Chapter one

Starlight Glimmer sat at a table one morning with Sunburst and Twilight by her side. The tabletop was scattered with crumbs and the smell of syrup. They had been eating breakfast together in a quiet, comfortable room of Twilight’s crystal friendship castle. Beside each of them was a cup of tea or coffee; even the empty cups were hot with steam. Starlight lifted her teacup with her teal-colored magic and took a sip at the very moment the doors flew open to reveal a little dragon carrying a large platter and wearing an apron. Spike hurried to where his friends were sitting and gently placed the plate of freshly cooked pancakes, drizzled in oozing, sweet-smelling, syrup in the center of the table, before taking a seat in the remaining empty chair.

“Fresh batch is done!” Before anyone could say anything, Twilight, quickly followed by Spike, dug in without hesitation. Starlight and Sunburst exchanged glances for a moment, then Starlight let out a giggle.

“Someone’s hungry today, hm?” She rolled her eyes with a smile.

“Well, they are delicious,” Sunburst agreed, pulling some to his plate when Twilight and her assistant had finished grabbing significantly more than their share.

“Need some berries with that?” Starlight’s horn lit up and but a second later some blueberries were hovering beside her, surrounded by her aura.

“Oh, no thanks,” Sunburst shook his head. “Don’t you want them?”

“Don’t be ridiculous! I can always get more!” Before she had the chance, Sunburst stopped her.

“I don’t like them anyways, there really isn’t any need!”

“Oh… Okay…” Starlight looked away. Was he upset? Was he hiding something about berries? Did he know something she didn’t? Had she offended him? Starlight tried to push away these thoughts. She had a tendency to overthink at times; likely from spending too much time with Twilight, she thought. The thought never crossed her mind it could be because of Sunburst. That’s when it started, after all. But she never thought of that.

There was an awkward silence for a while, and Sunburst looked down too after a moment. There was regret in his expression for a brief moment, as if he worried he had hurt Starlight somehow. “No! I’m not hurt! Don’t blame yourself!” She bit back her thoughts, as usual.

Finally, Twilight broke the silence. “I’m really glad you came to visit, Sunburst. Starlight has been ecstatic ever since she got your letter saying you were coming!” Twilight hardly paused for a moment before adding, “It helped having the extra energy in the castle. She practically flew through magic practice yesterday!”

“She did?” Sunburst looked unsure, like he didn’t know how to respond, and turned to Starlight questioningly.

“Haha, well, I-i was excited to see you… I hardly spend time with you since we live practically across Equestria from each other…” Starlight blushed lightly and laughed nervously. She flashed a look at Twilight, but she wasn’t exactly sure which she felt more; anger or embarrassment. Definitely some amount of both.

“O-oh! Well, I’m glad to see you too, Starlight! It has been a little too long, hasn’t it?” He reached to his side and hugged her. Starlight smiled warmly back. He was her best friend. But she didn’t feel just happy. She felt something different, something she couldn’t quite place… She decided to ignore it and embrace the hug. Her cheeks turned pinker than her already pink fur at the warm feeling of his arms. Suddenly, Starlight jumped in surprise when the moment was interrupted by Twilight’s concerned voice.

“Starlight, is your horn okay?”

H-huh? What do you mean?” Sunburst let go in confusion and, in a panic, Starlight tried desperately to see above her head.

“She’s right,” Sunburst gasped. “There’s pink smoke coming from above it!”

Starlight’s face dropped. She remembered the last time there was smoke from her horn. It didn’t end well. She looked around frantically and saw Spike raising an eyebrow. He understood. Kinda. Probably? She didn’t even get it!

“Ohhhhhh, I’m sure it’s nothing!” She nervously laughed- very loudly- with a desperation for something to say.

“I’m very sure it’s something. Starlight, tell us what’s wrong.” Twilight pleaded with a sympathetic look towards her former pupil.

“Woah, what does pink mean?” Spike tapped his claw on his chin. Sunburst and Twilight briefly glanced at him, curious how he knew what the smoke was and if he would tell them, but there was only a second before Starlight reacted.

“I DON’T KNOW!!!” She ran off, the cloud leaving a tiny trail behind her for a second before it disappeared too.

“What was that about?” Twilight questioned the baby dragon still in the room, but Spike didn’t answer and just took off after Starlight. Twilight and Sunburst turned to each other and shrugged.

In Starlight’s room, she was flipping through some books frantically. Spike, who had followed her down the halls, stopped in her room and panted from the effort of having chased the panicked unicorn so far.

“What are you doing now?” He asked when he regained his breath.

“Trying to figure out what this is!” She pointed a hoof at her horn and the weird cloud above it. “This could be bad, Spike! Really, really, bad! If I find some answer, maybe I’ll be fine. Right?” She stared back at her book without letting him answer right away.

“Are you sure this is a bad thing?”

“Of course it is!” Starlight turned to her friend. “Last time this happened, it ended terribly! I’m not about to let it happen again,” She held back a shudder at the memory and turned back to her book.

Spike noticed a bottle laying on the floor by her bed and tapped it with a claw, making a little clinking noise, “Are you gonna put your feelings in a bottle again?”

“What? Nooooo, I’ve learned my lesson after last time…” She stared backwards in regret and magically lifted the piece of trash to her bin.

“Well… Last time you were angry, so maybe it’s just that again?”

“I don’t know… I don’t feel angry right now,” Starlight looked up from her book curiously. “Besides, this time it’s pink. Not red. I think this is different.”

“What do you think it is then?”

“I don’t know!” Starlight buried her face in the book pages and groaned.

A moment of silence between the two. “Well, I’m gonna tell the others you’ll be with them soon. I’ve got some pancakes to finish!” Spike licked his lips and skipped away.

Starlight watched Spike leave and sighed. She took in a deep breath and let it out to calm herself. Looking up with a now clear head, she saw the smoke slowly fade away. “Good,” she thought. She would figure it out later; it wasn’t often Sunburst came over to spend time with her. And with that, Starlight trotted out of the room to rejoin her friends for the rest of breakfast.

Author's Note:

I'm still bad at writing, and I've never published a good story here. (if you read my others you'd see why I deleted them; they were poorly written and obvious self inserts) Please, please, please tell me if I did anything wrong, or most of all, cringy.
Another thing, I'm not sure if I even want a confession scene. Personally I think the characters work better as awkward crushes.

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