• Published 23rd Apr 2020
  • 1,832 Views, 71 Comments

Seeing the Light - SilverStar7



After a magical accident, Sunburst is in a parallel universe where he is betrothed to Twilight.

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A Nervous Night

Sunburst actually found himself smiling as he collected the ingredients to make himself a sandwich. It felt normal, coming into the Palace's kitchens late at night after the staff had left and whipping himself up something at the end of the day. Typically, the circumstance was being kept up late looking after a Flurry Heart who refused to go to bed, but at this point, he'd take any form of normalcy.

He set out daffodils, lettuce, and a tomato, and then went to get the bread. A traditional DLT was made on white. Having made that selection, he considered if he wanted to mix things up. Setting down the bread, he went over to the refrigerator and looked around. Soon, he spotted a bowl of sliced lemons. He took out one of the slices and closed the fridge, still smiling.

The simplicity of this was relaxing in just the right way.

As Sunburst prepared his snack, he heard a voice behind him say, "You do know the 'L' doesn't stand for 'lemon,' right?"

He looked around and saw Starlight standing in the doorway. The mare had a nervous expression on her face. It certainly wasn't the look he'd expected from somepony who had just made a casual joke.

"Hey, Starlight. Did you decide you wanted something to eat, too?"

"Uh, yeah, I guess I could eat something. I'll use up the rest of your tomato there so it doesn't go bad."

The mare cantered over and lit her own horn. She prepared herself a sandwich like Sunburst's, but sans lemon. As she worked she asked, "How are you feeling after today?"

Sunburst thought for a moment, then said, "Pretty good, all things considered. I think we made decent progress towards figuring out how the spell sent me here. Hopefully, Starswirl will be able to put everything together when he gets here tomorrow."

"Hopefully," said Starlight. "Starswirl is certainly an impressive wizard, but I think you and Twilight are quite capable yourselves. I think there's a good chance one of you two will figure it out first."

"That's nice of you to say," said Sunburst. "But having worked with Starswirl so much recently, I can tell you that his knowledge is beyond impressive. He occasionally makes me feel like I'm learning about magic for the first time."

Starlight capped off her sandwich. Then, "Have you and Starswirl grown close since you've been working together?"

"I'd like to think he and I are friends now," he said. "Although I guess in this universe that wouldn't be the case." Sunburst frowned thinking about that. "He and I barely knew each other before we started on that project. It'll almost be like starting our friendship all over again."

"Yeah, there's those relationship differences again..." said Starlight, once more directing her gaze at Sunburst's chest. Her brow furrowed and she gently bit her lower lip.

Sunburst wasn't sure why, but it was beginning to irk him. It wasn't like he always gave great eye contact whenever he was talking to somepony else, but this behavior seemed off. So this time, the stallion decided not to ignore it.

"Why do you keep doing that?" he finally asked.

Quickly, Starlight looked him in the eye. "Doing what?"

"Looking down at my suit."

The mare flinched and blood began to build on her face. She looked like a filly with her hoof caught in a cookie jar, the red on her cheeks standing in for streaks of chocolate.

"Starlight, what's going on?"

"Oh, sweet Celestia." Starlight began to pace back and forth. "This is exactly what I was trying to avoid."

"What were you avoiding?"

"Talking about this. I really don't want to... except I do. Like, I feel like I need to, but I couldn't! And that was the plan: I could find out from you without talking about it. The whole idea was that then I wouldn't have to have this conversation, but I'd still know how you felt. Only now, you aren't you anymore.

"And that's the thing I've really been trying to work out all day. It's like I have a free pass to talk to you about this. But you're still Sunburst, so it's hard, and I'm having second thoughts now. Besides, you aren't my Sunburst, so you probably can't give me any real insight." Starlight continued pacing, but looked at Sunburst again. "Am I making any sense?"

"Uh... I feel like I'm supposed to say 'yes,' but to be honest... no. You're not making sense."

"Yeah, I was afraid of that." Starlight stopped pacing and took a deep breath. "Okay, I'm just gonna explain and deal with the consequences later. A few days ago, I was at Rarity's..."


Rarity's bedroom/workroom on the upper level of the Carousel Boutique was in its usual state of organized chaos. Starlight paced back and forth on the far side of the room as Rarity worked on the suit-coat for Sunburst's planning dinner. The fashionista was looking back and forth between the design on her desk and the mannequin.

"So, what do you think? Should I add the lapel pin or leave it off?" Rarity floated an off-white, carved pearl pin in the shape of Sunburst's cutie mark in front of the suit she was designing.

"I don't know. You're the fashion expert," said Starlight.

"Come now, Starlight," said Rarity, setting the lapel pin aside and picking up a needle and thread. "You yourself said that you wanted to be a part of this."

"But it's pointless! Why am I even here?"

"Well, I'd like to think it's because you trust me as a friend and value my insights into the world of romance," said Rarity. She paused for a moment to carefully put thread through the eye of the needle. "But I'm afraid a more likely explanation is that Applejack's extra hard cider lives up to its name and I happened to be the pony tasked with taking you back to your room after Twilight and Sunburst's engagement party..."

"No, I mean why did I come over to look at that suit?" Starlight threw herself onto Rarity's bed and put her hooves over her eyes. "Why would I think that seeing you make this would bring me any closer to accepting Sunburst's wedding? I should've known it wouldn't help. It was a stupid idea."

Rarity stopped what she was doing when she heard the springs on her bed. Turning around, she walked toward her friend. "Starlight, I think it's great that you're trying to move on with your feelings. The fact that you want to accept what's happening is a good sign. And I think your idea to help me make Sunburst's suit was a good one. But..."

Starlight waited for a moment for Rarity to continue, her hooves still covering her face. However, when Rarity didn't say anything, she put them down and looked over at the other mare. Rarity was standing right next to her. The fashionista's expression was a sad one.

"Darling, I don't think you're there yet. Emotionally. You have to understand that what you're feeling now started just a few months ago. That might seem like a long time, but compared to how long you've had feelings for Sunburst, it really isn't."

"Rarity, their wedding is only a few weeks away. What if I haven't come to terms with it by then?"

"Well, Dear, that's why ponies invented ice cream, isn't it?"

Starlight rolled her eyes and hopped out of the bed, resuming her pacing. "I'm being serious, Rarity."

"So was I..." Rarity said under her breath.

"I think the problem is that conversation I had with Sunburst. He said he was interested in dating me back then and now this part of me is wondering if he still has feelings. Like, is he settling for Twilight or has he moved on?"

"The two seem quite genuinely in love, Darling. Honestly, even I get jealous sometimes for what those two have."

"But can we be sure? What if he's just putting up appearances?"

Rarity sighed. "I'm afraid he's not, Dear. Let me tell you a little story:

"A few weeks ago, I went to see Twilight. She'd been worried about some event that Celestia had asked her to oversee—I don't remember exactly what. I had finished my work for the day and was planning to stop by and make her some tea. When she gets worked up about a project, I've found that can help.

"I walked into her library and, instead of finding a stressed and worn out Twilight, I saw the last thing I'd ever expected: She was sleeping! Sound asleep on the sofa, tucked in under Sunburst's cloak. And there was Sunburst, sitting at a table right next to her, calmly going through the paperwork on her behalf. Every now and then, Sunburst would glance over at her and get this adorable grin. It's like helping her through a tough time was all he ever wanted out of life..."

Starlight winced. "Okay, I get it! You don't need to convince me any further. He's not settling. He loves her... But that doesn't mean he's moved on from how he felt about me. You can love two ponies at once, you know."

"That may be possible," said Rarity. "But let's be honest, I don't think Sunburst would ever give up what he has with Twilight."

"I know you're right. He's probably moved on and doesn't even think about me that way. I just wish I could hear it from him."

Rarity thought for a moment, then gave a gasp. Her voice sang out, "Ideaaa!"

"What is it?"

The fashionista beamed. "Perhaps we could get Sunburst to tell you how he really feels, but without him even realizing that he told you? Then you could have your closure, but wouldn't need to have a hard conversation with him."

"You mean, like, a memory erasing spell? Talk to him and then wipe his memory so he doesn't remember?"

Rarity's expression changed from excitement to terror. "Celestia, no! That's utterly horrifying. Is... is that even possible?"

Starlight shrugged. "In theory, yes, but long-story-short it's impractical to perform and you'd need to encase the spell in some sort of object. Then anypony who got her hooves on it could just start erasing memories, so it'd be incredibly dangerous even if you did succeed. Indoctrination is a much easier way to get ponies to give up their pasts."

For a moment, Rarity considered continuing that line of discussion, but if she had learned anything in all her years of sewing, it was when to not to pull on a particular thread. She went back to her original point. "What I mean is: I could talk to Sunburst about this and then put something on his suit that would signify his answer. That way, you would feel like it was actually Sunburst telling you, but he would never know."

Starlight's eyes lit up. "The lapel pin! You could decide to use it based on whether or not Sunburst has gotten over me."

"A perfect idea," said Rarity. "Once you see him wearing that pin, it'll be like a message right from him to you that he's moved on and now, you can too. Plus, it also solves my problem; I was totally on the fence about it."

"Everypony wins," said Starlight, now smiling. "You finish designing Sunburst's suit, he looks great in it, and I can finally move on with my life and stop worrying about 'what-ifs' and 'maybes' for whether Sunburst could still be in love with me."


When Starlight finished her story, she sighed and shook her head. Sunburst looked down at his suit himself. He noticed a distinct lack of a lapel pin. He raised a hoof and patted where one would go, as if touching the location would somehow magically make one appear.

Sunburst fought to find something to say. "Starlight, I'm so sorry. I had no idea."

"How I'm feeling right now is my own fault," said Starlight, looking at the floor. "I was so stupid this morning. I saw you when you came into Twilight's Castle. Well, you were my Sunburst at the time, but this is hard enough to talk about without going into multiverse stuff.

"I saw that you didn't have the pin and there was this part of me that got so excited. Just knowing that you still had feelings for me made me feel special. Even if you wanted to be with Twilight, I was still a factor. But once I found out that I wasn't dealing with my Sunburst anymore, everything got so complicated."

Sunburst began to re-evaluate everything Starlight had done that day through this new lens. The constantly looking at his chest was obvious, but other things began to make more sense as well. Her good mood while expecting him to be nervous back at Twilight's, the conversation they had at the library, and of course, her frustration on the train ride here.

"On the train," said Sunburst, "You thought I was gonna tell you that you and I were together in my universe, didn't you?"

"It made sense to me at the time," said Starlight. "You said yourself the only difference was your relationship with Twilight. So I figured that, in your universe, I said 'yes.' And that was hard for me, because I still think I made the right decision, but this stubborn part of me wants to be with you. It was nice to think that, somewhere, that part of me might have gotten her wish. And then..."

Starlight bit her lip hard as she looked back at Sunburst. She opened her mouth and shut it again.

"What is it?" asked Sunburst, taking a few steps closer.

"I shouldn't ask this question, but I've come this far and I just have to know." She took a deep breath, shuddering as it came out.

Sunburst shook his head. "If you're asking how your Sunburst feels about you. I have no idea."

"I know, but there's something you can tell me." She looked Sunburst dead in the eye. Her own eyes beginning to water. "Is there any chance, in your universe, that the other Starlight might get to know what it's like to be more than just friends?"

Author's Note:

Did I say next week? I meant "by the end of the year," of course. :twilightblush:

I don't think it's a secret that it takes me longer than expected to continue a story. In any case, thanks for sticking with me! I hope this chapter was worth the wait.

No more promises about when upcoming chapters will appear, but here's hoping that 2022 is an easier year for writing than 2021!