Sunburst woke up the next morning, not feeling very well at all. Maybe it was because his bed was a bit too small for him. Maybe it was that food he ate on the train ride that didn't taste quite right. Or maybe it was the fact that he was here with Starlight for who knows how long. How was he gonna keep his feelings in check when he didn't even know how long he had to endure?
He looked out the window in his room and saw that Celestia's sun had just risen, painting the clouds outside in a beautiful orange. He opened the window to smell the fresh air, which calmed him down a little.
Just then, he heard a knock on his door. "Sunburst? Are you up yet? Twilight called us," Starlight's voice echoed through the room.
Sunburst quickly grabbed his glasses off the table and levitated them onto his face. "Yeah, I'm up. I'll be out in just a second." Sunburst got down from his bed and walked over to the chair where he left his usual robe.
After donning his wizard robe, he headed for the door. The door swung open, and Sunburst's eyes met with Starlight's. "Hey. It's, uh, good to see you up." Starlight looked away, blushing slightly.
Starlight was standing a lot closer than he had expected, and the closeness was causing Sunburst's head to spin. "Yeah, uh, good to see you too Starlight." Sunburst averted his gaze in a futile attempt to calm his nerves.
Get it together! Sunburst thought to himself. He was making a fool of himself, and it wasn't even seven yet. You're gonna need to work extra hard if you want to get through this time here.
"Sunburst? Are you okay?" A soft voice broke him out of his thinking. He looked back to see Starlight a bit farther away, but still looking him right in the eyes. "You sort of blacked out there."
"What? Who, me? No no no no. I'm fine," Sunburst stammered, trying to hide his blush. He saw the look on Starlight's face, and saw only confusion. "So, you mentioned something about Twilight needing us?" Sunburst needed to change the topic, desperately. Fortunately, that worked.
"Oh right. Yes, she called us to the library. Something about our first lesson together. She still hasn't told me exactly what we're doing, but I try not to question her." Starlight turned around. "So, should we get going?"
"Sure, uh, yeah. Lead the way," Sunburst followed up with a nervous laugh.
Starlight laughed slightly. "What's with you today? You've been acting so weird and nervous recently. It's just like when we were foals."
"Was I really that awkward as a colt?" Sunburst asked, as he followed Starlight to the library.
"Are you kidding me? When we first met, the only way I could get you to talk was to talk about magic," Starlight said, thinking about the good old days. The days before Cutie Mark stealing and time travel. "Back then we would talk about magic all the time. It only made sense you got your Cutie Mark in it." Starlight looked down, as if ashamed.
Now that he remembered, Starlight was on the dot. Sunburst never really was a social kid, and usually only spoke to his older sister. Then she left for magic school, and he was left alone, until he met Starlight. She was the only real friend Sunburst had after his sister left. Sometimes Sunburst wished he could see his sister again, but he lost contact a long time ago, and hasn't seen her since she left.
The two ponies finally reached the library entrance and trotted inside. Twilight was inside sitting at a table, reading some big book. She looked up, to notice the two ponies that had walked in, and waved.
"Hey Twilight. I got him. Now, why did you call us here?" Starlight asked, as she moved towards where Twilight was sitting.
"Well, like I said, this is your first friendship lesson together. So, I decided that we could work on how the bond you two share can help to empower the magic inside both of you." The two unicorns in front of Twilight just stood there with confused looks. "Huh. What I mean is, you're gonna help Sunburst to cast higher level magic with your new restored friendship."
"With all due respect, why would we need to do this? " Sunburst asked.
"Well, I heard from Cadence that, despite your vast knowledge of various spells and magic, you can't seem to cast most of it. That was why you dropped out of Celestia's school, right?"
Sunburst backed down and Starlight stepped up. "So you're saying that our bond will help Sunburst cast the magic he couldn't cast in school?"
"That's what I'm hoping for. After all, as a crystaller, Sunburst will need to do more than just talk about spells, but do them as well, in order to help teach."
"Eh, it's worth a shot." Starlight shrugged her shoulders and turned to Sunburst. "What do you think? Wanna try it?"
Sunburst looked at her with those big blue eyes of hers. It was true that they had grown a lot closer since they met up in the Crystal Empire through the near, everyday letters. Plus, it was because of her that he actually got his Cutie Mark in the first place. "I don't see why not. I guess we could give it a shot."
"Great! I'll leave you two to it!" Twilight said, exiting the room, levitating the book she was reading earlier with her.
"Wait what about-" Starlight started, but Twilight was already gone. "She could've at least given some sort of spell to start off with." Starlight turned back to Sunburst. "So, what do you think we should start off with?"
"Well, I'm not sure. What do you recommend?"
"I'm not really sure, I don't know what your limits are, so I don't know what to recommend. I guess we could start with trying to find your limits. Does that sound good to you?"
"Yeah, seems fine." That's what Sunburst said, but what he was thinking sounded completely different. In his mind he was saying stuff like, oh Celestia. I'm gonna embarrass myself in front of Starlight, and this is going to be a disaster! Sunburst was trying to keep a level head, but failing miserably.
"You sure? You're literally shaking," Starlight said, pointing towards him.
Pull it together! "Yes, I'll be fine, honestly." Sunburst finally stopped his quivering and stood still.
"You know you're awfully cute when you're nervous," Starlight said, toying with Sunburst.
That's not helping!
Just outside the door stood a small baby dragon with his head up against the door of the library. "Yes! Phase two is in progress!" Spike whispered, as he grabbed his checklist. He checked off "phase two" on the long list in his hand. The baby dragon stopped and looked at the checklist. "I've been spending way too much time with Twilight."