• Published 16th May 2018
  • 2,514 Views, 649 Comments

Sunburst to the Rescue - David Silver



Twilight's met her match, a tome so dense and arcane that even her considerable intellect couldn't penetrate it. Just before she gave up in a tizzy, Starlight suggested a pony that could help; a good friend, Sunburst.

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19 - Baltimare Treasure Hunt

Twilight gently set down the cart they had ended up with. "Thank you."

The pony behind the counter nodded towards her. "Of course, ma'am. We would have brought you down if you had given us a call."

She shook a hoof. "No time for that, I really must be off. Let's go." She pointed to the door, grinning at Sunburst.

"Let's," he gladly agreed and they trotted side-by-side back into the streets of Baltimare. The hotel Sunburst had selected was just across the street from the event and a quick dash across said street had them in front of it. Inflatable treasure chests and enormous fake bit coins decorated the way up to the walls of the convention center.

Just over the doors lead in, the two grinning ponies that were on the card were present, though they were dressed in a different outfit. they were still grinning and brohoofing, with an old-looking treasure chest floating just over their heads, despite neither being a unicorn.

"Symbolizing a trade," spoke Sunburst without being asked, pointing up at the picture. "Those two are the mascots of the event. Expect ponies to be cosplaying as them and other famous figures of antiquing."

Twilight tilted her head. "I never read much about either of them, or I might have tried my hoof at it." Beside her floated her bag of potential treasures, moving at her pace, until they didn't. She stopped immediately and turned, noting a new pony, a rotund earth pony, was casually feeling over the bag with inquisitive noises. "Can I help you?"

"Where did you get this bag from?" he asked, tapping it gently. "Its manufacture fell out of favor dozens of moons ago."

"It's..." She cut herself off. Nothing was 'just a bag'. "I've had it for a long time now. Is it that special?"

"A vanishing minority," gushed the stallion. "Hold onto it. It'll get more valuable by the year, especially to collectors. They just don't use this fabric anymore. I hear the plant involved is having no end of trouble, and even if it recovered, they've already transitioned to a new one."

Sunburst smiled at the exchange. "We're not even inside yet and you have a treasure."

"Tell me about it," eagerly agreed Twilight with a happy smile. "Do stop by my booth later, Mister...?"

"Patina. Patina Sheen," introduced the stallion, offering a hoof. "A pleasure to meet you both."

Sunburst suddenly perked up. From his cape floated a brochure with the two grinning ponies on it. He flipped through it quickly. "You're a guest!"

"That I am." He smiled lightly. "I usually charge for my viewings, but I was overtaken in a moment of weakness."

Twilight nodded towards him. "Well, thank you for that, and nice to meet you too. I'm--"

"Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship," he cut in. "Another reason I wasn't too worried. Why, depending on what angle you view it from, I may be the less famous of us two and I should be paying you for the privilege of it." He looked to Sunburst. "And who is your companion? He strikes at my recollection, but I can't quite place it."

"Sunburst," he quickly spat out, offering a hoof and tapping it against the famous antiquer's. "I've read one of your books, Chests Off Cliffs. It was a real page turner!"

Twilight waved a hoof at Sunburst. "He's being modest. He's not 'just' Sunburst. He's the crystaller of Princess Flurry Heart, savior of the Crystal Empire, and a key player in the recovery of the Pillars."

Patina burst into laughter, his fat jiggling in the motion. "Crystaller, that's where I remembered you from. Quite an upset there. Now, I imagine we all have things to get to, so I won't take up more of your time." He nodded softly, then trotted past the couple into the building, many other ponies watching him go with intent eyes. The attendees of the event apparently knew him.

Sunburst nudged against Twilight. "The event hasn't even started and we're on the right hoof."

"You can say that again." With a smile, she trotted forward and pushed into the convention hall proper. Her eyes swept over the open space. There were other ponies, but it was the day before the event itself, so there were only so many of them. Still, they were already gathering.

Sunburst spotted a directional sign and pointed. "Over here. It says you need to be... that way." They veered to the right and ascended some stairs. "I'm guessing that's your line right there." Ahead of them were about five ponies in orderly file. The table they were queued to get to had a sign that read 'Exhibitioners'.

"Looks like the place!" Twilight advanced on her target with a grin. "You don't have to wait with me though."

"I'm here to be with you," countered Sunburst. "A little waiting won't hurt me." As they joined the line, he let his eyes roam the surroundings. "Who'd have thought we'd run into the Patina Sheen, and he said your bag's worth something."

Twilight raised a hoof. "He said it will probably eventually be worth something." She floated the bag in front of herself. "Right now, it's just a novelty."

"Right, once more people replace their bags and clothing made of this fabric, it will be worth more." He leaned forward, squinting at the bag. "I hadn't even noticed the fabric switch. I bet Rarity could tell us about it."

"I imagine she could." Twilight tilted her head. "If I'm not too blown away by a weekend of treasure hunting, I'll ask her about it."

A paper floated from within Sunburst's cape and a quill followed soon after, making a little note. "I'll remind you. What do you think they have?" His eyes had wandered to the other exhibitors, all but one burdened with their goodies, though they were concealed. One in a bag much like Twilight's. Two others had big plastic crates, and another had a heavy-looking chest.

"We won't find out until later." Twilight giggled suddenly. "Can't wait. Thank you for bringing me here. It's been a while since I went somewhere entirely for the fun of it instead of on some kind of mission or another."

"You deserve it." Sunburst circled around to Twilight's other side. "You're next, then I'll go back to the hotel room."

"Mmm? Tired?"

"Oh, well, I'm not an exhibitor." He rubbed behind his head nervously, fussing with his frazzled mane.

"Nonsense. You're my assistant. They'll let you in." She trotted up when it was her turn. "Hello!"

"Hello," returned the pony working the table. "I don't suppose you have the Elements with you? That'd be a crown--" She pointed at Twilight's crown. "--display." Her horn was glowing, already pulling free a lanyard and a nametag that read 'Twilight Sparkle' and said 'Exhibitor' on the bottom third. "Here you are.

Twilight pointed at Sunburst. "Could he have one too? He's assisting me."

That caught the mare off-guard. "Oh? Um, one moment." She ducked under the small table, small noises revealing her doing something unseen. "One moment..." She popped back up with a new nametag on a new lanyard. It had no name but it had an exhibitor tag on it. She was wielding a black market. "Name?"

"Sunburst." He dipped his head towards the mare. "Does it cost extra?"

"Nah, each table gets two badges. We just prefer you tell us before the day of, but it's not the end of the world." She quickly scribbled Sunset's name on the badge and floated it towards him. "Here you are! You're both signed in and ready to exhibit. Do you know where your booth is?"

Sunburst lifted the brochure for the Treasure Hunt. "Twilight is in booth D5." He thrust a hoof at where that was on the map. "Where's the room and I think I can find the rest." After a point, he and Twilight were walking together. The exhibitor hall wasn't far from the sign-up desk.

Entering it, it had a lot less decoration than most of the rest of the hall. It was wide and vast. Many tables had nothing on them yet, their owners not arrived. Others were being set up, ranging from people placing their things haphazardly on their table to others constructing ornate shelving units to hold and highlight their goodies.

The noises of ponies setting up filled the area with busy noises. Twilight and Sunburst were both a little stunned as they slowly wandered towards their table. There were so many things they wanted to go look at. "This is one of the reasons I signed up to exhibit," she whispered to Sunburst as they went. "We get a sneak peek."

Sunburst chuckled with agreement before he pointed at the empty table that would become Twilight's. "Well, since you registered me as an assistant, I may as well help." As soon as Twilight set her bag down behind the table, both of them set to plucking things out of it and starting to lay them out in chronological order, alphabetical order when the times were close enough. "This one's not even old yet..." He was peering at a plastic action figure of Maneiac.

Twilight gestured at it. "It's not, but they messed it up." She pointed at the colorful alternating bands of green that made up her hair. "See, two of the same color right next to each other. They caught it and fixed it basically immediately, but that means--"

"--There aren't many with the defect." Sunburst nodded in understanding. "If someone's a fan of the series, they may take an interest. So how much time are you going to spend exhibiting? I know you don't want to spend all weekend trying to sell your stuff, right?"

"Right." she bobbed her head and reached a hoof, her magic reaching the rest of the way to snatch the brochure Sunburst had been consulting. "I have a selection of panels I really want to get to." Colors began to appear, highlighting. "And some I specifically want to go with you, when the hall is closed." New colors appeared. "If you'd mark which ones you want to get to, we can work this schedule out with minimal difficulty."

Sunburst burst into soft laughter as he took the brochure back in his magic. "Let me have a look... Mmm, this..." He didn't magic the colors on, instead drawing out a quill to underline bits of the schedule. "Oh, we both want to be at this one..."

Twilight leaned in for a peek. "Recovered Treasures of Seaquestria? How could I not see that?" She looked sidelong at her table. "We may just have to close up for that." She shrugged. "Not as if I'm here for the bits, I say we make like Rainbow Dash and just do it and worry about the consequences later."

He nodded with a soft 'hmm'. "I'll get some containers with locks so we can put things away when we're not actually here." He underlined another. "I want to go to this one with you."

Twilight tilted her head a little. "Oh, I've done one of those, with the girls."

"You have?" he rubbed at his cheek nervously. "Did you like it?"

Twilight nudged his shoulder with a hoof gently. "I would be delighted to try one with you. I didn't expect there to be an escape room at an antique event, but I guess they're popular. What's the theme?"

"Keys from the past, locks of the future," quoted Sunburst with a smile. "We'll have to bring our thinking hats for this one." He glanced at Twilight's table. "If we're all set up here, we could take a look around?"

"With pleasure." She moved to the next table where ponies were still setting up. None of them offered objection to her gawking, so they did just that.

"Authentic Neighponese?" asked Sunburst, carefully lifting a vase from the table in his magic. "It even smells right."

"There's a smell?" Twilight hiked a brow at her studious companion.

"Oh, yes." He bobbed his head. "They used a particular ink. If you've smelled it once, you never really forget it. I've seen forgeries forget it though."

A new male voice joined the conversation, "day 0 customers are the best kind." Their curiosity was noticed by the booth's owner. It was just the start of a busy weekend.

Author's Note:

Setup? Yeah, this chapter is a lot of that. I apologize if it was too much of that.

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