• Published 6th Feb 2020
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Caught and Punished - ThePinkedWonder



Alternate take on Season 5 premier: here, Starlight gets caught instead of getting away.

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Chapter 22: The question

*Sam’s POV, first-person*

Soon after we woke up, Starlight wanted me, Spike, Twilight, and the rest of our friends to meet up. She said she had something to tell all of us. I hoped nothing was wrong, but she didn’t seem to be upset.

In my living room, Starlight and I were on my couch; Starlight lay on her stomach and I was sitting right beside her. Spike, Twilight, Fluttershy, Rainbow, Applejack, Pinkie, and Rarity were all standing and were spread out in the room, but Spike stood beside Twilight.

Starlight gave a sigh and said, “First, I want to say thanks for coming to hear me out.”

Rarity waved a hoof toward Starlight. “It’s no trouble at all, darling.”

“Yep, we’re friends, so if ya need us, we’ll come runnin’,” Applejack said proudly.

Twilight asked, “But is there something wrong?"

Starlight shook her head. “No...well, not ‘wrong’, but..." She looked down and made circles on the couch with a hoof. "Last night, I had a nightmare about my parents.”

The rest of us gasped. Even if it were a dream, the thought of her parents making Starlight feel bad made my blood boil. It even made one of my hands curl into a fist.

I caught myself getting angry, took a breath, and relaxed my fist. “You did? What happened?”

Starlight looked up at me. Her big eyes had the kind of worry that I hadn't seen in several months. “I dreamed that I went to see them again and…*sigh*...it didn’t go well. They didn’t want to see me and even said I was nothing to them.” Starlight turned her head toward the others. “But, Princess Luna came and gave me some advice, as well as suggested to talk to you all.”

“I see.” After a pause, Twilight asked, “Well, as Rarity and Applejack said, you can come to us for anything, but what triggered that nightmare?”

“Yeah, you've been really happy lately,” Rainbow pointed out.

Starlight hopped off the couch, but stayed near it. “I have been, but Princess Luna told me that my nightmare was because my subconscious is trying to prepare to face my parents. I guess I want to see them more than I thought.”

“It is wonderful that you want to mend your relationship with your parents," Fluttershy said, "but you shouldn’t force yourself to see them. I don’t think even they would want that.”

Starlight turned her head toward Fluttershy. “I know, and Luna told me the same thing. But, something she thought could help me do it eventually is if I reunite with Sunburst. That would be easier for me.”

“Sunburst?” Applejack stretched one of her hind legs. “So, ah take it ya want to ask us to tag along for support?”

Starlight nodded. “That was the idea. Can you?”

Twilight smiled and answered, “Of course.”

“I will too,” Fluttershy said with a kind smile of her own.

“I'll definitely come, BF.” I leaned forward to give Starlight’s mane a quick rub.

“Count me in.” Rainbow formed a little scowl as she added, “Besides, I still want to hear why that guy never answered your letters.”

The others also said they would come. I wouldn’t expect any less from them at this point. They are true friends and better than any friend I ever had in my more boring human world. Maybe this is why I’ve been so okay with not knowing if I’d ever be able to go back. Not that I wouldn't mind going eventually, but I was still waiting for Twilight to figure out how to do it. I haven't been bringing it up to her lately, though.

Starlight looked at each of us one by one. “Thanks, guys. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

Applejack laid a hoof under her jaw. “Hold on, y’all. Even if we all go, we still have a mite of a problem: where is Sunburst?”

With a proud smile, Twilight answered, “We don’t have to worry about that: I already know where he lives.”

Except for Spike, we all stared at Twilight. She plans for everything, but I didn’t think she had already looked into where Sunburst lived. Did somepony ask her to, or did she do it on her own?

“You do, Twilight?” Fluttershy asked. “When did you find out?”

“I had a feeling this day would come, so I looked into where Sunburst lives months ago.”

Rainbow chuckled. “Wow. Only you would plan for this months before Starlight would need to know.”

“Why didn’t you tell us you did?” Rarity asked. “Especially not Starlight?”

Twilight’s smile waned and her ears drooped. “I wanted to tell Starlight as soon as I learned where Sunburst lives, but Rainbow had told me how Starlight looked worried when Sam brought up the idea of her possibly going to him. So, I kept this information between Spike and me and waited for Starlight to say she was ready.”

Spike lightly rubbed the floor with a foot, much like how ponies sometimes do it with their hooves. “I was going to at least tell you, Sam, but Twilight made me promise to not tell anyone.”

"It's alright. So, Twilight, where does this Sunburst live?” I asked.

“He lives in the Crystal Empire.”

“The Crystal Empire?” Starlight tilted her head to the side. “I thought he would still be living in Canterlot.”

“Unicorns that attend Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns do tend to remain in Canterlot for a while after they graduate, like I did, but not all of them.”

“That so?” I asked. “I sure wouldn’t know about that.”

Fluttershy looked toward me and asked, “Sam, have you given any thoughts on taking trips to explore more of Equestria?”

“Trips?” I rubbed my chin. “I hadn’t thought about it, but I wasn’t one that went on long trips much anyhow. Especially not now with the little dizzy spells I’ve had a few times lately.”

Pinkie hopped in place as she said, “Well, you’re going to have a trip when we go to the Crystal Empire. Oh, and if you get dizzy again, try spinning around so it looks like nothing is spinning, like this!” Pinkie spun around in tight circles while yelling, “Wheeee!” After a few seconds, she stopped spinning and wobbled on her hooves as her pupils spun. “Okay, maybe I should have waited until I felt dizzy to do that.”

“Dizzy spells can’t be cured that way anyhow,” I said with a chuckle. Pinkie’s boundless energy has grown on me a little, but it can still be too much sometimes. Though, spinning to help with dizzy spells does make sense in theory.

“Ah would advise to just sit down if one of those dizzy fits comes and wait it out. But enough about that: when would ya like to go see Sunburst, Starlight?

“When?” Starlight rapidly, but briefly, shook her head and facehoofed. “Oh, right, I still have to pick when to go. Today’s Tuesday, so how about we go next Tuesday?”

“That sounds good to me, and I can ask my boss at the Toy Store to have next Tuesday off. What about the rest of you?”

They all agreed that they can go.

Starlight gave a smile of relief, but suddenly frowned. Was it from worry or concern? "Thanks, but do you guys really don’t mind dropping everything to go with me?”

Rarity giggled. “Well, it’s not like I am dropping everything, darling. I have a week to prepare.”

“Yep, and once the Map started callin’ us for friendship missions, my family and I started plannin’ for me to take off at any time. Havin’ a week to get ready is foal’s play.”

“Angel and the other animals would be okay without me for a while, so I won’t have to change much to leave.”

“I sure won’t have trouble leaving.” Spike chuckled and looked up at Twilight with a playful smirk. “But, Twilight might have some trouble re-doing her piles of checklists, which she calls ‘a few’.”

Twilight scowled at Spike. “Just for that, Spike, no dessert tonight.”

Wow. This is the first time I’ve seen Twilight take offense to Spike’s jokes about her fondness of checklists. Glad I never chose to do it.

Spike frowned and whined, “Aw, come on, Twilight! That was just a little joke!”

“Will you stop picking on me about my checklists so much?” Twilight asked in an authoritative voice.

Spike looked down and fidgeted his claws. “Okay, I’ll cool it.”

Twilight's scowl left and she looked toward Starlight with a smile. “So, in one week, we will all accompany Starlight to the Crystal Empire. While we are there, I can also visit Shining Armor and Cadance. It’s getting close to Cadance’s due date.”

With that, the plan was set to go with Starlight to this Crystal Empire in a week.

And once we were out there, something told me to keep an eye on Rainbow.


A week later, Starlight and I were sitting beside each other in a field, flying kites. It was about time to catch the train to the Crystal Empire, but Starlight was a little tense earlier. Flying kites usually relaxes her, so I thought of the idea to fly kites to help her calm down before we left Ponyville.

It was working: Starlight had a peaceful smile on her face as she flew her kite. My kite was a regular thin green one, but hers was a much larger light-blue one in a cuboid shape. We had a good breeze blowing, but it wasn’t too much of a breeze to ruin the kite-flying.

“Maybe you should open a business that sells kites someday. I don’t know of anypony that can make the one you’re flying.” A weak gust of wind made me tighten my grip on my kite spool out of instinct.

Starlight seemed unfazed by the wind. She kept her eyes on her kite as she said, “Probably because you don’t know of anypony that does in your world. Didn’t you say that ponies can’t talk there and don’t do much of what ponies in Equestria can do?”

“Point taken. You and the others have tried to talk a little more like...humans around me, but Equestrian expressions still rubbed off on me.”

“At least Twilight hasn't rubbed off on you too much. You’re not as prone to giving friendship speeches as she is.”

“And we’re still keeping the one I gave you under wraps. Besides, I never really minded it when she laid on the corn anyway.”

“Hee hee. I got the feeling that how you pick on Twilight about her speeches have grown on her. She probably thinks it’s cute now.” Starlight looked at me with a sly smile. “Maybe she even thinks you’re cute.”

Even though I haven’t done it in a good while, I might never live down my habit of calling ponies cute. I looked down at a giggling Starlight and asked, “You're not going to let me hear the end of how I think ponies are cute, just not in that way, are you?”

“Nope,” Starlight answered with an almost smug smile. It shows the confidence she had gained since we met to be so blunt, even if she was just being playful.

“At least you're more relaxed now. It's getting close for us to head to the train station.”

“Oh, yeah.” Starlight’s smile vanished and she looked down and rubbed the ground with a hoof. I just had to bring up how she was cheering up. Now she was too aware of what, or who, was waiting for her in the Crystal Empire.

I groaned at how I messed up. “Sorry, Starlight. Guess I shouldn't have said that.”

Starlight swung her head up, now with a worried frown, but knowing her, she was worried for me. “Don't feel bad, Sam. I’m nervous, but I truly do want to see Sunburst again. He’s probably a great wizard by now with how much he knew about magic.”

The thought of a unicorn even stronger than Starlight was a little unsettling. “Really? With how strong your magic is, I’m a little nervous to see how strong this Sunburst might be.”

“Don’t worry. If he was a unicorn we would ever have to worry about, we would have heard about him by now. Besides, I don't see him ever doing anything bad with his magic.”

“Good.” I stood up. “So, are you ready to stop by the house, put our kites up, and head to the train station?”

Starlight stood as well. “Yeah. Let’s go.”

We left to go back to our house, then to the train station after our kites were taken care of.

Spike, Twilight, and the rest of the gang were getting there at around the same time Starlight and I did; Twilight held a folded list in her magic. We got on the Friendship Express and made our way to this Crystal Empire.

Along the way, Starlight started more or less calm, but she grimaced when a castle, glowing bluish-white, came into view in the distance. According to Twilight, it was the Crystal Castle, meaning we were close to the Crystal Empire.


After the Friendship Express pulled up into the train station near the Crystal Empire, we hopped off. We had to take a short walk to reach the borders and finally enter the city. Starlight was walking a little slower as we went.

I heard that so-called “Crystal Ponies” live out here, but the ponies walking around didn’t look made of crystal. Their manes and tails did appear somewhat more...shiny, though.

“I don’t know what I was expecting, but everything’s made of crystal,” I said as I gawked at the surrounding buildings made of crystal. Wasn’t even aware I was doing it at first. This place sure was living up to its name “Crystal Empire."

Fluttershy said, “I almost forgot this is your first time visiting the Crystal Empire, Sam. It’s pretty, isn’t it?”

Applejack teasingly said, “Ya almost look like how Rarity did the first time she was out here and saw the Crystal Castle. Maybe you two are more alike than I thought.”

Rarity huffed. "Oh, come now, Applejack. I wasn't that bad."

Spike groaned and facepalmed, knocking me out of thoughts on how to counter that I wasn’t amazed by those buildings that much.

I asked, “Spike? What’s wrong?”

“I forgot to wear a disguise.” Spike smiled proudly and laid a claw on his chest. “I’m a big hero out here, so I might be mobbed without a disguise. There's even a huge statue of me, but we can't see it from here.”

Twilight, Rarity, and Rainbow snickered. Applejack didn't snicker but shook her head. Fluttershy smiled, but was maybe laughing in her head. I'm not going to try to guess how Pinkie felt about it, other than she was smiling as she usually does. As for Starlight and me, we stared at each other. Spike never told me about whatever it was he did out here.

Maybe Spike’s a little more mature than I gave him credit for. I thought he would have long bragged to me about being a big hero out here, or at least would have jumped at the chance to tell the story now. However, Spike didn’t go into more detail about his heroism.

Rainbow said, “It was impressive, but we’re here to see Sunburst, so where we go, Twilight?”

Twilight unfolded her list. It wasn’t as long as I thought it would be. Instead of being two or three times the length of a pony (though some have been even longer) it was about half of the length of a pony. Then again, this wasn’t one of her usual checklists, but just a list with directions to Sunburst’s place. At least, I think directions were the only thing written on it. “According to what I found out, Sunburst should--”

Starlight looked to Spike with a smile and asked, “Uh, what was that about how you saved the Crystal Empire, Spike?”

Spike chuckled bashfully -- I think it was a bashful one -- and he answered, “Oh, it’s not too big a deal. I just helped save the Crystal Empire from the return of King Sombra.”

“And it was amazing!” a small group of Crystal Ponies yelled from a few feet away. I think they started coming closer while we were talking, so with my attention on my friends, I didn't even notice them approaching us.

“Amazing, huh?” Starlight smiled more mischievously. I already knew what it meant. “You never told me you're the Crystal Empire's hero, so why don't you tell me about it now? Give me the LONG version.”

Spike rubbed his head, that bashful smile growing bigger. “Okay, if you insist. It all started when…”

I was curious about his story myself, so I didn’t try to step in. Starlight pulled up a chair, grabbed a bag of popcorn with her magic, and sat down to listen to Spike’s story. Where Starlight got her chair or popcorn, I don’t know. Maybe she cast a spell that I missed seeing her cast, or she spent too much time with Pinkie.

As Spike talked, more Crystal Ponies surrounded us. Twilight’s smile screamed “I’ll let you have this” even if she said nothing.

When Spike finished his story, Starlight said, “Wow, Spike! That was, uh, amazing! I loved the part where you grabbed the Crystal Heart, rode Princess Cadance, and...uh…you have any other stories that you didn't tell me?”

One of the Crystal Ponies, a mare, shouted, “Tell her the one about the Equestria Games!”

“Well, I’d love to, but my friend came to see an old friend, so--”

“Aw, don’t be like that, Spike! I want to hear about what you did at the Equestria Games!” Starlight’s ears drooped and she smiled nervously. At this point, her bag of popcorn was empty.

Twilight said to the surrounding ponies, “Uh, not that we don’t mind your company, but can you excuse us?”

The ponies nodded and walked off to do whatever they were doing before they saw us.

Once those ponies were too far to hear us, Twilight asked, “Starlight? What’s wrong?”

Rarity asked, “There was more to it than you being...interested in Spike’s heroic deeds, is there?”

I knelt to be eye level with Starlight. “Is it because you’re still worried about seeing Sunburst?”

Starlight shook her head. “N-No! It’s not that! I just want to hear about...uh…” She stared at each of us. After a moment, she sighed, lay further back on her chair, and tilted her head down. Her ears flopped to the side. “Okay, I am worried about finally seeing Sunburst again. I didn’t think I would be this nervous...until we got out here. Sorry.”

I hated to have to go back after coming all the way out here. Still, if Starlight wasn’t ready to face Sunburst, it wouldn’t be right to force her to.

Twilight set the edge of one of her wings under Starlight's jaw to lift her head. I've never seen Twilight do this to any other pony but Starlight. “I know you’re nervous. But, from what you told us Sunburst was like, I don’t think he’ll have any negative feelings toward you.” She moved her wing off Starlight's jaw.

“If he was into magic like you said he was, he’ll be impressed by what you can do," Spike said with a supportive smile and a wink. "He might even be jealous!”

“Oh...I didn’t think of that.” Starlight lowered her head to look down again. Feeling jealous of someone can spark negative feelings toward them, so Spike shouldn’t have brought up that chance. Not that I can say much: I was about to say what Spike did before he beat me to the punch.

“Uh, that is, Sunburst will be blown away from the spells ya can pull off! Maybe y’all can teach each other a thing or two,” Applejack said.

“So think of it like that, Starlight. Plus, we are all here with you.” I gave Starlight a needed “boop” to cheer her up. Her giggle proved it still worked as well as ever.

“Thanks, guys. I really am ready to see Sunburst now. He's probably a great wizard now, so I doubt he'll be jealous of me anyway.”

“Good.” I stood up and took a quick look at a nearby red crystal building. Maybe I am a little more like Rarity than I thought.

Rainbow turned her head back and forth, but knowing her, it wasn't to admire the buildings. “So, where that list of yours say to go next?”

Twilight looked at her list. After a moment, she pointed in the direction in front of her. “If we walk along the road in that direction, we should see Sunburst's house in about fifteen minutes.”

With that, Starlight got up from her chair and tossed her now-empty bag of popcorn in a nearby trash can. We all traveled along one of the streets that cut through the city, then walked on a short path that passed between some of the buildings, which led to Sunburst's place. As we walked, it sank in that I wasn’t being stared at much by the Crystal Ponies that were out and about. Maybe they had heard about me, so they weren’t too surprised by how I looked. That’s not to say they gave no looks, but the ones I got felt to be harmless curiosity.


Around fifteen minutes after Spike's story, we reached Sunburst’s house, or at least Twilight said it was his house. It was a crystal building that somewhat resembled a mushroom. Its “cap” was orange and the rest of the building was in shades of green. I had the feeling the place wasn’t meant to resemble a mushroom, but what it meant to be, I didn’t know.

Pinkie rubbed her jaw like she was studying the building. “Not bad, but I thought a great wizard would live in a bigger house than this."

“Sunburst never wanted fancy or expensive things if he didn't really need them," Starlight said, now wearing a smile. Maybe good memories she had with Sunburst as a filly were going through her head. Or maybe she was relaxed enough to smile. “The roof looks like a wizard’s hat, so this seems like the kind of house that suits him.”

As I thought, the place wasn’t meant to look like a mushroom.

Twilight set a hoof on Starlight’s back. “It’s time for you to see your foalhood best friend, Starlight. Do you want us to come with you? We should be far enough for Sunburst to not notice the rest of us if we stay here.”

“Uh...it might look a little weird if we all go to the door, and Sunburst and I haven’t seen each other in years, so I’ll go alone. Could you all stay here, though, just in case? I’ll motion or something if I’ll need you all closer.”

We all told Starlight we'll stay where we were.

“Thanks. Well, here I go.” Starlight took a deep breath and walked toward and slowly up the steps heading to her foalhood friend’s door. Once at the door, she stayed still and quiet. I couldn’t tell if she froze from nerves, or was just collecting her thoughts about what she’ll say.

We waited for Starlight to knock on the door. And waited...and kept waiting.

After about a minute, it was clear something was wrong.

Rainbow yelled, “Starlight?! Aren’t you going to knock?!”

Starlight jumped and turned around toward us. Her cheeks were red, she wore what I thought was an embarrassed smile, and she rubbed the back of her neck. “Uh...would you believe that I forgot to knock?”

Given the situation, it wasn’t funny, yet we all let out some snickers. At least it didn’t seem to hurt Starlight’s feelings. She even chuckled herself (even if I couldn't hear her chuckles from our distance) before she turned back to the door and knocked.

The knocks quieted the rest of our laughing on the spot.

After a few seconds, the door slowly opened and it revealed an amber unicorn, or I thought he was a unicorn; Starlight was blocking part of my view of him. He had on what seemed to be a dark-green robe and wore glasses. He’s apparently one of the few ponies who regularly wear clothes, or perhaps he was in the middle of co-playing.

Whatever the reason for the robe, this guy must be Sunburst.

“H-Hello? Can I help you?” he asked.

“I...it’s me, Starlight. We used to be best friends as foals,” Starlight answered in a meek voice.

Rainbow growled and muttered, “Are you kidding me? He doesn't even recognize her! Some best--”

Twilight motioned with her hoof for Rainbow to stop talking. Not that she was talking loud enough for Starlight or Sunburst to hear her.

Sunburst set a hoof on his cheek. “Starlight? Oh, Starlight, it’s you!” I couldn’t tell, but with how Sunburst’s voice had some joy, he smiled once he knew who Starlight was. “I didn’t recognize you with that mane style and...are you wearing a collar?”

Starlight pointed at her collar. She’s so used to it, I think she sometimes forgets she has it around her neck. “It’s a long story, but this isn’t what it looks like. But, if you’re uncomfortable by it, I can take it off.”

“Well, collars don't bother me too much, so if you like wearing it, I’m okay with it. But it’s great to see you again! What brought you out here?”

Starlight rubbed her head, probably blushing knowing her. “Oh, nothing. I just heard you live out here and wanted to come visit. Is this a bad time?”

“Oh, no, I’m not doing anything. Please, come in."

Starlight walked into Sunburst’s house. Once the door closed, I thought, Starlight, I hope you’ll be okay on your own.

The rest of us and I could do nothing but wait and wonder what was going on in there. With how Rainbow was still sore at Sunburst, it might have been for the best for her to not be in there. Twilight mentioned going to see her brother and sister-in-law, but I think she first wanted to be sure Starlight wouldn’t need her.

Even if Starlight didn’t reconsider seeing Sunburst, it felt like things might not have been going as well as we hoped so far.



*Starlight’s POV, first-person*

With how I felt when we made it to the Crystal Empire, this was going better than I hoped. I didn’t run back to Ponyville and Sunburst was happy to see me.

“So, Starlight, take a seat and we can catch up.”

“Thanks.”

There was a circular table in the middle of the living room with two chairs on opposite ends. I thought that was where he meant to go, so I walked and sat in one of the chairs. Must have been more nervous than I thought to have to think about something so obvious. As Sunburst walked to the other chair, the fact his outfit was covering his Cutie Mark seemed odd. He was so happy when he got it, I thought that even now, he wouldn’t have it covered. I will have to get used to him having a goatee.

The inside of Sunburst’s living room looked how I thought it might. Books were stacked on the shelves of a bookshelf. A bunch of old-looking pots sat on top of the bookshelf and on a table by a wall. I didn’t know he was interested in collecting them: he wasn’t as a colt. Sunburst dreamed of being the next Starswirl the Bearded, so it was no surprise that he had a Starswirl the Bearded poster hanging on a wall.

I became a little too aware of how I wasn’t saying anything, but going by how Sunburst was looking down and rubbing his front hooves, he was feeling awkward too. For years, I imagined how this moment might go if it ever came. Yet, there was something that I didn’t think about, and it's ridiculous how I didn’t even wonder about it.

What would I say?

It wasn’t that I was too nervous to talk: I just didn’t know what to say, so it was like my mouth just stopped working. My hooves were at least still working by tapping the table, which cut the silence that was becoming more and more uncomfortable. Not that my taps made the awkwardness in the room drop much.

Okay, Starlight, say something. Uh, talk about the weather.

“So...nice day, isn’t it?”

Sunburst lifted his head to me and stopped rubbing his hooves. “Oh, yes, yes it is. I don’t go out too much though. I’m not the most sociable pony ever.”

“Really? I never thought you’d be bad at being around other ponies.”

I gasped. That didn’t come out right.

“Uh, that is, I thought you'd be better at being friends with others.”

That didn’t sound very flattering either, making me facehoof. I might have well had said “Sunburst, you’re bad at friendship!” and been done with it. Maybe I should have asked if at least Sam and Twilight could have come in with me. Sunburst probably would have liked to meet Twilight, the Princess of Friendship, anyway.

“I-I’m sorry! I didn’t mean it like that! I-I-I just--”

“It’s okay. You’re not wrong.”

“You’re not?”

“No.” Sunburst stood from his chair and stared at the Starswirl the Bearded poster. “This poster has been the closest to a friend I had in a long time. I don't mind being around other ponies, but I’m just not the best at small-talk.”

I didn’t expect those words. Sunburst was always the more confident one between us, but it looks like he was even more like me than I thought.

“Really? I thought ponies would love to hang out with you. You knew everything about magic, so you have to be a great wizard now, right?”

“Oh, uh, y-yes, I guess I-I am,” Sunburst said, but smiled at the end. I knew he was a powerful wizard now! He looked uneasy, but why would he feel nervous about telling me? I’m sure that any spell I can cast, he could cast better.

“Uh, you ‘guess’? What does--”

Sunburst cleared his throat. “B-But enough about that.” He sat in the chair by the table again. “I heard how you saved the Princesses from Queen Chrysalis." With a more cheerful voice, he added, "So, forget about me: you must be one of the strongest unicorns in Equestria to fight side-by-side with Princess Twilight!”

Even if he was better in me in magic, it felt good that he thought I didn’t fall too far behind. “Well, I guess I have gotten better at magic since I last saw you.”

“I see. You must have done a lot of training after I went to Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. How did you do it?”

Thoughts of the last time I saw Sunburst, and how I didn't hear from him after he left Sire's Hollow, came to mind. It was time to ask him a question of my own that I was scared of learning the answer to. Should I even ask it?

No, it was a question that went through my head for too long. I needed to know the answer. I just had to hope I wouldn't regret it.

“Sunburst, before I answer, can I ask you something?”

“Sure. What is it?”

I gave a deep sigh and looked down as I mentally prepared myself. It was time.

Once I was ready, I lifted my head. My eyes locked on to Sunburst's eyes. "After you left for Princess Celestia’s school, why didn’t you ever answer any of the letters I sent you?”

Author's Note:

Starlight's asking the real questions here.

What will Sunburst's answer be?

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