Seashell

by Winston

Dear Princess Twilight Sparkle

Seashell
XIII

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Dear Princess Twilight Sparkle,

I received your letter, waiting for me upon my return to Canterlot from duty on the Seawall. I regret that I was not able to respond any sooner, but of course the Seawall is too distant and isolated for mail service to be available there. It is a very lonely place.

I'm extremely happy for both you and Captain Rainbow Dash, and deeply pleased to hear that you're finally able to pursue a romantic relationship in the open in the same way any other couple would be able to. Hunting through old newspaper issues in the Canterlot Library to get myself caught up on things here in Equestria after my return, I did note that in the first days after your public acknowledgement of your relationship there was the expected controversy and public hesitance about the idea of a princess romantically involving herself with another mare, especially a close member of her staff. I know that your situation must have been difficult, and that it must have been exactly these kinds of hazards and issues both you and Captain Dash feared so much. I'm sorry that those kinds of things helped keep you apart for so long. However, I was also highly satisfied to see that any such problems were largely quenched after Princesses Celestia and Luna put their hooves down firmly in your support.

I was also humbled to learn that you had put in your recommendation that I receive a decoration. Your gratitude is very flattering to me, but no special thanks are necessary.

It is the duty of any protector to look after her master's well-being, and of any soldier to do what her nation and its leaders need her to. That's really all I did, if perhaps in a way not strictly considered conventional.

A few roses may have been an unusual choice of weapon, but I found that they were just the thing called for in helping you achieve this victory.

I did of course face a difficult decision about how far the scope of such a duty extends. I worried for a very long time that to do or to say anything would be overstepping the bounds of subordination and obedience. I was scared of doing more harm than good. I'll be honest and tell you that I doubted myself. I had difficulty in admitting to myself what I was seeing. I thought at first that it would be for the best if I simply kept your secret silently. I found in the end that I couldn't do that - living a lie, and seeing the two of you living in suffering for it, is something that my conscience just wouldn't let me accept restfully.

As to the question of how I knew about you and Rainbow Dash and why I was finally driven to act as I did... I've wondered that at times myself. It still seems like a dream in some ways, and a little unreal even to me that I would be caught up in such a simultaneously wonderful and frightening thing as bringing about a realization of true love. It all seems very much like something out of a fairy tale, doesn't it?

All I can tell you with certainty right now is that I heard it in the voice of a child and the song of a seashell.

If that seems esoteric (and I know it does, I'm sorry), a better and more detailed explanation might be in the things I've already written over the course of the time I was in that situation. For that reason, you'll find enclosed with this letter copies I've made of some selected entries from a journal I kept while all this was going on. These excerpts are all numbered and dated and in the proper order, of course, for your convenience.

I hope that these will help make everything clear. I feel greatly honored to have been able to play a part in all this.

Proud to have served you,
Sunburst

PS., Please tell Azure Sky that I said hello, and that I hope she's not staying up too late at night, even if it is understandable for a worthy cause like reading to pursue knowledge. Little ponies need their rest!

Comments

[Unbridled Dolly]

Yayyy! Happy ending! Will there be any more?

[Winston]

4329528 Story's not marked complete yet! One more tomorrow.

[Unbridled Dolly]

4329655 Awww yeah!

[Krickis]

This is wonderful news. I had expected it, as it is the logical continuation, but it did not in any way lower my enjoyment at reading it. I would say more but I must read one more chapter, and I am loathe to wait..