by Magicman7997
~~~
It was far too late in the evening for little fillies to be up. Even if they were studying. Even if they were the daughter of the greatest late night researcher ever. Even if she wasn't a little filly anymore (after all, she was 6th year student at Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, that TOTALLY made her an adult). Nevertheless, here sat Twilight Sunshine, surrounded by mountains of books from every corner of the library. A great yawn escaped her muzzle as she gently closed another tome with her magic. She'd been at this for a few hours now. How in the wide world of Equestria could her mother's library not contain a single book that explained the feeling she got every time she saw HIM...
There it was again. That warm feeling between her nethers. It made her squirm on the cushion she was seated upon. It wasn't a bad feeling per say, just very different. Sunshine couldn't understand it. He was just an Earth pony. A handsome Earth pony. A rugged, handsome, muscular...
“UGH!” she exclaimed to no one in particular. “This is ridiculous! All this knowledge at my hooves and none of it HELPS!” It was in the midst of her fit that the sound of hoofsteps began to fill the lower library. Twitching her ears to the sound, the younger Twilight gathered her wits and realized that if she was caught out of her bed after lights out, she was a dead mare. Snuffing the candles she'd been using, Sunny quickly dove for a nearby couch and began the most obvious fake snores in the history of pony kind.
“It's too late Sunny dear. If the smell of freshly snuffed candles didn't give you away, then me seeing you from the staircase, did.” Strolling quietly down the remainder of the stairs, Princess Cadance entered the library proper accompanied by the soft pink light from her horn. Her daughter's snoring became a little louder in the hopes that it might convince her mother that she really was genuine. That all came crashing down when Cadance reached the couch that Sunny had flopped onto. With the speed of Celestia's elite guard, Cady quickly buried her muzzle into Sunny's barrel and blew the biggest raspberry she could.
“HEHEHEHEHEHE! Stop it mom! Cut it out!” Sunny rolled over to her hooves and stretched out. “Wow, huh, guess I fell asleep down here? Well, I'll just be off to my room now! Thanks for coming to get me mom.” Sunny attempted to pass by and was instantly stopped by her mother's extended hoof. With a nervous gulp, she looked into her mother's eyes, “I'm busted aren't I?”
“To quote Mac, 'Eeyup'.”
Sighing in defeat, the young pink unicorn sat on her haunches and hung her head. Looking like a prisoner waiting for the gallows, Sunny waited for her mother to pass judgment. “Mom, I can explain...”
“Please do.”
“I...I needed to find a book. A book on why...” Sunshine blushed hard as the thought of talking to her mother about this subject hit her. “Why I feel the way I do about er.. I mean why do I start thinking these kind of things I want to do with...”
Giving her daughter a knowing look, Cadance flicked her wing open to offer it in an embrace. Sunshine didn't hesitate to accept the offer of comfort. Pressing herself against her mother, Sunshine sighed, “Mom, Momma, what's wrong with me?”
Grinning to herself, Cady replied the only way she knew how, “What's his name?”
Shocked would be an understatement. Sunshine was absolutely floored. She couldn't believe that she was so easy to read. Course, when you're mother's special talent is love, maybe she shouldn't have been. Nuzzling into her mother a little closer, she dreamily sighed. “Crispin.”
Now it was Cadance's turn to be surprised. “Really? Fluttershy and Big Mac's son?” Her daughter nodded to the affirmative. “Wow, he's quite the handsome boy. Glad to see you got my eye for special someponies,” giggled the crystal princess. The blush against Sunny's cheeks reddened even farther. “So, have you told him?”
“Yes, we've been spending time together when I go to Sweet Apple Acres every weekend. I told him I thought he was cute and he, he...”
“Umhmm”
“He told me I was the most beautiful thing he's ever seen.” If it were possible, Twilight Sunshine was quite sure her face could ignite a forest fire. “Ever since then, I haven't looked at him the same. He's looked, better. Like he's the perfect image of a stallion. And, sometimes, when I think about him, I get this funny feeling in my stomach and my (ahem) filly bits get warm. Momma, I don't understand. I was hoping to find a book to explain these feelings to me, but I can't find anything. Can you tell me what wrong with me?”
Hugging her daughter tighter, Cadance spoke gently, “Nothing is wrong with you my dear Sunshine. You are growing up. You are about to become a young mare.” Cadance looked into her daughter's eyes and steeled her resolve. This was the moment she and her wife Twilight Sparkle had both looked forward to and feared in equal measure. Soon, Sunny would have her first heat cycle. Which, also meant, that soon, their little filly wouldn't be their little filly anymore. “You know all about estrus and how it works, right Sunny?” Her daughter nodded that she did. “Well, then you know, as part of the cycle your body produces a slew of chemicals that make you feel, a little bothered. All that is happening is your body is telling you that you are in season. And with that, your mind is taking your feelings for Crispin and just making them a little warmer.” Cadance did her best to give a gentle smile of reassurance to her daughter. If she was brutally honest with herself, the thought of her daughter being sexually active, with anypony, was a bit disheartening. Not because she was afraid (because, she was terrified), but because it was just one more nail in her daughter's fillyhood coffin.
“Do you...Do you ever feel this way Momma? With Mommy?”
As younglings, it had been decided that Twilight the elder was Mommy and Cadance would always be Momma Though in later years, both Sunny and her brother Shining Shield had taken to calling both parents just Mom. Hearing her daughter slip back into her fillyhood speech, even if just for a moment, tugged hard on Cady's heartstrings. With a warm smile, she looked into her child's eyes, “Yes, more than I can ever explain.”
“What does it mean?”
“It means, that in some small way, you connect with the pony you see that way. That you feel so safe and loved with this pony, that you're willing to share everything, including yourself with them.”
“And that's okay?”
“Well, there will be those that say you should really be married before you do anything like that. Course, those are usually the same that say ponies like your Mommy and I shouldn't be together. But the way I see it, so long as you understand that there are responsibilities involved with it, and that you two truly feel this way about each other, then there is no greater way to show your love for one another.”
Sunshine felt her body relax at her mother's words. She hugged her tightly, “Thank you Momma. I love you so very much.”
“I love you too my only Sunshine. But now, we really should both be in bed. So, scoot your happy tail up those stairs young mare. We'll talk more about this tomorrow.” Both mares raised to their hooves and Sunshine began to ascend. As she walked up, Cady said, “And Sunny, if you ever need to talk, ask questions, or feel like you don't understand something that's happening to you or between you and Crispin, please come to me. Or Mommy. We love you so very much and we'd do anything to help you.”
“I will Momma G'night!” Sunshine entered her bedroom and softly closed the door behind her. With a sigh and a smile, Cadance entered her own bedchambers. Easing herself back into bed with her wife, Cady nuzzled into her lavender alicorn lover.
“Hmm, Cady, where'd you go?” a groggy Twilight asked. “You've been out of bed for almost an hour.”
“Downstairs, with Sunny. Seems she inherited your knack for late night study sessions.”
“What in Equestria could Sunny have been studying this late? Finals are in the next couple of days at the school and she's acing all of her classes.”
“Oh, it wasn't cramming for finals. She was studying something else.”
“What was she studying?”
“Stallions.”