night’ really just amounted to thirty minutes before the two decided to pack up and part ways. Sunburst walked Starlight home, shared one last hug and nuzzle with her, and walked home alone, but with the knowledge that he’d done something right.

Author's Notes:

If you look closely, you can see the exact moment I just stopped caring about tone.
Well, now this can be officially classified as a novella. Congratulate me.
Congratulate me