26 - Day 2
They secured a light to-go meal that they were still chewing on as they strolled across the street to the convention proper. Twilight reached up a hoof to poke at the floating schedule/brochure. "Neither of us have a panel we specifically wanted to get to right this moment. Why don't we do a little scavenging?"
Sunburst swallowed what he already had in his snout before nodding. "Sounds like a plan to me, let's see..." He flipped the booklet over to the scavenging clues. "We have most of the pins... 'Where the last adventurers bid tearful farewell, to things that must end, but never truly dies.' Mmm..."
Twilight cocked a brow at the clue. "Well, who are the 'last adventurers'? I wasn't aware we were running out of them, technically being one myself more often than I care to admit."
Sunburst clopped his hooves together, his breakfast burrito jiggling dangerously. "What if they mean 'last' as in 'previous' rather than 'the final'?"
Twilight perked at that. "Right, yes... Previous adventurers... Things that must end... It has to be here." She waved a hoof at the entirety of the massive convention center. "So what ended here?"
"The last convention?" posited Sunburst in an unsure tone.
"You're a genius!" She flipped through the brochure quickly. "But where they hold the closing ceremonies this year may not be where they did last year..."
"What are you talking about?" Star Catcher emerged from the milling crowd, smiling brightly. "Good morning! You don't have any events planned, so are we scavenging?"
Sunburst quirked an ear at the mare, noticing she still proudly wore the pin they had secured the night before. "Actually, yeah. Do you know where the closing ceremonies were last year?"
"Over there." She turned and pointed at a room that appeared to be a occupied by a panel. "The con chair gave a real sappy speech last time, made ponies break into sobs."
Twilight smiled victoriously. "Sounds like exactly the place we're searching for. Let's go!"
As they headed for the room, Sunburst moved next to Star. "Hey, uh, how do you know our schedule?"
"You have it written down," she answered as if it were obvious. Star leaned in, peeking around the half-open door. "There's a panel going on," she whispered back to the other two.
Twilight pointed past Star. "Well, we'll just be--" She stopped dead, freezing as she strobed from her rump. She looked over her shoulder with her ears pinned. There was her cutie mark, casually buzzing and blinking, demanding attention. "I..." Her head hung. "Why now?"
Sunburst put a hoof on her shoulder. "Saving Equestria rates a little higher than this. I understand. We should--"
"No!" Twilight clopped a hoof down. "I'll go, your mark isn't glowing. Stay, enjoy, have fun, and--" Pins floated free of her, decorating Sunburst's robe quickly. "Get that treasure, if you can. Bring that home, and I won't even be that upset in the end."
Star Catcher looked torn. "I never thought I'd get to see it happening." Her eyes were on the glowing cutie mark. "But, yes. I'll help Sunburst and we'll bring you the prize." She saluted sharply. "It's the least I can do for a hero of Equestria!"
Sunburst glanced at her before looking to Twilight. "I'm perfectly willing to--"
"Please, don't." Twilight put a hoof on his lips. "Enjoy yourself, and get that treasure." She turned and her wings shot out. She took to the air over the majority of the walking crowd and was rapidly lost to sight in a hurried retreat.
Sunburst shook his head with a sigh. "She's going to be jealous, even if she says she isn't."
"I wouldn't be entirely sure." Star Catcher grinned as if she knew something. "I bet part of her is happy to be called."
Sunburst perked an ear. "She wasn't having fun with me?!"
"No! No, not that." Star sat so she could wave her forehooves. "I mean, the other ponies, her friends, get called more often than she does, and I think she likes the excitement."
"Oh..." He quirked a little smile. "I hope she has fun, now, uh.. Star was it?"
"That's me," she confirmed, slapping a hoof against her chest, then pointing into the room. "We have a pin to find."
Together, they crept into the panel room as quietly as they could. A panel of three ponies were discussing something animatedly at the front of the room. They split up, looking for the tell-tale basket that held the pins.
One of the ponies, a stallion with a sharply-cut beard, leaned forward towards his microphone. "Looks like we have ourselves a couple of treasure hunters!" The crowd erupted into chuckles and giggles. "Should we tell them where to look?" The crowd had some yeahs and nays, but the yesses seemed to be the majority.
Another of the panelists, a plump mare, pointed just beside the panel itself. "Right here."
With reddened cheeks, Sunburst hurried up, snatching two pins and fleeing from the room. "Thanks!"
Once outside the hall, Star Catcher burst into giggles. "I was talked about by somepony famous..."
Sunburst tilted his head. "Not the way I want to be talked about, but we got the pin." He floated over Star Catcher's, which was soon added to her vest. "We're on pace to beat this." He drew out the brochure and had a peek. "In darkness dwells, in light revealed. One must be brave to find me."
Star Catcher tapped a hoof on the floor. "If they haven't fixed the lights downstairs, it sounds like it."
"Are they that bad?"
"Worse." She grinned. "They usually put up tape to keep ponies out. Harmless, but dark. No shows go on down there."
"But... there could be a pin."
"Could be," she easily agreed, starting to trot. "Besides, you're a unicorn. I bet you could make some light if you wanted."
"I'm not sure that'd be a good idea, or maybe it would be." Audibly doubting himself, Sunburst followed after the mare that was not the mare he had wanted to spend the weekend with.
They descended several sets of stairs, the noises of the convention quieting away. It seemed most had little reason to go down that far. There were no signs pointing ponies to events or event rooms. Only a simple black cloth strap quietly discouraged people from pressing on past the small room into the dark tunnel that thrusted free of it. She pointed a hoof. "Right where they left it. I bet there's a pin in there."
"In light revealed," intoned Sunburst, his horn glowing softly as he ducked under the cloth strip and started down the hall, his hooves echoing with every step. "It's so... empty..." It wasn't a large hallway, width wise, but it felt empty and alone with the way his motions echoed about. There was nothing in the hallway that he could see, just a waste of interior space.
Star Catcher pointed to a door as they passed. "There used to be things down here, I think." She rattled the knob with a hoof. "Locked. I doubt they want us to hurt the convention center, so let's assume locked doors stay locked."
"I can agree with that." He nodded to her and pressed on down the tunnel. "If it is behind that door, they messed up." Emerging from the dark, he saw the end of the tunnel. The basket was just laying there, casually dropped at the end of the tunnel. "Or it's right here." He willed two pins free, passing one to Star. "Three to go!"
She clip-clopped her hooves together. "We're doing great. Do you think they'll add my name to the next convention pamphlet?"
"Hmm?"
"Well, I mean..." She squirmed in place. "It'd be nice, to be an important pony, just for a little while. You're probably used to it."
Sunburst shook his head. "I'm not that important. I just know some important ponies." He started for the exit, pushing back through the dim hallway. "If I vanished, I doubt anyone would be too torn apart."
"Don't say that," hissed Star Catcher as she caught up with him. "It's not even slightly true. I bet Twilight would be beside herself if anything happened to you. Princess Cadance would also be beside herself if something happened." She cocked a brow. "Then there's your mom. I bet she'd lose it if something happened to you."
Sunburst blushed brightly at the mention of his mother. "H-have you met her?"
"I may as well have." She nodded knowingly. "She's kind of a funny mare, always looking for the future. Her town looks up to her and she's important, at least locally." She let out an envious sigh. "I'd like to meet her. I wonder if she could make a plan for my life? I'm no good at that sort of thing."
"Woah there." He waved a hoof in her general direction. "You do not want her casually making plans for you."
"Why not? I bet it'd be nice to try at least once..." She glanced aside at Sunburst. "You turned out nicely."
"Well, um..." He rubbed a hoof against his other foreleg as he walked along on the other three. "I guess so, it took... some work." He cleared his throat suddenly, pulling the brochure back up. "Next up! I am in constant motion, watching you all with highest authority."
Twilight landed softly on the steps to the train station, hustling right up them towards the ticket counter. She glanced back at where she had left Sunburst. "Have fun," she murmured to herself before considering what her glowing bottom could mean. Maybe it was a very important mission? Maybe it was two bickering ponies that just needed a little nudge.
She had no way of knowing just how important the call would be, just that it needed her specifically, and taking others along that weren't on the list wouldn't do. "The map is... It knows what is best." Even if that meant she had to leave the convention. She sighed as she trotted hurriedly through the crowd.
She began to color, thinking of how things had been going. Maybe Sunburst had a point. She really was falling into things quickly... But... Was that bad? They both seemed to be enjoying it... Weren't they? He was enjoying it, right? "Two to..." She blinked softly, recovering from her distraction. "Sorry, one for Ponyville." She set some bits down and got a ticket in return. "Thank you."
She quickly moved to the platform, standing beside where the train would arrive. She thought of Sunburst, searching for those pins. Star Catcher was there. Was that good? What if she... caught... Sunburst?
"Stop being silly," she chided herself. "She's just a lonely pony that looks up to celebrities." Which Sunburst was considered by her admitted point of view. "So she'll do her best to impress him so she can hang out with him." That wouldn't hurt anypony, right? Besides, if she hadn't nudged him, he might have never kissed her.
She felt her cheeks warming once again, thinking of the several short and long smooches they had shared. "Not in front of the girls," she quickly decided, fanning herself. She wasn't ready to kiss where they could see... That was part of what made the convention so... She sighed softly. Duty came first. She had to see what the map wanted, and go fix whatever problem it was pointing her towards.
That was her job, and Sunburst knew that. He knew that and wouldn't get mad at her, or... they weren't meant to be in the first place, and maybe it'd be better off if... they realized that sooner rather than later. She felt herself sag a little with the downturn in her thoughts. He would accept her responsibilities. Hay, he had come running once when he was called. He knew what it was like.
She smiled a little. "I'm being foalish." They both knew exactly what the score was.
It would work out.
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Ironically, "torn apart" would be the best description of the Crystal Empire after Flurry Heart is done with it should something happen to Sunburst.
In any case... Well, hopefully these two can assuage their uncertainty when they get back together. I suppose we'll find out soon enough.
It better work out XP
Oh! I know! It must mean Princess Celestia! The pin must be hidden in her cake vault, so off to Canterlot!!
Given that they have the push model table map, and Spike the Anywhere communicator? They shouldnt have to run back to the map itself, but call, or at least recieve a Return To Sender scroll from Spike the Table Operator? Or would Starlight be better for that, or even someone specific?
Someone who can do multiple things at once, wait patiently, is intelligent but subservient to those they recognise as more powerful.
Lets have a Chimera as Table Phone Operator?
Ah, don't be so down on yourself, Sunburst. Also, I'm going to laugh if the map sends her back to Baltimare.
simple
on
9208869
Fixed!
Prediction: this is a replay of Top Bolt, except Twilight is the one who gets the "I was just there" moment - by being called back to the convention.
But Things Have Happened in the meantime.
It won't be a shocker if she just goes right back, but that's not a bad thing. Also, my first thought was that she should send a letter to Spike to ask where to go. Maybe Spike the Brave and Glorious will have the bright idea to send a letter before Twi gets back?
Edit: Unless he can only send to Celestia.
In what?
9209453
Fixed!
Uh, Sunburst, it's not usually a great idea to say that kind of thing in a dark tunnel under the building... Especially with a weirdly obsessed fangirl as the only one around.
9212232
"Yak love song, yak love song, not very long, sing again!"
9209542
I was thinking the same thing. Talk about setting up a kidnapping/death flag.