He read the final passage of the book again and skimmed over his notes, checking to see if he had missed any important details. Nodding to himself in satisfaction, he then scribbled down his last few flashcards. He perused the text one last time before closing the book with a small snap. He turned to his check list.

~~Read chapter~~
~~Reiterate important concepts~~
~~Make flashcards~~
Test comprehension of the material

Blue Heart threw his head back and exhaled, rubbing his tired eyes. He heard the clip-clop of hooves approaching him.

“You’re done with it?” Twilight Velvet asked as she placed a small paper bag in front of him.

He rolled his neck to her and smiled. “Yes, I finally got through all the important books that the princess wanted me to get through. Now all I have to do is go through the smaller ones.” He then opened the bag. Inside were a small sandwich and a bottle of cider. “What time is it?” the colt asked before taking a bite.

“You have one more hour,” she assured him. “Can I see your checklist and notes?”

“Mhmm,” he nodded, more occupied with his snack than her.

The mare read through his scrolls and flashcards for a couple minutes. At last she looked at him again. “Blue Heart, I’m so, so proud of you.” Twilight was beaming. “You’re using all my techniques flawlessly! Your notes are thorough and to the point, your flashcards contain all the key components and the more difficult ones, and your checklists are keeping you on track! You’re guaranteed to get in Queen Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns now, and I bet you’ll even be ahead of your class.”

He gulped down some of his cider. “Thank you, Mrs. Twilight,” he smiled back, glowing with pride. “I couldn’t have gotten this far without you. I’d probably just be reading the same books over and over again, trying to memorize everything.”

Twilight Velvet sat down next to him. “Well, I’m glad to have gotten you out of that rut,” she agreed. “It took me ages to develop the study habits I’ve shown you, and it took me even longer to develop your discipline. Now let’s review: what are Twilight Velvet’s six points of studying?”

“Reiterate to retain,” he recited, “the first sentence of each paragraph contains the most important information, check lists keep ponies on track, flashcards quizzes to ensure comprehension, it’s okay to take short breaks when needed, and when confused always ask for clarification.”

Twilight softly clapped her hooves together. “Congratulations! Blue Heart, you’ve just mastered how to study! I knew ponies twice your age who could barely even do one or two the techniques I showed you.”

“Is, is that everything you know about studying?” he asked, apprehension lacing his tone.

“Pretty much,” she nodded. “But nevermind that; you passed my class with flying colors! Would you like to do a flashcard quiz?”

He looked at his half-eaten sandwich pensively. “That’s all, huh?”

“Mhmm,” Twilight assured him.

Blue Heart looked up at her. “Then let’s celebrate. I’ve been studying this stuff everyday for six hours. I think I’ll call it quits early tonight.”

“Oh, you want to celebrate?” she asked in amusement. “What do you want to do?”

“I want to go for a walk, but you can’t leave, can you?”

The mare sighed. “No, unfortunately not.”

“Then let’s just talk. We’re friends, but sometimes it feels like we hardly know each other.”

Twilight laughed. “Well, I disagree, but if you want to, we’ll talk.”

The colt slid down from his seat and pressed an ear against her swollen stomach, listening for movement. “Have you decided a name for the foal?”

She rested a hoof on his head. “Well, I definitely have a name picked out for it if it comes turns out to be a colt. I’ve been thinking of calling him Dusk Shine. If I have a filly, well, I’m still debating that.”

“What does your husband— what’s his name again?— want to name the foal?”

“My husband, Night Light, wants to name the foal (ugh) ‘Twilight,’” she rolled her eyes.

Blue Heart laughed as he got back in his seat. “Real creative.”

The mare sighed. “I love that stallion to pieces, but sometimes... you’ll understand once you find a lovely mare to marry. Anyway, I’m curious: I couldn’t help but notice that you read a couple books on the basics of earth and pegasus magic, but that wasn’t on your reading list at all. Why’s that?”

“Oh well, sometimes the entrance exam includes a couple questions on earth and a pegasus magic, so I thought it’d be a good idea to have me read up on them. Plus, I don't really know the extent of earth and pegasus magic, and since I do happen to live with somepony who can use every races' magic…”

“Ah, makes sense. Though I’d guess the queen would add that your list since you are living with her.”

“Oh, she never added any of the books on my reading list.

"Hmm, I'd expect her to take a more proactive role in your situation."

"Queen Celestia doesn’t know I’m studying to get into the School for Gifted Unicorns.”

Twilight Velvet recoiled in surprise. “Really?”

“Mhmm,” he nodded. “The queen’s pretty busy running Equestria, so she doesn’t have time for me. That’s why the princess is in charge of my education.”

“I thought you spent Hearth’s Warming and New Year's together,” she pressed.

“I did, but other than that, I haven’t really spent much time with her.”

“But, but you’re—!” Twilight cleared her throat with a blush, ashamed at having raised her voice. “You’re her nephew, her heir. I thought you’d at least eat or spend some time with her after your studies,” she whispered

He shook his head, completely nonchalant about the topic. “She eats before I get to the castle, and I’ve only spent time with her after my coronation, and for Hearth's Warming and New Year's. We don’t really talk much, but that’s okay.”

“Blue Heart—” the mare began.

“Honestly, Mrs. Twilight,” he laughed. “You’re taking this harder than I am. Besides, I think I’m going to see more of her in the future.”

Her blushed deepened. “Er, sorry, Blue Heart, I guess I got carried away there. Anyway, when do you think you’ll be able to spend time with her?”

He shrugged. “Truthfully, I can go to her apartment tonight and spend time with her there, but I don’t want to bother her; she has her duties, and I have mine. But I’ve been thinking… when somepony really impresses Queen Celestia with their magical talent, she invites them to be her student. I’m hoping that maybe, with all my practicing and studying, I’ll be good enough to become her student , that way when we spend time together, I’m not just bothering her, I’m working with her.”

“Oh!” Twilight exclaimed quietly. “Yes, I’ve heard of that. You know, I think she had her last student fifteen years ago.”

“Yes, the princess told me about her. She said her name was an earth pony named Scarlet Ivy. Scarlet Ivy’s magic was so strong, she could make a tree sprout leaves in the middle of Winter!”

“Oh yes, now I remember. When I was a little filly, about twenty years ago, Scarlet Ivy went to the mall and made the flowers bloom. It was Winter and the ground was hard and ice cold, but she did it somehow. A bunch of other earth ponies got together tried to do the same thing, but even with all their combined magic, they could barely make the grass of the mall even sprout, much less get flowers to bloom. My parents took me to see all the plants. The greenery stayed like that for a couple of days before they finally froze to death.”

“Really?” he asked, eyes wide with wonder.

“Oh believe me, I may have been young, but it’s pretty much impossible to forget skipping through healthy stalks of sunflowers in the middle of Winter. Nopony except for Queen Celestia could have done such a feat of magic.”

“Wow,” he looked down at the crumbs of his finished sandwich. “When you put it that way, I’m not even sure if I could ever even hope of being her student.”

Twilight gave him a playful noogie. “Keep doing what you’re doing and you just might.”

He looked up at her, green eyes shining. “Thanks, Twilight. You’re a good friend.”

“I always try to be.”

“Say, Mrs. Twilight?”

“Yes?”

“You’re a Sparkle, right?”

The question caused her to pause, but she then recovered. “Yes, I am a Sparkle,” she answered tentatively.

“So that means you’re related to House Sparkle, right?”

“Er, well, I suppose—”

“Well, it’s just I’ve been wondering this since I first met you,” he began. “If you’re from House Sparkle, why are you a librarian?”

“Because I love books—”

“But Mrs. Twilight, if you love books so much, why not just spend your days in the Sparkle library? For that matter, why does Night Light work for the university? He could just study astronomy in the Sparkle observatories and not have to be bothered with students or—”

“Where’s all this coming from?” she quickly cut in.

“I’m sorry, Mrs. Twilight,” he apologized, his voice the epitome of innocence. “It’s just I’ve never seen nobles have jobs like you do. I’ve also never seen a noble send their son to a public school before either. Say, why isn’t Shining Armor at an academy or Queen Celestia’s School—?”

“We’ve talked about this before, Blue Heart!” she interrupted, forcing a fake giggle.

“We have?” he tilted his head. “I don’t remember—”

“Remember when I spoke about my in-laws?” Twilight’s voice was quick and almost nervous.

“Oh, oh yeah, I remember!” he nodded. “But if Lord and Lady Sparkle don’t want you to use their library or observatory, why not just use yours?”

“I— what?”

“I mean, even if you’re from the House de Lis or from House Pants, you should still be able to—”

Twilight Velvet placed a hoof over his mouth. “Blue Heart, I’m not a noble,” she told him. “I’ve never been.”

The colt pulled her hoof away from his mouth. “Really? So that means you’re a—?”

“Yes, I am a commoner.”

“I never knew that nobles were allowed to marry non-nobles.”

She exhaled. “In an ideal world, anypony would be able to marry whoever they wished, but… anyway, I’m not a noble and neither is Night Light… at least not anymore.”

“What do you mean, Mrs. Twilight?”

“You’re a bit too young to understand—”

“Please tell me, Mrs. Twilight!” he begged. “Please, I promise I won’t talk to anypony about it.”

She gave him a half-hearted smile. “I wouldn’t expect you to.” The mare then sighed. “Truthfully, it’s rather difficult to talk about that subject, even after all this time, but, I guess I’ll tell you about it.

“Night Light had always been curious and liked to observe things. In fact, that’s how he got his cutie mark: by observing the moon and stars. But as he got older, he wondered what life was like beyond the gilded cage of Castle Sparkle— he called his lifestyle a gilded cage, you see, because he always felt trapped by the formalities and traditions of the Houses.

“As Night Light grew older, so did his curiosity about common life, the life I grew up in. Finally, he managed to convince his parents to let him attend a public university. Oh, they fussed and made a ruckus about how a private university would be better for him, but in the end, they agreed to let him go.

“We met at a study group I was leading. Poor Night Light! He was so gifted in math and science, but when it came to history and literature, he was so lost! I was working for the university to get a few extra bits, and they had me in charge of a literary study group. He was so awful at writing literary analyses that he begged me to give him extra coaching.

I agreed because I just felt so bad for him! The poor stallion tried and tried, but he never could get the gist of literature like I did. I kept coaching him and the more I coached him, the more we got to know each other. We stopped being acquaintances and became friends. Then we became good friends. And then— oh I don’t know what possessed me to do this, but I told him I-I liked him more than a good friend.”

Twilight Velvet was giggling like a school filly at the memory.

“He says—” she stopped to smile and giggle again. “Pardon me. He says ‘Oh thank the gods.’ He asks if he could kiss me and I said yes and after that, we decided to start our romantic relationship.”

She released a dreamy sigh.

“It was wonderful, but unfortunately, we always had a terrible shadow following us. Even before we became good friends, Night Light told me about his family and their view on ‘peasants.’ The both of us knew that once his final year of university was up, he’d be forced to go back home. Of course he tried to tell his parents that he wanted to get his doctorate in astronomy, but they were having none of it. They were done with their son mingling with riffraff and giving him ‘radical’ ideas like marrying for love, and living life the way he wanted to.

“I followed him back and we had our relationship in secret, but after a few months of it, both of us were sick of slinking in the shadows and constantly looking over our withers. Night Light finally decided to open up to his parents, the Count and Countess Sparkle.

I… I remember when he came back to me and told me that they wished to meet me.”

Twilight’s ears dropped and her posture slumped.

“He seemed so sure that they would accept me into their lives. I wasn’t, however; it just seemed too good to be true. And it was.

“We met the day after the Summer Sun Celebration because they wanted us to eat at the Sparkle estate. Dinner was just so awful! His brother and sisters didn’t even acknowledge my existence, and that hurt, but his parents were even worse. They mostly just ignored me, but when they did look at me, they gave me this look like I was some flea.

“But Night Light tried, the gods bless him, he tried. But finally, he couldn’t take it anymore. He started demanding why his parents ordered me there only to be cold toward me. They barely said anything, but he just kept getting angrier and angrier and angrier, until finally his mother spoke up.

“‘Either you choose House Sparkle, or you take the peasant.’”

The mare released a shaky sigh.

“That’s what she called me: the peasant. To this day, I don’t think I’ve ever been called such an ugly word. I know I’ve never cried harder. Night Light, seeing me like that, literally threw his plate right in her face and just started screaming at them. I’ve never seen him like that and I hope I never do again.

“The guards were summoned and they just looked like they were champing at the bit to get rough. A couple hooves were thrown, but I just couldn’t take it anymore. I… I told everypony I was pregnant, right then and there.

“Everypony just froze as they all stared at me. I normally don’t get stage fright, but being the center of everypony’s attention was so unbearable that I just shrunk into a corner and started crying harder.

“But then Night Light came.

“He asked me when I found out. I told him I found out just the week before. And then he just asked me if I wanted to leave. Of course I said yes and we just left. His oldest sister escorted us out. Right as we got to the gate of the Sparkle estate, she simply told him that he wasn’t her brother any more, I would never be her sister, and that our foal would never be the first grandchild of House Sparkle.

“Neither of us said a word or even looked back.

“Of course to save face, House Sparkle never mentioned what happened, but the story got out last year after somepony came to the absolutely brilliant observation that Night Light was teaching astronomy and living a middle class life out necessity, not for ‘rustic charm.’

“Ponies can talk, but Night Light has told me over and over again that he has never been happier. I still feel bad though… he sacrificed everything he ever knew to be with me. Some days, I wonder if I was worth it. But then I see Shining’s smile and I feel my baby’s kick and I know that even if I wasn’t worth it, our foals are.”

Blue Heart’s gaze seemed pensive. “So that’s your story?”

Twilight Velvet nodded and then stretched. “Yes.”

He slipped out of his seat. “It’s getting late Mrs. Twilight. Good night.”

“Good night. See you tomorrow.”

Author's Note

Please point out any typos.

Daaaawwwww~! The Velvet/Night story I threw in this chapter was so cute! I wish somebody would flesh it out. It would totally give Chrysalis diabeetus.