Sunburst collapsed, exhausted from the mental and physical strain of trying to cast a powerful spell that was far beyond his skills. It wasn't that he didn't know how to do them. That was never the case. His problem was trying to actually cast them. This was an ongoing issue in his life and was a big reason why he didn't pass magic school.
"Sunburst! Are you okay?!" Starlight shouted, as she ran to help him up. "Is this one too much for you too?"
Sunburst was able to get up on his hooves, with the help of Starlight. "It seems so," he said pushing his glasses up. "I just don't understand it. I know exactly what I'm supposed to do, but it just doesn't work."
"I don't know what to do. Twilight wants me to help you with your magic, but I don't know how!" Starlight sighed. She looked around the library, trying to find something that might help her. She didn't see anything that caught her attention.
The two Unicorns had been trying various spells, in the hopes that Sunburst would be able to cast them. He could do a few. He successfully was able to turn an apple into an orange. He could also teleport, sort of. Whenever Sunburst teleported, he would end up incredibly tired. Most of the other spells had just ended up with nothing happening or Sunburst collapsing from the strain and it was really getting to them.
"You wanna just call it a day? We're not getting anywhere," Sunburst asked walking to the window. He looked outside and saw that it was a nice beautiful day. "We've been trying for about four hours and we haven't learned anything."
Starlight sighed. "Sure, I guess." Starlight sat down at one of the various tables in the library and slouched. "I'm too burned out to think right now."
Sunburst walked over and took a seat across the table from Starlight. It broke Sunburst's heart to see Starlight so distraught. He wanted to do whatever he could to get her to smile, but that would require him casting a spell. So, he thought of the next best thing.
"Hey, you wanna go out and walk around Ponyville?"
"Like, a date?" Starlight asked.
Sunburst blushed as those words came out of Starlight's mouth. Sunburst hadn't even thought of it like that. "Um, No! I mean yes? I don't-"
Starlight cut him off. "I'm just kidding. No need to freak out."
Sunburst knew that was supposed to be a comforting gesture but he took it as the opposite. See it was just a joke. Why would she ever want to go out on a date with me?
"Sure. Let's go walk around town. I can introduce you to all of Twilight's friends!" Starlight said, leaving the library. She turned her head back to see that Sunburst was still standing in the same spot, deep in thought. "Sunburst, you comin?" She called out.
"Oh, uh, right! Coming now," he said, snapping out of his little mind battle with himself. He walked to the library door and followed behind Starlight to Ponyville, making sure to step over the sleeping dragon in the hallway.
* * *
Sunburst sighed as he finally got the chance to sit down at the castle. "You okay Sunburst?" Starlight commented, looking at her childhood friend slump down on the table in front of her.
Sunburst yawned loudly before replying, "I'm just a bit tired after today. Twilight's friends sure do have a lot of energy."
"Oh yeah, that. They were a lot more crazy today than usual. Sorry about Rainbow and Pinkie. I think they were just excited to have a new pony to prank." Starlight walked over next to him and rubbed Sunburst's back trying to comfort him. "Oh, by the way, how's your tail doing?"
Sunburst lifted up his slightly burned tail to see that it was still smoking slightly. "It should be fine. Nothing time can't fix," he told her. "But hey, at least I can't say meeting them was dull. It never is with you ponies."
"Yeah, that's true. I just had to save the most powerful ponies in Equestria from an evil bug queen with a stage magician, a Draconequus and a reformed Changeling last week. I threw out normal life the day I cast that stupid spell." Just mentioning that day with the time travel spell made Starlight's mood shift. Wanting to change the subject, she quickly asked, "So, I wonder why the Changelings didn't take you?"
Sunburst had often wondered that himself. The Changelings replaced everyone, even the baby! So why didn't they take him. Because you're unimportant. "I don't know. Who cares it's over now," he said quickly, trying to push those negative thoughts out of his head. "One thing I am happy about is that I got to spend a day with you again. We haven't been able to actually hang out with each other since we were foals."
Starlight had felt the same way. It was really nice to reconnect with Sunburst in person. It was almost like he had never left. "Thanks, Sunburst. It's good to know I can still entertain you. I really thought that you stopped contacting because you didn't like me or you got bored of me."
That's what she thought? No, that was never the case. I could never feel that way about you. "Don't worry about that," he said, wrapping his hoof around Starlight. "You found me, and I'm not going to lose you again."
"Since when did you become such a suave speaker?" Starlight asked, looking up at the orange pony above her.
Sunburst's brain was still taking a little time to process what Starlight just said. "What?"
"If I didn't know any better, I'd say that you were crushing on me," Starlight told him, giving a cheeky smile.
CODE RED! CODE RED! ABORT MISSION! ABORT MISSION! "I, well, um," Sunburst stammered out. By this point, he had taken his hoof off of Starlight and fallen off the chair he was sitting on. As he said that, he had started to back himself into a wall, in a futile effort to escape. Starlight just looked at him funny as he had a mini meltdown.
"Just like when we were foals. Well, it's getting late, so I should probably start heading to bed. Tomorrow's another day of practice so we'll want a full night's rest. See yah tomorrow." Starlight said, waving, as she walked down a hall, disappearing into the maze that was this castle.
Sunburst sighed in relief, sliding down the wall he was leaning on to sit down. I'm not sure I can handle her doing that for much longer. If I'm going to survive this trip, I'm gonna need a plan. But first, I need to find out how to get back to my room. "Starlight? Twilight? Spike? Is any pony there?" Sunburst's voice echoed throughout the castle with no reply. Sunburst gulped as he tried to navigate the labyrinthine castle that he was now lost in.