Chapter One
Sunburst was in Canterlot Castle for the week at the explicit request of Starlight Glimmer. Officially, Princess Twilight Sparkle had asked him to come, but it was really Starlight who wanted him there. She was giving a presentation to Princess Celestia about her experiences in Ponyville and her friendship lessons - a wonderful idea by Princess Twilight, that Starlight was in no way excited about.
Her lack of enthusiasm about her audience with the Princess of Equestria was apparent in her constant pacing and distressed ramblings. That only seemed to cease when Sunburst managed to calm her down by asking her a stream of questions about her presentation, convincing her that she did, in fact, know what she was talking about and wouldn’t stumble over her words in front of the Princess. On this occasion, however, he was having a particularly hard time getting her to stop moving and sit down, and to remember to breathe.
“But, Sunburst!” Starlight cried over the clomping of her hooves on the shiny palace floors, her horn aglow with magic as her running brain unconsciously picked up and messed around with things around the room. “I’ll obviously have to tell her about, I don’t know, enslaving an entire town of ponies! She’ll hate me! Even worse, she might throw me in prison for manipulation and using magic to basically mind-control ponies!”
“Well, Starlight,” Sunburst cut in, his own magic moving after Starlight’s to return the moved objects to their place. “Princess Twilight would have told her about the little,” he coughed, a hoof over his mouth, “village debacle. And if you’re not being... Um, punished for that, then surely Princess Celestia knows how much you’ve changed by now, right? So, you’ll be fine.”
Starlight didn’t look convinced, her brows knitted together in worry, pace speeding up at the uncertain tone in his voice. Though, that had less to do with his words being true, and more about trying to come up with things he hadn’t said already to stop her waterfall of thoughts.
“What if she didn’t? What if Twilight-” Starlight was cut off by Princess Twilight’s happy, sing-song voice, coming from another room, calling out to her. Starlight squeaked, glancing around before sucking in a deep breath and trotting out through the open door, leaving Sunburst alone in a momentary silence.
He sighed before standing up, sending his own gaze around the room to make sure he’d put everything back how it was supposed to be, before going after her, following the sound of the distant chatter between Princess Twilight and her pupil. His mind was crammed full with possible ways he could try to help Starlight with her new task, or, at the least, calm her down before she tore one of the Princesses’ rooms apart.
He was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn’t hear the approaching sound of hoove steps and cheerful chatter until it was too late. A flash of light blue fur was the last thing he saw before he crashed into the stallion’s chest, causing him to stumble backwards, landing on his rear with a sound of dazed alarm.
The stallion in question wasn’t moved by the force of the impact, but a startled expression bore his face as he darted forward, extending a hoof to Sunburst.
“Oh my Celestia!” The stallion burst out as Sunburst took his hoof, pulling him quickly to his hooves. “I’m so sorry! I wasn’t looking where I was going! I should’ve been paying more attention!”
“No, n-n-no.” Starburst stammered, looking at the stallion, who had a dark blue mane and tail, fluffy wings, and striking green eyes that he really should stop staring at. He looked away, a rose blush tinting his cheeks as he pushed his glasses up. "I was too caught up in my thoughts to watch where I was going. It's... not your fault."
The stallion tilted his head at Starburst, his ears flopping to the side in a very cute way and that was something he really should not be thinking. But it was kind of hard not to think, I mean... No, no. Starlight. Right, he was meant to be helping Starlight.
"Um, well, I really should get going." He said, brushing past the stallion and continuing down the hall.
"Wait!" The stallion called, and Starburst looked back over his shoulder. "Soarin. My name! It's Soarin."
He brushed a hair over his dark mane, rubbing the back of his neck with a nervously adorable expression.
"Oh! Mine's Sunburst," he called back.
"Sunburst. Cool. I'll see you around!" And with that, the stallion turned and trotted away, leaving Sunburst to stand in dazed silence, blush deepening, the edges of his ears turning red.
Soarin. So the cute pony had a name. A very cute name, mind you. It fit. At least, Starburst thought it did. He looked like somepony that could fly on and on for hours and never get tired of the wind brushing lazily through his mane.
Sunburst was broken out of his thoughts by the sound of a teleportation spell, and a distressed purple mare appearing in front of him with a flash of light.
"Sunburst!" Starlight wailed. "Twilight said Princess Celestia has a sudden meeting with a delegate from the Griffons tomorrow, and they're moving the presentation!"
"Isn't that a good thing?" Starburst questioned, shaking the blush off his cheeks and the thoughts out of his head.
"No!" She cried, magic glimmering, though, Sunburst couldn't locate where the focus of it was. "They're moving it to today!"
"You know everything you need to, though?" He questioned, head turning to follow the mare as she started her pacing up again. "You've had this presentation ready for weeks."
Starlight just wailed, and Sunburst wilted, ears drooping as he watched his friend. He could practically hear her spiralling thoughts, and he had no idea what to do to help. He'd never been all that good at comforting anypony. And her wailing didn't help his own spiralling thoughts, all of which happened to be about a light blue stallion.