My brain words

All three of them

Moonwatcher in the panelka

Turtle in the elektrichka

Winter in Vorkuta

I'd argue though, that that's part of the reason why it works, because by that point, the love confession isn't really about Sunny anymore. This is not to discredit anything Starflight said as part of it--he absolutely meant it, but by that point, Starflight confessing wasn't about asking Sunny to date him. It was about actually doing the thing. Because Starflight's arc is not a 'Starflight gets the girl' arc, it's a 'Starflight learns that he is brave enough and capable enough to do the things that he thinks he's far too scared to do.' Starflight has spent most of the arc thinking about how much he loves Sunny, and how he'd never actually tell her because he's too nervous to. And then he does! And it doesn't go the way he wanted it to, and he's okay with that--he actually walks away feeling a whole lot lighter and he's done this incredibly scary, incredibly vulnerable thing and the world didn't end.I think the most telling part is actually the fact that when Sunny is busy scrambling around to figure out what the heck she's supposed to say when her friend suddenly declares that he's always been in love with her, Starflight tells her that she doesn't have to say anything right then--which makes it really clear that Starflight isn't telling her this as a plea for her to reciprocate this, he's telling her because he needs to get it off his chest, and she's not pressured to respond.

It also means that when Sunny eventually has to let Starflight down, it's much easier--Starflight's 'reward' (so to speak) for the bravery he showed in confessing is knowing that he did something that he thought he'd never be able to do, rather than showing his bravery having payoff via Sunny's affections. There are many stories that would treat Sunny as a prize--where Starflight would be rewarded for what is honestly MASSIVE character development by winning the girl who he thought was unattainable--but here, that's averted, and it doesn't feel like Starflight went through all that and got nothing back, because he got confidence! he got the knowledge that he can do the scary things! The gap between Starflight's confession and Sunny's proper response also means that Starflight doesn't immediately get shot down, which allows the scene to still be a moment of empowerment for Starflight (because outright rejection would not exactly have worked on that front--it means Starflight's arc ends with 'Starflight finally worked up the courage to admit his feelings for Sunny' not 'Starflight got rejected by Sunny'), without making Sunny into a prize, or hijacking her character development for the sake of Starflight's.

Moon and Winter: I hate it here I hate it here I want to go home I want to go home why was I forced to come here I wish-

Animated SilkWing and HiveWing flight headcanons! Featuring IRL inspiration from butterflies and dragonflies. Captions under the cut:

She remembers Clay saying this, but in the actual scene, he said: