The Equestria Offensive

Sparkle family home, March 20th, 6:47 A.M., 2013

Midnight and Twilight had been staying with their parents for two weeks, now. Midnight had been balancing between his time with Rainbow Dash, and his time he had spent with his parents. Having been gone from home for 12 years, he had felt it was imperative that he spend time with his parents, as a way to catch up with what he had missed for oh so long. Neither his father nor his mother objected to the idea. They both actually loved the idea of spending time with Midnight. Twilight had began going to the local library every morning to check out a series of books. She had a colossal collection of books at home, but she had already read them all when she still had been staying with her parents a few years ago. Her parents had nowhere near as much interest in reading as she did. The most reading that either of them did was Mr. Sparkle reading the morning paper. So she found herself, in her free time, blowing through the entire stack of books she’d check out in one day, then bringing them back the next morning to pick up more. After breakfast, she picked up her stack of books and began heading out the front door. “Alright, I’m off to the library. Be home in a few minutes.”

“Alright, honey. Stay safe on the way there and back.”

“Don’t worry mom, I’ll be fine.” She closed the door and started off on the largest stone trail. After walking for a few minutes she came upon the bridge. Passing over the bridge and following the trail for a few more minutes, she finally came up to the front door of the library.

“Ah, Twilight. Welcome back. Here for another set of books, I see.” A short, light-blue pony, with her dark-blue mane braided all the way down the back had greeted Twilight’s entrance from behind a short desk. Her voice was gentle, yet raspy as it showed it’s deterioration with age. “You can just set them up here, I can mark them as checked in for you.”

“Alright, thank you, Mrs. Ray. I’ll be back in minute with another set of books.” Twilight replied as she set her stack of books on the desk. She then walked around the corner of a far bookshelf marked “Pony History”. As she turned the corner, a certain colt putting books away had caught her attention. A light-blue unicorn with a long, wavy, dark-blue mane curling around his horn, and a short, dark-blue tail had been taking books off of a cart, and putting them back onto the shelves. His cutie mark was a red book folded open. His eyes were a bright, sky-blue. Twilight’s infatuation was almost instant. Her eyes grew wide, mouth gaping open, cheeks flushing red, and stood as still as a rock. “Sweet Celestia” She thought, “This is the moment that I’ve been waiting for; the moment that I talked with Applejack about. He’s just perfect. I think I’m in love. Should I approach him? But what if he doesn’t like me? I don’t know if I’d ever be able to come to this library again.” Her thoughts were racing through her head uncontrollably. “No, I might not get another chance like this. I need to talk to him.” She began to slowly walk up to him, slowly and steadily. Sweat began to run down her face more and more with every step she took closer to him. “Come on, Twilight.” She thought, “You can do this. You need to do this.” Finally reaching the colt at the end of the hallway, she struggled to bring herself to speak. “Um, h-hi...”

The pony turned his head towards Twilight. As soon as his eyes met her’s, his eyes instantly grew as wide as Twilight’s; flushing-red cheeks, almost as bright as her’s. “Uh, h-hey. Um, i-is there something I-I can help you with?”

“I-I’d j-just like to talk. I mean, if you’re not busy...”

“N-No, not at all. I’ve got time.” He was struggling to speak just as much as she was, but neither of them could see it.

“W-Well, maybe w-we could start by...introducing ourselves.”

“S-sure, that sounds good to me. M-My name... is Starbuck; Starbuck Ray. But everypony just calls me Starbuck.”

“I-It’s nice to meet you. Mine... is Twilight; Twilight Sparkle.”

“Wow, Twilight, what a beautiful name.”

“Thanks, I guess I like your name, too. You said your last name is Ray. Are you related to Mrs. Ray, the librarian here?”

“Yeah, of course I am. She’s my grandmother. I’ve been working here at the family library for some time now.”

“That’s awesome. I work in a library, too. I own the library in Ponyville.”

“Wow; Ponyville? That’s pretty far away. What’re you doing all the way up here in Canterlot?”

“Well, my brother and I have been staying with my parents here in Canterlot for the past two weeks. We’re both here on royal business with Princess Celestia.”

“Wow, that’s amazing! How’d you get connections with the Princess?”

“Well, that’s a long story, and because you’re working, I don’t think you really have the time.”

“Well, we’ll have all the time in the world when I’m done in a few hours. What say you come back here after 11:00, and I take you to my favorite place in Canterlot so we can talk alone?”

“That would be simply wonderful.”

“So, see you in a few hours?”

“I’ll be sure to be here.”

“Alright, I gotta get back to work. See you later, Twilight.”

“Bye, Starbuck.” He returned to putting the books onto the shelves, and Twilight had walked away from the Pony History section, the section that she had picked from everyday, and found herself in a different section; the romance section. “Wow” She thought as she scanned the shelves, “That went better then expected.” She came upon a book that seemed to fit the moment quite well and decided to get more like it from this new section. After she gathered up all the new books and checked them out at the front, she turned back to find that Starbuck was watching her with love-stricken eyes. He blushed once he realised she was looking back and went back to work. Twilight giggled and blushed back. She picked up the books and left the library, sighing with anticipation for the date that was going to transpire in a few hours.

After trotting back up the trail to her home, all the while fantasizing about her new colt friend, Twilight entered her house and let out another sigh. Her parents were in the living room and turned their attention to her when they heard. “Something wrong, dear?” Her father asked.

“Oh no. Nothing’s wrong. In fact, everything is perfect. *sigh* Just perfect.” She trotted to her room and placed the books on her desk. Searching for the right book, she finally decided on one with the title, “The Fallen Rose”. Twilight opened the book and began to read. Or, at least, she tried to, but with each new line came a new image of the blue-maned colt she had fallen so hard for. She looked out the window in the direction the library would be in, just thinking about her first date. She forced herself to read to pass the time, to get to her Starbuck faster.

Just as she finished the book, the clock struck eleven. Twilight looked up and let out a loud *squee!*. She slammed the book closed, threw it on her bed, and ran out the door. “I’m going out real quick! Bye!”. Half way there though, she slowed to a slow gallop, fearing that when she arrived she might be out of breath and sweaty. Twilight came up to the entrance, took a deep breath, and entered the library.

“Oh dear, I’m sorry but the library is closed as of five minutes ago.” Mrs. Ray said to Twilight as she was putting away the last of a few carelessly placed books.

“Actually Grandma,” Starbuck insisted. “She’s here for me. Earlier today we kinda made some plans.” He said while blushing at Twilight.

Twilight followed suit and blushed right back. Mrs. Ray looked between the two of them, dumbfounded. Until it hit her. “Oh! How lovely! My little grandson and my best customer have found love, together!” As she said that Twilight and Starbuck both blushed even more and shifted uncomfortably. “Carry on, don’t mind me. I was just leaving!” She headed towards the door and turned back. “After you’re both done with this little date, would you mind locking up the place, dearies?” And with that, she left. Both ponies were left standing there with nothing to say to break the awkward silence.

“S-So, Starbuck, what were we planning on doing?

“Well, I do have the perfect place to hang out and get to know each other some more. It’s in the park, this one tree that I’ve shared many memories under. And I guess I kinda figured, why not make another memory, with you I mean.” Starbuck was finding it hard to express himself, and Twilight took notice.

“Aw, that’s so sweet. I would love to go to the park with you, Starbuck.”

“A-Awesome! Alright then, let’s go!” Twilight could see that Starbuck was just as excited as she was, which just made her happier. She never thought that this would be so easy and feel so right. As they walked out the door Twilight reminded Starbuck, “Don’t forget to lock up!”

“Oh, right!” Starbuck went back to the door and pulled out some keys. He locked the door and put the keys away. “Alright, now let’s go to that park I told you about.” They started off down another stone trail towards the park. As they were walking, Twilight took in all the beauty and serenity, and found herself leaning into Starbuck affectionately. She was about to pull away when she realized he too was leaning in with the same affection. A smile grew on her face, and she closed her eyes as she leaned in closer to Starbuck.

“Okay, we’re here.” Starbuck said suddenly. Twilight opened her eyes. They were under an enormous, beautiful tree. She turned around and saw that they had walked quite a long ways from the library. Though it seemed to be mere seconds, minutes have passed without notice. Was this love? She had no idea, but whatever it was she liked it. The two ponies came up to the side of the large tree and sat next to each other. Starbuck pulled out a book from the bag he had brought along. “Want me t-to read to you, Twilight?” He asked timidly.

“Well I doubt there’s a book in that whole library that I haven’t-” But she was cut off by the sight of the title. Twilight read the title out loud, slowly. “‘Equestrian Hearts’...strange, I haven’t read this one.”

“So you wouldn’t mind if I read it to you?” Starbuck asked again, holding the book out for her to see the rest of the cover and spine. The book was beautiful. “I picked this one because it reminded me of you.” They both began blushing intensely.

“Alright, just this once.” Twilight answered while giggling. They nuzzled up close against the tree. Starbuck opened the book and began reading.

“Chapter 1: The Heart and Mind. On such a cold winter’s night, where the last leaves had fallen from the trees, and the thick white blanket of snow had covered the ground as far as the eye could see, the last thing that I expected to find was the warming heart of another; right by my side, keeping my heart and mind warm. What I had found, was myself to be alone on the abandon nighttime roads of Manehatten. The streets were near mute; with only sounds of a light breeze, and the faint buzzing coming from the a flickering street light by a dark alleyway. The night had seemed like most any other night in my life. I had left from work just a few minutes before. The frost bite had that had grown on my nose, the only part that had been sticking out of my warm apparel, was almost instant as I stepped out the doorway. The smallest of breezes that had blown themselves by had felt colder than the coldest gales in The Frostmane Peaks. I didn’t expect tonight to be any different; but I couldn't have been more wrong. As I walked down the empty sidewalk, I began to contemplate my place in this world. I worked the same, tedious desk job every night. I went home to nothing but my lonely self. My free time was little to none, and when I had any, I could never find even the tiniest shred of entertainment. My life had been in this rut for the years and I just brushed it off. But it began to become less and less tolerable. It set under my skin, and became an itch I didn’t know how to scratch. I had no idea what to do. Then, it hit me. A filly with a beautiful lavender coat and a long, flowing violet mane had stepped out the front door of the local library just down the street; her beautiful amethyst eyes staring into the black night sky, with nothing but a torn black scarf to keep her warm. It had hit me right away. “This is the moment that I’ve been waiting for.” I had thought. I had picked up my pace down the sidewalk, but not so fast it seemed like I was after the poor girl. “Hey, you gonna walk home with only that on?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. I don’t live too far from here.”

“Alright, but in this cold? Here, take my coat.” I said as I took off my warm jacket and threw it over her, hoping she’d accept my generous act.”

“Oh, thank you. But won’t you be cold?”

“Nah, I’ll be fine. I walk home at this time every night.” This was obviously a lie. My entire body had become numb when I took my jacket off from the exposure to the harsh weather.

“Well, that’s very kind of you. Thank you. Would you care to walk to my house with me?”

“I’d love to.“ At this point, I was completely dumbfounded. I didn’t think I’d be this far so fast. Albeit, I didn’t know a thing about her but her face and voice. But compared to most times in my life, I felt like I was accomplishing something. We began walking, and for the first minute or so, our conversation was lacking. It wasn’t until we got into the residential area that either of us said a word. Not until she finally spoke up.

“So, you said you’re out here this late every night, right?”

“Yeah, I’ve got a night shift desk job at Hoofington Inc.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yeah...really.”

“No way! My daddy owns that place.”

“Really? You’re Mr. Hoofington’s daughter? To be quite honest, I didn’t think that he had a daughter.”

“It’s okay, I hear that a lot. He doesn’t have the most of appealing personalities to anypony who isn’t family.”

“Yeah, I can definitely see that in him.” Another awkward silence broke out. I knew I had to keep the conversation up if I wanted to keep getting closer to her. “So, what were you doing out here so late?”

“Well, if you must know, I’ve been living alone lately; I just moved out of my parents house a few months ago. I’ve kinda been getting a little lonely lately, so I’ve been coming out to the library and checking out a romantic novel or two.”

“Oh, I see. I’ve been living on my own for a few years, now.”

“Aww, that sounds sad. How have you been holding up?”

“I’ve been fine, my life has just been slow; kinda going nowhere right now.” After all the time, walking in the bitter cold, we finally came to a stop at her doorstep. “Well, I guess this is where we split paths. You can keep the coat, umm... I never caught your name.”

“My name is Amethyst Hoofington.”

“Wow, what a beautiful name. Mine is Cobalt. I hope we can talk again sometime.”

Twilight had been keeping close to Starbuck, eyes on the book, blinking but once or twice, and following along right where he had been reading. She enjoyed going at a slower pace rather than her usual frantic way of reading. No matter how fast she read, the information she gathered just stuck. Though at this slower pace, Twilight could really feel herself within the story. Feeling every emotion as if it were her own, hearing every word as if spoken directly to her. She caught herself getting closer and closer to Starbuck with each page read. And she liked his warmth, his soft voice entrancing her. With each new chapter came more and more romance than Twilight had ever read before. She found herself sighing and catching her breath at a particularly important parts. Starbuck seemed to notice because each time this happened a slight smile would appear on his face, making Twilight blush. Starbuck pulled her in closer, reassuringly, and Twilight let him. She closed her eyes and just listened to Starbuck as he read to her; getting lost in his words and her imagination. With his sweet, silver-tongued voice, and the soft whisper with every word he breathed from the pages, Twilight fell deeper into a harmonious trance of the love and adoration that she could feel from Starbuck’s warming heart; melting her heart as it melted his. The book had brought itself to a point where Cobalt had joined the lovely Amethyst in her fire-warmed home. The mood had been set; the two slowly warming up to each other. Twilight began contemplating whether or not she should take advantage of this moment to make a move or not. The timing was nearly perfect, but not perfect enough. She wanted to give it more time; letting the story arch flow until it came to just the right time. Starbuck had turned the page, and came to Cobalt waiting on the couch. Soon after, Amethyst had come out of her bedroom, and joined him on the couch. Neither of the characters speaking for a few pages, until Cobalt had finally tried to get a sentence out. But as he tried to speak, Amethyst jumped on him, reaching in for a kiss, and as Amethyst made her move, so did Twilight; jumping onto Starbuck, knocking the book out of her way, and locking her lips with his. Twilight, having this been her first ever kiss, had no idea what it was going to feel like. But what she had felt had been a greater feeling then any book could ever tell her. She could feel his hoofs reaching around to the back of her head; Starbuck’s moist lips touching her’s. Twilight felt his warm breath, as she breathed her’s into his mouth. Starbuck pulled away slowly, as did Twilight; both ponies holding each other close.

“You’re just perfect, Twilight.”

“You’re everything I ever wanted in a man. Please, don’t let this moment end; not just yet.” She pulled him back and brought their lips together again. They lied together, in the grass, under the tree, and feeling each other’s heart-felt affection until the sun had begun to set below the endless horizon.

After the sun had set, and the luminescent full moon had positioned itself high in the night’s sky, Starbuck had walked Twilight back to her home; ready to meet her parents and brother for the first time. Twilight had opened the door in front of him, and stepped inside to greet her parents. “Mom, Dad, I’d like both of you to meet somepony.” Starbuck stepped through the doorway, just a little behind Twilight. “This is Starbuck. I met him today at the library. We got to talking and found we had a bit in common. So, we decided to take our day and spend it in the park together. We spent the entire day talking and reading together, and we found out that we have a lot in common. So, as of today, we decided that we’re going to start dating.”

“Oh, how sweet, Twilight!” Her mother exclaimed, “We’re both really happy for you.”

“My little girl’s finally growing up.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. and Mrs. Sparkle.” He held his hoof out to Mr. Sparkle as he got up out of his chair. Mr. Sparkle reached up and greeted Starbuck with a returning hoofshake.

“Pleasure to meet the boy who’s gonna make my little girl happy. Wish we could stay and chat, but the Mrs. and I gotta get going. We got some friends to meet for some time out at the casino.”

“Okay, fair enough.” Twilight acknowledged, “Do you know where Midnight is? He still needs to meet Starbuck.”

“Yeah, he left a few hours ago. He said he was going to some filly named Applejack’s house.”

“Wait, is today the 20th already?”

“Yeah, what about it?”

Twilight let out a little chuckle. “Oh, nothing. It’s just Applejack’s birthday today, and Midnight made a promise to her for her birthday.”

“Well, alright. We’re not gonna try and figure out things we probably don’t wanna know. We’ll be heading out, then. Don’t do anything you wouldn’t do if we were here.”

“Don’t worry, Dad. We won’t.” Mr. and Mrs. Sparkle walked out the door, side by side, and Mr. Sparkle had shut the door behind them. “It’s too bad that Midnight isn’t here. I really wish you could’ve met him, tonight.”

“That’s alright. There’s always next time. And I’m definitely planning on seeing you again sometime.”

“Aww, you’re so sweet.”

“Hey, Twi. I’m home.” Midnight was standing in the doorway, slouched over on the doorframe. “Who’s your friend.

"Oh hey, Midnight; perfect timing. I’d like you to meet somepony. Midnight, this is my new boyfriend, Starbuck. Starbuck, this is my older brother, Midnight.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Midnight.” Starbuck held his hoof out to Midnight, expecting a hoofshake. Midnight simply stared at him; starting with a stare of sheer disapproval.

“No. Twilight, I don’t want you dating him.”

“What?! Who ever said that was for you to decide?!”

“You’re too young, Twilight.”

“Really, Midnight? I’m too young. I’m 17 years old. I think I’m capable of making my own decisions.”

“I’ve seen how irrationally you think when you’re driven by your strong emotions.”

“Midnight, the only pony acting irrationally because of their strong emotions right now is you. Just please, give it a chance.”

Not liking the idea of his little sister, the pony that he felt that he had to keep safe, dating somepony he didn’t know had held in his mind. But nevertheless, Midnight kept his defenses to himself. "Alright, fine! I'll let you date him, Twilight.” He turned his attention to Starbuck. “But if I ever find that you even made her shed the smallest of fucking tears, you better start praying to fucking Celestia that I have even the slightest big of mercy on your pathetic little fucking soul!” Midnight had nearly pressed his forehead to Starbuck’s Midnight’s horn touching Starbuck’s head, and Starbuck’s horn touching Midnight’s head; both ponies could feel their eyes nearly touching. “You got that?!"

“*gulp* Got it...” Starbuck replied, feeling the sweat beating down his face.

“Good. Now, even though I approved, I still don’t like you.” Midnight trotted away, shooting fire out of his nose as he went down the hallway to his bedroom.

“I’m really sorry, Starbuck. He’s not normally like this. I don’t know what’s gotten into him. I’m sure he’s just a little stressed. He probably doesn’t hate you.

A faint, “Yes I do.” Came down the hall from Midnight’s bedroom.

“It’s okay; I’m sure this will brush over soon enough.”

“Well, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow, Twilight.”

“Alright.” She reached up and gave him one last kiss on the lips, just before he went out the front door, and walked home. The smile across her face disappeared as Starbuck stepped out, and an angry glare came across her face as she stared down the hall towards Midnight’s room. As she slammed his door open, Midnight quickly jolted up in his bed. “What the hell is wrong with you, Midnight?!”

“What’s wrong with me?! What’s wrong with you?!”

“There is nothing wrong with Starbuck, and you’re just too stuck up to see that!”

“I still don’t want you to date somepony I don’t know!”

“How bad do you think he could be?! He works with his grandmother in the family’s public library!”

“Yeah, but that’s one thing. There could be a whole other side to him that you don’t know!”

“He is one of the sweetest ponies you could ever know and you have yet to give him a chance! You know what we did today?! We sat under a tree together and he read a book to me! Does that sound like he’s some shifty guy with another side to you?!”

“I’m just not gonna trust him until I get to know him, okay?!”

“I just don’t see why you’re acting so irrational. You’ve always seemed like one of the most clear headed ponies I have ever known.”

“I’m sorry, Twilight. It’s just that we just got the family back together, and now that you’ve gotten a boyfriend, I don’t want to see him taking the family apart.”

“Midnight, don’t worry, our family’s not gonna be torn apart because I have a boyfriend.”

“I know, it’s just hard. Just give me a chance to get to know him first before I trust him.”

“I understand, but you’re still being too over protective.  I’m almost 18, Midnight.”

“Yes, I know; you’re growing up. And it’s hard to see you growing up so fast. Just give me some time to think alone in my room, alright?”

“Alright, I’ll give you time alone. Maybe in the morning we can talk on my way to the library. That sound good?”

“Yeah, and maybe I could pick up a book on learning Caelian.”

“Sounds good to me, I’ll see you in the morning then, Midnight.” She closed the door behind her; yet she was still distraught about Midnight’s concerns.