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// 30 - And the Winner Is... 
// Story: Sunburst to the Rescue 
// by David Silver 
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Twilight lifted the shoe in her magic, squinting at it. "No... this is the real deal."

Sunburst perked up. "Oh, yeah. That can't be what he wore." He nodded with shared confidence. "Just need to find one more."

Star looked confused as they set the shoe aside. "I don't get it. Why're you two so sure?"

Twilight pointed at it even as her eyes swept over the other potential artifacts. "It's made of Old Ponish metal, and it has the wear and tear, but it's far too degraded to have skipped the time between then and now."

"Oh..." How they had discerned that so quickly clearly evaded her. She shook her head free of the fog and looked to the table.

There were many potential bits and bobs, but Sunburst found his eyes on one in particular. It was an old-looking clock, its hands no longer moving. He lifted it carefully in his magic, maybe eight inches across on its fancy wooden panel. "OOooo."

Twilight swiveled an ear at his noise. "Very nice, mmm, fairly classic example."

He nodded in agreement. "From the height. I wouldn't even be upset if this was one of the grand prizes."

Star tilted her head at it. "It's just a clock."

"And the other was 'just' a horseshoe." He set it beside the clock carefully. "We're ready."

"You heard him!" The stallion mascot jumped over, the crowd cheering as he examined the three things he picked. "We got this from the Flim Flam Brothers." He pointed at the fake. "They fixed it after breaking, but that doesn't make it a historical find of any value."

"Yet," chimed in the mare. "Maybe a century from now we'll be gasping with amazement."

"But not today," agreed the stallion, nudging it aside. "If your other two are legit, you're in."

"We're ready," claimed a unicorn from the friendly pegasus' team.

The mare hopped over to their side of the table. "Perfect! We'll go back and forth. Let's see..." She leaned in to look at the first of the three things they had found. "This topaz necklace was said to be worn by one of Somnambula's dedicants after she was gone." She reached out and lifted it carefully. "They say it's still good luck to wear it."

The pegasus spread his wings. "So it's real, right?"

"Sure is!" She set it down carefully. "Your turn."

The stallion nodded with that grin stuck on his face. "Next up, we have a horseshoe forged without the help of modern convenience." He shoved his hoof against it, but it did not stick. "Did you know ponies had to put in a lot more work to get them to stay in place back in the old days? Trained farriers were trusted with the task, and once you had one on, you kept it there."

"Forever!" gasped the mare, scandalized.

"Well, until it wore down." He shrugged softly. "Looks like this one was getting there. A true find!"

The mare waved to the next artifact. "Next up on this side, we have a very special tiara." She nosed it up onto her own head. "How does it look? I could have been a queen." She cantered in place, showing it off a moment as the crowd chuckled. "Though who actually owned it is something of a mystery, it was clearly made for a very important pony."

"Is it real?" asked the stallion. "Or is it just you making it look so nice."

The mare tittered, waving the compliment away. "Oh, you! It's real!"

Star leaned in closer to her co-conspirators. "They have two real ones, they have this."

Twilight shrugged. "We'll just have to 'have' this too."

Sunburst considered, stroking his unusually soft beard. "What happens if we tie?"

The stallion pointed at their clock. "Do you know what time it is?! Well, this won't help. It stopped working when its key was lost, hundreds on hundreds of moons ago."

Twilight's ears perked. "Oh, I can help with that." Her horn glowed as she reached inside the thing and carefully wound it up the manual way, her tongue sticking out a little in concentration as she worked the gears carefully.

It dinged several times, hitting an hour and resuming soft little ticks. The stallion clip-clopped his hooves. "And it's still working, how wonderful. If a new key were made, or its owner was as talented a unicorn, this clock could be given a little more time." A few polite chuckles emanated from the crowd. "It's real. Two real and one fake. If their last one is real, you did it!"

"Ooo." The mare turned to look at the last one they had. "And if this one's fake, they did it too." She reached a hoof for it and picked it up. "This one's from a famous story, about when Celestia was first becoming a true princess of the land."

The team nodded in unified agreement.

"A truly fanciful tale, with wild embellishments that don't stand up to casual thought." She lifted the shoe that looked like a primitive version of the slippers that Celestia still wore. "But... Even if the story was full of holes, these shoes were not. Confirmed and catalogued, we had to borrow this lovely thing from a museum, which means it's real!"

The crowd gasped. They had picked three real things and no fakes. The winner was decided and cheering erupted. Ponies clopped their hooves when not stomping them on the ground, the room erupting into positive bedlam.

Sunburst waved at the pegasus he had so briefly known. "Hey, good job, right?"

The pegasus's smile wasn't entirely sincere. "Yeah, I mean... Yeah. We did our best." He looked away and back, clearly uncomfortable.

Twilight extended a frazzled wing towards him. "Let's share the first look at what we competed over."

Star bounced in place. "I won?! I mean, sorry, we won?! Ooo!" She pranced in place, looking ready to explode.

"You won!" agreed the duo as they trotted side-by-side to the chest. They put a hoof to it on either side of its lid and opened it with purposeful slowness, only to pause half way. "But," noted the stallion suddenly.

"You know," said the mare in the same questioning sort of way.

"Since we have two teams so close..."

They both let the lid fall and turned to the two teams, grinning. "Maybe the winners want to share?"

Star blinked softly, looking confused.

Twilight and Sun both looked over at the other team, struggling to look composed in the face of defeat. They shared a look, then nodded at the mascots.

They threw open the lid. "That's the spirit," they cried together, revealing a stash of exotic artifacts. "We're in this together!" The crowd cheered, and the other team perked up, looking suddenly hopeful.

Star blinked slowly. "Ohhhh." She put a hoof to her face. "I was the one being slow and less good there, sorry, yeah, let's share!"

The winners got the first pick, then it went back and forth, the ten treasures divided evenly between the two with hoofs thrust out, bumped and shaken. The closing ceremonies went on without them. People were thanked, ponies laughed and cried and promised to come back the next year.

Twilight felt something and glanced back, her mark was glowing in a particular way. "What? I didn't do anything!"

Sunburst tilted his head at that. "Where did it... send you?"

"Here!" She waved her hooves wildly at the general area. "It sent me here and all I did was play that contest. I mean, I'm happy we won and everything, but..."

Star put a hoof on her chest. "Well, I learned something."

Twilight blinked at that, turning in place to face Star. "What did you learn?" A pony with a lesson learned meant maybe she had done something, somehow.

"That just because I look for naughty ponies doesn't mean I can't  be naughty myself." She put a hoof on her chest. "I wasn't even thinking about the other team when we won, I was so happy. That wasn't nice of me. I was only famous for a hot moment and I was already ready to forget about other ponies."

Sunburst put a hoof on her shoulder. "But you did the right thing in the end, so it's alright. Oh! We split the treasures between the teams, and Twilight and I can share what we have, but which things do you get?"

Star held up her hooves. "I only want something a lot less valuable."

Twilight tilted her head a little. "What's that?"

Star pointed at Twilight's chest, then Sunburst's. "Can I have your badges, please? That'll be the perfect last souvenir. Meeting you two has been a real treat and I never want to forget it." She drew out her book of famous people bits and bobs. "Please?"

She was soon trotting off with a look of utter contentment. She had done it all, found good famous people, become famous, for small value of fame, and got so many keepsakes to treasure forever. That had been a convention worth attending.

Twilight put a frazzled wing around Sunset. "So... what happened while I was away? She was acting interestingly. What did she even mean by 'looking for naughty ponies?'"

Sunburst laughed nervously. "It's, uh, her thing. She looks for famous ponies and waits for them to show they're not as good as people think they are. We, uh, surprised her." He adjusted his glasses idly. "By being nice."

Twilight tilted her head. "Good surprised or bad surprised?"

"Good surprised, I think." He nuzzled her cheek lightly. "You look worn out. We have one more night in the hotel. Let's get back there, relax, and do a lot of nothing."

"That sounds... really nice right about now." She sighed contently as they walked off together.





Back in the hotel, Twilight collapsed onto the bed with a weary sigh of relief, sprawling out so wide there was little room for anyone else. "I still don't entirely get it. Did you two have some kind of... thing?" She weakly rolled a hoof. "Something I couldn't be there for?"

Sunburst thought back on it. "Yeah... I think so... Oh! Nothing tawdry." He coughed into a hoof softly. "I mean... Want something to eat?"

"Smooth." She smiled despite that and her horn glowed as she picked up the phone receiver. "Hello?"

"Front Desk, how can we make your stay even better?"

Twilight smiled a little. "Hello there. I'd like to order dinner. A celebration feast!"

"Ooo, then I recommend two salmon steaks with the works and a little cake on the side. Should I have it sent up to your room?"

Twilight tilted her head. "Not what I would have picked,  but, sure, let's try that."

"On the way, ma'am." The phone went dead with a click.

Sunburst took the receiver from her in his own magic, gently setting it down where it came from. "What did you order?"

"Salmon steaks and a little cake." She sat up slowly. "I never had a really fancy salmon before. I hear they're pretty good."

"A celebration feast." He thrust up a hoof. "Speaking of that, I want to see what we won."

Twilight popped open the chest. They had given up half its contents, but they still had the chest. "It'll take time and study to properly analyze these, of course." She sighed softly. "I really wanted to have a look at that staff."

Sunburst hopped up beside her and leaned against her softly. "Yeah, that did look interesting." It had been selected second, just after their first pick. "But we got the crown!" He hefted up the heavy metal band with its many jewels. "This thing is brimming with magic. I wonder what functions it has."

"Possibly quite a number." She pulled it closer, the glow around it turning into a mixture of their colors. "Each jewel could hold a different spell, with some designed to work in tandem for greater effects."