Romantic Disasters

Celestia’s morning sun’s rays seeped through Twilight's bedroom window. Twilight blinked her eyes repeatedly before fully opening them, taking in the sunshine. It looked like another beautiful day and Twilight couldn’t be happier. She got up and looked at her calendar that was nailed to the wall. The day, March 25, was circled in red marker with the words “re-shelving day” written in the center. Twilight’s smile grew across her face.

Spike sighed happily as he rolled over on his side and continued to sleep. Twilight went over and started shaking Spike with her front hooves. Spike groaned and covered himself in his blanket, defending himself from Twilight and the day’s future events. “Come on, Spike!” Twilight moaned. “It’s time to get up!” A purple aura formed around Twilight’s horn while another formed around Spike. The purple aura levitated Spike his basket, his blanket slowly sliding down his body before falling flat on the basket.

The purple aura put Spike down, his eyes still half-open. He rubbed his eyes with his small hands as the purple aura disappeared. “Good. Now that that’s settled, let’s go get some breakfast.” Twilight seemed extra chipper today and Spike groaned again once he figured out why.

“Re-shelving Day again? Do we have to do this EVERY month?” he complained as he followed Twilight down the stairs.

“Yes! It’s very important that this library is kept in perfect shape. Now, come on!” Twilight went into the kitchen and activated the stove using her magic. She levitated a pan over it and started to add some pancake mix. Spike sat down at the dining table, rubbing his head after his rude awakening.

“Hey, um, Twilight?” Spike asked. Twilight turned her attention towards Spike as the pan continued to move on its own. “What day is it?”

“Well, it’s March 25th…” she stopped, her eyes widening in excitement. “OH MY GOSH!” she yelled. Spike jumped at Twilight’s sudden exclamation. “Spike! You forgot to tell me that it was today!”

“W-What? What’s today? I thought you already knew it was re-shelving day!” Spike stammered confusingly.

“It’s not just re-shelving day, Spike!”

Rapid knocking was heard on Twilight’s door. Twilight put the pan down causing it to fall off of the stove and onto the floor. Spike looked at the mess she caused and sighed in irritation. He went to the side and grabbed the broom leaning against the wall. Twilight hurried towards the door and opened it to reveal Rarity hopping up and down in sheer excitement.

“Did you get it yet?” Rarity asked anxiously. Spike peeked out of the kitchen to catch a glimpse of the two overly-happy mares.

“Not yet. Don’t tell me you already got it.”

Rarity nodded her head quickly. Twilight got even happier than before. “Quickly!” Rarity said. “Go see if you have it!” Twilight galloped over to her mailbox in front of the library and opened it. She pulled out a small package in brown packaging and giggled profusely along with Rarity. Spike went out the front door and watched as Twilight tore the packaging up as fast as she could and held out a book.

Their squealing could have been heard from all over Ponyville. Spike approached the two as they continued to revel in their excitement. “What the hay’s going on? It’s just a book,” said Spike.

“Spike!” the two mares were appalled and offended by Spike’s statement. “This is NOT just a book. It’s THE book.” Rarity held out her copy and showed it to Spike. The cover it had was light blue and had the silhouettes of two ponies, one stallion and one mare, in front of a large heart; it’s title was written cursively in black with the author’s name placed at the very bottom.

“It’s the new Tears and Smiles book by Cursive Writer; A Stallion’s Desire!” Twilight exclaimed. “It’s supposed to be the last installment of the trilogy!”

Spike scratched his head in puzzlement. “Cursive Writer? Who’s that?”

Rarity gasped. “You’ve never heard of Cursive Writer? He’s only the greatest romance novelist who ever lived! His stories speak to you from the heart. The story is so engaging, you hang on every word that’s written!” Spike blushed and kicked the dirt at his feet.

“What are you blushing about?” Twilight asked.

Spike suddenly shook his head. “Oh, it’s nothing,” he stammered. “Whatever. Just don’t get all that mushy stuff on me.”

Rarity scoffed. “Hmph. You just wouldn’t understand.”

“Oh. I see you already have it.” Everyone turned to see Fluttershy standing behind them with the same book in her saddlebags.

“Fluttershy! You got it too!” Twilight exclaimed.

Fluttershy’s shy expression turned into adorable happiness. “Oh, but of course. Every mare in Ponyville has it.”

“We should go visit the others and see if they got their copy as well,” Twilight suggested.

Spike spoke up. “Can I, uh, come too? I need to, uh, pick something up at Sugarcube Corner.”

“Sure. Just make sure you cover your ears. Wouldn’t want all that mushy stuff on you,” Twilight said jokingly. Spike hopped up on her back as they made their way to Ponyville.

“Ooh, what do you think will happen this time, Twilight?” Rarity asked.

“I think Brawny Boulder might actually stay with Marshmallow Surprise. They’re the perfect couple!”

“Really?” Fluttershy asked. “I think Winter might return and take Marshmallow back.”

“Fluttershy, Winter died. There’s no way he’d come back.” Rarity corrected. “Anyway, I’m hoping that Marshmallow moves away from that dreadful father of hers. She’s an independent pony and she should be treated as such.”

As the three continued chatting, Spike looked around as they went through the streets of the town. He learned that Fluttershy was actually right. Every single mare seemed to manage to get their hooves on the book, reading it intensely as if it were almost mandatory. Spike quickly gave a sly smile and turned back towards Twilight. “So, who is this Cursive Writer, exactly?” he asked.

“No one really knows,” Rarity told him. “He doesn’t show his picture and he leaves very little about him in his biography.”

“But Rarity…,” Fluttershy interrupted. “How do you know the pony’s a he?”

“A mare can dream, can’t she? Anyway, as I was saying, nopony can tell who Cursive is. But one thing’s for sure. He’s not just writer. He’s an artist.” She sighed contently as she looked up at the sky.

“Wow, Rarity.” Twilight said. “You seem to like this pony a lot.”

“I’m only his number one fan. I would give anything to even be with him.” As Rarity said that, Spike tried a little harder to hide his blushing this time.

They soon stopped by the familiar sugar coated building known as Sugarcube Corner. “Here’s your stop, Spike.”

Spike snapped back to reality. “Wait, what?”

“You said you needed to pick something up at Sugarcube Corner, didn’t you?”

“Oh, yeah!” Spike got up and started to get off of Twilight.

“I’ll meet you back at the library,” said Twilight.

"Ok!" Spike waved at the three mares as he watched them head for what seemed to be Sweet Apple Acres. Spike kept watching until they were out of his sight then ran for the nearest bookstore as fast as his little feet could. Once he made it, he stopped to catch his breath. He looked up to notice the bookstore right in front. There was huge line of ponies that stretched all the way to the other side of the street, all waiting to get the book.

Spike managed to cram his way inside. The entire bookstore was cramped with ponies. Some were talking about their favorite scenes, their favorite characters, even a rumor about a movie adaptation in the works. As Spike continued to squeeze through, he made to the stand containing a few copies of the book left.

He took a copy from the stand and began to skim through the numerous pages, chockfull of words, similes, metaphors and the works. He continued to quickly skim through the book, his eyes frantically moving left to right as they followed the words until the very last page. The last page had the author’s name in big, black, bold letters with just a few sentences that depicted the numerous awards that the pony won.

He turned to the back which held all the highly positive reviews the book had received.

“Cursive Writer continues to excel in the field of writing.” –Canterlot Times

“Another fantastic installment in a marvelous trilogy that will leave you wanting more.” –Equestrian Book Club

“10 out of 10. I will definitely be reading this again and again for years to come.” –Good Read.

Good Read. The most sophisticated book reviewer that ever lived. Spike was left speechless on how the book had received a perfect score from HIM of all people. Perfect scores were completely rare for somepony like Good Read to just give out. You had to earn it. Spike fist pumped the air and flipped through the book again until he was interrupted by a filly’s voice behind him.

“Spike? What’re you doing?”

Spike yelped as he turned around to notice a yellow filly with red hair and a pink bow looking at him puzzled.

“Oh! Apple Bloom! I was looking for the…uh…,” Spike looked around desperately for something he could use as an excuse. “Oh, there are the comics! They were over here the whole time!” Spike ran to the nearest bookshelf and pulled out a comic book with the cover that depicted a robot flying through space. He flipped through it quickly and laughed nervously, hoping that Apple Bloom wouldn’t catch on.

“Why were you over there looking at that girly book?” she asked.

“I, uh, needed to, uh, see just how good it was. It’s not. It really isn’t,” he stammered.

“Really? ‘Cause Applejack’s always telling me how good it was this morning.”

Spike glanced at Apple Bloom’s saddlebags. “Hey, what’s in the bags?” he asked.

“Oh, just some coloring books," Apple Bloom replied. "Scootaloo thought it would be a good idea to get our cutie marks for artistic vision. I told her we needed to start somewhere, so I went ahead and picked these up. What're you even doing here?"

Spike stammered again as he tried to find the right words to use. "Uh, Twilight needs a, uh, new spell book."

"But she owns a library. I thought she had every spell book out there."

Spike looked at his wrist. “Oh, hey! Look at the time! I better get going!” He put the comic back as he started to make his way to the exit.

Apple Bloom became more confused than before. “But it’s 12:30.”

“Oh, you know Twilight. Always getting onto me for being out this long. Gotta go! I’ll see ya later!” He squeezed through the numerous ponies as fast as he could through the exit. He looked behind him to make sure he wasn't followed.

Spike decided that it actually was a good time to head back to the library. The streets seemed busier than this morning. He figured it was probably because of the book's release. When he made it to the front door, he could hear excessive giggling and squealing coming from inside. He opened the door to find all 6 ponies sitting around in a circle, reading their own copy of the book.

“What’s going on?” he asked.

“SHHHH!” They all said in unison, and then turned back to their books.

Pinkie left the circle and approached Spike. “We’re having a special book release party,” the pink pony whispered. “But, I don’t think you’d be interested.”

"Hey, Twilight?" he asked. "Does this mean Re-Shelving Day is cancelled?

"Yeah, sure." Twilight said impatiently, still focused on her book. Another purple aura materialized and pushed Spike back out the door. After it had closed behind him, Spike ran to the side and climbed up a tree stump next to the library. He peeked through the side window and saw Pinkie Pie returning to the circle and continuing to read along with the others.

“So, Rainbow,” Applejack said. “Ah didn’t think you’d be interested in books like these.”

“I am not!” The cyan pegasus denied. “I’m just here because you guys dragged me here.” She went back to reading her own copy with much intensity.

“Hey, Rarity,” Twilight asked. “Do you think Sweetie Belle’s had a chance to read this yet?”

“Oh, heavens no! This book is way too…mature for someone her age to be reading. Now, be quiet. Something’s happening on page 83.”

“Well, don’t tell us!” The other five yelled in unison.

Twilight looked around and noticed Spike’s face watching from behind the window. The curtains suddenly closed on him, denying him any future viewings. He got down from the tree stump he was standing on and went to a nearby park bench. He placed both his hands firmly, hopped up onto the bench, took his seat, and began to lie down, watching the clouds as they drifted on by in the beautiful blue sky. A satisfied smile grew across his face.

“All in a day’s work.”