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// 2 - Stepping into Knowledge 
// Story: Sunburst to the Rescue 
// by David Silver 
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Sunburst set his luggage aside just inside the castle, done with dragging it around.

"Hey."

Sunburst turned to see Spike waving at him. "Oh, hello Spike. How are you?"

He lifted his shoulders before pointing at the bag. "I'm doing alright. Need a hand with that? You're staying with us for now, right?"

"Exactly right," agreed Sunburst with a smile. "Do you know where I'll be staying?"

Spike hiked a thumb at himself. "Who do you think cleaned up the room? Don't worry, I'll take care of this." He hopped up and came down with the handle in his hand. "This'll be waiting for you." And off he went, jogging away with the luggage squeaking softly behind him.

Assistant dragons were... almost... as good as magic. Not that he had one of those, or knew many ponies that did, except for the one example that had just fled. Twilight had all three, an extensive knowledge of magic, heaps of practical skill in the art, and a dragon assistant. It was almost enough to be jealous over.

Sunburst smiled as he walked further into the castle. Not him. He was perfectly alright just the way he was. He wasn't like his mother, who always wanted just a little more, especially for him. He shook those thoughts out of his head. "Twilight?" he called out, looking for her.

"In here," replied a female voice. He followed it with a quick clip-clop of hooves to see her setting a table with some fine white teacups and a tray of little brown cookies. "There you are." She was smiling quite happily, or was that anticipation? "Come on in and help yourself. Did I hear Spike?"

Sunburst quickly nodded as he closed the distance. He could see the kitchen, decorated to look like a homey place despite the austere crystals that framed everything. A lot of the castle had little touches, trying to lift the spirits of what could easily be an intimidating place. "He took my bags to my room, which I don't know the location of." He took up a cookie in his magic. He could lift and move things around, thank Celestia. He had that much magic. He had magic... He just...

He shook his head, trying to free himself of those nagging thoughts. "Smells great," he complimented. It wasn't hard, it did smell good, and tasted even better.

Twilight magically lifted a cookie of her own and dipped it in her teacup before bringing the sweet and damp thing into her snout to chew on a moment. "Mmm, Spike outdid himself." When Sunburst perked an ear, she continued, "he baked the cookies. He's a whiz around the kitchen." With sudden defensiveness, she put a hoof at her chest. "Not that I'm a slouch! I can bake a mean cookie, but he was already doing it..."

Sunburst smiled easily. "What method do you prefer?" It was Twilight's turn to look confused, so he continued, "there are very different schools to baking." He pointed a hoof at his teacup even as he brought his cookie over to dip into it. "Cross-reference with tea-preparation and it can become quite a field of study in getting them to harmonize correctly." He got some of the combination to his muzzle and chomped off a piece. "Mmm, not bad at all."

Twilight sat up in place, eyeing her cookie and her teacup a moment. "I hadn't thought of that before... You really do know a lot." She chomped the last bit of her cookie and gulped down her tea. "Which is exactly why I'm glad you visited. We'll have that book cracked in no time at all."

Sunburst felt his cheeks warming a little. Being complimented was always a heady mix of embarrassment and nice. "It'll be a pleasure." He gobbled up the remainder of the cookie held in his magic. "Where's the book hiding?" He had the impression Twilight was eager to begin, so he guzzled--He spat out his tea in a sudden spray. It was much hotter than he had thought without a moment spent soaking into the cookie and moving through the air.

Twilight blinked dumbly, dotted with flecks of what Sunburst had sprayed. "Take your time," she assured as a napkin popped into existence and worked itself over her face, cleaning her as it glowed with her magic. "I didn't mean to hurry you. I'm just excited! And who wouldn't be? I've been working on this for over a week with almost no progress." She brought her forehooves together in a joyful clop, the spray already forgotten. "And you'll have us through it in no time, I just know it!"

Sunburst set his teacup down before grabbing a napkin off the table and dabbing himself dry. "Sorry, yes! I can't promise it'll be instant, mind. You were correct when you said her work can be... cryptic, but there is a logic to the madness."

Twilight rolled her eyes. "Why write it down if you aren't going to be understood?"

Sunburst rolled a hoof. "Part of it has to do with linguistic shifts. I'm certain her work was more understandable by ponies of her own time. Philosophical drift also plays a part. She literally did not think the same way we did. I wouldn't hold it against her." The same hoof lowered to run over his beard. "Despite that, I think at least some of it can be contributed to a genuine desire for those that learn from her 'earn' it in some capacity. Have you read her journals?"

Twilight scoffed openly. "Earn it? Isn't study, practice, and application enough to 'earn' knowledge?" Her eyes rolled dramatically before settling on Sunburst. "Still, no. I don't read personal journals very often." Unless they were written by Star Swirl, she silently added. "Were they any good?"

"Fascinating!" gushed Sunburst. "She really had a unique way of viewing the world." He stood up, the cloth of his cloak flowing around him in the motion. "Shall we begin?"

Twilight pointed at the abandoned teacup. "Not thirsty anymore?"

He snatched it up and drank it down, pointedly ignoring the heat. It wasn't nearly as bad as the first time, and soon the tea was gone, vanished into his belly. "All set."

Twilight began to lead the way, allowing Sunburst to follow behind her. His eyes rested on her rump and tail, little else to see. She was a big pony. Becoming an alicorn did that. He had read a few documents on the process. The transition brought about many little changes in the ascended pony. It was only then that he realized he was staring at Twilight's back end and he looked away. It was silly. Most ponies were quite nude. There was nothing to be embarrassed about. Still, he was covered up more often than not, and staring at a princess' bottom felt wrong, especially while considering her anatomical state. "So, um... are you... still growing?"

Twilight looked over her shoulder at Sunburst. "Still grow--Oh! I think I've already experienced whatever growth spurt there was to experience. That isn't to say I couldn't undergo future development, but it appears to have ceased for now." She ascended the winding stairs. "The book is on the third floor," she reported as she went.

Sunburst's thoughts had derailed, considering Twilight's body. "Does it bother you, being perfectly eye to eye with most stallions?" He ran right into Twilight's bottom as she stopped dead in her tracks.

Twilight spun back on him, their snouts almost crashing together with the proximity. "I haven't gotten that large! I'm as large as... you."

The tension built between them as Sunburst raised a hoof behind his head, awkwardly rubbing at his frazzled mane. "O-oh, sorry. I... It's nice?"

Twilight colored faintly before turning back around and resuming her trek up the stairs. "How long do you think it'll take to crack the code of this book?"

She was pretending it never happened. It was, perhaps, the wisest course. Sunburst was not a wise pony. He had messed up and it ate at him. "I really didn't mean that as a bad thing... You're quite, um..."

"Quite what?" Twilight turned an ear back at him, but kept going, her head stiffly stuck forward.

"Quite..." He bit his bottom lip. "I'm sorry, I'm not any good at this. As mares go, you have an ideal anatomical balance, free of disfigurements or imperfections. I just wish I was as good an example of the pony stallion."

Twilight waved the thought away, her head still stuck facing forward. "I wouldn't worry about it. You seem fairly 'free of imperfections' too, Sunburst, though you could stand to learn how to care for your mane."

Sunburst colored dark. Her disparaging comment about his mane was entirely lost. He was free of imperfections?! That was great! He coughed softly. "So! About that book! Depending on its length, it could take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks. How many pages is it?"

Twilight's neck almost popped as she dared to stop being stuck looking forward. "About two thousand pages."

Sunburst's  jaw dropped. "That many?! Oh, wow... We'll be working on this a while then." He hurried to be beside her, sharing space as they ascended the stairs. "That's larger than any other book of hers I've analyzed. I'm excited to get started."

Twilight smiled, back in her element. "Now you know how I'm feeling. Let's do it."

They rushed up to the small reading room that held the book. There it was, a mighty tome, resting on a round table. It had a celestial theme, with stars sparkling across its cover and a big sun rising over them in clear defiance of how night and day worked. There was no moon.

Sunburst approached quickly, raising a hoof to run reverently over the cover. "Raised imprinting, very nice." His eyes trailed over the cover and its title. "Quite a mouthful, isn't it?" He quirked a smile as he tilted his head to peek at the spine. There was the moon, shining across the wide span of the book from the center of it. "Our first clue."

Twilight's wings shot out. "Already?! Where?"

Sunburst pointed at the moon. "The arrangement of celestial bodies implies a particular pattern for debate and explanation. The fact that the sun and stars are together means there will be a specific examination of what is not normally seen together, but are. The moon being excluded, but still present, especially to the side like that, suggests an impartial third party." His smile grew as he got into the analysis. "But the moon is not impartial to the sun or the stars. It is a false judge, biased. We have to bear that in mind as we read if we are to get into the mindset she was in when she wrote this."

Twilight thumped down to her haunches, gawking at Sunburst and the book. "You figured that out in under a minute?!" She flipped the book open gently and carefully, even bringing over a small box to support the page. The book was so massive that simply opening to the first page could have damaged it without the help. "Keep going! Please."

Sunburst sat down beside the table and began reading. While he did, he mumbled snatches of the words.

To Twilight, it was maddening. The book was written in such an odd dialect, she had read at a snail's pace, and there was Sunburst, burning through it. How had he gotten such amazing research skills?! "It sure is... an odd way of writing, isn't it?"

"Hm?" Sunburst looked up from his reading, taking a moment to remember Twilight was even there. "Oh! Yes, very fascinating, but also very much her style." He waved at the book. "I'm almost ashamed I managed to miss her biggest piece of work! Where did you even find this?"

Twilight burst into a smile. If nothing else, she was good at finding valuable pieces of the past. "Well, you see..."