The hour was late and the moon hung high in the night sky, it’s resplendent light showering down on the world below as soft and gentle as a lover’s caress. Twilight Sparkle was seated in a small nest of pillows on one of the many window sills in the Golden Oaks Library. A soft sigh passed her lips as she gazed up at the bright stars. It was a scant few days after the intense adventure that had been the Summer Sun Celebration. The return of Nightmare Moon – or rather, Princess Luna – had been a very memorable experience. Even then, the moon still looked strange to Twilight without the silhouette of a pony on it. But the changed look was slowly starting to grow on her.

It was a nice, clear evening without a single cloud in sight and it was still pleasantly warm enough to have the windows wide open to enjoy the soft summer breeze that teased over her coat. Twilight was snuggled back into the soft embrace of the large fluffy pillow that supported her back. She smiled, slowly bringing the cup of hot chamomile tea to her lips and sipping gently. She was very satisfied with having gotten the temperature perfect this time. The tea was hot, but not too hot. Just right for her tastes.

If there was any word to describe how Twilight Sparkle felt then, it would be content. Anything else would fall short, especially after the initial insanity of the Summer Sun Celebration. She had decided, with some coaxing from her friends, to take it just a little bit easier during the nights, at least for the coming few days. For Twilight, that meant curling up with a good book, even though her heart really wasn’t into it at the moment. The previous day was still very much on her mind. It had been a very interesting day and, she had to admit, a slightly stressful one. Meeting new ponies — even though she’d made five wonderful new friends — still wasn’t easy. Not as hard as it had been back in Canterlot, but it still somewhat stressed her.

Initially, her mind strayed back to the stallion that Rarity had set her up with a few days ago. Her friend had been very, very focused on getting Twilight on a date so she would have at least tried it once in her life, which was the stressful part of this entire affair. Twilight still wasn’t sure what to actually think of the whole dating and romance thing. She’d never had any interest in it. She hadn’t shown up to the first date that Rarity had set up — which she did feel a bit guilty about — she’d forgotten all about the date entirely. Too enraptured with the rather complex spell she had been working on that day. Then again, not being interested in going on said date really did not help a pony’s memory at all.

The second time around though, Rarity had been more direct in her approach. She had made sure that the – admittedly cute – stallion named Shooting Star had been at her place just a little after Rarity had arrived to remind her of the date. The meeting of Shooting Star had been awkward, to say the least. In no small part due to Rarity still being there and making a whole big deal out of it. Thinking back on it, Twilight shook her head and smiled a little. The fashionista’s heart was in the right place, she just gets a bit too enthusiastic about her own ideas and forgets to check herself. Twilight had decided to at least humour the mare. If it wasn’t her thing, she could say that and prove to Rarity that it wasn’t for her. Then again, the whole matchmaker thing was probably just a phase Rarity was going through – or at least that was what Twilight hoped was the case. There was a sudden wave of dread in the back of her mind as the idea of Rarity playing matchmaker for the entire town came to her. She took that idea and desperately shoved into a cupboard, which she then promptly nailed shut.

Twilight had thoroughly enjoyed her time spent with Shooting Star, or Star as she had taken to calling the stallion after she got to know him a bit better. They spent most of the afternoon just walking around Ponyville talking about their interests. What she had expected to be a long and awkward talk had turned out to actually be fun. She had to admit that he was a nice pony to be with – a little on the shy side, but then again she was used to Fluttershy’s brand of shy. Having experience with Fluttershy made coaxing Star out of his timidness just a little easier, especially when they started discussing astronomy. Twilight liked to think that they had bonded a little over that experience, or as much as you could bond over an afternoon spent (heatedly) discussing astronomy and their own theories about distant stars.

By the time they had noticed the actual time of day, they had been half-buried in reference books at Shooting Star’s place. Both of them had also scrounged up various different scholarly texts which each used in their side of the debate – embarrassedly, Twilight thought to herself that they might have gotten a bit carried away with the entire thing. The sheepish look they’d shared brought back a soft giggle that had come a moment after they both realised that almost nine hours had passed.

After exchanging embarrassed blushes as each of them had their stomachs protest at not having eaten since breakfast, they had opted to end their day together with a simple dinner. A simple dinner at the only place that was open at that time of night and made sense to them: Hayburger. Twilight rolled her eyes as she thought back on it, staring at the moon as she had done before. In hindsight it had been an absolutely silly idea. The two of them sitting there together in the middle of an empty fast-food restaurant swearing that they weren’t on some kind of cheap date after the server had made a comment. It hadn’t been the most romantic of things — really, Twilight didn’t see why it had to be, even though Rarity had been positively scandalised upon hearing their pick for the really late dinner.

At that thought, Twilight let out a deep sigh. The memory of Rarity’s half-hour lecture about optimal date location and such had been… well, she was very much looking forwards to the day when this matchmaker phase would end and Rarity was back to normal. Letting her eyes trace the heavens once more, Twilight simply enjoyed bathing in the gentle embrace of moonlight and following the patterns of the constellations in the night sky. The book she had laying open in her lap had been forgotten the entire time she had been there, her mind primarily consumed by a single pony. A stallion. A stallion with whom she had a wonderful day. He was interesting and on her level when it came to astronomy and certain kinds of magic. She could have discussions with him – real intellectual discussions.

Twilight wasn’t really looking for a coltfriend, but the more she pondered the idea and the possibility she was shocked to find that her mental checklist started to find that the only points she could come up with were all Shooting Star’s character traits and interests that they both shared. A few things that he was missing but the majority of the points she thought up were spot on. She was biased. The previous day had left her very biased, she decided, and she didn’t mind that realisation. In fact, Twilight would go as far as to say that she liked it. He made her smile and she was comfortable with him.

Her cheeks reddened a little. She felt embarrassed as the thought of a real date crossed her mind. This was a whole new experience – sure she knew a pretty stallion when she saw one, but that had never done anything for Twilight Sparkle. At least not as much as a brilliant mind did for her. His smile was cute though, she had to admit that. And he certainly was more interesting than the first stallion that Rarity had managed to pair her up with. She felt a little ashamed that she couldn’t even remember the colt’s name. Deciding that she would talk to Rarity tomorrow about setting up a real first date, she curled up with the book slowly rising in her magic. Biting her bottom lip softly she continued where she had left off, the princess having just been saved by her brave hero. She wasn’t usually the type for trashy romance novels but, well, everypony had a guilty pleasure – even if the book was titled ‘Mould breaking: A Knight's Tail’, right?

******

Rarity’s couch was a comfortable place to lounge, that was something all of Twilight’s friends could agree on. Even though she was a bundle of nerves, there was something relaxing about the large, fluffy surface she was lying on. With her hooves tucked under her body she felt almost like she was back home on one of her reading pillows. Before her floated a cup of coffee. Ten in the morning was too early to start drinking tea if you asked Twilight Sparkle, although that might have something to do with the fact that her body associated tea with night and sleep.

“So darling, I must admit that I was quite shocked that you appeared on my doorstep this early in the day. I hope nothing is amiss?” Rarity asked. There was concern behind her words, but she remained very composed for a mare that was infamous for being a bit of a drama queen.

“Well…” Twilight started and then paused to look for the right words. “Honestly Rarity? It’s about the stallion you introduced me to. Shooting Star,” Twilight finally admitted, her cheeks felt hot as she sipped her coffee, looking over at Rarity.

Rarity perked her eyebrow and tilted her head a little “Yes? Did something happen?” She asked, a little more worry shining through her words.

“Oh no. Nothing happened, at least nothing bad… I think.” Twilight admitted with a sheepish little smile. “Honestly the day we had together was wonderful! I mean you already know that I just… can’t stop thinking about him and I don’t really know what that means.” Admitting a lack of knowledge was not easy for Twilight, and looking at her friend she was relieved to see a gentle smile.

“Why Twilight, darling,” Rarity started in her soft voice, “the answer is easy! You’re in love, or at least interested enough to give him a chance,” Rarity explained so matter-of-factly. Sipping her tea, the mare relaxed back into her chair. “It’s nothing to be embarrassed over. It is something that is normal, actually, when you find a stallion that clicks with you.”

“But I’ve only see him once!” Twilight protested, a little confused. “Does it really work like that?”

“Well, not entirely. Maybe calling it love is a bit too strong,” Rarity admitted. “I guess romantically interested might be a better term to use, although it lacks the dramatic flair–” Rarity stopped in her tracks, silenced by the deadpan expression on Twilight’s face. “Well, that is to say, you found a stallion that is nice to be around and your mind is telling you to give him a chance.”

Twilight mulled the information over for a long moment, taking long sips from the warm black coffee. “I guess that makes sense. I mean we do have a lot of overlap with interests, kind of. There are things we are wholly incompatible with,” Twilight admitted with a sheepish smile. “But then that is normal too, I guess? Liking somepony even if you disagree on some points?”

“Oh most certainly darling. One doesn’t need to be entirely into the same things to be together. Stars above, that would be dreadfully dull. Imagine not having other interests so you can’t have ‘me’ time.” Rarity said with a soft giggle. “Take it from me, it’s no fun if all your interests overlap. There aren’t really any new things to discover like that. At least, that is my personal experience with it.” She admitted with a gentle smile.

“Wait. You’ve had a coltfriend?” Twilight asked a little surprised, not having heard of any of Rarity’s personal exploits before.

“Oh my… of course, darling! It’s been a few years though.” Rarity said with a mysterious grin on her muzzle. “It didn’t really work out as you might have guessed, for the reasons stated. We parted as friends and we still write, and see each other when I am in Manehattan. Distance was another contributing factor, really.” Twilight noted that Rarity had a very fond smile on her muzzle. She hadn’t gained a lover but she could clearly see that Rarity had made a very close friend. “Visiting him is my favourite part, him and his coltfriend are just the cutest couple you’ll ever meet!” Rarity announced, with a huge grin.

“Huh. I guess even if it doesn’t work out it isn’t always a bad thing?” Twilight said, thinking back to her time in Canterlot. She couldn’t really remember ever hearing of a breakup that went as well as that. Then again the nature of gossip usually focused on something negative. She shook her head a little, things were different in a small town like this, she reminded herself. “I guess… that means I should probably ask him out on a date then?”

“Why yes! You most definitely should. Probably something simple to start out – and by that I don’t mean taking him out for hayburgers and fries,” Rarity admonished with a slightly stern look in her eyes. “Maybe a movie?”

“I was thinking something a little more private. A movie would be good when I get to know him better and can make a guess about what he would maybe enjoy.” Twilight said reasonably, and to her relief Rarity nodded. “What about a picnic?”

“A picnic? A little plain don’t you think, darling?”

“Maybe, though the simple things were exactly what we had fun with last time.”

“Hmm… true. What about a picnic at night? Stargazing with a light snack?” Rarity offered with a gentle smile. “You both enjoy that, right? It would also be romantic but simple. A win-win if you ask me.”

Twilight closed her eyes for a moment and allowed herself to consider that idea. The scene unfolded before her eyes and she couldn’t help but smile a little as she pictured them there, snuggled up close. Her head resting on his chest. Her eyes snapped open and her cheeks felt as though they were on fire. She looked directly into Rarity’s blue eyes. The mare was smirking in that way that almost screamed ‘gotcha’. “It sounds like a wonderful idea!” Twilight blurted out half panicked.

Chuckling softly behind her hoof Rarity shook her head a little. “Twilight, no need to be embarrassed with me, this is normal and healthy for an adult mare.” She reminded Twilight, who smiled sheepishly as she calmed down. “Listen, I have a nice bottle of wine you both can have. A first official date is a pretty momentous thing, really. Or well, it is usually one of the things you remember most. Discovering the wonders of love, together with another.” Rarity let out that sigh that signalled that she was in complete sappy, hopeless romantic mode. “Any ideas about when, Twilight?”

“Well, I’m not sure. Rainbow Dash mentioned that it would be clear skies on Saturday, so maybe then?” Twilight said smiling, draining her cup of coffee. “It also gives me the time to pick out snacks with Pinkie Pie. And get everything arranged for then.” Twilight sighed a little considering all the things she needed to plan, only pausing when Rarity gave her the look. “I’m over-thinking things again, huh?”

Rarity nodded with a small smirk. “A little. Preparation is good, but it is more important to just have fun – like how you both had fun on the day you met.” That is the most important thing about relationships, Twilight. Take the time to enjoy it, together. It’s all about the journey, not the destination.” Rarity said with a sagely nod.

“You’re right. I just—I have no idea what to expect from it.”

“Expect nothing.” Rarity said simply. “If it helps, think of it as a stargazing picnic with a friend, and do what comes naturally to you, darling.” With a small grin, Rarity placed down her empty cup. “It’s actually very simple. Try not to over-think, you’ll worry yourself into a tizzy over nothing.”

Twilight nodded slowly and slipped off the couch to hug Rarity close. “Thank you Rarity, you’ve been a great help. I know what I need to do now.”

“Oh no problem darling. Just promise me you will have fun, and I get all the juicy details!”

Twilight rolled her eyes a little as she pulled back. “I promise.”

******

Twilight Sparkle prided herself for being a scholarly mare. In Canterlot she was a mage far beyond her peers at Celestia’s school for gifted unicorns. So much so that she became the personal student of Princess Celestia herself. With that came certain expectations from both others and from herself. Twilight held herself to a very strict set of expectations. So the fact that she had botched a spell twice already was genuinely annoying her. It was times like these that she missed Celestia being around all the time. Not because the Princess would give her the answers – on the contrary, the princess would give her a cryptic hint that generally led to her discovering the answer on her own.

Lighting up her horn she sighed to herself. “Third time's the charm, as they say.” Twilight told herself as a way of encouragement. She knew this was not an easy spell, actually it was a spell that she had only seen Celestia perform on her own. But she was determined to do this. Closing her eyes she started to visualise the circle of power around the object. A simple enough act, and her mind easily conjured up the golden object surrounded by a bubble of lilac magic. The entire surface of the sphere was covered in various arcane symbols, each representing an element of all magic, each needing to be chained to the other.

The pendant had a neutral white glow surrounding it, suggesting that it was prepared and that is was blank. It was practically mocking her with her previous two failed attempts. Once more, Twilight started to touch on the arcane symbols to shift them into place. One by one, she added in the components, watching through her mind’s eye how the white glow slowly became a faint purple glow. Things were looking up – that is, until she got halfway through and it became harder to focus. Gathering powerful magical elements into one small object was strenuous. She needed three more elements, not that she got there. The moment her mind strayed from containment to adding another element the pendant’s glow turned red.

It was after a loud scream of frustration that the room was filled with a blinding flash of brilliant amethyst magic, which was promptly followed by the deafening roar of thunder and the physical impact of an unstable spell exploding outward. For the third time today, Twilight Sparkle found herself flung across the room landing with a thump against the pillows that she had set up against the far wall. The first time she had been thrown into the wall and she was still sore, unharmed save for a few bruises under her coat and well some knocks to her pride at failing to stabilise the spell that she had been weaving for the third time that afternoon. Laying there on the pile of pillows Twilight found herself muttering angrily about her not having the right conditions and how this would have been done had she been in Canterlot where she had her pick of gifted ponies that could be assisting! She was muttering very heavily modified curses.

“Do… you need a helping hoof Twilight?” Shooting Star asked, standing in the doorway with a somewhat nervous look, as if he was expecting another explosion to go off the moment he stepped further into the room, or made a sudden movement.

She looked at him, surprised to see him. The talk with Rarity had helped push him and the date out of her thoughts. That and her work. Sure, this is a public library, but she didn’t really expect to see him show up today, he hadn’t any other day, had he? Or had she just not noticed before?

His eyes were filled with a gentle concern for her, Twilight could see the worry in his eyes and simply made a dismissive gesture with her hoof even as he asked the question “Are you alright?” Clearly he was having nothing of the dismissive gesture.

“It…” She sighed deeply and paused to look up at him. “I’m alright. A bit bruised in more ways than one but not hurt.” Twilight sighed, giving the offending object, a simple silver inlaid golden necklace with an empty locket. “I just can’t seem to get this enchantment right, I mean… I know how to cast it, I know the formula by heart. It just becomes unstable the moment I am nearing the stage of completion, and I can’t get it stable before it explodes.” She admitted with a pout. She didn’t like being stuck on something. It was frustrating, especially because the knew she could do the spell, it was a matter of being able to concentrate on two things at the same time. The foolishness of that did not escape the mare.

He nodded slowly slowly approaching Twilight, and giving the necklace a really wide berth. “Well, why don’t you run me through what you’re trying to enchant onto the necklace? Maybe we could do it together?” He offered with a kind smile as he extended his hoof to help her up. A kind smile that made her cheeks heat up ever so lightly. “Normally enchanting is done by a pair of unicorns, save for ones that are very gifted. One unicorn weaves the spell while the other stabilised the influx of magical energy and contains it.” He explained simply, which made her blush become just that bit more prominent. She knew he was right, of course she did. Even when doing classes with Celestia the Princess had always assisted her with enchantments.

Sighing softly she showed him a grateful smile. “You’re right. I wanted to see if I could do it on my own though, not that that really worked out in the past. I’ve been getting better at enchantment spells but honestly they’ve never come as intuitively as say teleportation.” She offered a more sheepish smile “But two heads are better than one as they say.” What she didn’t bring up was that she would really enjoy the company regardless of it being needed. Simply the thought of hanging out and practising magic together was something that she couldn’t help but think of as fun. Picking herself up off the floor with a little help from Star she smiled at him.

“Well, I am trying to enchant the pendant with a shrouding spell.” Twilight started to explain guiding the still somewhat nervous stallion over to the enchanting pedestal the pendant rested on. The pedestal was small and looked more like a hexagonal goldsmith’s anvil with arcane runes carved into an intricate pattern. “The spell is meant to make the wearer invisible for three hours while wearing it. Honestly the only pony I have seen casting it without assistance was princess Celestia.” She offered as explanation, lighting up her horn to start the preparations for the spell all over again.

Shooting Star arched an inquisitive eyebrow at Twilight, tilting his head ever so slightly. “What ever would you need such a spell for?” He asked, looking from Twilight to the pendant. “I mean objects like that are worth quite a lot of bits. Are you planning to sell it?” He asked with such genuine curiosity that it made Twilight Sparkle chuckle softly.

“No I am not planning on selling it. It’s actually for a little adventure that I am planning.” She said purposefully trying to sound all mysterious about it.

“Is this to get back at Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash?” He asked, smirking just a little. “I mean… they did prank you pretty hard last week.”

“Hey now, you got caught up in it too…” She said her cheeks feeling just a little hotter. “But as tempting as the idea is, no. I’m going to visit the castle of the two sisters. I’m going alone, I don’t want to drag the others along to watch me reading books the entire time.” She smiled her hoof slowly stroking along the pendant. “They’d find it dull.”

“Why don’t you take the Resourceful Scholars’ Club along? Safety in numbers and you won’t be alone.” Star offered, blushing quite suddenly as he stammered a soft “ehm… sorry I don’t mean to intrude on your trip.”

Twilight wanted to hug him then and there. Star’s shy side was definitely cute, and the way he worried enough to offer to come along on what was dangerous? She couldn’t help but grin slightly. “You know, that does sound like a good idea. Having good company along could be nice.” She said it, then paused and blushed deeply, “That is not to say that my friends aren’t good company!”

“Easy, Twilight. I know what you meant, it’s not their thing. However going to scavenge an ancient library is exactly something for the club,” he said while smiling at her. His smile seriously made her feel all melty on the inside. Her talk with Rarity jumped back to mind. Her attention snapped back to the pendant and she nodded.

“Yeah, they’re great friends but… they have their own duties and obligations. So, are you ready?” she asked.

“As ready as I can be, Twilight,” he replied with a slow nod.

With that Twilight re-initiated the spell. It all happened like before except that there was the familiar sensation of another unicorn’s magic entwining with hers. The white glowing pendant was surrounded by his magical aura, and around that was her lilac aura. She started to cast once more. One by one she moved the arcane symbols into place. Which was made a lot easier due to the fact that Star was keeping the magical energies contained… and he was making it look easy! It’s not that she minded, she was actually more than a little impressed how he was handling the raw power that was channelled into the spell.

As Twilight approached the completion of the spells she paused, feeling a hoof poking at her shoulder. “Twilight, swap a moment? I have an idea. I think I can alter the spell to make it cover an area instead,” Star said with somewhat of a smirk. Twilight gave him a momentary deadpan stare before nodding slowly.

“Fine, but I am blaming you if we’re sent flying,” Twilight quipped playfully before starting the somewhat difficult process of exchanging places in the spell. Twilight had Shared spells before, and by the fluidity of Shooting Star's response she guessed that he had done it before as well.

Keeping her mind focused on containing the vast amount of magical power she watched Shooting Star, he was slow and methodical in the way he studied the spell. Taking his time, then he did the unthinkable and started adding to it with a speed and confidence that kind of startled Twilight. Sure Twilight knew Star was good but watching him work was a delight.

All in all it took them ten minutes to finalise and complete the spell without any catastrophic failures this time. Twilight could see the faded blue-ish purple aura surrounding the necklace and gave a very satisfied smile throwing her hooves around Star pulling him into a celebratory hug! “It worked! Oh thank you so much!” With a grin she kissed his cheek, watching it go from grey to a soft shade of cherry red.

He opened his mouth a few timed, taken aback by the sudden affection thrown his way “Y-yeah… we did!”

“Will you go on a date with me?” Twilight asked before she even realised just exactly what she had asked. She was going to ask something entirely different but instead she threw out that. Freezing entirely in the moment she pulled away from him with an embarrassed smile. “S-sorry I… got a little bit excited there.”

“Did you… mean it?” he asked.

“The date thing? Well… I certainly am not against trying,” Twilight answered truthfully. It was too late to pull back now without hurting his feelings, and she did honestly want to try it. So she smiled at him. “Would you like to? I thought we could go stargazing and have a nice picnic out there?”

“That sounds like fun,” he admitted with a smile. Sitting down on a pillow. “Did you have a day in mind, Twilight?”

“Well I was thinking we could do it this Saturday?” she replied taking her own pillow to lay on, relaxing a little and gathering herself after the intensity of casting the spell for a fourth time. “I think around nine would be the optimal time?”

“Let’s make it ten, not sure it will be entirely dark by nine,” Shooting Star commented with a gentle smile. “Oh… that reminds me. I came by to thank you, for the other day, it was nice,” he said with a very warm smile. A smile that Twilight eagerly reciprocated. She could feel her heart pounding ever so slightly in her chest, and let her smile widen to one of fondness. Even though she had only just met him she really did like his company.

“It was a pleasure, Star. I had a great time with you.” Twilight said. “Say, want to get some lunch? I’ve actually not eaten yet.” Twilight said, standing up slowly unsure of where exactly her energy had just come from. She started leading him out of the door smiling at him over her withers. “Come on, my treat this time,” she said as she winked.

Author's Note

This story was commissioned by Shooting Star1234.

I hope you all enjoyed the story as much as I enjoyed writing it, quite honestly this is my first brush with a romance adventure (with some Slice of life) kind of story. If you have and feed back or even critisism then please feel free to leave a comment below.

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Big thanks to my editing team for giivng this a well needed pass: Fuzzy Fabricator,
Javarod, Sixkiller5

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