//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: Impossible Weight // Story: A Sort of Homecoming // by Closer-To-The-Sun //------------------------------// There was a light rumbling as the train moved down the tracks. It gently rocked the passengers back and forth in the cars, including the unicorn mare who was resting against the stallion next to her. Another light jolt was enough to cause the mare to open her eyes. She looked up to see an Sunburst, who turned to look back at her. “Hey there, Starlight,” he softly greeted with a smile. She returned the smile, she sat up and shuffled a little to righten her posture in the train seat. Starlight rubbed one of her eyes as she looked at the moving scenery outside of the window. “How much longer?” “Our exit is next. They announced it a few moments ago,” Sunburst explained. Starlight sighed with a bit of happiness, “Good, I can’t wait to just get off this train and enjoy spring break.” Sunburst agreed, “Finally, we get a break for ourselves.” The purple unicorn added with a bit of annoyance, “Yeah, visiting family. I can’t wait to hear about why we don’t have any foals yet.” “My mom isn’t that bad about hounding us for grandfoals,” Sunburst insisted. Starlight scoffed a little as she spoke, “Oh really? How did she respond to the news of us with eventual plans of getting hitched again?” “Well, she didn’t know we were even dating to begin with,” Sunburst cleared his throat a little, trying to avoid answering the question. “Well?” She was still waiting for the answer. The stallion looked away from Starlight to anywhere else as he answered, “She had a long list of names for us already planned, and mailed it to us overnight.” “I rest my case,” Starlight crossed her hooves, satisfied about making her point. “Look, I know you don’t get along all that well with my mom, but can you please try to have a nice vacation with her?” Sunburst asked. “I could say the same to you about my dad,” Starlight said with a smirk. A flash of dread went across the stallion’s face, “He just....has no sense of personal space. At all.” “You’re telling me. I’m sure he’ll break out the scrapbooks the moment we get there.” At that moment, the train pulled into the station of Sire's Hollow. Both Starlight and Sunburst gathered their bags and exited the train to the platform. The small train station brought back memories of the two when they first visited together. They chatted a bit as they trotted through the town square toward Sunburst’s old home. “Is it me or does this town always seem like it’s locked in time?” Starlight asked. “What do you mean?” Sunburst tilted his head. “It sort of feels like Sire’s Hollow hasn’t even grown or really changed since I left to do all that....unpleasantness,” the unicorn mare seemed to be unsure what word to use to describe what happened after she left her home years ago. Sunburst tried his best to not snicker too loud at Starlight’s word choice. “Well, I can understand what you mean,” Sunburst spoke, “I think that’s part of the charm and why a lot of creatures insist on living in a place like this. It’s a calm, quiet, and close-knit community.” “Well, it’s boring if you ask me.” “I do agree. It sort of feels too nice,” Sunburst commented. “Yeah. Whenever there is anything that feels this nice and quiet, it usually gets ruined by something,” Starlight explained as she started listing off a few thoughts, “Like Discord, or Trixie, or those six students....” Sunburst interjected himself into Starlight’s list, “Hey, there’s no need in worrying about anything relating to the School of Friendship. This is our vacation and we’re here to relax.” Starlight nodded, “Right. We shouldn’t let anything bother us. So let’s just go to your mom’s place and rip the bandage off and get it over with.” “Yeah, let’s try to make this as painless as possible.” The two came up to the door of Sunburst’s childhood home. The orange stallion reached his hoof out and knocked on the door. Not even three seconds later, the door opened revealing Sunburst’s mother. Stellar Flare had a darker orange coat compared to her son, same with the shade of her orange mane. She was wearing the necklace, scarf, and headband that always seemed to be a part of her attire. “Sunburst, Starlight, so good to see you!” Stellar Flare greeted happily with a smile. Her smile remained the same as her tone changed to one of demanding, “And why aren’t there any grandfoals yet?” “And it’s nice to see you too, mom,” Sunburst said flatly as Starlight raised a hoof up to her forehead, already preparing for the headaches that would arrive. “May we come inside? It was a long train ride getting here,” Starlight asked as she rubbed her forehead with her hoof. Both Sunburst and Starlight Glimmer entered the house as Stellar Flare moved to the side. Stellar Flare spoke as the two younger ponies entered, “You both can take your bags into Sunburst’s old room. I hope that will be good accommodations for you two.” “That will be fine, mom, thanks,” Sunburst said as he led Starlight through the house. Upon entering the room Sunburst placed his bags on top of his bed. He then motioned for Starlight to pass her bags to him so he could place them together. Starlight gave her bags to Sunburst. Afterwards, she took a look around the stallion’s old room. One wall was nothing but a bookcase stretching from the ceiling to the floor with books ranging from the subjects of magic, history, and sciences. Also on the shelves were a collection of guides and monster manuals for 'Oubliettes and Ogres' along with numerous pieces of literature that Sunburst had enjoyed when he was younger (including ‘Rainwater Down’, ‘The Sovereign of the Rings’, and ‘The Great Galloway’). The other walls of the room included a few different posters, including one with the periodic table of elements. The bed itself was large enough for two creatures, even if it would be a little cramped. “Wow, I haven’t visited your place since we were foals,” Starlight commented as she looked around the room. She took note of the bookcase and smirked, “I kinda forgot how much of a dork you were.” Sunburst seemed a bit flustered as the mare poked fun at him, “Yeah, being in here does bring back some....awkward memories....” Continuing her self-guided tour around the bedroom, Starlight giggled. She then took note of the small stacks of music discs on the desk, “Wow, you actually listened to Death Colt For Cutie? I guess that explains a lot since you sort of sealed yourself off from other creatures.” While he was a bit embarrassed by the statement, Sunburst returned fire on his own, “This coming from the pony who took over a town due to jealousy?” “Touché,” Starlight raised her hooves up in surrender. She continued looking around the room. The smile on her face grew as she remembered her early memories with Sunburst. “Hey, I know you don’t exactly see eye-to-eye with my mom on....a lot of things,” Sunburst started. “You mean like when she sent me that letter congratulating us but made thinly-veiled shots that I wasn’t good enough for you?” Starlight asked, remembering how annoyed she was she  Sunburst gave a nervous laugh, “Yeah, like that. But, do you think you try to be civil with her? I assure you she means well.” Starlight raised an eyebrow in disbelief, “Really?” “Y....Yeah....” Sunburst said unconvincingly. “Can you please try?” “No promises.” “I’ll take what I can get.” A voice called out to the two ponies in the room, “Sunburst, Starlight! Would you two please come into the living room?” Both Starlight and Sunburst left the room and headed toward the main room of the house. Upon entering, both of them saw not only Stellar Flare, but also Starlight Glimmer’s father, Firelight, standing in the middle of the room. “Dad? What are you doing here?” Starlight asked, surprised. Without wasting a moment, Firelight hurried over to greet his daughter as she entered, “Oh, there you are, sugarplum! How have you been, my pumpky-wumpkin?” The purple unicorn quickly hugged Starlight closely, against the wishes of his daughter. “I’m fine, dad,” Starlight explained as she annoyingly pried herself free from her father’s grasp, “now tell me why are you here? We were going to visit you tomorrow afternoon for tea.” Stellar Flare interrupted and insisted, “Oh, go ahead and sit, we have some news to share.” She took a seat on one of the sofas, with Firelight taking the cushion next to her. Starlight and Sunburst took a seat on the other sofa, across the coffee table from the other. “Mom, what’s this all about?” Sunburst puzzledly asked. A look was exchanged between Stellar Flare and Firelight. There was a mixture of messages in that look, such as sheepishness, playfulness, and attraction. Though that last one could have been because of the embarrassed smile between them. “Sunburst, Sugarbun,” Firelight said as he looked at Sunburst and then to his daughter, “There’s no easy way to exactly say this but....Stellar Flare and I have been dating for quite some time and....” he trailed off as he looked over toward Stellar Flare with a smile. She returned the smile and picked up where he left off, “We plan on getting married!” Stellar Flare reached over to Firelight to hold his hoof. There was a silence between Starlight and Sunburst after their parents made their announcement. The stallion’s expression was one of shock and disbelief, which was reflected by his dropped jaw. As for the mare, she had a straight deadpan with no discernable reaction. After what felt like an eternity of deafening silence, Starlight stood up and excused herself, “Excuse me for a moment.” She then proceeded to trot into the nearby hallway. Once out of view, she began to dry-heave. The sound of this was audible to the other ponies. “What’s that sound?” Firelight asked. “It almost sounds like a cat trying to cough up a hairball, but it’s unable to,” Stellar Flare commented with a bit of curiosity. Sunburst finally addressed the topic that the older ponies mentioned. “I’m sorry, you two are getting married?!” he asked in surprise. He then double backed on his words, “Wait, you two were actually dating?! When did this happen?!” “Oh, Sunburst, it happened not long after you two visited for that little friendship problem,” Stellar Flare explained matter-of-factly. “We were chatting about everything that had happened, as well as about the two of you.” Firelight added on, “We started spending time with one another, and then one thing led to another.” “These sort of things just happen!” Stellar Flare insisted with a smile. “No, these things don’t ‘just happen’!” Sunburst didn’t agree with his mother. Eventually, the sound of retching ceased and Starlight returned to the living room and her spot on the couch. The expression on her face was exactly as it was when she had left. “Sorry, the news of you two being together is so sickening to me that I thought I was going to vomit,” Starlight explained with very little inflection to her voice. She then started to stand up again, “Actually, I think it’s going to happen again.” Sunburst used his hoof to stop Starlight from moving and guided her back to her seat. “Starlight, stop. I need help trying to make sense of this.” Raising a hoof to her forehead, Starlight asked Firelight a simple but frustrating question, “Just....why, dad?” Firelight smiled as he waved off his daughter’s frustration “Oh chipmunk cheeks! You certainly can make the cutest faces, doesn’t she, Stellar?” “Oh, you are absolutely right! Starlight looks absolutely adorable!” Stellar Flare agreed. “Dad, you’re embarrassing me....” the purple mare said “No I’m not!” Firelight happily insisted, “Now, I thought you two might like to help take part in the planning of our wedding since we know we would love to help take part in yours!” “Oh, sweet Celestia,” Sunburst muttered. Stellar Flare agreed, “Oh, I know I certainly will! I already have the best locations in mind for both the wedding and the reception!” “And we can display all of the photos of them playing together as little foals!” Firelight added, “It will just be absolutely precious!” “This. This is why I don’t stop by more often, dad. You are absolutely smothering and embarrassing.” “But I’m sure Sunburst doesn’t mind,” Firelight said. Sunburst started to speak, “I-” “See!” her father quickly interrupted. “Is it possible we can try to sabotage this?” Starlight asked with a bit of bitterness “Nope!” Stellar Flare cheerfully answered. Sunburst shrugged, “Dang, there go the schemes I already came up with. Worth a shot.” Stellar Flare and Firelight continued their conversation, seemingly ignoring the two younger unicorns seated on the other couch: “So, what do you think we could do for their wedding?” “Oh, how about instead of a large wedding cake, it can be a collection of matching cupcakes!” “Oh, I love that idea! And we can imprint a photo of them! Maybe even different photos from when they were younger to that special day!” “Brilliant! And what about entertainment?” “What about a live-band?” “We could get my hun-bun’s favorite band; The Stirrups of Mercy.” “Do you think they would play for them?” “I’d spare no expense for my pumpky-wumpkin!” “Agreed! Oh, we could actually do a double-wedding with ours as well!” “That is such a fun idea! However, I do think we shouldn’t try to overshadow their big day with ours.” “Oh, you’re absolutely right. Not a very motherly thought of me thinking like that.” “ENOUGH!” Starlight Glimmer shouted as she stood up onto her hooves. “We don’t need either of you intruding in our lives like this! Sunburst and I are doing things at our own pace, so leave us alone!” With that Starlight stormed off from the living room and into the hallway, leaving behind Sunburst, Stellar Flare, and Firelight in a stunned silence. “Was it something I said?” Firelight asked. Stellar Flare shrugged, “I can’t think of anything it could have been.” Sunburst sheepishly commented, “Goodness, I haven’t seen Starlight like this since I didn’t take care of Phyllis to her specifications.” “Phyllis?” Stellar Flare’s ears perked up, “Sunburst, are you and Starlight hiding a grandfoal from me?! I can’t believe this! Why didn’t you tell me when you were both expecting? I could have shown you my brand new list of planned names for our newest addition!” “Mom, for the last time,” Sunburst sighed, “Phyllis is a philodendron; a plant!”