“Twilight! Twilight!” Dusk Midnight Melody burst through the doors of his old teacher’s library, a look of utter panic on his face warring with feelings of complete joy in his heart. Although Twilight, no, ‘Princess’ Twilight, wasn't his teacher anymore since his graduation from her classes a few months ago, the dark blue pegasus still went to her with any problem he had.
And by Equestria was this a problem!
Frantically he called her name once more before the sound of clopping hooves from the stairs outside the library reached his ears. A small semblance of calm entered his being at the sound of her measured hoofsteps.
“Dusk Melody, what in the wide world of Equestria is wrong?”
Panic threatened to resurface, and Dusk flapped his wings in agitation, hovering a few feet from the floor of the library. “Twilight! Thank the sun and moon! Help…I need, please…help!”
Twilight took a deep breath, “Right. From the top, tell me what's happened.”
“Well, I…you see, I…” Dusk trailed off, still maintaining his panicked hover.
“Has something happened to Luna, or Octavia?” Twilight asked, fishing for clues as to what had wound up her former student.
“I…wait, what?” Dusk landed with a bit of a thud, confused slightly. “No, it's nothing like that, my parents are fine…no, this is worse, much worse…”
“Okay, is anything wrong with Celestia then?”
“No! Aunt Tia is perfectly fine! Everypony is fine!” Dusk raised his voice in annoyance, wishing Twilight would shut up about his family and let him start so he could finish.
“Well.” Twilight’s tone had turned noticeably chilly in the past few seconds. “What is it then that has you in this state?”
Dusk, in a barely audible voice that Fluttershy would have been proud of, opened his mouth, eyes firmly focused on the floor; “I asked him out…”
“Excuse me?” It wasn't that Twilight didn't believe what she’d heard, more that she didn't hear anything. “Say again?”
“I asked him out…Vocal Chord. I asked him out. On a date. With me. Tomorrow. With me. On a date.”
“But…that's brilliant! Dusk I'm so happy for you!” Twilight halted her congratulations, upon noticing the glazed look in the young stallion’s eyes. “So…forgive me, but what's the problem?”
"The problem? I don't know what I'm doing! I've never asked anypony out before! I've never been on a date before! What do I do? What do I say? Where should we go?” Dusk’s wings flapped involuntarily, joining his right eye as it twitched.
Twilight chuckled, recognising much of herself in the pegasus’ freak out. Gently she placed a lavender hoof on his shoulder, “Dusk, calm down. Everything will be fine.” Seizing a book on a nearby shelf in her magical grasp the Princess levitated it over to where they were sitting and deposited it in Dusk’s hooves. “Here, take this. Read it, it'll help, I promise.”
Dusk glanced at the title of the book he had been given, and with a faint blush on his cheeks stored it in his saddlebags with a grateful smile at the Princess. “Thanks Twilight, I'm sure that'll help!” Wrapping his forelegs around her neck he brought his former teacher into a tight hug before flying out the open library doors.
“Good luck!” Twilight called after him, her only only reply the slamming of the main castle door a moment to two later.
~
The next day was a typically beautiful Equestrian day in Ponyville. Warm summer sun shone from a perfectly clear azure sky. Not one errant cloud obscured the vista. Looking up Dusk thought the weather teams deserved a tip for their hard work.
The townsponies walking past on their business paid little attention to the hot air balloon as it rose above Twilights castle, nor did they mind the two stallions in the basket. In the presence of his first ever coltfriend Dusk was certainly welcoming of the anonymity, while his unicorn partner Vocal was holding something the pegasus had just given him.
“Dusk, babe, what the hay is this?” The light grey unicorn held the sheaf of paper in his magical field, scanning it incredulously.
“Well Vocal, It's, well…it’s a…questionnaire…” The dark blue pegasus’ voice trailed off through sheer embarrassment. ‘What was I thinking?’ He thought to himself.
“I can see it’s a questionnaire Dusk,” Vocal Chord said with a roll of his dark blue eyes, “what I want to know is why my coltfriend has given it to me.”
Dusk shuffled his hooves inside the wicker basket, closely inspecting the weave as he spoke. “It's a ‘getting to know you’ questionnaire.” The young pegasi explained like it was the most reasonable thing in Equestria.
“A getting to know…Dusk…”
“Um, yes Vocal?”
“This questionnaire has seventy five questions and more than twenty pages! You seriously expect me to answer all these? Really?”
“Well, if you wouldn't mind…”
“But babe we’re on a date! You're cute and I love you! Why do you need this?” The exasperated unicorn waved the paper at his coltfriend.
“Well, this book I borrowed from Twilight’s library said it was a good idea to get as much information about your new partner as possible…” Dusk trailed off again as the basket lurched into motion.
“Twilight huh? Hey, speaking of the Princess, thanks for getting her to cast the could walking spell. That'll be a help later. So, Which book was this exactly?”
A fierce blush flared across the pegasus’ muzzle, turning his dark blue coat a bright purple. “Romance 101, A novice guide to dating.”
“Oh Dusk Melody, what am I to do with you?” Vocal laughed out loud, throwing the questionnaire over the side of the hot air balloon basket with a wave of his magic.
“Hey!...mmph!” Dusk’s protest was cut short as Vocal leant in for a kiss, their lips pressing tenderly against each other as Vocal gently pushed his tongue into his coltfriends mouth.
Steadily the hot air balloon rose into the afternoon sky towards the floating city of Cloudsdale, the gentle tender kiss gradually became more passionate. As Dusk surrendered himself to his cute unicorn, and finding himself nursing a major wingboner, he suddenly realised he didn't really care about the questionnaire after all.
