Scholarly Pursuits

" ... And just the other day, Twilight was recommending these new picture books for very young foals. All you have to do is channel a little bit of magic into them and the illustrations come to life! And I just know little Flurry would love that. They're very rare and expensive, but she told me we might find them here."

"Uh-huh," Shining Armor said.

She was turning a page.

"It's only this one unicorn author who can make them. I'm not sure why; Twilight tried to explain it to me, but she got very scientific and I couldn't quite keep up with her. Basically it takes an extremely talented mage to keep the enchantments on the books from fading, and to make sure the same scenes happen the same way no matter who is using the book ... "

"Uh-huh."

The unicorn mare turned another page. He couldn't take his eyes off her.

" ... And I know I promised not to drag you all over Canterlot on our first day back, but I just had to stop here to see if they had those amazing books. Twilight's always been so helpful like that, you know? I remember when I was still babysitting her and going through my first estrus, and she not only recognized the signs, she was recommending books that would help me understand it! That was so embarrassing; I shouldn't even be telling you that. But, that's your sister in a nutshell."

"Yeah, Twily's great," Shining said vaguely.

A third page. She was such a quick reader. He wondered what she was studying so intently, hunched over that giant book on the desk.

Shining had spent most of his life in this city and never seen anypony like her. She clearly gave no thought to her appearance at all. Her pale yellow coat was unbrushed; her hooves were dull and worn; her bright red mane was uncut with several hairs out of place. She had pinned it up to keep it out of her lavender eyes which, in the gentle light of the library, were almost obscured by a pair of thick glasses. Her black turtleneck sweater was threadbare, with two large buttons that at some point had fallen off and been halfheartedly sewn back on.

She would probably be rejected on sight from any public event in the kingdom, but that was because high society ponies were utter fools who couldn't see past such details. This mare was gorgeous. The moment he saw her, his heart melted and dissolved into a hot, heady rush of desire. It surged through his bloodstream like water from a broken dam, weakening his legs and diverting all his thoughts to subjects he wouldn't dare to speak of.

He desperately wanted to know who this mare was. Where she lived. If she came here often ...

" ... Why don't you go over and ask her?"

"Huh?!" Shining turned guiltily, incredulously to his wife.

Oh, Celestia, did she really just say that? Was I that obvious? Does she know what I'm thinking? Is she OKAY with it? His mind raced as he realized he had never completely understood - or dared to ask - exactly what it meant to be the Princess of Love.

"Why don't you go ask the librarian about the books?" Cadence smiled patiently. "You know, for Flurry Heart."

He breathed a secret sigh of relief. Of course she didn't know what he was thinking. He was just being paranoid. "Oh, right. Uh ... she's the librarian?"

"That's right. She took over when Hidebound finally retired. In fact, she's supposed to be an old friend of Twilight's. Moon Dancer, I think is her name."

Moon Dancer, he repeated silently, knowing that name would be running through his mind for the rest of the day. Darn. Why couldn't it be something unattractive, like ... Horseapple?

"Shining?" Cadence was looking at him curiously.

"Sorry," he looked up. "Uh, yeah! Let's ask her."

He gulped, took a moment to steady himself, and led the way over to the desk. What in Equestria was wrong with him? After weeks of working and raising their little bundle of joy, he and his wife - whom he loved very much - finally had a week away from the Crystal Empire to spend in Canterlot. And here he was practically drooling over another mare. He had to be cool about this. Just ask her a question, get an answer, and walk away without making a complete fool of himself in front of Cadence. He could do that, right?

Sure. No sweat.

They seemed to cross the room in slow motion, but finally he stopped in front of the old wooden desk.

"Excuse me," he said in his smoothest, most professional, former-guard-captain voice.

After a long moment the mare looked up at them. "Yes? Can I help you?"

She was distracted and unsmiling. Her horn glowed pale white as she adjusted her glasses - which, he now saw, were broken and held together with tape. Everything about her screamed "nerd."

That's not all, is it Shine? His traitorous thoughts whispered to him. She's screaming something else, too.

Virgin.

Realizing it was his turn to speak, he opened his mouth, but his throat had suddenly gone rather dry. He swallowed again and pushed on. "Yes, thank you. We're looking for some books." He couldn't believe how asinine he sounded.

Moon Dancer's expression didn't change, but a tiny spark lit in her eyes as she gestured around them with a hoof. "Then I would say you're in the right place. The Royal Library of Canterlot has several thousand titles, which I've added to from my own private collection since I agreed to manage it. What sort of books might you be looking for?"

Her cutie mark had been hiding demurely behind her sweater, but the hem rode up slightly as she sat up straighter, giving him his first glimpse of a plain purple moon surrounded by three stars.

Wow, she's got a nice flank.

He grit his teeth slightly and willed that part of his mind to shut up. But with the library pony staring him in the face, he wasn't sure where that part of him began and ended anymore. It seemed limitless, and -

"So you're Moon Dancer!" Cadence said, coming to his rescue. "The new librarian, right?"

The mare wasn't exactly unfriendly, but she didn't welcome unexpected social encounters either. Her clipped speech and restlessly shifting tail implied that she was eager to get this one over with. "Yes, that's right. And you are ... ?"

Cadence looked taken aback. It wasn't often she ran into a pony who didn't recognize her. "Why, I'm Princess Mi Amore Cadenza."

Moon Dancer blinked.

"Er ... Princess Celestia's niece? The Princess of Love?"

Moon Dancer blinked again. "You're the princess of a temporary chemical reaction in the brain that exists to encourage mating and facilitate procreation?"

"Uh, well," Cadence stammered, blushing furiously as Shining struggled not to laugh. "I've never quite thought of it that way, but ... yes?"

"How interesting," the mare answered flatly.

"And, uh, this is my husband Shining Armor. We're here on vacation from the Crystal Empire, and we're looking for some special foal's picture books that my friend Twilight Sparkle was telling us about."

"Oh. Yes, I know Twilight." Moon Dancer seemed to relax a bit, and she looked closely at Shining for the first time. It was only for a brief moment, but it sent a little jolt through his whole body. "You're her brother."

"Yes!" He said, much too loudly. "I mean, uh, yeah. That's me. Heh heh ... she's some mare, isn't she?"

"Yes," the librarian agreed. Her expression softened for just a moment before she turned back to Cadence. "I believe you were referring to the 'Show Me' series by Darlingmane. They're very popular books, but I think we have a few still available. Our foal's section is over there, along the far wall by the large window. You'll find them on the top shelf under 'D'."

They thanked her and started towards the end of the building. Shining risked a small glance over his shoulder and saw that she had already gone back to her reading. That was no big surprise, but admittedly he had hoped to see her looking at him instead.

Goddesses, how ridiculous he was being. He had never been a skirt chaser. He didn't have any wild oats to sow, as the old saying went. Cadence was his first crush, his first date ... his first everything, now that he thought about it. And he was a prince now, for crying out loud. He had a hundred responsibilities, the first of which were his wife and little Flurry who was waiting for them just a few blocks away at the hotel. Their royal foalsitter was probably feeding her lunch right now. That was what he ought to be paying attention to, not an asocial bookworm who barely noticed his existence.

He resolved to pull himself together and enjoy his vacation. He made his way through a near-silent mob of ponies, helped Cadey find the special books (there were two left), and as they returned to Moon Dancer's desk and checked them out he managed to keep his eyes elsewhere. He wanted to nip this thing in the bud and avoid seeing her again. Sure, they would have to return the books at some point, but he had resources; he had servants. He never had to visit this library in person again if he didn't want to.

"High-demand items are due back in two days," Moon Dancer's prim, exacting voice cut into his thoughts. "You can return the books by seven o'clock Monday night, at the desk or at the depository outside the building."

As Cadence politely said goodbye and Shining Armor decided this was it, he couldn't resist taking a final glance at her as they trotted to the exit. He nearly stumbled over his own hooves.

She was looking at him.

She returned her attention to the book almost immediately, but it was there.

Damn it all to Tartarus.