"Can you hear anything?"
Trixie shook her head. There hadn't been any sound from above-ground in quite a while. Sunburst was pacing anxiously and she could tell exactly how he was feeling. He was worried about Starlight. She'd gathered their rather rocky history over her brief friendships with both and she understood how he felt. She was worried, too, but she knew Starlight was a powerful magic-user who could easily hold her own in a fight against an alicorn. Surely the former changeling queen would be less of a challenge for a pony like Starlight, right?
"Oh, Celestia..."
"Sunburst, she'll be fine."
"How do you know that?!"
"Because she's Starlight."
That did nothing to soothe Sunburst's nerves. Trixie ended up pushing him further down the catacombs just so the students wouldn't panic along with him.
Really, and Starlight picked him?
Hours seemed to pass. Eventually the students fell asleep and Trixie went to check on Sunburst. He was leaning against a wall, staring at it blankly with his glasses askew and looking more frazzled than she'd ever seen him.
"Listen, if Starlight couldn't handle it, she would have brought me for backup," she sighed. "You could've kept an eye on the students while we went and took on Chrysalis."
"That's just it. She's always been really powerful, ever since we were foals, but I think she might be in over her head this time."
Trixie rolled her eyes.
"Come on. You're not going to be any help to Starlight if you don't get some rest."
"I can't... I'm too worried about her..."
Under other circumstances, Trixie would've begun teasing him mercilessly about his obvious crush on Starlight (she'd spotted it pretty quickly upon meeting Sunburst for the first time) but now wasn't the time. Instead, she began pushing him back to the students.
"Keep an eye on them. I'm going to check if the coast is clear."
Sunburst nodded. Trixie stuck her head out to find that all was quiet. Nothing looked damaged in the slightest, which if Starlight had really been in a duel should not have been the case. Oh, Celestia, now she was worried.
Hoofsteps in the hall. She froze before the door flew open to reveal a unicorn stallion she didn't know.
"Are there any other unicorns here?" he barked.
"U-um..." she stammered, confused by why he was only asking about unicorns.
"Answer me!"
"Hey! Give me a sec! Yes, there are—"
"Bring them up!"
She really had no clue what was going on, so she chose to obey. All of the students were brought up, but he only brought the unicorns to him. Earth ponies and pegasi were left huddled together.
"And you two." He gestured to Trixie and Sunburst. "You're coming with me to Canterlot."
"What's going on?" Sunburst asked.
"Equestria has been conquered. The princesses have been defeated along with the Pillars and the friends of the Princess of Friendship. Even that unicorn... what was her name... Star-blight?"
"Starlight. Her name is Starlight." Sunburst was definitely peeved at this point. "And what happened?"
"No idea. All I know is that Chrysalis was bragging about taking down her greatest enemy once and for all."
The world went dark for Sunburst as he fell to the floor.
When he awoke again, his mother was dabbing at his forehead.
"M-Mom?"
"Oh, thank goodness!"
"W-what happened?"
"Terrible things. And I guarantee it's the fault of the earth ponies and pegasi."
He glanced around and realized he was in some classroom. Definitely not one at the School of Friendship, though; that much was clear. He was surrounded by unicorns, and only unicorns. Panic was once again setting in as he recognized most of the faces in the room... but Starlight wasn't among them. He'd been hoping that it was a dream, that nothing bad had happened and she was okay.
"Trixie mentioned Starlight went off to fight... the former queen of the changelings?" Firelight whispered, coming closer. "Did she...?"
"She went off, but we haven't seen her since then."
"It's been a day," Trixie added quietly.
"Nobody else has seen her, either," added Stellar Flare.
Sunburst swore he could hear glass shattering and there was a sudden ringing in his ears that drowned out everything else in the room. It was his reality breaking down around him. He and Starlight hadn't been friends again for very long but he couldn't imagine his life without her anymore. All he could think of was images of her lying on the ground, the queen standing over her and laughing at the most amazing pony in the world as Starlight took shallow breaths in her final moments—
No! She can't be gone forever. She's Starlight. There's no way she's gone. There's still so much we have to do with each other.
"Sunburst?" His mother's voice was muffled by the ringing, making it seem as if he was drowning and she was standing by the edge of the water.
He remembered hearing a knock at his door on the day of the Crystalling and opening it to find her, older and yet somehow the same pony he remembered from childhood. They'd failed to reconnect for a bit until she came back to ask for help and then... it had clicked. Something inside Sunburst's head had clicked in that moment where he'd helped save the Crystal Empire and Starlight had given him that smile.
Why hadn't he kept in contact with her? How many years of being her friend had he wasted because he was too afraid to admit that he was a failure at magic?
...why was he afraid of admitting things to her?
Ever since they'd reconnected they'd been closer than ever. Other than the incident where he inadvertently almost made her cry (sweet Celestia did he regret ignoring her like that) she was his best and closest friend. It didn't hurt that she was so strong and powerful and smart and beautiful and she had that amazing laugh that just made him light up inside every time he heard it and the absolute sass she had when somebody questioned her abilities... he loved her. Not just as his best friend but real, romantic, could-probably-expel-evil-changelings-from-a-city love. And that was probably why his heart felt like it had been ripped out of his chest and torn in half.
He hadn't told her, of course, because there never seemed to be a right time. First there was the distance with her in Ponyville and him in the Crystal Empire. Then there was the fact that she was busy with her guidance counselor duties and he was Flurry Heart's glorified teacher and babysitter... which was a full-time job alongside researching magic theory that could be used to help Equestria. Now he was her second-in-command at the school, and things were finally going in a direction where he felt like maybe he and Starlight could have a future together. He'd been planning to pull her aside at Twilight's coronation (at the after-party once she'd congratulated her teacher, of course) and tell her how he felt.
Now that was all out the window. She had vanished. Her battle against Chrysalis had clearly not been at the school. So where had she gone?
"Sunburst!"
He felt a bucket of water being dumped over his face and then he saw Trixie levitating said bucket.
"For pony's sake, calm down! You're gonna pass out again," she snorted.
"I'm sorry, I just..." He cleaned the water droplets off his glasses and adjusted them. "I'm just worried about—"
"The others. I know."
Oh, the others. He'd forgotten it wasn't just Starlight who was missing. It was the princesses and the Council of Friendship, too. A sick feeling welled in his gut as other unicorns began to talk about how they'd be starting their own nation, away from pegasi and earth ponies. He could hear the wind outside growing louder as the hatred in the room grew stronger and stronger.
Then, after a unicorn filly from the school spoke up and reminded them of her lessons, he found a new strength. If Starlight was still alive, he'd find her and they'd make these villains pay together. And then maybe they'd do something, just the two of them, and he'd never let her go off on her own like that again.
It was over now.
Starlight felt a strange sense of normalcy as she sat at her desk. After everything that had happened over the past few days—the past few months—she needed it. There were no two ways about it and she was glad for the silence that she had in these moments. Twilight's coronation had been postponed, but it was still going to happen. The new head-mare was going to be living alone in the castle for the first time. She was going to miss seeing her teacher every day.
Knock knock
"It's open!"
The door opened to reveal Sunburst. Her heart leapt up at seeing him. During the battle they'd been focused on supporting Twilight and her friends and hadn't gotten much of a chance to talk. Now he had a look on his face she couldn't quite read and one that had her a little worried as she stepped out to hug him. His forelegs were around her before she could even process that he'd moved. Then a sound reached her ears: sobbing. Sunburst was crying.
"Sunburst, what's...?"
"Don't scare me like that again," he choked out. "I-I..."
She didn't say anything and just held him close. Sometimes just letting someone vent was the best option. Eventually he calmed down and she led him over to a pair of chairs in the corner.
"Better?" she asked quietly. Gently. He nodded.
"I'm sorry for breaking down like that, but it's just..." He took a deep breath. "I was so scared when you didn't come back right away after... after Chrysalis. I found out that you'd been defeated and I just passed out. I thought that if you didn't come back at all..."
She gently put her hoof on his, her touch comforting him and seeming to steel some kind of resolve.
"Starlight, I spent a long time hiding from you when it came to... well, me. When we were foals, I convinced myself that if I could show you what I could do then everything would be fine. Admitting that I was screwing up would make me look weak to you. I know, that sounds completely stupid. But it's how I felt."
"Sunburst..." He wasn't done yet.
"A-and I couldn't figure out why I wanted to impress you so badly for the longest time. You've always been better at magic, so how could I surpass you? I lost myself in my researching and then... then you showed back up. I realize now why I was so desperate to make you think I was amazing. Because you're amazing."
"I-I'm not that good." She could feel her cheeks heating up right before he took her hooves in his.
"You're smart and powerful and strong and beautiful and... and..."
He seemed to be having difficulties getting the words out.
"And... what?"
"I love you!"
The words evidently came out much quicker than he'd intended. If her cheeks could have burst into flames they would've in that moment.
"I've known for a while but I haven't really had a chance to tell you and I was planning to tell you at Twilight's coronation but since that's been postponed I came here to tell you because life isn't going to wait for—"
"Sunburst."
"Yes?"
"I love you, too."
His eyes practically popped out of his head and she watched as he stiffened and fell off the couch.
Oops.
"Sunburst!"
He groaned as he opened his eyes to see Starlight standing over him with a worried expression.
"Ugh, I just had a really weird dream."
"Were you confessing how you felt and I returned your affections?" she asked with a slight adorable giggle.
"U-um, yes?"
"That was real."
He leapt up from the floor faster than he'd thought was physically possible for him. She seemed caught off-guard as he hugged her tightly but didn't push him away.
"Thank goodness!"
"Yeah, I've had a crush on you for a while before this. Trixie's been mocking me for it for a while now."
"Wait, she's been making fun of you? I thought it was just me!"
Starlight laughed again and rolled her eyes.
"I think we can both say that Trixie isn't the best at supporting us emotionally. At least when it comes to each other."
He nodded.
"So... what happens now?"
"Well... I guess we try this out. After all, you're moving into the castle, which should make this easier..."
"Yep, but maybe... do you wanna be my date to the coronation whenever it happens?"
"Of course." They hugged again and then he felt Starlight place a light kiss on his cheek.
"Uh, wha—who—huh?"
"Don't pass out again, please."
"I-I'll t-try..."
"Here, let's go grab some lunch and then we can talk about this some more."
Sunburst, in that moment, felt like the luckiest stallion in Equestria.