It was a bright and sunny day in Ponyville, the small cheerful town having completed the winter wrap up of that year the day prior. Now more than happy to finally welcome the spring in, it seemed like a rather peaceful day, one that everypony would want to have, however, days like those were starting to become a daily occurrence in Twilight's life, who had been living in the castle of friendship for about a year now.
While certainly glad Equestria wasn't endangered by some evil force this time around, her life as the princess of friendship had begun to stagnate, having little to do was starting to get on her nerves. She needed something to do and unfortunately for her, the planned schedule for the month wasn't as full as she would have wished for, and the next month wasn't looking any brighter either for her.
It came to no surprise when she was ecstatic later on that afternoon after having received a letter from her mentor, Princess Celestia, wishing to give her a visit to inform her of a mission, a test, you could say.
Twilight, the hard studying girl she had grown up to be since a filly, was looking forward to that test that could bring back a spark in her life, and while she wasn't expecting anything extreme, a test was a test, and she was going to get it right no matter what.
When Celestia finally arrived, she and Twilight began to discuss their newly found peace in Equestria, even if she didn't outright say it, Celestia knew Twilight was going to get bored of it after a while, there just needed to be something for her to do during the two free months she had garnered.
Twilight paid close attention to the words that Celestia spoke, in the calmed, motherly nature she had grown so used to.
“Twilight, as you may know by now, these months ahead of us are a perfect time for you and your friends to relax and enjoy some peace, however I am well aware you aren't quite compelled by such an idea.”
“I wished to pay a visit for a reason, Twilight Sparkle, I would be pleased if you were to accept this-” Twilight couldn't help it, but she inevitably interrupted the princess.
“Test! You're giving me a test, princess?” she said, her eyes almost glowing in joy, waiting desperately for her question to be answered.
“Correct, Twilight, let me explain,” Celestia paused for a moment, “we would be more than thankful for your help in our mission to bring to light our beautiful and rich history, as an effort to educate young ponies in the ways of the old Equestria, I have come to you in order to ask for your help in researching the story of Equestria, and any artifact the old ponies of the land may have left behind.”
Twilight accepted without a doubt in her mind, she knew she was capable of this test, that is until she thought more of it, she would of course need to cover a lot of ground, and quickly too, else there was the fear of losing her chance to prove herself capable to the princess.
The rest of the meeting went without a hitch, Twilight remaining rather thoughtful at her newly acquired mission, but as soon as Celestia had left her castle, she got right to work.
She began to think on who to bring for such a big investigation job, while wishing she was able to research all on her own, she herself knew her own limits, having had a long time to think it through, there was only another pony interested in this as much as her that would be willing to give her a hoof on the quest.
Sunburst found himself looking around the big library that the castle of the Crystal Empire had for him, spring was a great season for the empire, bringing in a calm ambient to the place as well as a new flood of tourists that began to fill the streets, it was a great time for everypony, that is except the prince and princess in charge, Princess Cadance and Shining Armor had gotten very busy with the new influx on tourists arriving at the empire, now trying their best at managing the place for everypony to feel comfortable and happy in, a task that was definitely exhausting the both of them.
Sunburst on the other hand wasn't as bad as them, his only job at the moment being to take care of the couple's baby, Flurry Heart. It was complicated at times, but this day she decided to spare him, having fallen asleep early, Sunburst found himself free for the afternoon, and he quickly took the chance to explore some of the new books he had gotten. His mane messy as always, his cape, easily the part he put more effort into, making sure it was clean and more than a little scented with perfume.
He had finally found some peace, sitting down in one of the desks at the library, he placed his column of books and to the other side, his now cold cup of tea. It was his little paradise.
The moment, while nice, didn't last for very long in his eyes, as he heard a knock on the big entrance door of the castle. He sighed, dropping his cup on the table and closing his book, he quickly directed himself towards that door, his hooves having to get used to standing up once again after a while of sitting.
He slowly opened the door once he arrived, he was not expecting much, maybe it was the mail, perhaps Shining had forgotten his bag again. With those expectations in mind, it was a surprise when, as he kept opening the door more and more, he had, without noticing, found himself in front of princess Twilight.
He jumped a bit at this surprising visit, but decided to calm himself before letting her in, while expecting her to ask for her brother, another surprise struck him as Twilight began to speak. “I'm really sorry for this surprise visit, Sunburst, but I need your help.”
“M-My help? But of what help would I even be to the princess of friendship?” Sunburst asked, still confused at Twilight's sudden appearance.
“Let's sit down, I'll tell you everything you need to know.”
Twilight and Sunburst spent a while talking, Twilight having explained the test Celestia had given her, she was more than happy while talking about it, Sunburst just decided to listen quietly for the most part.
“Oh I see, so you need my help for…?” Sunburst asked, while already suspecting the answer Twilight would give, he decided it was best to ask than to make up conclusions for the time being.
“Well I, of course, can't take on Equestria on my own, that's why I came here. I wished to ask you to help me cover more ground faster, since you live here, you could really extend me a hoof by researching the empire and its surroundings.”
“Are you sure? I love the idea of finding these artifacts and all, but I doubt It'll be any easy with Sombra having obscured a lot of the old archives of the city.” he replied.
“I bet you can find anything of importance, no matter how hidden it may be, I just wish Sombra didn't make it impossible…” Twilight sighed, and Sunburst began to think about it to himself. Certainly curious by the idea of uncovering the story of the empire, after it had been lost for some many years due to its curse, he nodded, agreeing to Twilight's request.
“I knew you would be the one for the job! Now let's get organized on this…”
And so, they began to form a plan, one that would lead to a series of events, unknown to them at the time.
Sunburst was in for a ride.