Much earlier, at least a few days earlier if not more (I'm not sure how long the train trip from Ponyville to the Crystal Empire is)...
Sunburst sat at the side of a ballroom, sadly watching the masked dancing ponies. Then a gorgeous masked unicorn mare in a ballroom gown approached him.
"Would you like to dance?" She asked.
Sunburst hesitated, surprised that a mare wanted to dance with him. But something seemed familiar about her...
"Um...sure." He gave in.
He got up and they walked onto the dance floor. They started dancing in silence for a while, then Sunburst worked up the courage to speak.
"Sorry if I seem rude but...do I know you? I mean you seem familiar..." He said shyly.
"As a matter of fact you do know me." The mare smiled. "You've known me for years."
Sunburst started to get it...she was a unicorn, purple colored, and the color of her mane was familiar...and he's known her for years...
"Starlight?" He said.
The mare took her mask off. Yes, it was Starlight.
"Where are we? I don't recall a masquerade having been announced before." Sunburst looked around.
"Oh this is a special party, one thrown to reveal something that you should've realized a long time ago." Starlight smiled.
Sunburst stared at her. There was something strange about that smile... Oh it wasn't unfriendly or anything...more like it was a little too friendly, with a bit of mischievousness to it...
He suddenly started to feel warm, and his heart started pounding.
"W-what should I have realized...?" He asked.
Instead of answering, Starlight stopped the dance and inched her muzzle closer to his. Sunburst's heart started pounding harder, and found himself unable to move. Starlight's lips then touched his, and his heart stopped. The ballroom faded into clouds.
Sunburst was still frozen stiff, wide-eyed, when Starlight ended the kiss. Starlight was no longer wearing the gown, but she still had the smile. She then placed her mouth close to his ear.
"That we belong together..." Starlight whispered.
Sunburst shuddered and collapsed backwards. Starlight stood over him and rested her chest on his-
Suddenly, he woke up with a cry and his heart was pounding again. He held his face in his hooves as he waited for his heart to calm down, and then looked around. Even with his glasses off he could see that he was back home in his bed.
Well, in his new home, since he was the new Crystaller and would become Flurry Heart's Magical Advisor in the future Shining Armor and Cadance had offered for him to move into the castle. He was embarrassed by the idea, but accepted the offer since he knew that it made more sense for him to live closer to Flurry Heart. Plus being a Crystaller practically made him a member of the court, and members of the court most often stayed in the castle.
But that was not what he was thinking about right now, because he had realized what his dream had been telling him. It was obvious really, when you think about it.
"Oh no...I've fallen in love with Starlight?" He groaned. "How could I, she deserves a powerful unicorn not some book nerd. I know she thinks of me as the Crystal Empire's powerful wizard and even Princess Celestia said I was more of a wizard than I thought, but I'm not a powerful unicorn."
He sighed, now wishing that he wasn't a member of the court. If it was just him and his books like in the past he could just stay home with his worries and insecurity. But now that he was a Crystaller he had important duties to tend to, and it wouldn't be responsible of him to pretend to be sick and take the day off (as much as he wanted to).
"Well, maybe I can think more about my problem tonight." He shrugged before putting on his glasses and getting out of bed.
He then brushed his mane, tail, and beard, having taken up proper grooming to fit in with his new status. He skipped grooming on his days off though, since old habits die hard.
The day went by pretty much the same as usual. Then lunchtime came around and instead of dining by himself like he does most of the time...
"Sunburst, would you like to join us for lunch?" Cadance asked.
Sunburst hesitated. He knew that she must've sensed his 'love trouble' and wanted to talk to him about it. After all the past times he was invited to dine with Shining Armor, Cadance, and Flurry Heart Shining Armor was the one who always invited him.
"Well...okay." He gave in, knowing that Cadance wasn't going to leave him alone about this.
They entered the royal dining room and sat down opposite each other. Shining Armor was at the head of the table, with Flurry Heart in a high-chair between him and Cadance.
"I have to be honest Sunburst, I've sensed that something is bothering your heart." Cadance admitted. "That's why I invited you to lunch."
"If you don't want to talk about it in front of me and Flurry Heart that's okay, you can wait to talk to Cadance later." Shining Armor said before winking. "If I were you I'd talk to her either way. She never lets this sort of thing go."
"Oh you." Cadance playfully nudged her husband.
"No no, it's fine." Sunburst sighed. "Okay, the truth is I've fallen in love with Starlight. But I can't tell her since I'm not good enough for her."
"Oh Sunburst you are much better than you think you are." Cadance shook her head. "You have to let her know. However I do understand that you sometimes aren't good at talking when you're scared, so maybe you could tell her through a special gift?"
"Yeah, something the two of you both like and reflects how you feel about her." Shining Armor smiled.
"But what if she rejects me?" Sunburst said worriedly.
"Hey I know how you feel, I was very nervous when I first fell in love with Cadance." Shining Armor said comfortingly.
"In fact you should be glad you didn't see Shining Armor back when he first tried to ask me out." Cadance teased good-naturedly.
"Very funny dear." Shining Armor smirked back. "But seriously, if I hadn't let Cadance know how I feel then we wouldn't be here today. And if you don't let Starlight know how you feel then you two may never end up together. At least if you do let her know there's a chance that she'll return your feelings."
Sunburst sighed.
"Okay, I'll do it." He gave in.
"Atta boy." Shining Armor grinned proudly.
"You may have the rest of the day off to find the right gift." Cadance smiled.
"Thank you." Sunburst smiled back out of gratitude.
However, when he left after lunch his smile faded. He was still really scared, but he knew that Shining Armor was right. So he thought about a gift for Starlight...
"I know, a book. We both enjoy books, though unlike me she prefers fiction to nonfiction." He thought. "I can just give her a romance novel, and she can interpret it whichever way she wants. If she figures out that I gave it to her because I love her, then there's the possibility that she had thought about us being together if nothing else. If she just assumes that I gave it to her because I thought she'd like the story, then she most-likely never thought about us being together and probably never will. Either way, it saves me the anxiety of directly telling her my feelings."
With that he headed for the Crystal Empire's bookstore and started looking at the summaries for the romance novels. Unfortunately none of them seemed right, either they were so common that Starlight - or at least Twilight - most-likely already had them or they just didn't fit the situation. He started to despair as he reached the last novel.
"Great, I don't have any other gift ideas yet none of them seem right. I'll have to check another bookstore, but this is the only one in the Crystal Empire so I'll have to go to-" His eyes widened. "Canterlot. Oh ponyfeathers."
He gulped and hesitated, then took a deep breath and left the bookstore. He headed back to the castle.
"I'll do it. For Starlight." He thought determinedly, though nervously.
He walked through the castle until he found Shining Armor and Cadance. Flurry Heart he assumed was with the servants.
"Hello, I was wondering if it was okay for me to take a trip into Canterlot." Sunburst asked them. "I decided to give Starlight a book, but none of the ones in the Crystal Empire seemed right."
"Well of course you can, nothing that important coming up that I can think of." Shining Armor smiled.
"Same, at least nothing more important than you getting together with your true love." Cadance smiled as well before putting a hoof to her mouth. "Oops."
"True-" Sunburst was stunned. "Cadance, I know you're the Princess of Love but can you actually see whether two ponies are meant to be together or not?"
"I'm neither confirming nor denying that." Cadance looked away.
"You'd better go catch the next train before it leaves anyway." Shining Armor pointed out.
"Oh, right. I'll be back as soon as I can." Sunburst promised before leaving.
"Thanks for the save." Cadance said with relief.
"No problem. But you'd better be more careful next time, you know very few ponies are allowed to learn of your 'true love radar'." Shining Armor reminded her.
"I know, I know..." Cadance sighed.
Sometimes it was annoying not being allowed to tell ponies who they were meant to be with. Especially if said pony was making a terrible mistake in a very special somepony.