My name is Sunburst, and I live my life alone, because I prefer it that way. Not everypony does. For some ponies, in fact, that's more like a long slow death sentence.

My duty as a guard is to protect the princess. Traditionally, that's taken to mean against physical threats. Less traditionally, I'm coming to realize it may also mean assisting in other ways - maybe even in ways she's not aware that she needs. Normally I would say it's not my place to intervene in personal matters. But when I see as plain as the hoof in front of my face that something is wrong, sometimes it finally brings me to the point at which standing by and doing nothing is no longer an option.

Day by day, I'm getting closer to that point. I may have to have to make a hard decision. I don't know if this is right or wrong. All I know is watching my princess suffer is impossible to bear when I'm supposed to be protecting her.

This is the expanded and rewritten print version of the original, printed for the Everfree Northwest 2024 Book Nook!

With an additional foreword by PaulAsaran, to whom I am very grateful.