4. Nothing but the Truth
Sunburst kept his eyes on the pages of his book, even if the letters printed on the paper started to blur and bend as he fought to keep his eyelids open. He yawned, taking off his glasses to rub his tired eyes. He hadn’t slept a wink last night, dreading Starlight’s outing with his dad, his mind going through horrible scenarios, each one more ridiculous than the last, and with each passing minute that Starlight didn’t come back, Sunburst fears just worsened.
What if she didn’t come back? What if she hated him? What would he do then?
The sound of the front door opening and closing had Sunburst sit bolt upright in his seat, only then did he realize that he had been slouching over the library table and drooling over his book. He heard hoofsteps on the hallway and he scrambled out of his chair, ripped the door open, and shouted. “Starlight!?”
She yelped when he practically shoved his muzzle to her face. His glasses slipped down his nose a bit, but he didn’t need them now that he was so close, close enough to see the shades of blue in her eyes and the dampness of her eyelashes. Their noses brushed and they both jumped back at the contact with heated faces.
Despite his embarrassment, it was nothing compared to the overwhelming sense of relief he felt at seeing her. She was here, in front of the castle’s library, to see him…probably, maybe, at least she wasn’t sneaking into her room to pack her things and running off towards the Undiscovered West territories to start a new life as he feared.
…Yeah, even in his sleep-deprived state, that made no sense.
“Hey,” she said, rubbing her nose. “You don’t have to shout, I’m right here.”
“Sorry,” he said lamely, opening the door wider and stepping back in silent invitation.
She trotted inside and sat on the couch, looking down at the floor with her ears folded against her head, silent. She didn’t know what to say, much less Sunburst, but he had to try.
“So…how was it?”
“It was…” she shrugged and trailed off.
Sunburst sighed after a few moments of silence. “How much did he tell you?”
“He told me that you burned down a classroom, so the school was forced to kick you out, and that…now that you made something of yourself, you would have to leave.” Starlight took a deep, collective breath before continuing. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Sunburst swallowed the lump in his throat, just as her eyes glittered with unshed tears and her bottom lip trembled. “Because…Because I didn’t want you to leave me.”
“Why? So you could leave me first? Again?” She said, wiping the tears from her eyes hastily. Angry, defensive, tired of always being the last to know. “Or so you could add Viceheadmare to your resume? That would certainly make your dad proud…”
“Because this is the happiest I’ve been in years!” He blurted out. “I’m the happiest when I’m with you, here, in the school or wherever, what kind of idiot would I be if I threw that away? I never wanted to follow anypony’s plans but my own. I want to choose the way I live my life, and right now, I want to stay here with you!...A-And help you run the school, of course.” He said the last part quickly and coughed awkwardly as he looked away.
Starlight sniffled but otherwise didn’t know what to say. It wasn’t the love confession her younger self would have dreamed of, but it was pretty close. He wanted to stay with her out of his volition, and considering her past, it was the most heartwarming thing any pony has ever said to her.
“Did he tell you anything else?” He said when the silence threatened to be permanent.
Starlight nodded. “There was something else…but I didn’t stay long enough to hear what it was.”
“G-Good, I wanted to be the one to tell you.” Sunburst nodded and ran a hoof through his hair. It was time he put everything on the table.
“When I…When I was sent to Canterlot, a lot of ponies wanted to meet me. They knew who I was, the only son of Duke Sunspot, but since my mom won the custody battle, they never met me until then. But they were more than eager to introduce me to their children, hoping that I would become friends with them so they could have an in with my dad. But as I got older, they didn’t want me to just be friends with them, they…” Sunburst took a deep breath through gritted teeth. “They started offering arranged marriages to my dad. Ponies that I barely met, trying to invade my life, just for my father’s title. But when my grades started to drop, the offers went away, no pony wanted to be associated with what they considered to be a failure. And I was fine with that.”
He went silent, his hooves pulling at the roots of his hair, gathering the courage to say the last piece of damning truth. “At first, I could convince my dad to pass up on those offers, that I could always get another one, or a better one. But there was one family that didn’t give up, they owned some merchant ships or something…and then, when they made an offer, my father realized that this was his last chance to make something out of me, so he agreed.”
“Wait a minute…” He cringed as he heard Starlight gasp. Guiltily, he looked up to meet her wide-eyed gaze. “You’re engaged!?”
He nodded, not bothering to move when she grabbed a throw pillow and smacked him in the face with it. Hard. She used her magic to enchant the pillow into attacking him while she pounded her hooves into his chest.
“You sleazebag! You jerk! You idiot! You cheating son-of-a…! I can't believe that I almost—that I…! Bastard!”
He let her scream and hit him a few more times before catching her hooves. “Look, it’s not something I wanted to happen, so I did everything I could to stop it!”
The pillow slowed to a stop and fell to the floor. Starlight struggled in his grip for a moment before she went limp, sighing in defeat. “Is that why you burned down the classroom? To make them think that you were crazy so they would break off the engagement?”
Sunburst made a choking noise before shuddering. “It was Princess Celestia’s idea…”
“What?” Starlight blinked, thinking she misheard, or that he was pulling her tail somehow, but his expression was serious and it didn’t change no matter how hard she scrutinized him. “That makes no sense, why would she…?”
Sunburst let her go and looked down at his hooves. “She knew that I wanted to leave, and she would have gladly let me go with a recommendation to any other school I wanted, but my dad didn’t agree and, with the EEA in his pocket, he stopped her at every turn. My grades were bad, but that’s not enough to expel a student, especially if the school board is against it.” His shoulders slumped as he tilted his head to the ceiling with a grimace. He never had told another soul about this, mostly because he had been sworn into secrecy by the Princess. It was liberating and terrifying all at once. “Then she found out about the engagement, and when I told her how against it I was, she told me what to do to get expelled and be free. But it wasn’t enough, my dad barely cared.”
Starlight frowned a little bit, her mind going back to the Crystalling. Princess Celestia had been there, and despite all the chaos going on around them, when she brought Sunburst to help, the Princess had been the only one who wasn’t surprised by the revelation of Sunburst’s lack of credentials, and more importantly, she hadn’t opposed him in the slightest. Starlight hadn’t thought too much of it at the time, or at all after that, but Sunburst’s story filled in the gaps she hadn’t realized were there. Princess Celestia knew that he was talented from the start, but most likely realized that he could not grow into his own in the environment he was in, so she helped him escape it.
If she did it out of fondness for him or for more practical reasons, or maybe even to stick it to Sunspot, she couldn't say. But she promised herself that she would thank the Princess someday.
“So you went back home and then ran towards the furthest corner of Equestria you could go.” Starlight finished, already knowing this part of the story. “And you lived just barely scraping by…so you could hold yourself back, so you could be free to live your life.” Sunburst nodded dejectedly. “But…But you agreed to be my friend, and to help me, why would you do that?”
Sunburst let out a soft laugh. “How could I not? I never stopped considering us friends, even if we did fall out of touch.”
Starlight shook her head, “But you didn’t have to do any of that! You could have been free! Why did you let me ruin that!”
“Well, I couldn’t just let the Crystal Empire freeze over could I?” A small smile graced his face as he reached out and took her hoof in his. “Besides, being your friend and living with you, even just for a little while, is better than being alone forever.”
Starlight stared at him for a moment, before throwing her hooves around him in a hug and crashing into his chest. Hiding her face in his shoulder, she wrapped her hooves around his neck. “What do you mean for a little while? You’re not going anywhere.”
Sunburst’s hooves wrapped around her shaking frame almost immediately, his thoughts and heart racing. “But I lied to you. I betrayed your trust. Friends have to trust each other or…”
“But friends also forgive. We are only ponies, Sunburst, we will make mistakes and hurt each other, even if we don’t mean to.” He could feel Starlight shaking her head and squeezing him tighter, as if she were scared that he would disappear if she let go. “And I don’t care. I don’t care about your dad or that stupid engagement. You’re my Sunburst now, and you’re staying right here!”
There was a moment of silence as Sunburst fought to process what she said. Starlight wasn’t screaming, she wasn’t pushing him away. No, she had her face pressed to his shoulder, clinging to him so tightly that it almost hurt. She wanted him. Even after he had kept everything from her.
He felt the weight of everything that had been dragging him down for years suddenly disappear. And in the newfound lightness that flooded his senses, he realized there was only one thing he could do. He laughed. And then laughed harder, wrapping his forelegs tighter around her petite frame, he probably would have spun with her in circles had he been standing.
Frowning, Starlight pulled away slightly. “What’s so funny?”
“I’m ‘your Sunburst’ now?” He teased, causing her to blush.
“I-I meant friend!” She struggled to pull away from her laughing friend, but he only held on tighter, laughing until he broke down into sobs. Starlight stopped struggling, and melted back into his embrace, rubbing soothing circles on his back. “Yes, you’re my friend, and you better not forget it.”
“I won’t!” He said, shoulders shaking in relief and wiping his eyes. Starlight didn’t want him to go. She didn’t hate him. He didn’t have to go back. He could stay here, with her. But…
“Starlight?”
“Yeah?”
“Do…Do you still trust me?” He mumbled, terrified by the answer, thinking that maybe he had finally pushed her too far.
“Of course,” she said without hesitation, making him blink in surprise. “But—” she drew herself up to his level to look at him straight in the eye. “—if you’re hiding anything else from me, I’m going to kill, slowly.”
She expected him to wince, or at least shudder at her threat, but he only chuckled instead. “Actually…there is one more thing.”
“What is it?”
Sunburst leaned forward and kissed her on the cheek. “You’re one of my best friends. Hooves down. And I’m really lucky you found me.”
Starlight blushed furiously and looked away, torn between jumping in joy or burying her head into the blue cushions of the love seat until she suffocated. “You’re giving me too much credit, but…thanks.”
Sunburst nodded, letting out a contented sigh, and slumped against the backrest of the couch. He let her go but kept a hold of her hoof as he spoke. “And I’m really sorry, about not telling you sooner. I…I honestly don’t know what I was thinking, I guess part of me wanted to believe that this would all go away if I didn’t bring it up. I was wrong, obviously. I’m so sorry.”
Starlight nodded, letting out a contented sigh as she snuggled up against him. Taking the hint, Sunburst embraced her again. “Enough with the self-flagellation, I forgive you. I’m not mad, I swear, just…don’t ever do anything this stupid again. Please.”
Sunburst hummed in agreement, nuzzling the top of her head and taking in the scent of lilies in her hair. “It’s not over though, he’s going to come for me no matter what, and I don't know what stunt he will pull to do so.”
Starlight clutched him tighter. “And I’ll be right here. I told you, you’re not going anywhere. You’re my friend.”
“And you’re mine too,” Sunburst breathed out, closing his eyes, drained. “Always.”
“Always,” Starlight mumbled back, closing her eyes as the adrenaline receded and left her exhausted. Letting out a small yawn, she pushed her head into the crook of Sunburst’s neck and in moments the pair was fast asleep.
Unfortunately, the peace wasn’t meant to last. A booming knock roused the pair from their sleep two hours later, and Sunburst tensed against Starlight, drawing her tighter against his chest. She rubbed his back soothingly, and he relaxed under her touch.
“Don’t worry, I’m not letting him get away with this.”
Sunburst nodded and allowed Starlight to slip from his grasp to stand. He followed her lead slowly and rose to his full height, eyes fixed on the door. She glanced at him and offered an encouraging smile. “Ready?”
Sunburst nodded. “As long as you want me to stay.”
Starlight’s smile grew more confident. “I already told you.” She turned and faced the door with him.
“Always.”
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There is one way to break off that engagement...
I totally called it.
FORCING YOUR CHILD INTO AN ARRANGED MARRIAGE AND THEN NOT LETTING THEM LEAVE THE SCHOOL THEY ARE FAILING IN AND NOT LISTENING IS NOT THE WAY TO GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'M GONNA NEED EVERYTHING I NEEDED LAST CHAPTER WITH THE ADDITION OF A CHAINSAW, 500 RABID SKUNKS, AND ALL OF THE NIGHTMARE ANIMATRONICS FROM FNAF 4.
Well...not by choice, so...that oughta count for a whole lot. Honestly, it shouldn't even count if the other party not only didn't agree with it but doesn't actually want it either.
Ha, it would.
Why not all three?
Eh, I'm not worried. Sunspot might have connections, a block of ice for a heart, and no sense of ethics...
...but, Sunburst, you've got a Starlight Glimmer. That alone just about trumps everything else in the right circumstances. I mean, if it came right down to it, have Starlight challenge him to a magic duel for it, Trixie-style. She'll beat Sunspot easily, I'm sure.
Well yeah. Honestly, I never seriously thought Sunspot even had a chance from the start, but that's why I wanted to read this fic so much--so to relish how badly it'll ultimately go for him in the end.
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Here! *tosses you another skunk* Make it 501 rabid skunks!
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Would you like a hot dog to go with that relish?
Did Sunspot actually get the agreement written down? If so, at least some good will come of this debacle of a scheme; creatures will always need toilet paper. How someone supposedly politically-minded thought that a coerced contract (which is one way to describe the engagement) would be upheld as valid is beyond me.
Ooh, this is gonna be amazing! I can’t wait Sunshit to get his comeuppance. Yay for revenge!
I don't get it. What exactly can his father actually do? Sunburst is an adult, he doesn't have to obey him. He can't kidnap him, that wouldnt accomplish anything. Brainwash him? Starlight can break the spell. The only way i can see is if he had some major blackmail material on his son. Other than that, Sunburst should just be able to tell his dad to buck off and file a restraining order on him, end of story. Am I missing something? How exactly is this old geezer a threat?
Alright, I don't think whatever happens in the next chapter will change what I'm about to say, so here goes (also spoiler alert, whoever bald enough to read comments first).
Let me start off by saying that I really, REALLY like the concept of this fic, how it fits into the little bits of canon we know, how Sunspot was handled and even the inclusion of Celestia's influence on the matter.
However, the dynamic between Starlight and Sunburst is messy and all over the place.
Reading the previous chapter, I was left with the feeling: "okay, so Sunspot's revelation wasn't too too bad, Sunburst kind of overreacted and Starlight obviously takes his side", which was a little tame for all the build-up it had but still sensible. But now in this chapter she comes back home... crying? What happened there?
Not only that, she seems to go back and forth between forgiving or upset multiple times in this chapter. And the big big revelation: Sunburst's engagement, brought imo her worst reaction of all for one simple reason:
It's an appropiate reaction for a pair in a commited relationship, NOT for just close friends.
Starlight literally called him a cheater, despite the fact that earlier that morning she didn't even know she had feelings for him for Celestia's sake. From the perspective of two people who are just friends, Starlight is acting hella melodramatic and possesive and Sunburst uncharacteristically self-deprecating.
Read this fic again imagining that they are already in a relationship, maybe few months old. Doesn't the revelation of Sunburst's engagement suddenly hold a lot more impact then? Don't their behaviours and reactions suddenly feel much more justified and relatable? That's because this story is treating them, for all intents and purposes, like they have a romantic relationship, but the moment it is brought up directly? They're suddenly platonic.
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Alright! A comment I can answer without getting into spoilers!At first, Starlight's upset that Sunburst never shared the details surrounding his expulsion from magic school, when she had laid her cards on the table from day one, especially considering the severity of her crimes. She had to learn it from his father, a second party, when Sunburst had ample opportunity to tell her before Sunspot was even a thought on their minds. Granted, Sunburst's "crimes" weren't that severe, but the fact that he kept it from her when she thought they were already past keeping secrets from the other, is what upsets her.
As for her reaction to the engagement, if they were only close friends, well yeah, it would be overreacting (but even if they were only friends I could still see her being upset, engagements are a big deal after all, and not telling it to your close friend? that's a little shitty if you ask me), but Starlight has feelings for him, even if she just realized them.
She's upset at him for not telling her sooner, and at herself, for falling for a guy that's engaged (yes, she didn't know, but emotions are illogical like that), besides I always seen Starlight as being a little...territorial when it comes to Sunburst, which has probably kicked up a notch now that she realizes her true feelings.
And if they had been in a romantic relationship at the start of this story...I think readers would be calling for Sunburst's head as well
it's one thing to hide your engagement from a friend but from your girlfriend? Yikes...
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That's what I figured, however her behaviour seemed much more in line just previous chapter. She was surprised mostly and a little disappointed, but didn't seem to judge Sunburst too hard for it, nor did she think for a second that he intended to leave her or the school, whereas this chapter there's been a significant shift in her mood since the very first paragraph. It still feels way over the top.
If they were 100% platonic and you showed me Sunburst telling her about the engagement, I'd imagine Starlight being far more concerned for his compromised situation than mad about keeping the secret. This is that, except Starlight has kinda started fancying him for about an hour tops. True that such an emotional rollercoaster could cause her to react wrongly, but remember three things:
It's like she realises she likes him and she's already making plans for the wedding before even a confession.
In Sunburst's ideal world, the engagement is forgotten forever and Starlight never has to find out, as he said she doesn't need to know. I could believe that he didn't have the courage and willingness to confess it at first, more so considering he didn't think it would come back to bite him, and as time passes bringing up the subject only gets harder.
Idk, this chapter just seems surreal to me considering the context.
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Double Jeopardy!
Uh… because he burned down a classroom. Of course he wasn’t gonna tell you that, even if there was no murderous intent, I doubt that’s something you can easily tell someone.
Clearly she has some trust issues. Not that I blame her.
Your attempts to hide your feelings are feeble at this point. Just confess already.
Now Starlight, let’s not overreact here…
How is Sunburst a cheater exactly? They were never exactly together besides Sunburst never wanted it.
Love this revelation.
This sappiness would make even Discord cry, I swear.
Yes, you totally meant friend. Can you just admit your feelings already?
You wouldn’t, you love him too much.
Obviously.