Father and Daughter's Friend
“Last stop, the Crystal Empire!”
Firelight exited the train, a suitcase levitating by his side in his orange magic.
“Ah, the Crystal Empire… a place of history,” Firelight said, inhaling a content breath and exhaling. He chuckled as he looked around. “Very shiny too.”
Starlight’s father left the train station at a trot, taking in every sight he passed. When he crossed paths with the first pony that appeared to be a resident of the empire, evident by their shiny crystal coat, he stopped them to ask a question. “Excuse me, would you happen to know where I can find Sunburst?”
“Royal Crystaller Sunburst? Sure, just go two streets down and look for the house that looks like it has a big, orange wizard’s hat. You can’t miss it.” The crystal pony pointed down a street.
Following the pony’s directions, Firelight managed to find Sunburst’s house. Like the crystal pony said, the house with a wizard’s hat on it was hard to miss. As he approached it, he had to wonder if it was built to look like that on purpose.
Sunburst hummed as he read and took notes.
“So, love is a form of friendship. That means the map could summon somepony to solve a friendship problem about it, and since love is Princess Cadence’s specialty, that means she could get summoned by the map too. Interesting. I wonder what she’ll think of my theory.” A sudden knocking on his door prompted him to look up from his work. “Huh, who could that be? I already got the mail today.” Bookmarking his page, he left his study to go answer the door. When he opened the door, his glasses nearly fell from his muzzle. He lifted one hoof to put them back in place. “Mr. Firelight?”
Firelight chuckled at Sunburst’s reaction. “Sunburst, we’re both grown stallions now. You can just call me ‘Firelight’. May I come inside?”
Surprised by the question, Sunburst took a step back and out of the way. “Uh, sure! Of course! Just watch where you step. I’ve got a lot more books than I have space on shelves.”
“Thank you.” Once inside, Firelight set his suitcase against a wall and took a look around. “Nice place you’ve got here. Your mother would probably love it.”
“Maybe a little too much. I have a feeling if she were to come visit here, she’d probably never want to leave.” Sunburst closed the door with his magic, and moved towards his kitchen. “Can I get you anything? Water, tea, or maybe some juice?”
Firelight thought for a moment. “Some tea would be nice.”
Sunburst nodded. “Alright, I’ll get right on it. Please, take a seat.”
Firelight took a seat on a stool in the dining area next to the unused fireplace as Sunburst prepared his drink. As he listened to Sunburst work, he noted the stacks upon stacks of books his daughter’s childhood friend seemed to have around.
“It’ll be a few minutes before the tea is ready,” Sunburst informed him, coming in from the kitchen and taking the seat across from him. “So, what brings you to the Crystal Empire? Antiquing, or maybe you’re interested in the history of it? I’ve got plenty of books on the empire’s history around you could borrow.”
“Actually, I’m here to talk to you.”
“To me?”
“Yes.” Firelight nodded. “Your recent return to Sire’s Hollow with Starlight brought something to my attention. I haven’t seen you two in years, much less together. I take it you’re friends again?”
Sunburst held up a hoof to interject. “Actually, we never stopped being friends. We just fell out of contact.” At Firelight’s unimpressed glance, Sunburst placed the hoof back down on the table, sheepishly twiddling it in circles. “That said, yes, we’re friends again.”
“Uh huh, and how’d this happen?”
“Well, it all started when Princess Flurry Heart was born,” Sunburst began to explain. He went into detail how the Crystal Empire’s royal family was related to Starlight’s teacher, and were invited to the baby princess’s Crystalling. For Firelight’s benefit, Sunburst briefly explained the ceremony so he wouldn’t be lost in the story later. By the time he had finished explaining the ceremony and was about to get back to the story itself, the tea began to whistle, signaling it was ready. Retrieving two cups and the tea kettle with his magic, he continued the story as he poured the two of them their drinks. The father didn’t say a word to interrupt the younger stallion the whole time except to ask for clarification about something Sunburst said in the story or to ask about somepony he didn’t know. “And then we hugged, and she and the others went back home to Ponyville.” Igniting his horn, he lifted his cup to his mouth for a sip and then lowered it again. “We’ve visited a few times after that, and then we got summoned by Princess Twilight’s map to Sire’s Hollow, and you know the rest.”
Firelight nodded along at the last part, clasping his cup in his hooves. “Sounds like quite a way to rekindle your friendship.”
“Yeah, it was certainly something,” Sunburst agreed. A smile formed on his muzzle. “I’m glad that we met again after such a long time. I’ve really missed her.”
“So have I.” Firelight drank some of his tea. “After she left home, she didn’t write to me once. I tried sending letters to her, but they never got to her it seemed.”
Sunburst grimaced at the sorrowful expression that formed on the face of his friend’s father. “That might’ve been because she formed a town in the middle of nowhere.”
Firelight waved a hoof. “Oh, I know all about that now.” He sighed. “I still can’t believe she did such a thing. I thought once she got her cutie mark, she’d have been over her ‘cutie marks are evil’ phase, but she never did, apparently. At least, not until Princess Twilight stopped her anyway.”
“It’s all my fault.” Sunburst pushed his now empty cup away. “If I had just kept in contact with her, maybe she wouldn’t have done that. She wouldn’t have thought cutie marks took me away from her.” He groaned, burying his head under his hooves. “I was doing so badly in magic school, I was embarrassed. I didn’t want my mom or Starlight to think I was a failure, so I never wrote to them to tell them how things were going.”
Firelight reached one of his purple hooves over to pat Sunburst on the back. “Hey now, don’t be so hard on yourself. You didn’t know your talent wasn’t in utilizing powerful magic. Who could blame you for being embarrassed about that?” He gave Sunburst a reassuring smile as the Royal Crystaller looked up at him. “Besides, it worked out in the end, didn’t it? You became friends again, you’re an important pony, and she’s not ruling a town by stealing everypony’s cutie marks. And you two finally came home to reconnect with us. That’s what’s important.”
The smile helped Sunburst somewhat, and he removed his hooves from his head. “You’re right. We’re back together, and everypony’s happy.” He smiled in return. “Thanks, Firelight.”
“You’re welcome.” Lighting up his horn, Firelight moved the cups and tea kettle off the table. “Now, there’s one other reason why I came here.”
Sunburst blinked. “Oh yeah? What’s that?”
Firelight’s smile morphed into a stern frown as he leaned across the table, stomping one hoof on it. “Don’t ever fall out of contact with my daughter that way again! If you hurt her like that a second time, I will catch the soonest train up here, and personally make sure you understand how our town got the name ‘Sire’s Hollow’! Do I make myself clear?”
His ears pinned against his head, Sunburst gulped at the intimidating stallion. “Crystal.”
“Perfect! I’m glad that we understand each other.” Firelight pulled back, and straightened his tie. He got up from his seat. “I’m going to find the hotel around here, and get a room for the night. The train ride from Sire’s Hollow to here was very long, and I don’t intend on taking the same trip twice in one day.”
“You don’t need to do that.” Sunburst got up from his seat as well, still a bit frightened. “You’re Starlight’s dad. What kind of friend would I be to her if I had her dad stay at the nearest hotel instead of at my place?” Before Firelight could object, Sunburst continued. “No, it’s fine. I’ve got a guest room that hardly ever gets used. It’d be good to use it for once. Just stay here for a few minutes. I’ve been using it to store extra books, and shouldn’t take long to clear out.” He gestured to a stack of books. “That’s the stack about the empire’s history if you want.”
Sunburst went into another room, leaving Firelight alone. The older stallion looked at the stack, and then tentatively lifted the book off the top with his magic. He opened to the first page, and began reading.
In the other room, Sunburst began relocating his extra books. As he organized, he mumbled to himself, “Geez, I’d hate to see what he would do if somepony wanted to marry Starlight.” He paused briefly, and his cheeks turned slightly red as the implications formed in his mind.
He hoped Firelight didn’t hear that.
Knocking on the door heralded somepony’s arrival.
“Coming!”
The door opened, and Ditzy Doo, also known as Derpy Hooves or Muffins, hovered outside with mail in an outstretched hoof.
“Got some letters for Starlight,” Ditzy said.
“Thanks, Ditzy.” Spike the dragon accepted the mail, and closed the castle’s front door as Ditzy flew off to her next delivery.
Spike walked down the corridors to the library, and stepped inside where Starlight was studying some new spells from a book.
“Hey Starlight, you got mail.” Spike held out the letters.
Starlight took the mail in her magic, and ripped the first one open. She unfolded the paper inside, quickly scanning it with her eyes. Once she reached the bottom, she moaned in annoyance.
“What is it?”
Starlight held the letter up for Spike to take. “Even though my dad is treating me more like a grown mare, he still went and scared Sunburst.”
“Ouch.”
“Yeah,” Starlight deadpanned as she moved onto the second letter. “I’m writing him after I’m done here.” She opened it, and read the paper. “Ugh…”
“What now?” Spike looked up from the first letter.
“Sunburst’s mom is asking what my plans are for the future, and if Sunburst is involved.” She squinted skeptically at a section of the page. “I think she wants me to marry him.”