Two Burning Stars Chasing The Day

by FoolAmongTheStars

1. keep getting closer

Just because you were friends with someone doesn’t mean that they couldn’t get on your last nerve. And Lord help him, Starlight Glimmer was one of those friends, she knew exactly what buttons to push to turn him into a nervous wreck, it made him want to grab her shoulders and shake her until she learned some sense.

But instead, Sunburst Zenith shook his head at her, the girl that was trouble with a capital ‘T’, taking in her dark purple hair and dark blue eyes that he could never get enough of. She was beautiful, in a broken sort of way, she was a dangerous girl, the bad girl that broke all the rules.

There was absolutely no reason for him to love her. He did though, and it made things all the more complicated. Sunburst chalked it up on the fact that he was a teenage boy, and falling in love with a girl was like falling in love with a new toy—the instant draw to it, the need to have it, to play with it and be entertained…until he grew tired and moved on. There were a lot of things in life that were like that.

Starlight turned her head, eyes focusing on him like she just knew that he had been staring. The little grin she gave him was like watching the sun break from the clouds. Sunburst knew he was horribly stupid with a healthy side of idiotic, but he blamed romance movies and music that put those notions in his head.

Love was never, ever that simple.

“So, what do you think?” she asked, tilting her head, purple tresses escaping from the confines of her beanie hat.

Sunburst frowned. “You’re serious about this?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?” she countered, pursing her lips. “Sunburst, I need…you know…”

Help. Of course she did. Stealing from the store and then getting sentenced with only community service hours was a blessing, all things considered.

But he would help, just like he always did. “Sure.”

---

Just because you were friends with someone didn’t mean that you wanted to remain just friends with them. Sunburst Zenith was one of those friends because if anyone deserved better than what she had to offer, it was him.

Starlight Glimmer’s shoulders sagged with relief. “Really?” she asked, almost scared. She didn’t let it show, because someone like her could never afford to be vulnerable. She could never let her guard down.

Being a foster child did things to you. It wasn’t like that for everyone, she knew. Some kids get lucky and are taken to loving homes, going on to do great things. Others managed to stay floating among the water’s surface, balanced, neither sinking nor swimming. And then there were kids like her, those with anchors wrapped around their waist and concrete blocks for shoes that dragged them down no matter how hard they swam.

She stole from the convenience store only because she had been so hungry—because her foster father was a violent drunk and her foster mother was as spineless as a wet tissue paper, choosing to run and hide whenever the man got too drunk, leaving Starlight to fend for herself. That night Starlight didn’t feel like being a punching bag. Didn’t feel like waiting until two a.m. to sneak downstairs for some food when she was sure that the bastard was out cold from the alcohol.

So she stole what little food she could fit in her jacket. Well, she tried to. It was her rotten luck that a cop was dropping by around the time she tried to make her escape. It didn’t help that the entirety of the tiny town of Sire’s Hollow thought she was the girl from hell, with the screwed-up past and behavioral problems that only heavy medication could fix. It didn’t help that she had one, maybe two, friends that would vouch for her when the rest would turn their backs.

But Sunburst was different—kind, caring, gentle. Everything she ever wanted and nothing she could have.

He smiled and Starlight wished he’d never stop.

“What are friends for?”

---

What are friends for?

The phrase echoed in his head for a moment. None of what he was doing was purely out of friendship. No. A part of him (and he feared that it was a big part of him) was drawn to her, like a moth to a flame. He knew that it would all end in pain and disaster, and yet he couldn’t part from her.

“I’ll try, and I’m sure Fluttershy will be willing, but you have to promise me that, whatever hours you get, are the hours you work,” Sunburst warned, taking a moment to be serious, making sure that she understood what was at stake. “It doesn’t matter if I’m there or not…just, promise me you’ll finish these hours and be done with it?”

He watched her face, always impassive, always guarded except for the light in her eyes. She was thinking, calculating like the smart individual she was. No one really knew how smart Starlight could be, not when she was deemed troubled and automatically thrown into the waste category. Sunburst could also see a small sliver of anger, of something she kept hidden and he was always desperate to see.

Starlight kept her emotions bottled up most of the time. Sunburst learned to deal with it, to take what he could get when they were alone and away from prying eyes. When they were in their own world.

“What more do you want me to do?” she asked, oddly calm and stoic. “I pleaded guilty and I’m going to do my hours, I can’t turn back time and undo what I did, Sunburst.”

Starlight was too serious, too dangerous.

Sunburst fidgeted on the bench they were seated. “That’s not what I mean; you know that.”

“Yeah, like you didn’t mean to forget to pick me up from the courthouse.”

It was a low blow and Sunburst felt the air leave his lungs. It wasn’t true—it couldn’t be the farthest thing from the truth. He hadn’t forgotten, not for a second. His mother demanding that he didn’t see that no good girl had stopped him from getting the car keys and leaving. Starlight had been all he could think about. He couldn’t get to her, he failed to protect her from a world that didn’t understand her.

“My mom,” he pleaded, wondering if getting down on his knees would help. “She didn’t…”

Stellar Flare, widowed and tired, had shaken her head. “She’s trouble.” Her words were short and not entirely incorrect.

Sunburst wished the rain would stop falling outside.

---

Starlight regretted her words the moment they left her mouth. She felt like an idiot. She knew that Sunburst’s mother didn’t like her. Not that she blamed her. She was a foster kid living in a bad home that only provided shelter and the occasional meal. The part-time job she had held on to for a month had ended the moment the charges were laid on her. She had nothing. It was unfair, but it was how the world worked, she supposed that was just another link in the chain dragging her down some more.

She wanted to apologize, to open her mouth and tell him she was sorry. The last thing she needed was to destroy the only healthy friendship she had, but the words echoed in her head, words that didn’t sound certain of where her priorities lay. All that Starlight knew was that she wanted out of this town, needed a way out of this life. Every penny that she had worked for since she was fifteen went into a savings account so that in a year she could get her own place the day she turned eighteen and was legally an adult.

Sunburst couldn’t question her priorities—he knew them up, down, and sideways.

Letting out an exasperated sigh, she stood up from the park bench they always meet up after school and started to walk away, feeling heavier with each step. Ten steps later and she stopped, turned around, and looked at him.

She always thought that he was handsome, but now that he was in his final stages of puberty, he seemed even more attractive in her eyes. He was like her guardian angel, always there, always looking out for her. He hadn’t moved from the bench, lip curled under the pressure of his teeth. It was the picture of innocence and sin wrapped into one.

“Are you coming or what?” Starlight yelled, crossing her arms and ignoring all the stares and the whispers from the other students in the park. No one seemed to get her relationship with Sunburst. Everyone liked him, thought that he was a sweet boy with a bright future ahead of him.

Not even Starlight understood why he stuck around.

When Sunburst got her meaning, he smiled and stood up, grabbing his backpack and running up to meet her. She rolled her eyes with fondness, stuffing her hands into her jacket so she wouldn’t do something stupid—like hug him.

“My shift at the shelter starts at five,” he said, “but I told mom that I’d stop by first.”

Starlight grinned, knowing what he was getting at. She played along anyways. “Is that so?”

“My bedroom window is open.”

---

Before Starlight came along, Sunburst had been somewhat popular, or privileged, depending on who you asked. He lived in a good home, with a supportive mother, an annoying and overachieving older sister, and a silly grandfather that told stories from back in the day. He knew most of the students in the school, mostly because he’d never been one to shy away from a stranger. Sometimes people just needed a little help. Sometimes people were just a little lost.

So the day Starlight walked into his high school, Sunburst didn’t even think about it, he just went for it.

“Hello, I’m Sunburst,” he introduced himself, holding out his hand.

Starlight, wearing a black t-shirt and worn-out jeans, looked at him like she would rather spit in his face than take his hand. “Does it look like I care?”

He dropped his hand and shrugged. “I just wanted to say hi, and if you ever need help, just ask, it’s nice to meet you,” Sunburst admitted that her answer had stung, just a little. Rarely was anyone that rude in Sire’s Hollow, mostly because everyone knew everyone. This girl was obviously new and rougher around the edges.

That happened two years ago, now they were in their last year of high school, and they got to know each other well during that time. Starlight had been in his English class and since she couldn’t string a sentence together without being sarcastic and/or offensive, the teacher had paired them because he volunteered to help her. It had been a rocky start at first, but when Sunburst helped her cram for the finals, she was grateful enough to let him hang out with her from then on.

When Sunburst looked back, he realized that he had loved her even before then. It was impossible, but he imagined that he had loved her from the moment he introduced himself.

“I’m home!” Sunburst shouted, kicking off his muddy shoes, and walked into the kitchen. His mother was checking her emails, humming something cheerful when he walked in.

“How was school?” Stellar Flare asked, smiling kindly. “Did anything exciting happened today?”

Rolling his eyes, Sunburst grabbed a bowl and helped himself to some left-over spaghetti and a big glass of milk. “Nah, nothing exciting ever happens at school.”

Stellar Flare sighed, eyeing the food. “I don’t know how you manage to eat so much and yet stay so skinny,” she murmured, gently teasing. “Are the sandwiches and snacks you take to school not enough?”

“What can I say? I’m a growing boy and I need all the energy I can get,” Sunburst pointed out. “Boys need more calories than girls, is a fact.”

His mother shook her head, laughing lightly. “Oh, alright I believe you. Are you going to do your homework?”

Sunburst nodded. “I have tons of it today, so I’ll be busy. I have to be at the shelter by five so I’ll be late for dinner.” With that, he kissed his mother’s cheek. She might not agree with his choice of friends but she was still his mother.

“You’re so good, Sunburst.”

---

Starlight was dozing on his bed when Sunburst walked in. She didn’t bother opening her eyes, but her lips twitched with a barely contained smile. “Did you bring food?”

“What kind of friend do you think I am?” Sunburst answered, placing the food and the glass of milk on his nightstand before going to his desk. “Eat while I do homework, it shouldn’t take too long, and then we can do whatever.”

Snorting a little, Starlight rolled over and cracked one lazy eye open. “Today was Sunset’s turn to cook lunch I see.” She sat up and took the plate and the fork in her hands. “She must be in a hurry if all she could do was spaghetti.”

“That internship is driving her up the wall, poor thing,” Sunburst mumbled and opened his calculus book.

Starlight didn’t mind. Food was food, and she never took this generous aspect of Sunburst for granted. She never asked for it, never questioned him about it. She tried once, a long time ago, when Sunburst had found out what little she actually ate regularly. The resulting fight had been terrible, with Sunburst practically going bald with the amount of hair-pulling he was doing and her in tears. The only time she mentioned it was when she heard him coming down the hall, when she could hear the difference in his footsteps, it meant that he was being careful with whatever he was holding—like a glass full of milk.

She remained quiet like she was told, only the light scrape of metal and porcelain could be heard. Sunburst did his homework like it was nothing, hardly stopping to question himself on anything. Starlight always admired that in him. She did her homework at the foster house, using it as an excuse to stay in her room and away from the family she couldn’t escape just yet.

When Sunburst finished, she was lying on her side with her back to him, slightly curled in on herself. “Are you sleeping?” he asked quietly, his heavy textbook making a thud as it closed.

“As if,” she murmured, opening her eyes and staring out the window. She had too much on her mind to go to sleep. But the most prominent one was the thought of all the community hours she had to do.

The judge had gone easy on her, giving her only one hundred hours of community service to complete by a certain date. While most people could do that time in just a few weeks with no trouble, Starlight knew she would have a harder time, not many people in this town trusted the rebel orphan. It made her want to run away every day, until she saw Sunburst’s smile and thought, rather stupidly, I can stay just a little a longer.

But if she knew Sunburst, she knew that he would help her get something at the animal shelter at the edge of town. An older woman named Fluttershy ran it, barely getting by with the lack of funds, but somehow managing to keep it open year after year. Sunburst had volunteered there since he was old enough to do so, and a peer from their school named Flash Sentry—one of her maybe friends—volunteered there as well.

“Stop thinking about it,” the whispered words were light, just loud enough for her to hear and Starlight shifted on the bed, finding Sunburst lying on his side beside her. “I can see the wheels turning in your head, and it’s never a good sign.”

“Shut up, four eyes. I can think about whatever I want.”

“A very bad idea for sure,” he pointed out with a chuckle.

Starlight wanted to roll her eyes but found his laughter too endearing to be annoyed with him. “I don’t know how I put up with you.”

“I wonder the same thing too,” he shook his head with mock sadness.

Starlight tilted her head, face inches away from his. It’s the other way around, she thought. They were lying so close together that she could kiss him if she wanted to, if she just leaned forward an inch, her lips would brush his and things would irrevocably be changed.

Sunburst didn’t move, just smiled in a sad, muted sort of way.

Starlight looked away instead.

Author's Note:

Is this story cliché? For sure. Has it been done with this pairing before? Not that I could find. So, it balances out in the end, I guess? Either way, I'm hoping to do more with this storyline, try to make it a little more unique compared to what is out there.

Feedback is always appreciated

Comments

[RangerOfRhudaur]

Hm. Typical StarBurst pairing, though the individual spices you've mixed in give this a nice flavor. Nothing groundbreaking, but if you find a solid foundation (as you have with your StarBurst fluff), you don't need to break the ground again.

Also, this depiction of Starlight is wonderful. She's clearly smart, but she's gone through so much that that intelligence is presented completely differently than the likes of, say, Twilight's. The description of how guarded she kept her expressions was a masterpiece, and a good summary of what I take to be the main theme of this Starlight; she's a good girl, and a smart one, but she's been hurt so much that she tries to hide that except from those she trusts, a very small population. Starlight is, as you said in the story description, broken, and you provided a very clear example of that even in these first few words.

[Jedi Wolf]

Looking forward to more of this.

[FoolAmongTheStars]

10910442
Thanks for the feedback! This iteration of Starlight is definitely interesting to write about, I'm glad you enjoyed her character.

10910532
Thanks, buddy! There's definitely more to come!