Stars in the Making

by Borsuq

Aftermath - Part III

The wind blew gently through Starburst’s mane as she slowly soared over Sweet Apple Acres. Having wasted little time to eat dinner, hunger letting her gobble it - and the seconds - up in a matter of minutes, she still had time to track down Starfall and have a talk with him before she’d have to go to Annie’s.

Wish I had some time to work out, too, she mused, looking longingly over the trees in the orchard. When was the last time she did her exercises here while also helping out her friends’ family? Maybe if we wrap it up quickly enough, I could… ugh, no, we have way too much to talk about and it’s too serious to rush it, even if I’d somehow had an hour left I wouldn’t make it in time back home to shower before going to Annie’s house.

Still, as she surveyed the damage the storm from last night had done to the Apple’s farm, Starburst wondered if she should still help a little. While as far as she could see there were no fallen trees, a lot of them had lost branches that now littered the ground.

Maybe I could come over tomorrow after school and help out, Starburst decided, hoping she would be able to finish that presentation with Annie today.

Focusing back on finding Starfall, Starburst sped up and drew closer to the ground, trying to spot anypony. Unfortunately, the farm appeared deserted. Not only was there no sign of her coltfriend, but she also couldn’t spot any of the Apple family’s ponies.

Well, it is dinner time, she realized, turning towards their house. Starfall must have already left… still can’t believe he supposedly works here! I can’t wait to hear what that’s all about… anyway, maybe the Apples know where he went after finishing work.

Starburst landed gracefully in front of the door and knocked on it. As she waited for somepony to open it, she looked over at the nearest trees; the loose branches had already been picked up on this part of the farm closest to the barn. Clearly, the Apples - and their newest farmhoof, apparently - were hard at work to repair the damage the storm had caused.

The sound of approaching hoofsteps brought her attention to the door just in time to see them open. Del’s mom, Applejack, stood on the other side.

“Well howdy Star,” she greeted her warmly.

“Hi,” Starburst replied, smiling awkwardly. “Um, T told me he saw Starfall over here? Do you know-”

“That’s right,” Applejack interrupted her before she could say ‘where he went’. The older mare seemed amused. “He’s ‘ere eatin’ dinner with us.”

“Say what?” Starburst exclaimed, raising an eyebrow in surprise.

“Come in, Ah’ll get ya a plate,” Applejack continued, turning around and holding the door open invitingly.

“Um, actually I already ate-” Starburst began as she followed after the earth pony mare, but then paused as the delicious smells from the dining room reached her and she felt her mouth water. “- buuut if you don’t mind me joining…” she added instead, glancing at Applejack uncertainly.

The older mare chuckled warmly. “Of course not,” she replied, nodding in the direction of the dining room.

As Applejack trotted towards the kitchen, Starburst headed in the direction where those delicious smells were coming from. Entering the room, she was greeted with the sight of the entire Apple family - Del, June, Api, Cheerilee, Big Mac, Caramel, Apple Bloom, and Granny Smith - sitting around the table, as well as Candy that sat beside Del and next to them Starfall.

“Hi Star!” Candy greeted her enthusiastically.

“Hi everypony,” she replied, waving at the gathered ponies.

While others greeted her in return, Starburst locked her gaze with Starfall. The unicorn smiled at her, but at the same time his horn began to glow, and from behind a big wooden sign raised into the air, with two words written on it.

HELP ME!

Yeah, sounds about right, Starburst mused, watching him wave the sign above his head with bemusement.

At that moment, Applejack emerged from the kitchen, balancing a plate on her back. Instantly, Starfall turned the sign around, with a different message written on the back.

I AM HAVING FUN AND I’M TOTALLY NOT AGAINST MY WILL HERE!

Despite her mild annoyance, Starburst had to cover her mouth with her hoof as an amused snort escaped her, both at the sight of the wooden sign and Applejack’s bemused expression.

“Just how many of those do ya 'ave ready?” Applejack asked with a sigh, walking over to the table to place the plate next to the colt.

Why am I not surprised that this wasn’t the first time he did this today around here? Starburst thought, stifling another snort, as she walked to sit beside him while Candy scootched closer to Del to make room for her.

As Starfall made the sign disappear, Starburst wanted to ask him what exactly he was doing here, but her focus shifted from her coltfriend to the delicious apple-themed feast on the table. Quickly she helped herself to a few of everything and dug in.

“So,” she spoke up after she took a few bites, turning to Starfall, “how come you’re here?”

Starfall frowned at Applejack. “Well apparently, my work contract states that as long as I’m employed at Sweet Apple Acres I am to eat dinner with them, so-”

“Ah might not ‘ave added that part if ya didn’t look as if you weight about as much as Api,” Applejack cut in, nodding at the small filly.

“Excuse me for watching my figure,” Starfall replied with a snort as he rolled his eyes, causing a few of the gathered ponies to snicker.

Normally Starburst would berate him for his disregard for his health, but right now she had a more important thing- Okay, no, his health is more important obviously, Starburst amended, but that is apparently being taken care of, so…

“Alright, back up, what’s this about a work contract?”

“Oh, I work here now.”

It took every ounce of Starburst’s willpower for her to not facehoof.

“Elaborate please?” she asked, furrowing her brow at him.

Starfall shot her an amused look. I swear, he started working here just to annoy me right now…

“Well, Princess, not everypony was born with a silver spoon in their mouth,” he began with an overly dramatic tone of voice. Starburst rolled her eyes but let him continue. “I figured that, since I’m turning a new leaf and all that, I should find an honest source of income.”

Aaaand I don’t buy it for a second.

“Mhm,” she hummed, deadpanning at him; she figured she might as well play along with the insanity, “or you could just accept my mom’s proposition and live at our mansion.”

Starfall blinked and looked at her, worried. “Star, have you gone insane?” he asked, pretending to sound serious; much to her annoyance. “Because that’s my thing and if you take that away I don’t know what I’m bringing into this relationship.”

Starburst groaned and rolled her eyes again. Ignoring the amused chuckles around her, she glared at her coltfriend. “Nevermind. So out of everything you could do to make a living, you decided to work on a farm?”

“Why, you make it sound like I wasn’t cut out for that sort of work,” he retorted with amusement, dropping the pretenses. “Anypony who would take a look at my horribly scarred back would assume I’m at least familiar with manual labor.”

Ignoring how everypony winced, Starburst merely raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, and that you were bad at it."

Starfall snorted with laughter and covered his muzzle, causing the few shocked glares she received to turn to him in confusion.

“Okay,” Starfall rasped, still chuckling, “you got me there.”

Pleased to have won that exchange, Starburst decided to indulge his explanation a bit further. “Anyway, you were saying…”

“And so it happened,” he resumed almost at once, returning to his dramatic tone, “that Miss Applejack had offered to hire me to help around the farm.”

“When did that happen?” Starburst asked with a frown, turning to Applejack.

“Ah offered him a job when he popped back in t’ fix that paintin’ he made on the barn,” Applejack replied; Starburst felt a brief flash of embarrassment at the memory of that mural he had created. So that’s what he had meant my ‘long-winded boring lecture’? she thought, recalling what he had said when he teleported back to the lake. That she had offered him a job? Honestly… “After all Twi had told me ‘bout him, Ah figure he could use an opportunity t’ earn some bits through honest work.”

“Eeexactly,” Starfall exclaimed, raising a glass of cider in salute.

Starfall frowned at him, but waited for him to finish drinking before asking: “Okay, and what’s the real reason you’re doing this?”

“Why would you assume I have some other reason besides wanting to make some honest living?” Starfall asked with quite convincing surprise.

“Gee, because I know you?” Starburst retorted, still staring at him with a deadpan. She knew their exchange was causing great amusement to the Apples, but she ignored them. “Come one, out with it, what’s the real reason?”

Starfall chuckled innocently, much to her irritation, and opened his mouth-

“He’s saving up bits to buy ya something for yar birthday next month.”

Starburst turned in surprise to Api, and she was far from the only one to do so. However, her attention quickly returned back to Starfall, who was staring at the youngest pony in the room with an expression of utter shock… which, if Starburst had to be honest about, was quite hilarious to see.

“Api!” her mother, Apple Bloom, looked at her reproachfully.

“Oh, Ah’m sorry, Ah thought they were about to argue,” Api said apologetically, making big sad eyes… that didn’t fool anypony that knew her.

But Starfall already waved his hoof dismissively. “Oh well, cat’s out of the bag,” he said, shrugging.

Starburst, however, eyed the young pony suspiciously. She wasn’t curious about how Api had found out that this was the reason why Starfall decided to work on the farm; that filly had an uncanny talent for finding out about ponies' secrets, usually very embarrassing. No, what Starburst wondered was what she had wanted to do with that information. Api usually used her knowledge to blackmail others into doing various things, like taking her and her two friends to a County Fair in Appleloosa. She would have most certainly asked Starfall for something… and apparently, the unicorn had decided to ‘call her bluff’ and said no.

Even though he didn’t know Api well enough to know she would definitely let his secret slip, Starburst was still impressed by her coltfriend.

Shaking the thought off, she turned to him. “You don’t have to buy me anything…” she began, but Starfall’s chuckling interrupted her.

“Oh please, do you think I’d just ‘buy’ you something?” he asked, smirking. “I think you know me better than to expect something so mundane out of me. Though admittedly, I do require some bits for a part of my surprise,” he added with a shrug.

“Part of it?” Starburst repeated, confused.

“I’m afraid you’ll have to wait a bit to find out,” Starfall replied, winking.

While she didn’t really care all that much about gifts, she had to admit that she was curious about just what he came up with… not to mention that she was a bit flattered that he took up a job to be able to afford a gift for her.

“How did you even find out that my birthday was coming up?” she asked, quickly changing the subject before dwelling on her thoughts could cause her to blush. Glancing briefly at her friend beside her, she added “Did Candy tell you?”

Starfall blinked… then frowned. “You do remember that you’re the Princess of the Realm, right?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. “I just looked you up on Ponypedia.”

“Oh…” Starburst mumbled, now blushing from embarrassment.

“He got you there,” Candy chimed in, giggling. “Not that I wouldn’t have told him in advance, mind you.”

Starburst rolled her eyes in annoyance, but then a thought occurred to her. “Well,” she started slowly, “I suppose it’s only fair you found out when’s my birthday since I found when’s yours,” she said with a shrug.

That caused Starfall to frown. “And just how in the world you’d have found out? I don’t know my birthday at this point.”

“My mom told me. Your mom had told her back when they ran into each other.”

“Your mom remember something like that after sixteen years?” Starfall asked with disbelief.

“That’s Twilight for ya,” Applejack commented, chuckling. “Ya can trust that mare t’ remember and/or know everything.”

“Okay, I’ll bite, when is it?” Starfall asked with mild curiosity.

“Oh, I hope it’s soon,” Candy spoke up before Starburst could answer. “I can wait to throw you a birthday party too! You could really use it,” she added more seriously. “I can’t believe a pony could actually forget their own birthday. I-I mean, I know that…”

“Meh, I was busy,” Starfall interjected with disinterest before she could elaborate on the reasons why he forgot.

Starburst glanced at her friend. Well, she’s about to get her wish, she thought, wondering how she was going to react.

“Apparently,” she began, turning to Starfall, “you and I were born on the same day.”

Starfall's eyes grew wider in surprise. Beside them, Starburst heard Cheerilee remark, “Oh wow, that’s adorable.”

“Wow,” Starfall finally responded, “your life really is a cheesy romance novel.”

“Yeah, I said the same-” she began to agree, but then she noticed just what exactly he had said. “Wait, what about your life?”

“Oh please, nopony would write a novel about my life!” Starfall snorted. “It’s way too convoluted. That book would never sell. Nah, I’m happy just being the romantic interest in your novel,” he added with a wink, causing Starburst to roll her eyes.

Author's Note:

Sorry for the long break, I promise I'm not doing this on purpose

Comments

[KnightOfZaku]

Thanks for another chapter in this awesome story!

Now if you'll excuse me. I have a sudden urge to reread both this story and it's prequel.

[Bregon]

Thank you so much for the chapter, I really missed this story

[YewUnicorn]

Hey I'm just glad to see an update! Take care of yourself out there!

[katarjin]

No worries mate, just happy to see you still around ...especially after the last few years. (Api is going to be a real handful the older she gets)

[Charedfirescale]

cool

[DR-Fluffy]

Thanks for the chapter. See you next year

[Wings of Glory]

Heck yeah, more of this story is the only thing I want in life

[PonyofEntropy]

Great update.

[FiredragonX]

Starburst keeps on giving the best lines!