The Life and Times of Sunrise Shadow: Seeking a Princess

Sunrise returned to Ponyville and told Twilight she helped Pinkie to bake cookies and that she had plans tomorrow to visit someone new. She neglected to mention the meeting with Celestia of course. That evening Twilight gave her a big hug goodnight causing Starlight to wink at her and Sunrise to blush profusely.

The next morning shortly after breakfast Sunrise caught her train to The Crystal Empire and proceeded slowly to its castle, not knowing what to expect inside. At the gate she met a pony wearing most of a guard's uniform minus the helmet. He was white with a blue mane and shield cutie mark.

She softly spoke "Umm, excuse me but uhh, I was looking for the princess. Princess Celestia told me she might be able to help me with my umm, emotional problems?"

The stallion laughed at her "yep that sounds like Celestia all right, sending any pony with a love problem to my wife Cadence. I'm Shining Armor captain of the guard and husband to the princess you're looking for."

Sunrise thought he looked familliar then she recalled a picture in Twilight's castle. "I've seen you before, yeah you were in one of Twilight's pictures."

"Oh you know Twily? She's my little sister. I guess she doesn't talk much about her family huh? Anyway follow me, I'll take you to Cadence."

Sunrise followed Shining Armor through the castle to the throne room where a pink alicorn with long flowing multi toned hair in various shades of pink and yellow and a crystal heart for a cutie mark sat smiling.

"Hey honey, this girl's here to see you."

"Thanks Shiny, now then. Hello I'm Princess Cadence what can i do for you?"

"Um, h-hi I'm S-sunrise, Sunrise Shadow." she said meekly to this new princess.

"What's wrong, oh is it my title? Ugh I hate it when the whole princess thing makes people not want to treat me like a normal pony."

"Well uhh Cadence, I-I can try" she took a deep breath. "I can try to treat you like a normal pony, Princess Celestia told me you might be the right person to help me with a personal problem."

Cadence stared at the seemingly confident mare in front of her, she wasn't there a few seconds ago. "How did you go from so shy to so confident so quickly?"

"Oh, that's my uhh talent i guess? I don't think of it as a talent more a nuisance really. I'm good at seeing things from different perspectives. Unfortunately it also means my emotions and mannerisms can get a bit, extreme."

"Wow, that's incredible. Hey are you hungry? I was gonna take a break from doing nothing to grab a bite in the living area, c'mon its this way"

Sunrise followed Cadence through the castle to a small living space with a few chairs, a large couch and some cupcakes and tea waiting. Cadence sat on the couch and patted beside her for Sunrise to join.

"So tell me Sunrise, what problem do you have that Celestia thought you should speak to me about it? I'm the Crystal Princess, my only real talent is lo-" Cadence's eyes lit up "ohh, you have a love problem don't you?" Cadence smirked.

Sunrise sighed "Yes, and from what Celestia told me. It's someone you know well. It's Princess Twilight Sparkle."

Cadence almost fainted but caught herself. "You're being serious right now? You have a crush on Twilight?"

Sunrise began to cry."That's just it! I don't know what it is. She gave me a home in a new town, she comforted me when I got scared of a thunderstorm even sheltered me with her wing and let me snuggle close to her. This feels like so much more than a silly crush but I-I just don't know."

Cadence placed a wing around her and pulled the sobbing pony in close, nuzzling her neck slightly. "Easy there girl, let it all out. Its OK. If this is being triggered just from telling me about your feelings for her, I'd say its a bit more than a little crush. I can't be certain because of your extreme emotions as you put it. But I think it's safe to say you genuinely do love her, and that night together was the spark that lit the flame."

Sunrise sobbed a little but stopped crying cuddling into the larger alicorn. "T-thank you Cadence you have no idea how much I needed to hear that."

The afternoon was spent with Sunrise enjoying some ice-cream while Cadence recounted tales of babysitting a young Twilight to the delight of Sunrise. Eventually Sunrise bid her farewell Cadence teleporting her back to Ponyville as the sun began to set believing it to be safer than the last train.

Now Sunrise was sure of her feelings, but the problem was admitting them to Twilight. So many things could go wrong, what if she didn't feel the same way because they just met, or what if Starlight just assumed she liked mares too. Cadence did give Sunrise one final piece of advice before she left. Telling her to listen to her heart when it came to love and not her head.

With a fire in her belly she entered the castle again and after declining a bite to eat saying she wasn't hungry. Began to plan her move. She didn't want to do anything elaborate or flashy, that wasn't how she worked. She wanted to just sit down and talk to Twilight about it. She informed Starlight of her plan who promptly took Spike to another part of the castle while Sunrise entered the library and saw the source of her affection reading a novel.

"Hey Twilight, can i talk to you?"

"Sure Sunrise, what's up?"

Sunrise swallowed, this was it. "Well the truth is. I had feelings for someone. I wasnt sure if it was a silly crush or a genuine feeling of love, i asked anyone who could help me and eventually i was sent to Princess Cadence. She told me it sounded like my feelings were true I even cried into her wing. But now I know what i have to do."

"Well it sounds like you had quite a day Sunrise, so care to tell me who the lucky pony is?"

Sunrise rose up with a newfound boldness "why don't I show you instead?" She kissed Twilight square on the muzzle, Twilight initially surprised melted into the kiss and after a brief moment they parted. "The pony I love Twilight. Is you."

"But why? We barely know each other, I mean the kiss was nice, really nice. But why?"

"I've always had a thing for mares for a start. But also because you took me in, you gave me a home. This place doesn't feel like just another place I've lived in. It truly feels like home because you're here with me. You sheltered me from my fears and let me cuddle you like a lost foal, and didn't shy away when my bolder side came out. You're the first person who's seen both sides of me, and accepted me as I am. Most other ponies would just shun me for being so split." She then grinned playfully "plus you do have a nice flank" she winked.

Twilight blushed at the last comment but then took a moment to think before speaking "anypony would be lucky to have someone as unique as you. Some ponies prefer things to be basic, simple, normal even. But i don't think that such a thing exists. Everyone is unique in their own special way and your dual personalities are both great in their own way. You can be the sweetest mare one moment, and ready to fight for her friends the next. It's truly admirable."

"And I'd love to be your special somepony Sunrise." Twilight kissed her this time both mares embracing and rolling around the pillow laden floor for what seemed like hours before being interrupted by Starlight.

"Well I see your talk went well, I thought you should know its 10 PM, you might want to get some shut eye."

The two smiled at each other and Twilight began walking to her room before Sunrise spoke up "Wait Twilight. W-would you mind if i slept with you again tonight? We don't have to do it every night if you don't want, but I had a long day and I'd love to snuggle my marefriend again."

Twilight kissed her forehead "sure Sunrise, and if you want to share my bed every night. I certainly won't complain." Twilight then sultrily whispered "especially if you kiss as good as that under the covers."

Sunrise went bright red but followed Twilight to bed anyway. The two crawled under the covers embracing each other before drifting off to sleep.