Twilight trotted around the library desperately with a bottle of perfume levitating around her. She galloped up the stairs into her room towards the cupboard. With a wide grin, she lifted a star-shaped manepin and comb before looking for a mirror. Once she found one, she brushed her mane and tail and decorated her mane with the pin. As soon as she finished, she levitated her saddlebags over her back as she sprayed perfume around her neck. Leaving the bottle on the table, she trotted down the stairs to find a specific book.
“Where is it?” she mumbled to herself. “He’ll be here any minute!”
She used her magic to pull several books from the shelves, making them fly in front of her to read the titles.
“No, no, no, no! Wait, the last one!” She dragged the book in front of her while reading the title out loud. “The Seed of Love: A Guide For a Perfect First Date and a Ticket to Several Others. Here it is!” she said eagerly, stuffing another book in her bag.
After putting the other books back in their place, she opened the dating book and read the table of contents quickly. When she was about to get to the first chapter, somepony knocked on the door. Twilight stood motionless, sweating.
“There he is…” She tried to calm herself by breathing slowly. “Okay, Twilight, calm down. It’s your first date ever and you have your book. Nothing can go wrong!”
Putting the book inside her saddlebag, she trotted towards the door and opened it to see a young pegasus stallion with a pair of saddlebags hanging over his back. He had a sky-blue coat and a bright yellow mane, matching his tail and eyes. He smiled broadly, winking at her.
“Ready for our date, Twilight?” he asked with a grin.
“Yes, Summer Breeze, let’s go!”
-o-
After spending some time talking at the fountain, they decided to stop at Sugarcube Corner to get some refreshments.
“Go take a seat for both of us, Summer,” said Twilight politely. “What you do want?”
“Chocolate milkshake for me, please, Twilight,” replied Summer Breeze with a smile. He opened one of his saddlebags but Twilight stopped him gently.
“It’s okay, Summer. I’ll pay. You can give me your part when we’re about to leave. And we’re dating, only Twi will do,” she added with a wink.
“As you wish.” With a shrug and a gentle smooch on her cheek, he trotted to one of the free tables.
Twilight giggled before looking back at him to check that he wasn’t staring at her, then took the book from her saddlebags.
“Hi, Twilight!” Mrs. Cake greeted with a broad smile. “Are you looking for Pinkie?”
“Oh, no, not today! I’m a bit… busy today.”
“Oh, sorry, I didn’t notice,” she snorted softly. “Has that stallion there something to do with it?”
Twilight nodded weakly, getting closer to Mrs. Cake, whispering to her. “It’s our first date. I want it to be perfect, that’s why I brought this book. You know, to make sure that everything’s perfect.”
“Twilight, I know you love books, but relationships are too deep and complicated to let one of these make you think that it has all the answers. Just talk to him and enjoy your time together.” After a moment, Mrs. Cake gasped. “Oh, I’m sorry, I got distracted! What are you going to order?”
“Two milkshakes, one chocolate and the other one blueberries,” Twilight said with a smile, resuming her reading.
“Is everything okay, Twilight?” Breeze called from the table.
“Oh, yes, it’s just fine!” She closed the book abruptly, hiding the book and facing him nervously. “I just got lost in a conversation with Mrs. Cake. We’ve know each other for a long time, but I haven’t been by for a few weeks. We were just getting caught up.”
“Twilight, you can go sit down,” said Mrs. Cake. “I’ll bring your drinks over.”
With a nod, Twilight trotted towards the table, sitting in front of Summer Breeze. “So, tell me,” she started, “What are your favorite sort of books?”
“Well, I’ve always liked mystery novels. My father has a lot of them, and I read them from time to time. When I ran out of books at home, I went to the library and I guess you know the rest of the story.”
“Yeah, that’s right,” she admitted with a giggle. “You sometimes came to the library, asked for one of the books and sat there, spending the whole evening reading. I had to tell you to leave a couple of times before you would notice that the library was closing.”
Summer Breeze snorted with a nod. “Yeah, I guess I tend to lose track of time when reading.”
Mrs. Cake stopped by the table, dropping off their order. “Having fun, you two?” she asked with a smile.
“Yes, Mrs. Cake,” said Twilight with a smile, while Summer nodded politely. “I’m really glad to have a library partner to talk about every kind of book. My friend Rainbow Dash started reading some time ago, but she only reads those Daring Do novels. When talking about books, she isn’t interested in discussing anything else!”
“They’re quite good, but I don’t usually like stories that are only focused on the main character,” Summer Breeze started. He took a long sip of milkshake before continuing. “I mean, there’s a huge world there to explore and endearing characters, but they’re only relevant when the main character’s there. The rest of the time, it feels like it didn’t exist.”
“I see your point, but you have to admit that the formula works with some books.”
“Yeah, I know. In fact, I enjoy those sorts of the books, but too often I end up feeling like I’m just following behind the main character, rather than being the main character.”
Twilight nodded as she took a short sip from her beverage. Her eyes widened for a moment. “That reminds me! I brought something for you!” She blushed slightly, drawing circles with her hoof on the table. “You know, for our first date.”
“Oh, what is it?”
“I found one of these books at the library. I thought you’d like to give it a read.” She pulled the book out of her bag with her magic and passed it to him, looking away shyly with a snicker.
Summer Breeze stared at the book holding it with both hooves, raising an eyebrow at the title. “The Seed of Love: A Guide For a Perfect First Date and a Ticket to Several Others?”
Twilight gawked in horror, staring at the book with her eyes wide open. “No! That’s not it!”
“Twilight, what were you doing with this book in your saddlebag?”
“Please, give it to me!” She yelped, trying to snatch the book back.
“But, Twilight…” Breeze skimmed through the book for a moment, then gently held the book out to her. “Hey, Twi. Come on, don’t be sad. Here, take the book. It’s okay.”
“No! It’s not okay!” Twilight cried, clutching the book to her chest and turning away in tears. “Do you know how I feel now? I… I wanted this date to be perfect, and now everything’s ruined!”
Summer grabbed Twilight’s hooves, holding them as he spoke tenderly to her. “Twilight, it’s okay, I mean it. I actually like all the effort you’ve put in this date.”
Twilight looked up at him with watery eyes. “R-really?” She choked.
He nodded. “You did this for us. I feel like I’m the most important pony in the world at this very moment.”
“That’s… that’s because, this is my first date ever. That’s why I wanted this to be perfect!”
Summer Breeze leaned across the table to Twilight and kissed her on the forehead, caressing her mane as he spoke. “There, there, Twi. It’s still going to be perfect. Give me the book.”
She nodded weakly, pushing it towards him. “What do you want with it?”
“See this?” he said, pointing at the book. “This is a dating book. It has clues, hints and everything you’ll need for a date. It has one problem, though.”
More relaxed after his show of affection, Twilight raised her eyebrows in disbelief. “A problem?”
“Yes, because this books tells us a perfect date, but this is the author’s opinion! Do you honestly agree that everything that he wrote here is perfect?” He gestured her to come closer to him. “Look, they talk about sending cards with sprinkles, hearts and a lot of decorations and whispering sweet nothings.”
“That sounds pretty romantic,” admitted Twilight,
“For some ponies maybe, but I’d prefer doing other romantic things.”
“Like what?”
“You got me a gift for our first date.” He looked at her with a smile, touching her chin with his hoof, pushing it up slightly. They both looked at each other’s eyes. “I’ll make another gift for you: I’ll give you the perfect date.”
“But the book—”
“No books. It’s our date, we’ll make it perfect our way.” He smiled as he gently stroked her cheek. “Finish your drink and we’ll go to the library. I have the perfect idea.”
-o-
After finishing the milkshakes and paying Mrs. Cake, the couple walked towards the library. On the way, Twilight showed him the book she’d brought him: Abductions in Stalliongrad, a science fiction novel with a grim setting.
By the time they arrived at the library, it was already dark, and the Moon was high in the sky. Summer Breeze smiled broadly. “Perfect.”
“What’s perfect?”
“Everything!” He rushed inside the library. “Come on, there are no clouds up there. We can see the stars without a problem!”
“We’re going to…” Twilight grinned as realization dawned. “Stargazing? You want to do some stargazing?”
“Yup! And you’re going to tell me everything you know about them. I’ve seen them hundreds of times, but I don’t even know the constellations or those things that I heard you speaking about while I was reading that day.”
“Come on, then!” replied Twilight, trotting in place joyfully. “Luna’s done an outstanding job tonight!”
Breeze flew upwards, landing next to the telescope and Twilight, who chose to teleport and appeared in a brilliant flash of light. She dragged some astronomy books from her table over before going to Breeze.
“It’s July,” said Twilight while calibrating the telescope. “Open the book Luna’s Wonders to page two-hundred seventy six. I’m sure we can spot Canis Minor from here.”
“Right!” replied Breeze, saluting jokingly. He took the book and quickly found the page. With a smile, he looked at Twilight. She seemed to enjoy the time she took readying the telescope, looking through it and calibrating until it was perfect. “Here it is,” he announced, offering the book to her.
“Thanks! I think I got it. Come on! Look through the telescope! Don’t move it, it’s prepared so you can see Canis Minor in the center of it.”
With a nod, he moved in front of the lens, then looked through it, letting out a long gasp. “Wow! This is unbelievable! Those stars really look like a dog! A really weird dog, but still!”
Twilight laughed. “I’m glad you like it so much!”
“Where are the other wonders in the sky, Twilight?”
“Seventeen degrees and a half to the Northwest,” explained Twilight. “According to the book, we should be able to see—“
“Sweet merciful Celestia!”
Twilight cleared her throat with a smile. “Minos, the bull.”
“It’s… it’s… I don’t know what to say.”
“Wonderful?”
“It’s much more than that! This is the best thing I’ve ever seen!”
“You were right, Breeze,” she said, getting close to him and resting her head on his shoulder. “This is the perfect first date.”
He turned to her smiling broadly. “And it won’t be the last, I promise.”
Both ponies smiled at each other. Breeze leaned in for a kiss, and Twilight closed her eyes, bringing her lips to meet his. It only lasted a couple seconds but, for both of them, it was the most magical moment of the night. When Breeze moved away from her, he looked back at the sky.
“I admit that the stars are beautiful,” started Breeze, “and I can barely think of words to describe how wonderful they are.”
“I have that same problem,” she snorted softly.
“But then… then I see your eyes, Twilight.” He looked back at her, while she blushed furiously. “That glow in your eyes and that charming smile you have when you’re as happy as you are right now. And while it’s true that maybe, someday I’ll be able to find words to describe the wonders of the night sky, there are simply no words to describe you.”
Twilight hugged him tightly, grinning uncontrollably. “Okay, Romeo. Resting time is over,” she said, raising the book with her magic. “The night isn’t going to slow down for us!”
“Let’s do this, Twi!”
