//------------------------------//
// 10 - It's All Fun and Games Until... 
// Story: Sunburst to the Rescue 
// by David Silver 
//------------------------------//

With a roll of the dice, they took turns advancing forward around the room-sized map. They kept their claws on the stones, as was proper, avoiding touching the floor beneath them. Sunburst's headache seemed to ease as they progressed and idle banter blossomed between the players.

"So, digging the dragon walk?" asked Spike as he hopped onto the next stone. "It's pretty cool, you know, if you ask me."

Starlight smirked softly at that. "It's pretty interesting. It feels odd having scales." She reached out a claw and brought up the other, feeling her arm and its fine scales. "Which means no fur. I feel like I should be cold, but I'm not."

Sunburst released the dice for his turn and the board shook beneath them. "Uh oh..."

They all laughed as the fake boulder rolled on through and nudged Spike off his path with all the impact of a large foam ball, which it was.

Twilight glanced up from her reading at the noise. "Going well?"

Sunburst advanced forward and set one triumphant down on the last stone, a grin on his reptilian face. "I was just busy winning, is all!"

Starlight clapped softly. "Good job, and thanks for playing, both of you."

Spike nudged the boulder away with a huff. "Yeah, no problem. You got lucky with the dice."

Twilight rose up to her hooves. "That's the nature of this particular game. Now, shall we get you all back to your pony selves?"

Spike blinked softly. "Not me, right?"

Starlight nudged Spike softly. "Unless you want to? You could go to school with the CMC, think of it."

Spike held up his hands quickly, backing away from the draconic Starlight. "Oh, um, thanks, but I'll pass. Nice game, seeya!" He fled the scene, rather than risking becoming a foal.

Twilight shook her head as she approached. "Don't tease him. He's just gotten to... a new stage in dragon development." She looked over Starlight and Sunburst, settling on the latter. "Now then, we have a pony to examine." With a sparkling horn, she returned the yellow-orange dragon to his frizzled pony self. "I don't feel safe just assuming that was nothing."

Sunburst waved a hoof dismissively. "I feel much better now, honest. I bet that'll stop happening if I get used to it."

Starlight set a hand on his shoulder, still a dragon. "Hey, there's nothing lost in her giving you an exam. Better to look and see nothing compared to the alternative." She dug her claws in just a little. "Or I'll  have to pick you up and toss you there, rawr."

Sunburst  laughed at the attempt at intimidation. "Oh, no, don't hurt me." He stuck out his tongue at her even as he adjusted his glasses. "What do you need then, Twilight?"

"Just for you to be still. Sit down and relax." She waved a hoof downwards for emphasis. "Starlight, done with being a dragon?"

Sunburst perked an ear. "You ask her, but you didn't ask me?

Twilight smiled easily. "Of course. One of you I need to examine, and the other I do not. If she wishes to remain a dragon for longer, there is no harm in that. Besides, I feel confident she could return herself to normal if pressed."

Starlight proved Twilight right in a flash of light, falling to all fours with the sound of hooves against the ground. "There we are, no more scales and all the soft fur again." She ran a hoof over her snout. "Maybe, later, we can try flying as dragons. Spike would like that I think."

Twilight gently tapped Sunburst's snout, getting him to look at her. "Let us begin. You know this spell." She pulled out a piece of paper and the drawing that began to form was quite clear. She was sketching the interior of his horn with the technique they had used earlier.

Sunburst tensed. Starlight was in the room. She'd see the ugly blemishes he had inside. "I..." His face darkened as he tried vainly to be still for Twilight. Closing his eyes was the only action that came to him, awaiting the judgment surely to be weighed upon him.

"Huh," came Starlight's voice. "Is that his horn?"

"Yes it is," assured Twilight, her own horn glowing brightly as she worked. "We're getting a full peek at it, inside and out, for any damage that may have been inflicted during the spellcasting."

"What are these?" Sunburst couldn't see what Starlight was referring to, but he could guess. He could imagine those ugly sharp bony protrusions that she probably gawked at with a face of disgust. Oh, if there was only a hole deep enough to hide in.

"This is different," spoke Twilight. He could hear her hoof tapping at the paper that was scribbling the sketch of his malformed alicorn. "Sunburst, you should see this."

There wasn't anything there he should not already know, right? He cracked open an eye, the other following soon-after. "Wha-huh?" The picture of his horn was still being scribbled out. It still had a maze of boney spurs. The spurs were just a little different. He couldn't even quite put his hoof on how. "It still looks... bad?"

"Well, yes." Twilight nodded easily. "But it's not the same. This attempt jostled something, clearly. I want to finish this exploration." She focused on her magic, the drawing hastening. "There must be a pattern here we're not seeing."

Starlight pointed at herself. "This is pretty interesting. Can I get my horn mapped out like that?"

"I have yours already," reminded Twilight as she worked. "Very normal, like mine."

Starlight huffed. "That's disappointing on some level. You'd think talented spellcasters would show something in there."

"The alicorn seems to be required..." She took a slow breath. "Malformations in it hinder a unicorn, but other than that, it doesn't really help them become 'better'. At least, so far as we have determined, which is only so far." She tilted her head to the side. "The relative shapes and forms of the internal structures surely have an effect, but we couldn't confidently state what those effects are just yet."

Sunburst watched the image being formed. IT was growing close to the base of his horn. "Don't go left," he reminded a little nervously."

Twilight colored swiftly. "I won't! Promise... And... done." She reached up and took the paper in her hooves. "On the positive side, I didn't feel any hints of internal damage or anything knocked completely loose. I don't think you were hurt."

Sunburst let out a little breath. "That's good!"

"That's an understatement." Starlight prodded Sunburst. "You know you're fine just the way you are, right?"

Sunburst colored in his cheeks, adjusting his glasses as his eyes darted everywhere but at Starlight. "I... know that, but does that mean I shouldn't even try? If I can be more, shouldn't I reach for it, a little? I've spent most of my life accepting failure."

Twilight waved a hoof. "We'll take every reasonable precaution." She rolled up the new paper. "Thank you, Starlight. It's good to see you have such concern for a friend."

It was Starlight's turn to darken. "Why wouldn't I?! He's my oldest and dearest friend." She threw a foreleg over him and pulled his startled form closer, his glass going askew. "And I want him safe."

Sunburst coughed softly as if to clear his throat. "I appreciate that, really." He reached up a hoof to nudge his glasses back into position. "But I am an adult, Starlight. I can make my own decisions."

"Oh, I mean, of course." She withdrew her foreleg. "I didn't... Look, I'm just worried, alright, as a friend, not your mother." Her eyes half lidded. "Who's prowling around, if I didn't mention."

Sunburst tensed, looking around as if his mother could pop out at any moment. "What?!"

Twilight sighed. "It's true, in fact." With a sparkle, a scroll appeared beside her head. "She's our first adult student."

"What?!" repeated Sunburst with growing eloquence. "Is that even allowed?!"

Twilight rolled up the scroll and it vanished with a sparkle. "There weren't any rules against it, and she seemed genuine in her wish to learn more about being a good friend, even if I feel certain she has other motives in addition. I will give her a chance to learn, or prove her true colors."

Sunburst sagged to the side, flopping against Starlight. "Will I end up giving her a lecture? That may be awkward."

"If she means what she said, she'll nod and take notes." Twilight rose to her hooves. "For now, we should consider moving on with our day. It's been a full one. Dinner and rest sounds good. Tomorrow will bring new challenges."

Starlight waved lightly as Twilight departed. The moment she was gone, she turned to Sunburst, her magic nudging him upright. "You shouldn't be scared of her. She's meddlesome, but she doesn't want anything but the best for you."

"Easy for you to say." He smirked suddenly. "Or should I write your dad a letter abo--"

He was interrupted with a hoof in his mouth. Starlight was looking left and right frantically. "No! No... that'll be quite fine. I'd rather reorganize my books a few dozen more times than have him lurking around waiting to pinch my cheeks."

"But he only has the best of intentions," assured Sunburst with a cocky grin, turning her words back against her. "No need to be scared of him."

"Yes, right, point accepted." She dusted off her front lightly. "It's... actually kind of nice having a friend." She leaned in a little. "We 'get' each other, you know?"

"I do," he almost sighed. "So help me out! You know she has a plan. She always has a plan. Did she tell you anything? Ask any odd questions?"

Starlight thought back over their conversations. "She's seen you with Twilight."

"Well, yeah." Sunburst nodded quickly, glasses jostling in the motion. "She's in charge of the school, and owner of the book I'm helping to study. What about her?"

Starlight cocked a brow. "And she sees you're spending a lot of time with her."

"Well, see above?" Sunburst seemed genuinely baffled as to where Starlight was trying to hint at. "Why does she care about that? Does she want me to become a professor?"

Starlight clopped a hoof against her face. "I'm sure she wouldn't mind that, not one bit, but I think she's more interested in grandfoals."

Sunburst's face began to darken, a slow but pervasive sweep across his face as it clicked together in his mind. "G-grandfo... Oh... I..."

"That's what I thought your reaction would be." She leaned forward a little. "Have you even kissed her?"

"What?!" He startled back as if a snake had come into view.

"Kiss? That thing ponies who love each other do sometimes?" Starlight smirked a bit at Sunburst's display. "You know what it is."

"I have not kissed Twilight!" he hotly defended, adjusting his collar nervously. "We have done nothing but study and lecture, and that was all I planned on doing."

"And I believe you," assured Starlight, having little trouble imagining Sunburst not taking any action at all with Twilight, or any other random mare for that matter. "But we're talking about what your mom thinks and wants, not me, right?"

"Right..." He stood up with a slow breath. "So, how do I get her off my back?"

"Well, that goes beyond my knowledge, I'm afraid." She rolled a hoof. "I barely got my parent to back off, so I'm hardly the expert there. I'd say to just keep on doing what you're doing. I just wanted you to know she's here, so you don't have a panic attack when you see her, which I bet will happen."

"Right, um, thanks." He reached out a foreleg and gently hugged his foalhood friend. "You're the best. I mean, pfft, really, me and Twilight? As if..." He shook his head as he moved from the room.

"As if..." echoed Starlight, watching him go.