//------------------------------// // Lunch // Story: Goodnight Sunset, Good Morning Sunrise // by Twilight Nightmare //------------------------------// While the last few hours had given Celestia a bit of a headache dealing with Discord and her lawyer, the former arguing against adding Sunset to her will as sole benefactor. Sunrise…she had to remember that her new daughter’s name was Sunrise now. In the end though, she managed to get what she wanted done and had her lawyer write up a will leaving every single penny to Sunrise if anything happened to her. Looking across the table to the two girls helped ease her mind, though to be honest she was a little shocked. As much as she prayed that Sunrise would make friends, she wasn’t naive enough to believe it was going to happen so fast. Even the few girls who were friends with Twilight Sparkle and promised to keep an eye out on Sunrise probably wouldn’t warm up to the girl so easily. Yet here was Fluttershy, the least likely of the girls in Celestia’s mind to give a chance to Sunrise because of the girl’s fearful and meek demeanor. Sure Fluttershy was kind and everything, but Sunrise had bullied the girl pretty badly sometimes. Seeing how the two seemed so close warmed Celestia’s heart, though she had to wonder if perhaps they were being too close too quickly. She had nothing against same sex couples, and if the two fell in love she would be happy for them. What she didn’t want for them was for them to jump into a relationship that could end up potentially hurting both of them in the end. For now though all she could do was hope for the best as she didn’t want to get between them unless it became necessary. “So Cel…Mom, what have you been doing this morning?” Sunrise asked as she wolfed down another chicken strip, the second order the girl ordered. It was the second order actually which reminded the woman how little she knew of what happened to the girl this past week. She knew a little, Sunrise had told her before falling back asleep on the couch watching television this morning. She knew that Sunrise hadn’t eaten in days and it had broken Celestia’s heart when she heard it and did so again seeing a reminder of it. “I…had some business I had to take care of as well as drop off the adoption papers. The quicker they get filed the better.” Celestia said, smiling as she realized Sunrise had called her mom. She doubted she would want to admit it to her sister or Discord, but being called that made Celestia so happy. She could feel the hole in her heart healing already as she had something she always dreamed about. She wished she knew of the girl’s situation sooner, maybe she would have adopted her before now. It just felt so…right adopting the girl. “What about you, you girls seem to be getting along. Did something happen?” “Sunrise saved me from Gilda and we sat and talked.” Fluttershy said quietly, fidgeting a little at becoming the center of attention. “Well, Fluttershy stood up for me against Rainbow Dash.” Sunrise said, sipping on her soda as if it was no big deal. The way that Fluttershy blushed said otherwise though as Celestia quirked an eyebrow in question. It was a little shocking to not only hear that Fluttershy stood up to somebody over Sunrise, but to stand up to her best friend was jaw dropping. “What happened?” Celestia asked slowly, trying to contain her anger at both Gilda and Rainbow Dash. Gilda was one of those few students Celestia didn’t feel was redeemable. If possible, Celestia would do whatever she could to set the girl on the right path, but she was just the type didn’t care and truly thought hurting others was okay. Rainbow Dash on the other hand could be brash, but she was a good person. To hear that she had done something to Sunrise to make even Fluttershy stand up to her was enough to make the older woman feel protective. “Gilda pushed me down and Sunrise chased her off.” Fluttershy said, giving a smile to Sunrise before looking back down to her plate a little shyly. “Rainbow said…I was eating from the trash.” Sunrise sighed, fidgeting herself in place as her eyes darted back and forth a few moments. Finally she sighed in defeat as if giving into something. “It was earlier in the week, it had been awhile since I’ve eaten and I ran into this older homeless woman…I think her name was Maria. She started showing me how to survive being homeless…but…when she took me to the dumpster by a restaurant…I almost threw up. She was showing me how to find food in the trash, but it smelled so bad I couldn’t handle it. Rainbow Dash must have seen me there with her…” “Oh Sunrise!” Fluttershy gasped, covering her mouth as Sunrise obviously fought off tears. Fluttershy shocked both Celestia and Sunrise when she leaned over to hug the flame haired girl. “You will never have to worry about that again.” Celestia said as she moved her chair to the other side of Sunrise and hugged the girl as well. “Never again, Sunrise…we won’t let anything bad happen to you again.” Fluttershy said, her trademark shyness nowhere present in the conviction filling her voice. “Th-thanks.” Sunrise sniffed as she wrapped her arms around both of them. ~~~ Sunrise couldn’t help smiling as she sat curled up on the couch back home while Celestia worked on some paperwork for the school at the counter in the kitchenette. She kept stealing glances at the woman, noticing how similar she was to pony Celestia while being so different. Sure the woman had tried helping her before, but she never knew that she cared this much. Celestia hadn’t adopted her on a whim like Sunrise may have first suspected. She could tell that the woman genuinely loved her, and if Sunrise was honest with herself, she loved the woman back. It just felt that they belonged together as mother and daughter. It felt so…right… It had only cost her the one thing that was constant in her life, her first name. As she thought about it, she understood that it was for the best as it would at least be distinctive if the human Sunset Shimmer ever showed up. Still, she did kind of wish she could have kept Sunset as her name in a way. If it gave her this new life and new home with Celestia though, it was worth giving up. What was a name compared to life with a woman who truly viewed you as a daughter, a roof over your head with a warm bed, and food on the table. Yeah, she was happy to give up her name for all of this. Getting up from the couch Sunrise turned the television off and dropped the remote on the coffee table. She really wasn’t paying attention to what was on it anyways, but she had a question she just thought about. As she sat down next to Celestia, she watched quietly as the woman signed a paper and putting it in a stack of other similarly signed paperwork. “You okay, honey?” Celestia asked, the term filling Sunrise with a warmth at being addressed like that. “Well, I kind of had a question.” Sunrise asked softly, almost afraid to ask. “Where will I be sleeping?” “In my bed of course.” Celestia said as she carefully straightened the stack of papers and slid them in her briefcase. As she shut it, Sunrise swallowed nervously, her eyes widened a little while trying to figure out if the woman meant that the way it sounded. Surely not, Celestia thought of her as a daughter, right? “I’ll be sleeping on the couch.” “Let me sleep on the couch.” Sunrise said, a nervous giggle escaping her lips as relief filled her. “I don’t want to put you out.” “It’s only for a few days, Sunrise. I…own a few houses, and now that I have you I can justify living in a bigger place.” Celestia explained, “I’m going to pack some tomorrow while you’re out with Fluttershy, and while we are at school Monday the movers will take everything to our new place.” “I don’t want to cause any trouble.” Sunrise said fidgeting. “It’s no trouble, I really want to do this. Only reason I kept this place was because it’s small and easy to clean. I really didn’t see a reason to stay in a bigger place. Only question I have is…pool or no pool.” Celestia asked, getting tackled by Sunset who squealed excitedly making the woman laugh.