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// 48 - Old Cures, New Actors 
// Story: Sunburst to the Rescue 
// by David Silver 
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Starlight's eyes were glowing along with her horn. She could feel her magic rushing around and through Sunburst's horn as she encouraged him to release more and more of his own energy, building the intensity and heat of the exchange. His eyes were little more than glowing spots, just as overwhelmed in the procedure.

She felt a buzzing in her hindquarters. She couldn't hope to see what it was without stopping. Did she dare? With a soft grunt, she began to limit the magic, lowering the crescendo back down while keeping a careful feel for any spurs that could have been knocked loose in the interim.

One did come free, but she snatched it and whisked it away into a little jar that sat beside the table for just such emergency. "Got one," she reported proudly as the glowing faded away. "But what is that?"

"The same thing I feel?" asked Sunburst, blinking his clearing eyes and looking back at his rump, where his cutie mark was pulsing softly.

Starlight hopped up to her hooves. "Ah ha! The table is giving an opinion! Where is it pointing?" She hopped clear of the table to have a hope of actually seeing what it displayed.

Sunburst stepped off more sedately, adjusting his glasses as he went. "Or there's actually a friendship problem in need of us. That'd actually be kind of nice."

"The odds of that happening right now feels low." Starlight extended her tongue briefly before she looked over the cleared map. The cutie marks displayed were Sunburst's, Twilight's, and her own, all orbiting Twilight's castle. "I'm... not sure how to take this?"

Sunburst inclined his head faintly, a hoof at his glasses as if to hold them in place. "Oh, hmm... Maybe it's just... saying we should stop? I mean, not just... stop... per se, but not what we were just doing. We should keep working."

"Where is it sending me?!" Twilight burst through the doors with a big smile. "Who am I with?!"

Sunburst looked over at the incoming Twilight with a smaller smile of his own. "You're with us, here."

Everyone's rumps began to glow again as the symbols faded from the map, as if they had completed the friendship quest.

Twilight slowed to a stop. "Oh... That's never happened before. I don't understand; I was just teaching a class on the importance of proper greeting techniques. Did that need to be interrupted just so... we could all meet here?"

Sunburst gestured with a point of his horn at the table. "Starlight thought we should do the surgery here, so the table could weigh in if it wanted to."

Twilight's eyes went wide, but Starlight was faster to respond, "And it did! It seems... to want us to stop and talk, and here we are."

Sunburst lowered his hoof to the ground and moved around the table towards Twilight. "Well, I suppose we shouldn't argue with the massive artifact of destiny."

Twilight shook her head slowly, blinking back to normal eye width. "You were doing that on the table?! Anyway, um, sure, here we are." She gestured back at school. "My class is already cancelled and the students dispersed, so no point rushing back now. What did we need to talk about?"

Starlight gestured between Sunburst and Twilight. "I imagine it's between you two. It just wanted me to cut it out, which I have." She dipped her head towards the table. "I'm done."

Twilight started towards the table and the ponies around it, but stopped. She lifted an ear, hearing something. "Spike?"

He flew in through the same doors. "Yeah! Letter!" He held one clutched in a hand and soon handed it over to Twilight, who floated it up for a proper reading.

"Celestia is passing a message from Cadance."

"Through me," noted Spike with a raised brow.

"Through Spike." Twilight smirked faintly. "Cadance is wondering when her favorite foalsitter is coming back from his visit."

All eyes went to Sunburst. "Oh, yeah... I have been visiting for quite some time... I probably should go back."

"O-oh, yeah, I guess," almost echoed Twilight.

Starlight hiked a brow. "How about 'no'? You two are helpless, I swear. Neither of you want this, so don't do it." She prodded Sunburst in the chest with the flat of a hoof. "You have a girlfriend; or did you forget? That's worth moving for."

His cheeks began to quickly darken. "We're not... married, and I have--"

"You two aren't married because you're not wildly impulsive." She gestured to herself. "That's what you have me around for. Now I'm not saying go galloping to fix that, but you two moving apart? Nope! I'm putting a friendship veto on that."

Sunburst looked over to Twilight. "Is that a thing?"

"I am not aware of a 'friendship veto'." She smiled a little. "But I can appreciate the sentiment. Sunburst, this really is up to you. Me and Starlight would be happy having you around, as a friend."

"And more," added Spike quickly, brows wagging salaciously. The mares shot him a dirty look. "What? It's the truth. They're a 'thing'."

Starlight fixed her gaze on Sunburst as she casually hopped up onto Twilight's throne. "She isn't wrong, this is your choice. I just wanted to be sure you two were actually making a choice instead of just doing what other people ask you to."

"Right, my own choice..." He looked to Twilight's hopeful smile, Starlight's confident expression, and Spike's curiosity. "I mean... If I did... move here, I'd need to get my things out of my home in the Crystal Empire."

Twilight gestured at Starlight and herself. "You have us two. Do you really think it'll take more than a day to sort that?"

"I was going to say that, thank you for jumping in." Starlight nodded with satisfaction. "Moving a bunch of books? Not a big deal."

Twilight clopped her hooves. "Ooo, then we get to add your books to the collection. You know what that means?!"

"Book sorting day?" sighed out Spike without nearly the enthusiasm that Twilight seemed to have towards the idea.

"Book sorting day!" she said much more confidently, dancing in place. "Maybe a whole weekend, considering how many books we're adding. One of my favorite things. Oh, Sunburst, you'll join us, right?"

She was smiling at him so brightly. He put a hoof behind his head, unsure how he could even consider refusing. "Of course! I mean... they would be my books. I should help, um... I also need to tell Princess Cadance."

Twilight stepped towards him. "So it's time for a visit, because we have other things we need to do there, and this is the perfect time!"

"We do?"

"Did you forget?" She slid past him, purposefully letting her side brush his. "I have to introduce you to my brother, again, as my boyfriend. I said I'd do that, and now is the best time to do it."

Starlight saluted suddenly. "I'll make sure the school stays in one piece and cover your classes, Twi."

"Thank you very much." She turned to Spike. "I'd like to entrust Spike to my classes though. Running the school and doing the classes is a bit much to ask of any pony that isn't already used to it."

Starlight's nose wrinkled a little. "Oh, fine. But I still call dibs on the Friendship is Magic class." She clopped her suddenly glowing hooves together with a ready smile. "I'll show them some real magic..."

Twilight held up a hoof to direct her voice in a whisper to Spike, "Keep an eye on that, please."

Spike saluted, then flew off.

Sunburst pulled out some paper and held it and a quill in his magic, starting to scribble busily. "Let's warn them that we're coming, then we can be off."

Twilight suddenly swatted the paper aside, making the quill drag a big splot of black ink across it. "No, this can be a surprise. Let us just show up with the good news. Surprises aren't uncalled for, just... not at the point of the wedding. Ugh, BBBFF..." She snorted, nostrils wide a moment. "Let's go get some tickets."

"Already?!" His glasses fell out of alignment, a hoof rising automatically to push them back into place. " If you're alright with it?"

"It was my idea, and we're leaving things in capable hooves. We'll inform the girls on the way." She giggled as she walked. "This is going to be fantastic!"

Starlight put a hoof in front of Sunburst, stopping him from following her for a moment. "Told you. She wants you, dummy. Don't be so hasty to throw that away. You two, I swear..."

"I'm going," he huffed. "Good luck while we're away... and wish me some?" He dashed to catch up with Twilight.

"At least I don't have to explain to Shining that I'm snatching his precious little sister away." She smirked, watching Sunburst flee. "No envy there."





They were on a train, rolling along towards the Crystal Empire. Sunburst was darkened in his cheeks, rocking in place a little. "The, uh, girls were really happy."

"That's an understatement." Twilight was looking out the window, leaning on one arm. "They were ecstatic when we explained what was going on."

"They've visited before a few times... what's the big deal?"

"Never to announce this." Twilight hiked a brow. "It's a big deal! I'm still miffed I never got to experience it myself before they were already tying the knot, remember?"

"Oh, yes, that's true." He nodded softly. "Didn't she end up being... Chrysalis? Maybe that's why they didn't tell you earlier. I mean, she could have interfered with it. How long was she replacing Cadance?"

"I... am not certain." She tilted her head a little. "And I never even... considered that before. Huh... Huh..." She tapped at her chin with a hoof, sitting upright as she did so. "Wow, that... entirely recontextualizes the entire thing... Sunburst!"

"Huh?" He jumped at being exclaimed at. "What? Did I do something?"

"You just saved me from being a total jerk to my brother. He may not have even had a choice in the matter, and I was ready to rub it in his face. That would have been so awkward for him..."

Sunburst smiled gently. "Let's just enjoy it for what it is, instead of trying to worry about things that already passed."

"Exactly." She firmly nodded. "These are my hangups." She made a box like shape with her hooves, moving them around the imaginary edges of the  box. "I am putting them away." She set the imagined box aside. "I'm going to see my brother and tell him good news and he'll be super excited and maybe start crying."

Sunburst stepped down from his bench and hopped up beside Twilight, leaning against her gently. "Do you think he'll... approve of me?"

"You two are already friends. Why wouldn't he?" She hiked a brow. "And if he doesn't, I know a few weaknesses of his."

He laughed at the mental images that sprang into his mind. "Be kind to him. He's a busy husband and father."

"I won't leave any marks."

He wasn't sure how comforting that assurance was. "I hope, uh, Cadance isn't too upset."

Twilight twitched an ear at Sunburst. "About?"

"I am her #1 foalsitter, and if I move to Ponyville, that obviously comes to an end."

"Oh, that's true..." She tapped a hoof against the cushion she was seated on. "She is a pony of love, though. I doubt she'll stand in the way of her foalsitter finding a special somepony, even if it means some inconvenience. She'll find another pony to fill that role."

Sunburst suddenly smiled. "Just like she stopped being a foalsitter and found a special somepony? That worked out for her."

"And now she can pass on that favor." Twilight leaned to the side, peeking out the window. "I can see the empire coming up. This is going to be great!"