Sunburst

Sunburst is a male unicorn pony, Starlight Glimmer's childhood friend, and royal crystaller to Flurry Heart. He first appears as a colt in the past in The Cutie Re-Mark - Part 2, and he appears as a full-grown stallion in present day in the season six premiere.

Development and design
Sunburst bears different resemblances to S04E12 Unnamed Unicorn Stallion #2 and Gaffer.

Sunburst's name was previously used for a G1 Earth pony boy.

Season five
In The Cutie Re-Mark - Part 2, Starlight Glimmer takes Twilight Sparkle and Spike back in time to her youth, where they witness a young Sunburst and Starlight playing a book-stacking game. When Starlight's move nearly causes the books to topple onto her, Sunburst saves her using telekinesis, earning him his cutie mark. Afterward, Starlight loses touch with Sunburst because he earned his cutie mark before her, and she starts believing that cutie marks ruin friendships.

Season six
In The Crystalling - Part 1, Starlight says that Sunburst "knew everything there was to know about magic" when they were foals, contradicted in the flashbacks by Starlight being better at spells than him, and would occasionally help her along in her magic development. When Starlight later approaches him in the Crystal Empire to reconnect with him, he mainly acts awkward around her and purports to be an important wizard.

However, it is later revealed in The Crystalling - Part 2 that, although Sunburst is very knowledgeable about magic, he is untalented at casting it. He uses this knowledge of magic to help Starlight and her friends restore the Crystal Heart and complete the newborn baby Flurry Heart's Crystalling ceremony. Following this, Sunburst is appointed as Flurry Heart's "crystaller" and magic advisor, and he and Starlight promise to stay in touch.

Sunburst also appears in The Times They Are A Changeling, staying close to Flurry Heart during a suspected changeling incursion. In To Where and Back Again - Part 1, when Princess Cadance, Shining Armor, and Flurry Heart are captured by the changelings, Sunburst dispatches Thorax to help save Equestria.

Season seven
Sunburst appears at Starlight's graduation ceremony in Celestial Advice and during a magic simulation when Twilight considers possible places to send Starlight. He is also verbally alluded to by Trixie in All Bottled Up.

In Uncommon Bond, Sunburst visits Starlight in Ponyville and learns that he shares Twilight's love of antiquing, Trixie's love of stage magic, and Maud Pie's passion for geology, much to Starlight's disappointment. When he realizes how left out she feels, Sunburst organizes a life-sized version of their favorite board game.

In the finale Shadow Play, Sunburst comes into possession of Star Swirl the Bearded's lost journal, and he plays a role in both releasing the Pillars of Old Equestria from limbo and saving Equestria from the Pony of Shadows.

IDW comics
In, Sunburst uses the secret records inside Star Swirl the Bearded's private study in his research into the history of Equestria. In the subsequent issues, he reads about the legends of Rockhoof, Mistmane, Flash Magnus, Somnambula, and Mage Meadowbrook.

Chapter books
Sunburst is mentioned in chapter 12 of Princess Cadance and the Spring Hearts Garden, "Crystal-Blue Persuasion". He is stated to be visiting Starlight Glimmer in Ponyville. Sunburst is also mentioned in chapters 5, 6, 8, and 11 of Starlight Glimmer and the Secret Suite.

My Little Pony (mobile game)
Sunburst is a character in Gameloft's mobile game.

The Elements of Harmony Vol. II guidebook
''SUNBURST is a Unicorn, and was Starlight Glimmer's best friend when they were young ponies. He's great at magic, and when the new baby Alicorn Flurry Heart and the Crystal Heart needed someone to step up, Sunburst was the pony to do it. Now he's the royal crystaller to Flurry Heart.''

Quotes
"S-Starlight! My goodness, it-it's been a long time!"

- The Crystalling - Part 1

"So... the Princess of Friendship wants you and I to be friends again?"

- To Starlight Glimmer, The Crystalling - Part 1

"No rest for the wizardly."

- The Crystalling - Part 2

"I'm not an important wizard! I'm not even a wizard at all!"

- The Crystalling - Part 2

"Reading about magic is one thing, but you don't know what it was like at magic school! To know so much and not be able to do any of it!"

- The Crystalling - Part 2

"This changeling replaced your friend to get close to the baby! What other explanation could there be?!"

- To Spike, The Times They Are A Changeling

"Historical knickknacks, ancient relics... Oh! You are so lucky! Ponyville is antique central!"

- To Starlight Glimmer, Uncommon Bond

"I always liked close-up magic because I knew I could do it if I just practiced enough."

- Uncommon Bond

"Solving a thousands-year-old mystery could take forever! Think of the research! The re-reading! The re-re-reading!"

- Shadow Play - Part 1