• Published 17th Aug 2021
  • 2,798 Views, 273 Comments

Flash Sentry, Defender of the Peace S7 - Banshee531



Flash and his friends return, trying to live their lives as peacefully as they can. But life if rarely so peaceful, as our heroes are about to find out.

  • ...
3
 273
 2,798

Uncommon Bond

It was another peaceful day in Ponyville as Starlight Glimmer eagerly trotted out of the castle like an excited filly on Heartswarming. She could barely contain her excitement, taking every bit of willpower she had not to run all the way to her destination. Though anypony that knew what was happening wouldn't blame her, since it wasn't every day your childhood friend came for a visit.

She had to bite her tongue as she arrived at the train station, it being the only way to stop from squealing. But as she got there, she noticed three individuals waiting on the platform with heavy looking backpacks. "Springer?" She asked as the jakhowl and his two wards turned to her, "What are you three doing here?"

Springer rolled his eyes. "We're waiting for the train, duh."

"I get that," Starlight grumbled, "But why are you getting on a train? Where are you going?"

"Seriously?!" Ace yelped, "We already told you."

"Luna's invited us someplace for a surprise," Mira continued with Starlight raising an eyebrow at this.

"What surprise?"

"No idea," Springer shrugged. "She just said she'll meet up in Dodge Junction, so that's where we're heading."

"Well this is out of the blue. How come I'm only hearing about this right now?" The jakhowls all glared at her in response, "What?"

"We've been talking about it for the last few days," Springer deadpanned.

"No you haven't!" Starlight barked back, "I would have known."

"Starlight..." Springer sighed, "Do you remember anything the past few days that doesn't concern you thinking about Sunburst coming over?"

"Yes!" Stralight declared, only to see Springer to glare at her. "What?!"

"Starlight...is the really the first time we've told you about this trip? Think about it..."

"Um..." Starlight closed her eyes and concentrated.


Five days ago...

Starlight had just received a letter from Derpy and was walking through the castle as she opened it, quickly skimming over it before gasping. As she did, she walked into the living room and smiled seeing their friends. "Guess what everypony!" She exclaimed, her eyes completely missing the scroll in Springer's paws. "Sunburst is coming to visit!" She squealed in excitement while continuing to stare at the letter.

"Nice," Springer added, "And we got a message from Princess Luna. She wants me and the younglings to come to Dodge Junction for some reason."

"That's cool," Starlight replied as she continued to stare at the paper.


Three days ago...

Starlight was busy cleaning the guest room Sunburst would be using as Ace ran into the room. "Starlight, have you seen my backpack? I'm gonna need it for our trip with Princess Luna."

"You put it in the wash after you decided to fill it with sand so you could sneak it into the castle and make your own sandpit without Twilight noticing." Ace ran out of the room, yelling a thank you as he did. Starlight didn't glance back, her mind now going over all the things she and Sunburst would get to enjoy when he finally came.


Two days ago...

Starlight was at the general convenience store, staring at an isle that had camping supplies to board games despite how opposite they were. Starlight was digging through all the boxes of games as Springer stood behind her.

The jakhowl was staring at some tents, looking them over as he found one that would fit him, Ace and Mira. "Perfect," he commented before turning to a nearby shelf that was too high for him to reach. "Hey Starlight, could you magic down that portable cooking stove?" Starlight did so without even looking, the thermos shaped cooking utensil floating down so Springer could grab it. "Thanks."

"No problem," she replied before letting out a gasp. "Yes!" she picked up a box, "Dragon Pit." She squealed before running over to buy it.


Starlight shook her head. "Sorry, first time I've heard of it."

"Oh, I know we told you." Springer deadpanned just as the sound of a train whistle rang out, making Starlight gasp, "Hold your horses missy," Springer told her, "This is our train." Starlight pouted as the train arrived, the jakhowls giving her their goodbyes before getting on board.

The train then pulled away and Starlight was left waiting...and waiting...and waiting. After forty minutes of waiting, she found herself pacing back and forth before staring down at the empty track. "Oooh!" She trotted on the spot in excitement before turning to the ticket master's office. "Excuse me, when does the noon train from the Crystal Empire arrive?"

"Uh...noon?"

"Heh. Right. Sorry. I'm just a little excited because my friend Sunburst is coming." She looked up at the clock and saw she still had twenty minutes before it was set to arrive. Most ponies would get board simply waiting for a train, but Starlight's excitement made the time fly by. Mostly she spent it talking to anypony within earshot about how close she was to Sunburst, how much she was looking forward to seeing him and how the pair probably had the most in common with each other then anypony else in the world.

She had just finished talking to Vinyl, who hadn't heard a word due to her headphones, only to hear the whistle of a train and turn to see it coming down the tracks. Getting off the bench she was on, she trotted to the edge of the platform as the train pulled in. Coming to a stop, it opened up and released the ponies inside. Starlight anxiously waited as they filed out, trying to locate the unicorn...but as the last pony left the carraige, there was no sign of him.

Starlight looked inside, but still found he wasn't there. The train doors closed and it pulled away, leaving Starlight standing there with the biggest frown on her face until-

"Starlight?" She gasped and spun around, spotting her childhood friend. And he wasn't alone.

"Sunburst!" She ran over to him, only to come to a stop at the other pony. "And...Trixie?" Princess Luna's student smiled at her, happily waving as Starlight reached them. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, Princess Luna's off doing...something, so she gave me some time off. I didn't have anything to do in Canterlot, so I decided to come visit Ponyville." She raised an eyebrow, "You happy to see me?"

"Of course," Starlight hugged before turning to Sunburst. "And I'm happy to see you too." They hugged as well, "I'm so glad you made it!"

"Of course!" He picked up one of his suitcases and placed it in a nearby cart, "I've been looking forward to this visit for a long time." Starlight nodded and grabbed another case, only to flinch under its weight.

Letting out a grunt, the magic failed and the case fell to the floor, opening as a bunch of books fell out. "Whoa. How long are you staying?"

"Uh..." Sunburst blushed, "Just a...little reading for the train."

Starlight chuckled and shook her head, "Same old Sunburst." She put the books back in and grunted as she lifted the case onto the cart before turning to Trixie. "So you two were on the train together?"

"I got on in Canterlot," Trixie replied, "I spotted Sunburst and remembered he was a friend of yours."

Sunburst nodded at this, "We got chatting and she started showing me some of her old magic tricks." Starlight raised an eyebrow at this, not knowing that Sunburst liked magic tricks. "I always liked close-up magic because I knew I could do it if I just practiced enough." He pulled out a deck of cards and held them up for Starlight, who took one and saw it was a queen of hearts before putting it back into the deck. Sunburst shuffled the deck and after a few moments, pulled out another card. "Ta-da!"

Starlight saw it was a three of clubs, but decided to humor him. "Yay." She clapped. "Anyway, it's going to be so great spending time together. Just like old times. You and me doing the stuff we like: Games, magic..."

"Antiquing."

Starlight blinked at this, "What?"

"Antiquing," Sunburst replied, "You know I like antiquing."

"You do?"

"Um, of course!" His faced to turned to one of absolute joy. "Historical knickknacks, ancient relics...Oh! You are so lucky! Ponyville is antique central!"

"It...is?"

"Yes! How have we never talked about this?" Sunburst asked before placing a hoof on her shoulder. "We are going antiquing, and you are gonna love it!"

"Okay," Starlight responded, "Let's drop your stuff off at the castle first."

"Sure." Sunburst nodded before he started blushing. "Only..." He turned to look behind him to show a mountain of cases. "We may need to make a few of trips."

Starlight smirked as her horn began to glow. The group was then consumed by a brilliant flash of light, now appearing in a hallway of the castle of friendship. "You were saying?" Starlight giggled.

"Wow," he corrected his glasses, "I wish I could do that. The most I can teleport is myself...ten feet."

"It just takes practice," Trixie added as Starlight opened a door leading to Sunburst's room. "It took me a while to master teleporting too."

Starlight placed his stuff inside the room and shut it closed. "Shall we get going?" She asked, "This antiquing thing is probably gonna take a while."

"I know!" Sunburst exclaimed, "It's gonna be awesome." Starlight quickly sparked her horn and the three disappeared in a flash, appearing just to the side of Ponyville's main street. Sunburst looked around at this, his eyes instantly zeroing in on a small store that Starlight had never noticed. "That place looks promising. Let's go!"

Trixie let out a sigh, "Spending my vacation looking at old things isn't my idea of fun."

"Come on," Starlight added, "It's not that big of a store. We'll let Sunburst have his fun, then go do something really exciting." They then walked inside, only to be greeted to a maze of shelves, tables and chests. "Wow...."

They headed further in, Sunburst getting more by the moment. "This is so great!" He turned to the girls. "Who knew I'd be the one showing you the cool sights of Ponyville?"

"I'm a little surprised myself," Starlight replied as Sunburst picked up two bricks from out of a box.

"Wow!" What a difference between the hoof-molded bricks and the extruded ones, right?" Starlight and Trixie raised an eyebrow at this.

"They look exactly the same."

"What, are you kidding?!" Sunburst yelped, "These two bricks couldn't be more different!" He put them down and pointed to the ceiling, "Check out all these chandeliers! Sometimes, the crystals have magical properties."

"Oh uh...that's cool. How do you-"

"Sunburst!" They spun aroun at another voice, only to see Twilight Sparkle, "And Trixie too. I'm so glad you're here!"

"In the antique store?" Sunburst asked.

"In Ponyville! Starlight's really been looking forward to your visit." Starlight blushed at this, "Though I'm glad you're in the antique store, too. I'm usually the only one."

"That's crazy!" Sunburst gasped, "Who doesn't like antiquing, right?"

"Right..." Starlight whispered.

Twilight giggled at this, "You're lucky you've got such an amazing thing in common with one another. Flash is normally willing to do a lot of things with me that he's not interested in, but he draws the line at antiquing." She turned to Trixie. "So what brings you here?"

Trixie explained and Twilight told her she was welcome at the castle any time, only for the princess to spot something on the wall. "Oooh, look!" She pointed to a stone slab sealed within a glass frame. "An ancient map of Equestria made by the Mighty Helm."

Sunburst's eyes went wide at this, the unicorn looking over at Starlight and Trixie. "Without the help of unicorn magic or Pegasus flight, the Earth ponies of the Mighty Helm were able to map the entire coast of Equestria."

"Coooool..." Starlight slowly replied as he and Twilight walked off to look at something else.

"You don't think that was cool, do you?" Starlight shrugged, admitting it was interesting but not something she wanted to focus on at the moment. She and Trixie followed the other two through the store, Twilight and Sunburst's eyes going eye every five seconds when they saw something that didn't look all that impressive to Starlight.

She tried to look enthusiastic, but Sunburst could tell she wasn't really enjoying herself. "You don't have to pretend to like all this stuff," he told her when Twilight pulled Trixie ahead to look at an antique tea set.

"What?" Starlight asked with a forced smile, "No! I do like it." She let out a short laugh. "I mean, if you like it, I like it. Besides, we've almost looked at everything, right?"

"Oh, wow!" They turned to see Twilight waving at them. "You have got to see this Saddle Arabian vanity!" Sunburst ran off with a giddy kick in his step, Starlight slouching.

"This shop looked a lot smaller from the outside." And so they kept looking around, Twilight and Sunburst having the time of their lives and grabbing several items of worth that they wanted to buy. One such item was a large barrel, something Starlight didn't understand the worth of. But finally, the four ponies reached the limit of things they could get at once and Twilight took the liberty of teleporting them all back to the castle. When they arrived, inside the library, they found they weren't alone as Heart and Soul were working on their homework there.

They turned to the group, their eyes going wide seeing the blue unicorn. "TRIXIE!" They quickly tackled her, all three soon laughing.

"Those three seem close."

Starlight nodded. "Trixie was one of the first ponies they met before coming to Equestria. She tried to help Soul control her magic and did a bit of training with Heart when he first got his fire power. I guess they have a sort of sibling bond."

"Huh."

"I'm so happy to see you two," Trixie said as she ruffled Heart's mane. "How you all been?"

"Great!" They both replied before Soul began to talk to Trixie and Heart turned to Sunburst.

"Hey Sunburst! How's things in the Crystal Empire? Is Jaden doing okay with Ruby?"

"Oh yes," Sunburst nodded, "Everypony there is quite impressed by his skills. Though he is having trouble mastering a weapon other than the bow or crossbow. But his aim with those weapons is incredible. Ruby and I did a little test and he was able to shoot an arrow though a three-inch ring fifty feet away."

Heart whistled at this, only to shine a big grin, "He might have great aim, but Flash has started teaching me basic sword skills. By the time we next meet, I'm gonna be able to slice his arrows in half!"

The others rolled their eyes at this and a few minutes later, Trixie took the kids out of the room to go have some fun. This left Sunburst and Twilight to start going through their antiques, Starlight finding herself getting very bored very quickly as they fawned over rather useless junk.

"Did you see this Palominian letter opener?" Sunburst asked as Twilight picked up a feather.

"Wow! That goes well with this ancient phoenix feather quill! We could write to each other!" They suddenly pulled each other in for a hug as they yelled, "PEN PALS!"

As they said that, the doors opened up and Flash walked in, "Hey," he waved before noticing all the stuff. "Great. You've been antiquing again."

"Come on Flash, some of this stuff is really important. And you never know when you'll find something absolutely amazing or even dangerous in the wrong hands. This isn't just a hobby. It's a service to Equestria."

"Right..." Flash rolled his eyes before turning to Starlight. "You're not actually enjoying this, are you?"

Starlight tried to put on an excited face, but all she got was a grimace, "Well, I don't know. Some of this stuff looks interesting." She turned to a barrel. "Um, I uh...really like this old-timey barrel."

Sunburst smiled at this, "Actually, the stuff I bought is inside the barrel." He practically hugged it while resting his head on top of the wooded container and clapping his hooves together. "But I can't wait to see what it is!"

"Wait..." Starlight raised an eyebrow, "You don't know what you bought?"

"Mm-mmm," Sunburst nodded. "It's a blind buy. Sometimes shops get too busy to go through everything, so they load up a box or barrel and sell it without knowing what's inside."

"Buying one is sort of like a treasure hunt," Twilight added.

"Yeah," Flash sat down. "But instead of treasure you have old books. Dusty and cracked teacups or somepony's old toothbrush."

"Once I found a first edition History of Equestria in the original Olde Ponish." Twilight's eyes went wide and she looked giddy with excitement.

"Hliet foresettan pliht!" The princess stated before she and Sunburst started laughing.

Starlight just blinked at them before Sunburst said, "It's an Olde Ponish saying. Reward prefers risk!" Sunburst turned to Twilight, who didn't seem to find it as funny this time. "Uh, it loses something in the translation."

"Please don't get Twilight speaking in that tongue again," Flash begged him. "One time, she refused to speak to me in nothing but that to try and get me to learn it." But as he said that, he let out a hum, "Actually, the week where I couldn't understand her constant lecture wasn't half bad."

Twilight growled at him, only for Starlight to chime in, "Why don't we look through this stuff later?" She grabbed the items they had bought and moved them off the table, as Sunburst nodded.

"Yeah. What do you want to do, Starlight?" This question caused Starlight's eyes to go wide before she smiled.

"Well, I don't know if you're gonna remember this, but..." There was a flash of light and something appeared in her hooves, which she placed on the table and pushed towards them. As soon as Sunburst saw it, he gasped and pulled the box up to him.

"Is this...?!

"Dragon Pit!" Starlight finished for him, Sunburst looking like he had just been reintroduced to an old friend while Flash and Twilight smiled.

"I remember that game."

"Yeah," Flash nodded, "though we only got to play it a few times. Spike started having nightmares about it, so we put it in the attic. Might still be at Twilight's parent's place."

"Well, we used to play it all the time," Starlight added.

"Pretty much any time we weren't working on magic," Sunburst continued, "I can't believe you found a copy!" Starlight's eyes filled with stars, Twilight suggesting they play it on the floor the way it was normally played by young ponies. They then set the board up and each picked up a colored dragon, Flash picking blue, Twilight picking purple, Starlight picking pink and Sunburst picking red. They started playing and it was a rather fun game, with nopony knowing when the volcano would erupt.

As Twilight rolled the dice, Starlight smiled as she remembered back when the played as children. "Sunburst would get so excited whenever his dragon got trapped, he knocked the whole board over."

"That's adorable," Twilight giggled while Sunburst blushed.

"Uh, well, it's an exciting game. But I have a little more control over my horn now." He threw the dice and moved his piece as Starlight smiled.

"Uh-oh! Somepony's dragon's gonna get trapped!" With that, the volcano started shaking until it shot a ball out from the top. The marble flew up and landed on one of the lava runs, swerving around randomly until it landed on Twilight's road and hit her piece.

"Doesn't seem so exciting to me-" She stopped when the floor beneath her piece vanished and it fell into a pit, her eyes going wide before she burst out laughing. As she did, her horn unleashed a shockwave of light so strong it sent the board flying over. When the light faded, a blushing Twilight saw Flash and Starlight holding back their laughter while Sunburst smirked.

"Huh. I guess it is adorable."

"I'll say," Flash burst out laughing and rolled around on the floor. "Of all...of all the...all the times not to have a camera." Twilight continued to blush as Starlight righted the board and returned everypony's pieces to their proper places. They continued the game and after many pit falls, terrible dice rolls and explosive laughing fits, the game ended with Sunburst winning.

After that, it was time for dinner and Starlight offered to cook. As it turned out, she was planning to make Sunburst's favorite meal: Spaghetti with little hay-dogs cut up into it. The unicorns licked his lips as they enjoyed the meal, all the while talking about things that had happened since the last time they had saw each other.

Fast forward to later that night, Sunburst was now getting all his things sorted in his room. Starlight was helping and as she put his book bag away, she turned to Sunburst who was unpacking his books from a case. "I hope you're enjoying your visit so far."

"Are you kidding?" Sunburst turned to smile at her. "I mean, first antiquing and then spending time with Twilight?"

"Oh. Yeah. She's pretty great."

"Right?" Sunburst grabbed a book. "I mean, I know she's a princess, but I never thought she'd be so fun to just hang out with."

"Well, she is the Princess of Friendship." This made Sunburst chuckle.

"Right. I guess that makes sense." He turned back to his case. "But it's not just her. Trixie is fun too, especially with all those magic tricks she can do. It's amazing to think that even after being taken in by Princess Luna and being taught so much, she still tries to master that craft. One that most unicorns see as an insult to real magic, she sees as a way to boost the effectiveness of her magic. It's amazing."

"Huh. Never thought about it like that."

"And then there's Flash. Hard to believe after everything he's gone through, he can still laugh and joke about the silliest things."

Starlight slowly nodded at this, "So tomorrow I thought-"

"I suppose I'm just surprised at how well we get along," Sunburst interrupted before frowning. "I...I don't have much in common with most ponies."

Starlight nodded again. "You and Twilight are pretty similar. I don't know many ponies who are fluent in Olde Ponish."

"Exactly!" Sunburst cheered, turning to Starlight. "I probably have more in common with Twilight than any pony in Equestria!"

"Right..." Starlight slowly replied, feeling a stabbing pain run through her heart at that.

Sunburst let out a tiny yawn. "Anyway," he patted Starlight on the shoulder, "I better get some sleep." This time his yawn was more powerful. "Ponyville might be small, but there's a lot to do." He started walking her to the door as an idea popped into her head. "Maybe we should ask Twilight what she recommends we see!"

Starlight glanced away for a second, only to barely reply, "Um...sure."

"Great!" Sunburst cheered, "Good night Starlight."

But before the unicorn could say anything back, Sunburst slammed the door in her face. "Good night..." she whispered before slowly walking away. And as she went for her room, she turned a corner and found herself running into somepony. "Augh!" They both moaned as they fell back, Starlight looking up to see Flash, "Sorry. Wasn't looking where I was going."

"It's fine," Flash replied, the unicorn seeing the pegasi holding a glass of milk, only for him to see the upset look on Starlight's face. "You okay? You're looking a little...down."

"What?!" Starlight yelped, "I'm fine! Absolutely fine. Never been better."

"Right...I might not be Springer, but even I can tell you're upset about something. Come on, you can tell me."

Starlight sighed before leaning against the wall. "It's just...this trip was supposed to be about me and Sunburst reconnecting. But he spent most of the day hanging out with Twilight looking at boring stuff."

"Yeah," Flash nodded, "That was great. Twilight probably won't be badgering me to go with her for a while." Starlight turned to glare at him, "What?! It's a good thing that Sunburst and Twilight found something to bond over!"

"But we were supposed to bond," Starlight responded, "Sunburst and I used to have almost everything in common with one another and now...he's into antiquing and who knows what else."

"Well yeah," Flash shrugged, "That was a long time ago. You've both been through so much since then that it'd be impossible for you to be the exact same ponies you where back in your childhood. We get older and discover new things we like to do. I mean, were you always the avid kite lover you are today?"

Starlight blinked at this, only to reply, "I...guess not."

"Exactly. And Sunburst might hate kiting, but that doesn't mean your friendship is broken. No two ponies can be exactly alike."

"I guess you're right," Starlight sighed, "But that just means I need to get him to remember all the things we used to have in common."

"Isn't that what you did earlier?" Flash asked, taking a sip of his milk. "That Dragon Pit game was kinda fun."

"Exactly!" Starlight added, "That's why I've got to up the ante," Starlight clopped her hoof on the ground. "Find more stuff that we used to enjoy and make him remember how fun it was to just be with me."

"Or you could just live in the moment and let the past be in the past," Flash chimed, but Starlight shook her head.

"Nope! I gotta go!" She then ran off, leaving Flash there alone with his milk.

"Oh, this isn't gonna be good." He took a sip of milk, "She's not gonna listen to anything I say, is she? Hmm..." He then downed his milk and walked up to another hallway, "Guess I'll have him try and talk some sense into her."

He then knocked on a door and a minute later, a very sleepy unicorn opened it up. "Flash?" He rubbed his eyes under his glasses, "It's the middle of the night."

"I know, but I need to talk to you about a problem." The defender said as he walked into the room.

"What's up?"

"Starlight," Flash turned to him. "I think she's a little upset that you and Twilight were getting along so well." The unicorn raised an eyebrow at this, "Don't get me wrong, it's great that you and Twilight were able to bond. But I think Starlight's feeling...neglected."

"What?" Sunburst asked, "But I made sure to include her when we went antiquing and when we played Dragon Pit."

"True," Flash nodded. "And Starlight enjoyed the game. But at what point did you two do something completely on your own?" Sunburst raised an eyebrow at this, "It's something I've noticed about Starlight. She enjoys doing things...one on one. She's happy to do group activities every now and again, but when she's with somepony, she likes having their...undivided attention."

"Huh," Sunburst replied, "I...never noticed that about Starlight."

"I think I'm the only pony who's noticed it. It's not something easy to notice. But hey, Knight of Friendship. I'd be pretty bad at my job if I wasn't good at noticing how a pony enjoys themselves."

"So...what do you think I should do?"

"Well that's for you to figure out. If I gave you all the answers, it wouldn't mean much when you did it." He put a hoof on Sunburst's shoulder. "Just...remember to respect Starlight's view. But don't force yourself to solely focus on her." Sunburst raised an eyebrow at this, "If you find somepony you connect with, it's fine to try and make friends with them. But just don't let it make you lose sight of Starlight's feelings."

"Ahh!" Sunburst sighed, "This is really confusing."

"Most friendships are bud," Flash chuckled, "We all enjoy doing things our own way. The trick is finding a good compromise between them." Sunburst nodded before letting out a yawn.

"Okay. Thanks. I'll think about what you said and hopefully, Starlight and I can find a way to have fun that we'll both enjoy." Flash nodded and left the room, Sunburst flopping onto the bed, "A compromise," he said as his eyes flickered open and closed. "A...compromise."


Early next morning...

As it turned out, Starlight had her own idea of a compromise. Waking him up before it was even dawn and taking him out of the castle before everypony else was awake. Sunburst thought about what Flash had said, trying to think of a way for them both to enjoy their time together...only to come up with nothing.

"One genuine Sweet Apple Acres apple tree!" She cheered as she pointed out the tree in question, Sunburst turning to raise an eyebrow, "Because we used to drink so much apple juice as foals?"

"Uh...I don't remember that."

"Really?" Starlight asked, "I mean, it was all we drank. Here. Try an apple. I bet that'll jog your memory." She moved over to the tree and was about to buck it, only for something to appear from out of the branches.

"Back off!" A bat pony hissed as he hung from the tree, the unicorn crying out.

"Rogue?!" Starlight yelped, "What are you doing?!"

"My job," Rogue growled before pointing a wing at them. "What are you doing?! Stealing apples?! Shame on you Starlight."

"I wasn't stealing apples."

"You were about to buck this tree and knock the apples off with the intention of eating one. I don't know about you, but that sounds like stealing to me."

"Er...fine. I'm sorry."

"We both are," Sunburst added before tilting his head, "Doesn't that hurt?"

"What?"

"Hanging upside down like that. All the blood must be rushing be to your head."

"Nah," Rogue shrugged, "I've hung upside down for hours. Never had a problem. Heck, I sleep like this."

"Interesting. I wonder if your heart's valves are upside down like real bats." Rogue looked confused by this. "We have special valves that keep our blood from pool at our hooves. Bats have the same valves only they keep the blood from pooling at the head. I wonder if you have the same thing."

"Huh," Rogue replied, "Never really thought about it. Still don't know a lot about my kind. I only recently met my family and learned about our ways and whatnot."

"Fascinating," Sunburst whispered. A million questioned flowed through his brain, but before he could ask any of them, he remembered Flash's words, "I'd love to learn more, but I'm kinda busy with Starlight right now." The unicorn brightened up at hearing this. "Do you think it would be possible to talk about your biology another time?"

"Sure," Rogue responded, "As long as you're not stealing apples, we're good. And if you find anything on thestrals, let me know."

"Gladly," Sunburst nodded before Rogue swung back and forth before letting go of the tree. He flew off as the sun began to rise, likely getting ready to go to bed while Sunburst turned back to Starlight. "So, shall we go find something else to do? We didn't exactly have time for breakfast before you rushed us out of the castle."

Starlight smiled brightly at this as the pair began to make their way out of the orchard. "Thanks. I know you probably wanted to talk to Rogue about a bunch of different things."

"I sure did," Sunburst nodded. "But...then I remembered something Flash told me."

"Flash?" Starlight raised an eyebrow.

"Yup. Even though he doesn't know it, he was able to determine your love language."

"Love language?" Starlight blushed.

"It was originally developed as a way to understand romantic partners, but they can also be used to describe how somepony best interacts with their friends and family." Sunburst pushed his glasses up his nose. "There's five love languages. Words of Affirmation, Physical Touch, Receiving Gifts, Acts of Service and yours. Quality Time. You connect with ponies on a one to one basis."

"Wow," Starlight whispered, "And Flash realized this?"

"Even though he doesn't know what a love language is," Sunburst nodded as they arrived in town. There was a nearby cafe that was just opening, the pair taking their seats and grabbing a menu. "The guy's pretty perceptive."

Starlight smiled at this, "Wait, so what's your love language? Clearly, it's not the same as mine." She frowned at this, "If they're not the same then how are we supposed to hang out."

Sunburst smiled back, "Lots of ponies with different love languages hang out together. It's like Flash said. The two of us need to find a compromise."

"What kind of compromise?" Starlight asked, as the waiter came over and took their order. Once he was gone, they thought about what it was that Sunburst enjoyed and which of them could work with Starlight's love language. Then, Starlight had an idea. "I've got it." Sunburst raised an eyebrow at this, wondering what it was she was planning.


As it turned out, her plan was to bring Sunburst the edge of the forest where they found a large rock on the ground. "Perfect," Starlight commented before using her magic to roll the rock away from what it was sealing. A hole in the ground. "Come on," she trotted down the hole and Sunburst followed to find it had a path leading down into a cave. "This is a great place for us to hang out. We're alone, so it helps my love language, and it has something you'll find fascinating." She pointed to the bottom of the path, where a large pool of crystal clear water could be seen. "Behold, the Mirror Pool."

"Whoa," Sunburst's eyes went wide as they continued down, "This place is pure pony lore."

"Yup," Starlight smirked. "I mean, it's supposed to be all dangerous, and I guess I shouldn't have broken the seal to get in, but you wanted to see the sights of Ponyville, right?"

Sunburst stared at his own reflection, as he thought about what it would be like to have a pony that looked exactly like him standing with him. "So, Pinkie Pie just dove in and made copies of herself?"

"Mm-hmm," Starlight nodded. "If we made copies of ourselves, we could get a year's worth of hanging out over in one day." She looked almost hopeful, until Sunburst gave her a frown, "Uh, not that we would." She rubbed her leg as a new sound filled the air, making them look up: A tapping sound.

"Do you hear that?" Sunburst asked, looking over at a tunnel leading deeper into the cave. The pair carefully trotted into it, Starlight grimacing at the noise.

"Oh, I hope it's not a leftover Pinkie Pie."

"Not exactly," a deadpan voice stated as the pair reached the end of the tunnel. They turned to the voice and found themselves looking at another breed of pie: Maud Pie.

"Maud!" Starlight gasped, "How did you get in here?"

"This cavern's actually connected to mine," Maud pointed to another tunnel that likely led to her underground home. She then started tapping on the wall.

"Uh," Sunburst raised an eyebrow, "What are you doing?"

"Tapping," was all Maud said back while Starlight giggled.

"Maud isn't super chatty. I mean, you and I could sit around and talk all day, but she looks pretty busy." She turned to Sunburst, but saw he looked amazingly intrigued by what Maud was doing. She then realized that Sunburst must be into geology, making her mind tell her one thing: He was willing to put his enjoyment aside for her, why shouldn't she do the same?

So, despite how much her mind was screaming at her not to, she stepped up to the earth pony, "So, Maud...why are you tapping?" Sunburst, seeing Starlight seemed interested, let his questions loose as he walked over as well.

"Are you taking some kind of core sample?"

"Not exactly," Maud replied between taps. "I'm uncovering this section of strata for closer study." She turned to Sunburst, "You might want to step back." Sunburst did as she hit the wall harder, causing it to start cracking apart before it completely collapsed and unleashed a cloud of dust. Starlight had the unfortunate fate of breathing some in, making her cough as the cloud faded to reveal a massive gem that took up the entire wall. "I'm studying this area's metamorphic-"

"Foliation," Sunburst finished before taking a closer look. "Is this gneiss, phyllite, or slate?" He turned to Maud, "Wow. The pressure above must be pretty uniform to get the planar fabric to be this consistent."

"You know about geology?" Maud asked, Starlight able to see surprise through her deadpan stare.

"Eh, I dabble." Sunburst shrugged before pointing at the wall, "For example, by the speleothems in this cave, I kind of figured there was another way out."

"Because of the calcite deposits," Maud continued before the pair continued through the cave. It would be almost thirty minutes before he realized Starlight wasn't with him anymore. As soon as he did, he rushed back the way he came but found no sign of her.


Starlight was back at the castle, staring at her Dragon Pit game while spinning the figures in the air. Flash and Twilight walked in at this, seeing her head slumped down on the table.

"Starlight? Where's Sunburst?" Twilight asked.

"Oh, I don't know. Doing stage magic with Trixie?" She mumbled, "Maybe studying new rocks with Maud?" She put the figures down. "You're here, so I guess you two aren't off translating some ancient Olde Ponish text."

"What are you talking about?" Twilight replied, "Why would Sunburst be doing any of that? I thought he came to Ponyville to see you."

"Yeah," Flash nodded, "Plus, Trixie went to Sugarcube Corner, so I doubt he's with her there. Did he get distracted or something?"

"Yeah, though it was my fault." The couple raised an eyebrow at this, "Sunburst tried to focus on me after what Flash told him."

Twilight turned to give the pegasus, the defender shrugging, "All I told him was that Starlight likes to spend time with a pony alone when she hangs out."

"Yeah," Starlight nodded, "Apparently, that's my love language." Flash raised an eyebrow while Twilight seemed to understand, "it's something Sunburst told me. Mine's quality time, which means I can only enjoy hanging out with others when it's just the two of us. And that's what we were doing...until we ran into Maud and Sunburst got interested in her work. I didn't feel good letting him hold himself back like that...so I asked Maud what was happening. And just like that, Sunburst forgot all about me."

"Ouch," Flash gulped, "Sorry about that."

"It's not your fault," Starlight sighed as she picked up two dragon pieces. "It's just...when we were foals, we had more in common than any two ponies in Equestria. But now, it seems like he's got more in common with my friends than he does with me." She dropped the pieces, one hitting a trapdoor before falling in.

"Oh..." Twilight looked ready to hug the mare, "Everypony changes, but that doesn't mean there aren't still things you both like. You both love magic, right?"

This made Starlight slightly turn to her, "Magic?"

"Sure," Twilight nodded, "You're really good at it, and Sunburst practically knows every spell that ever was."

Flash could see the wheels in Starlight's mind begin to spin before she gasped. "You're right!" She leapt off the chair and hugged her mentor, "Thanks, Twilight! You're the best!"

She ran off at this, Twilight now showing a smug grin. "Heh. I try." She turned to Flash, "I guess that's that problem solved."

Flash chuckled at her, "Is a problem around here ever solved that easily? Odds are something's gonna happen to mess everything up at the last moment."

"Stop being so pessimistic," Twilight replied while waving a hoof, "Sunburst and Starlight will start talking about magic, they'll laugh, enjoy themselves and everything will be great."

Flash leaned in with a giant smirk, "Wanna bet?"

Twilight smirked back, "Terms?"

"If you're right, we'll spend an afternoon doing whatever you want."

"Including antiq-"

"Including antiquing," Flash interrupted, hiding a slight shiver. "But if you're wrong, I'm exempt from cleaning the castle for a week. No, make it two."

Twilight stared at him before raising her hoof, "You're on," they shook before letting out a slight laugh. They knew they didn't have to wait long to see how their bet would turn out. The pair then decided to hang out in the library, Flash running off to grab his guitar while Twilight pulled out a new book she had just gotten to read while listening to her boyfriend play some calm relaxing music.

Forty minutes later however, they heard a loud echo flow through the castle's corridors, what sounded like a loud yell. "What's that?"

"I don't know," Twilight replied before shutting her book and the pair ran out the library. They heard the yells continue and followed it to the throne room. And as they approached, Trixie came up the opposite corridor.

"Hey," she called out, "I just got back and heard some yells. What's-" She didn't finish as a bright flash of light suddenly flew out from the gaps in the throne room's doors.

Twilight opened the door and glanced inside, "What's going on in here?" The other two looked in, now finding a very upset Starlight and a rather annoyed looking Sunburst in the room with a roll of parchment on the ground.

"Nothing," Starlight growled, "I was trying to have fun doing the one thing I thought we still had in common, but I guess we don't even have that anymore." Tears began to break free of her eyes and she ran out of the room, leaving the others staring at her.

"What the heck just happened?" Trixie asked, turning to Sunburst who let out a sigh. He then explained how Starlight had created a spell that made an illusion of them being back in their childhood home while looking like foals.

"I don't understand," a pacing Sunburst said once he was done. "Starlight and I have known each other since we were foals, but that doesn't mean we have to be foals to hang out."

"Uh..." Twilight picked up the parchment, "Starlight does have a tendency to overdo things."

"Oh really?" Flash asked, "I wonder where she learned that from. Miss want-it-need-it spell. Miss monitor everything. Miss blows her library home into the sky over a test. Miss pot calling the kettle black."

Twilight blushed at this, while Trixie chimed in, "I don't get it. What made her think this was a good idea?"

"Starlight was feeling bad that Sunburst seemed to have more in common with her friends then her," Flash replied, "Though we've tried to tell her she didn't need to worry.

Sunburst nodded back, "I mean, it is surprising how well I get along with all of her friends, but she and I still have tons in common."

"Maybe you just need to remind her what those things are," Twilight sighed.

Those words made Sunburst's eyes brighten up, "That's it! That's exactly what I'll do!" But as he said this, he showed a large frown, "Uh...right after I think of them."

"Uh-oh," Twilight gulped, Flash and Trixie facehoofing.

"Well..." Sunburst continued as he twiddled his hooves, "What is it you all have in common with her? If I have a lot in common with you, maybe what makes you like her is the same for me."

The others shared a glance, Trixie turning back to him, "Well...Starlight and I are both the students of princesses."

"Yeah...we don't have that in common.

"Well, there were other things that drew us to one another," Trixie added, "We both had a chip on our shoulders about something in our past. Me and my trouble impressing my father even after becoming Luna's student and growing as a magician, and Starlight with the mistakes she made. Working to put those problems behind us really helped us bond as friends."

"Huh. Okay...I guess that's something I have in common with her. Me dropping out of magic school and having a hard time afterwards." He turned to Twilight and Flash, "What about you two?"

"Well..." Flash scratched the back of his head, "Starlight and I aren't exactly best buds. We're happy to hang out and have fun, but we're not usually each other's first choice to do so."

"Oh."

"But I still like her okay. She's always helping Heart and Soul with their homework, or with Soul's magic and eager to aid whenever there's a problem in town. She has my respect for that."

"Didn't Starlight say there was somepony else Sunburst had stuff in common with?" Twilight asked him.

"Wasn't it Maud?" Flash asked, Sunburst nodding.

"You're right! I'll go talk to her." With that, Sunburst bolted out of the room, the group staring at the sight.

That is, till Flash shined Twilight a huge grin, "So...is this a bad time to remind you that I won the bet?"

Twilight shot him a glare, Trixie raising an eyebrow at the couple as Twilight growled at him. After this, they went off to try and find Starlight, only to find her nowhere in the castle. They searched for some time, but there was not a hide nor hair of the unicorn.

Heart and Soul eventually returned from school at this, Soul calling out to them as they walked by the front entrance, "Hey, did something happen to Starlight?"

"Yeah," Heart nodded, "We saw her in town, but when we called out to her, she didn't even seem to notice us."

"Let's just say that something...complicated happened to upset her." The pair raised an eyebrow just as Sunburst walked up to the castle, Twilight turning to him, "Hey, did Maud have some good advice?"

"Not really," Sunburst sighed. "All it did was make me realize that Starlight and I barely have anything in common. Maybe we've spent too long apart."

"Don't be ridiculous," Flash replied, "Lot of friends have practically nothing in common. I mean...look at Twilight," he pointed at the alicorn in question, Twilight glaring at him. He gave her a smug grin back, "Oh come on, Twi." He looked back at Sunburst, "You should have seen the mess she was when we first arrived in Ponyville. She had nothing in common with anypony. Heck, even now she barely has anything with her closest friends."

"That can't be true," Sunburst responded.

"Really?" Flash asked. "Take away the fact that they saved Equestria together and try and come up with one thing that she has in common with...Applejack." Sunburst opened his mouth at this...only to close it. "See? Anypony else?"

The others all blinked at the princess, only for Soul to speak up, "They...both have a big brother?"

"Exactly," Flash chuckled, "The two are practically chalk and cheese, but they're still close friends who hang out a lot."

"Flash is right," Twilight nodded, "You don't need to have something in common to be friends with somepony. I mean, Flash and I barely have anything in common and we were best friends for years before we got together."

"But what do you...do?" Sunburst asked, "if you don't have anything in common, how do you spend time together?"

The pair shrugged back, "We just...do. If it's somepony you really care about, it doesn't matter what you do. Heck, just being together is enough if you enjoy being in each other's company."

Twilight nodded at this, "But you and Starlight have one thing in common. You both enjoy Dragon Pit."

"But it's not like that's the only thing we can keep doing every time we see each other."

"Well, it doesn't have to be," Soul added, "Maybe it can just be a start. I mean, I became friends with Diamond and Silver just because we liked being around one another. But over time, we found other things we enjoy. Like Ogres and Oubliettes. We never tried that before, but then we found we really like it."

Twilight nodded again, "I got my friend Rainbow into Daring Do. So why not try and reconnect over something simple like Dragon Pit and then you can learn to have fun doing other stuff too."

Sunburst hummed at this, only for a bulb to go off in his head, "Okay, I think I know what I need to do. But I'm gonna need your help to pull it off." His friends all raised eyebrows at this, only to see a big grin appear on the unicorn's face.


The sun was now about to set as Starlight returned to the castle. When she got there, she found Flash and Twilight waiting outside. "Hey," she moaned with her head down, "If you're gonna give me a lecture about what happened, can it wait until tomorrow? I'm really not in the mood right now." She then glanced up, only to see both smiling, "What?"

"Come with us," the alicorn replied, "We've got something to show you that sure to put that frown upside down."

"But-"

"Just come on." Flash added as they gestured her to follow.

And as the unicorn walked up the steps, she said, "I appreciate you trying to help, but it seems pretty clear that Sunburst and I have grown apart."

"I understand," Twilight responded, "But I feel like that only happens if you both let it. You still want to be friends, right?" Starlight stopped and gave her a deadpan stare.

"I created a spell so we could relive playing a game in our childhood home...and bodies."

"Right..." Twilight slowly replied.

"Not creepy at all," Flash joked before Twilight tugged at his ear.

"I'm just not sure Sunburst wants to stay friends, too."

This got the couple to smile. "I think you might be surprised." With that, she pushed the doors to the library. Starlight looked inside and then saw Maud, Trixie, Heart and Soul standing in front of a large curtain.

"Prepare yourself..." Maud began in her usual tone of voice, Trixie continuing.

"For the new and improved..."

"DRAGON PIT!" The twins cheered before Trixie pulled the curtain apart to reveal a giant version of the Dragon Pit game. In the center of the room was a cardboard volcano with orange fabric coming off it to resemble lava. The floor had a bunch of large books on it were clearly meant to represent the spaces used in the game. Then Sunburst stepped out from behind the volcano dressed in a green dragon-themed costume and was smiling as he walked onto one of the books.

"What do you think?" He asked as Twilight, Maud, Trixie and Flash stepped onto another book as they put one their own dragon costumes. Flash was wearing red, Trixie orange, Maud grayish purple and Twilight pink. Sunburst took a light blue dragon costume out from behind the volcano and placed it in front of Starlight, "We had to take out a few spaces to get it to fit, but you'll hardly miss them." He picked up a large stone cube with holes in the sides. "Maud made the dice." He pushed the dice and it rolled onto a two as he walked the spaces.

"Pumice is the lightest igneous rock," Maud explained as she put her hoof on the stone. "It seemed the best choice." She rolled the stone and got a one, stepping forward one space.

"And I added the special effects," Trixie giggled as her horn glowed along with the volcano's top. It started to fizz and emit smoke, "There's nothing like a little well-placed magic smoke." The volcano then unleashed a puff as a large marble shot out from the top.

"Looks like somepony's dragon is going to get trapped," Twilight chuckled as the marble rolled down one side of the volcano and along a fabric runway.

"I thought you didn't want to play this game?" Starlight asked Sunburst.

"Well, I didn't want to pretend to be a foal, but I know you wanted to play. I thought it'd be fun to play a version big enough for full-grown ponies."

The ball landed next to him as Flash spoke up. "Not that playing board games isn't something adults can do. We just usually call it tabletop gaming."

Sunburst rolled his eyes and turned back to Starlight. "What do you think? Fun, right?" Starlight stared at him, then over at the rest of her friends who had all put so much effort into recreating her beloved game.

After a moment, she smiled, "Actually, it's missing something." Before they could ask what, Starlight's horn sparked and unleashed a beam that hit the ground under the book Sunburst was on. The sound of cracking filled the air, and the next thing Sunburst knew, he was crying out as he fell through the floor and into the room located below the library. Once his head finished spinning, he looked up to see Starlight staring down at him, laughing while in her dragon costume.

"Now it's fun." Everypony else burst out laughing, nopony realizing Starlight had just smashed a hole straight through Twilight house.

And so, the ponies played, with Heart and Soul acting as the board re-setters by putting the marble back in the volcano and handing over the dice whenever somepony was out of reach. After an hour of playing and several holes in Twilight's floor, Maud ended up winning, but everypony had had so much fun that they didn't mind. And as they were cleaning up, Starlight and Sunburst started reminiscing about their foal-hoods. All the awkwardness and fear the two had felt was completely forgotten, leaving room for nothing but fun as they spent the rest of the day reconnecting without even needing to think about what they wanted to do.


The next day...

It was now time for Sunburst to return to the Crystal Empire. He and Starlight were at the platform right as the train was pulling in, and once the last of the passengers got off, they loaded two of his bags before turning to smile at one another. "I don't know why I got so worried about us not having anything in common," Starlight told him.

"Yeah," Sunburst nodded as he put a hoof on Starlight's shoulder, "I kind of think it doesn't matter as long as we enjoy each other's company."

"And that game was certainly enjoyable," Trixie added as she and Twilight carried Sunburst's things in their magic. They placed the objects inside the train as Flash and Maud also walked up to them.

Starlight nodded back, "What made it even better was getting to play it with all my friends." She hugged Sunburst, Twilight and Trixie, Flash and Maud staying back until Twilight and Trixie pulled them into the hug.

"Hey!" Flash yelped, "You're ruining my macho image!" The others, minus Maud, laughed before they pulled away.

Sunburst then got onto the train and turned to Starlight. "See you soon?"

"You bet," Starlight winked. "I want to hear if you find anything interesting in that barrel."

"Trust me Starlight, you'll be the first to know." With that, he moved over to one of the seats and looked out the window at his friends. They all waved him off and he waved back as the train began to pull away. Once the station was out of sight, Sunburst sighed and sat back against his seat. The blind buy barrel was right beside him and he opened it up, finding a book on top that he pulled out to look over.

In doing so, it revealed another book. This one being blue with star on the cover surrounded by swirls. Whatever it was, it appeared ancient and almost...mystical. Only time would tell what would happen with it. And it was sure to shake Equestria for all time.

Author's Note:

Probably not the most exciting chapter, but I think it was important to show Sunburst interact with the many different relationships Starlight has in this universe. Plus, the ending with the book. Hope you enjoyed.