//------------------------------//
// 50 - Mare to Mare 
// Story: Sunburst to the Rescue 
// by David Silver 
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Cadance floated her bundle of joy into the waiting hooves of a servant. "Now you have some fun and be a good girl until mommy gets back."

Flurry cooed until she saw Cadance was leaving and made a sad sniffle. The servant pony was quick to nuzzle the little foal and distract her towards more interesting and less saddening things.

Liberated from her spawn, Cadance led the way to a small room and sank down on a large cushion, gesturing with a hoof to another just across from her. "Have a seat."

Twilight willed the door closed before hurrying over. "I had no idea... I mean, I just assumed such details were not public knowledge."

Cadance hiked a brow. "They are not public, but I am also not in public, Twilight. We are friends, and I care about you. You trust me a little more than a random pony, I hope?"

"Of course!" blurted out Twilight, darkening in her cheeks a little. "I didn't mean that. This is just new to me. So! Where do we... start?"

"Right where you are." Cadance reached with a wing, brushing Twilight's cheek and turning it towards herself fully. "I'm not here to judge you, Twilight. When did you first realize you had feelings that could go beyond friendship?"

"Beyond?" Twilight squinted a little, thinking back. "I wouldn't classify it as 'more' than friendship. It's just a different kind of friendship, with very similar demands and rewards, but some new ones too, and some are put to the side. For instance, most romantic ponies live together, so the risk of simply not seeing one another is dramatically reduced, though you do still have to make time to be with them."

Cadance drew her wing away as she smiled gently. "Spoken like a true princess of friendship. If it makes you feel better, I view friendship as a different variety of love, that could become 'proper' love, in the right context. I love you, for instance, but I hope--"

"--Of course," cut in Twilight. "We're friends, good ones at that... That's why I came here, to announce this to you and Shining. I want you two to be involved."

"And I am honored you did that." She leaned up, wings extending a little. "More importantly, I am so very happy. Oh, Twilight... you were always... It is hard to view someone you foalsat for as... not a precious little foal to be protected... I... should have kept you in the loop as we... did things... but it felt so awkward. That you are ready to turn that around and be the bigger mare is humbling."

Not that Twilight was actually larger than the princess that looked down at her. "I.. actually..." She tapped her hooves together awkwardly. "I was ready to rub your noses in how I didn't find out until you two were basically already being married."

"But you didn't... What changed your mind?" Cadance suddenly smiled. "If it helps, I feel embarrassed about that even if you never chastise me about it."

"I blame Sunburst." Twilight gave a most proper nod. "He brought up an excellent point on extenuating circumstances... but since we're talking about it, I can ask. How long were you... replaced, you know, by Chrysalis?"

Cadance's smile faded, smothered by uncomfortable memories. "I'd... rather not think about those times, but your friend, your boyfriend is a kind pony. When his face isn't buried in a book, he is capable of the occasional sudden leap of empathy that belies his usual introverted nature."

"Like me?"

"Yes, like you." She booped Twilight on the nose with the flat of a hoof. "You two... I should have seen it coming. Are you reading a book together? Comparing notes?"

Twilight felt heat rushing back into her cheeks. "How did you know?!"

"It just seemed inevitable that you two would bond that way." Cadance's glowing horn grabbed a small box off a shelf and drew it through the air. "Now... we need to discuss things only mares can freely discuss."

Twilight blinked softly. What could only two mares discuss?! She dared not voice her question, instead locking her eyes on the floating box and the mysteries it contained.

"While affection and emotional bonding are critical, there is another half to romantic relationships that can kill it as surely if left to chance and allowed to decay." She set the box down on her cushion just ahead of herself. "A mare must please their stallion, and be pleased in kind. Twilight Sparkle, I am going to teach you about how two ponies find physical--"

A loud thump interrupted her speech. Twilight had suddenly passed out and was collapsed across the floor. Cadance blinked softly at the sight before she burst into a short little laugh. "Oh dear..." Perhaps her 'grown up' Twilight wasn't quite ready for that discussion.





Sunburst nudged his little miniature representation of himself, if he were a spritely acrobat instead of the bookworm that he was. "When's the next session?"

"Hm? Oh, tomorrow." Shining sat down behind the storyteller's screen. "You'll come, right? I was serious, we should get a chance to tie up loose ends... they'd want a chance to say bye..."

"Of course!" Sunburst willed the figurine up into the air, floating beside his head. "I'll miss them too, and you. I mean, not that I'm going away forever or anything."

"Of course not." Shining tapped a die, making it rattle forward. "But there's a difference between living next to someone and them being a country away."

Sunburst's figure dropped from numb magic. "Oh! We're being silly!"

"Hm?" Shining's ears perked up. "Something hop into that sharp mind of yours?"

"Yes, gotta go." He bounced to his hooves. "I'll be there, tomorrow!" He galloped out of the room without a further word, leaving Shining blinking at the space he had once occupied.

"Huh..." Shining stood up and circled the table. When he could see it, he plucked up the dropped figurine with his magic and set it carefully where it had started. "I'm sure it'll be something great." Sunburst was a reliable pony, he decided. Twilight could have chosen far worse ponies to be with.





Twilight blinked open her eyes with a gasp, looking would wildly. She was in a bedroom in the Crystal Palace. "What... oh..." She remembered what she had fainted in the middle of and began to go dark in the cheeks. "That was not... my most mature moment."

She hopped down to the floor, her hooves clopping on the hard surface as she began circling. "She's going to think I'm just a little filly all over again! Gah!" She threw up a hoof, shaking it at some unseen force she could blame it all on. "I need to... Consider this." She curled the same hoof to her chest and slowly extended it away, breathing with it. "Calm..."

"Twilight?" came a muffled male voice, followed by a soft clopping knock.

"Sunburst? Come in."

The door glowed before Sunburst came trotting in. "Cadance said you'd be in here. Taking a nap?"

"Uh, yeah, something like that." She laughed nervously, eyes darting a moment. "How did things go, with Shining?"

"About that! I need your help. How hard would it be to make something I can see and talk through?"

Twilight slowly blinked. "I know a few spells for that. I'm honestly surprised you don't know more than me, considering your specific studying focuses."

"Well, sure, but I was thinking of an enchantment." Sunburst rolled a hoof. "And I can't really... do those. I was hoping you'd help."

Twilight's expression brightened. Rare was the day she could show up Sunburst's magic knowledge. "Silly stallion. I used a perfect spell for just this situation and it doesn't require enchantment at all! It even works across a great distance."

Sunburst's worry seemed to abate, hope shining in his eyes. "Really?! What spell?!"

"I used it once to provide mentorship to Starlight when she was in Canterlot and I was still in Ponyville," explained Twilight as she turned for the windows, walking away slowly. "Projecting your mind into an inanimate object is surprisingly simple!"

Sunburst blinked slowly, standing still a moment before his head went upright sharply. "Oh, of course! I was looking at this from the wrong angle. I know the spell you're talking about. How did I not think of that?! Yes, yes... I just need the spell..." He circled in place as if it may be written on the walls of the room.

Twilight shook her head. "I know the spell, and if you calm down, I'll gladly share it with you." She pushed open a window with a hoof, allowing some fresh air in. "But you have to listen to my problem. Fair trade."

"You have a problem?" Sunburst crashed to his haunches. "Of course! I mean, I'd listen without you doing me favors at all."

"Thank you." She turned away from the window, moving to sit in front of him on the hard floor. "Now, as we go over this spell, imagine me, alone... with Cadance. We're having a perfectly lovely conversation about love and friendship and... then she brings up... more intimate, uh, physical aspects of love."

Even Sunburst could see Twilight was going more and more red. "It's alright," he tried to reassure. "I mean she is the princess of love... she's gonna do that."

"I know! I know... I even knew at the time, but I still... kinda... passed out." She raised her hooves over her face. "The next thing I knew I was in here, and then you showed up and--"

"I can guess what happened after that." Sunburst leaned forward and kissed her right between the eyes. "It's alright."

Twilight burst into laughter, pushing him away with a hoof. "Thank you, um, but really. That was horrible timing! She must think I'm a little filly all over again. She had just told me she was getting past that, and I couldn't even handle a little mature mare chat?"

Her blush suddenly intensified. "A chat that I never mentioned to you!"

"Never mentioned what?"

"You kn-- Oh, yes, exactly." She nervously laughed, glancing around. "What do I do?!"

"You go get a nice drink of water, calm down, then you walk up to Cadance and tell her you're ready to continue your conversation... assuming you are ready to do that. If not, then you don't, because that's what adult ponies do." He suddenly leaned in close. "Is your brother going to try to give me a similar, uh, talk? I don't think I'm ready for that!"

"You mean he didn't?" Twilight tilted her head, blinking. "What were you two talking about then?

"I mean, he did, kinda? He was very protective and made sure to make sure I knew that. He will not be a happy pony if I don't do my best to be a good boyfriend." He went quiet a moment. "I am... a good boyfriend, right?"

"If ever I feel this is not the case, I will say so. You're not Princess Celestia, I can tell you when you mess up." She stuck out her tongue a little. "But, alright, so no real... advice, just stallion posturing. That's almost adorable." She smiled a little lopsidedly. "BBBFF... So, about that spell! Let's get to that."

"Yes, please!" A book floated from him as a quill joined it. "I am ready to learn. Is it really simple enough for even me to do?"

"Stop selling yourself short. You have only grown as a spellcaster over the time I've known you. You'll get this, I feel confident. Now, to start..."

They spent much of the afternoon going over the spell and practicing it, each taking turns possessing different things they could find in the room. Things with images or, even better, in the shape of a pony were, by far, easier to possess. By the time the sun began to grow heavy in the sky, Sunburst was looking confident in the trick. "And I know exactly how to use it..."