• Published 2nd May 2012
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A Warm Summer's Evening - TAW



Twilestia shipping

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Chapter 1

A Warm Summer's Evening

"Another 'Two weeks since the last party' party, Pinkie? Already?" Twilight incredulously asked as Pinkie bowed her head and proffered an invitation towards her. Twilight was not in the best of moods - the sun was shining straight into her eyes because it was dawn, and far too early to be awake yet. Pinkie Pie's insistent knocking had awoken her from her slumber, where she'd been dreaming about an infinite library of books.

Twilight Sparkle liked those dreams. They were comforting. Being woken up at Celestia knows when in the morning to be invited to a party that most likely had neither cause nor urgency was not comforting; it was irritating.

"No, silly!" Pinkie giggled, shaking an invitation out of the basket on her head and letting Twilight catch it in the air. "It's the 'Congratulations Cloudchaser and Thunderlane on your three day anniversary' party!"

Pinkie bounced up and down a few times while waiting for Twilight's response. Everybody always enjoyed her parties, but she threw so many of them that making invites more than a day in advance was impossible. Pinkie's day often started with waking up early with a stack of papers, a lot of crayons, some paste, and scissors.

"Gosh, has it been three days already? How time flies," Twilight sarcastically quipped, yanking the invitation inside and slamming the door behind her as she returned to her house, and the warm, safe enclosure of her bed. Pinkie Pie made a comedic squeak as the door slammed shut on her nose and Twilight heard a series of receding bounces as Pinkie left to terrorize some other poor soul.

Much as Twilight enjoyed Pinkie's parties, she swore the mare was bringing the invitations earlier and earlier. Maybe, just maybe, she'd eventually be bringing them so early it would be the day before, and Twilight wouldn't have to wake up at such an unthinkable hour.

Twilight set the invitation down on the table and climbed back into bed for a few more hours of uninterrupted sleep. She drifted off while thinking about spell designs for an anti-knocking charm, though she doubted a little enchantment would stop Pinkie Pie from driving her insane.


"Hey Twilight, what's this?" Spike asked as he passed the table, spotting the envelope that had been so casually discarded. It stuck out like a sore thumb between the well bound hardbacks that were strewn around Twilight's desk in that it was bright pink and smelled lightly of doughnuts - not exactly Twilight's usual style.

"Oh, Pinkie delivered that earlier. You should open it," Twilight replied, taking another bite out of her breakfast apple. She felt better after her sleep, but not as rested as usual - or maybe it just felt that way. She didn't know, she was too busy stifling yawns and hoping the apple would help wake her up, lest she would be behind schedule all day.

Spike cleared his throat, opened the envelope, and visibly gagged. "Oh, man, it has flowers on it. Why do ponies put themselves through this?" he asked nobody in particular, knowing Twilight's inexperience and ignorance of dating procedure, and began to read:

To my super special best friend, Twilight Sparkle

Spike paused, adding "Your name is written in crayon," before continuing.

To my super special best friend, Twilight Sparkle

You are super-duper cordially invited to this week's hottest party at Sugarcube Corner, celebrating Cloudchaser and Thunderlane's true love, and third uninterrupted day of dating!

Be at Sugarcube Corner, 7pm today. No need to RSVP, I know I'll see you there! Don't bring a gift, because your company is all the gift those two lovebirds could ever ask.

-Pinkie Pie

P.S. Twilight do you have any pink paper? I'm all out and I have so many invitations to write for my next party!

"Since when was three days a milestone for these things?" Twilight asked, somewhat exasperated given that she'd already been to the secret Cloudchaser and Thunderlane are looking at each other in a funny way party, the Cloudchaser just asked Thunderlane to a dance party, and the He said yes! after-party. "I don't get it, what's the big deal?"

"It's like... love and stuff, y'know?" Spike fruitlessly explained. "I'm really looking forward to me and Rarity's three day anniversary!"

"Spike, you don't have anything to have an anniversary about!" Twilight snapped, perhaps a little harshly. Spike's eyes dropped. "Don't you think that's a little forward?"

"Yeah, well. One day, I mean. That's not the point, anyway, you should be happy they found happiness!" Spike tried to explain. "It'd be nice if they could do it less... pink, though," he added as a vaguely disgusted afterthought.

"I am happy for them! I'm already happy, I'm a very happy pony!" Twilight shouted, "I don't need anypony to 'find happiness', it's right here!" Twilight waved her hoof around the library, shelf after shelf fully stocked with hundreds of spectacular titles. They ranged from the obscure to the critically acclaimed and Twilight loved them all. Her eye twitched.

"O... kay," Spike carefully replied. Twilight was getting perhaps a little too close to 'going to miss a deadline' territory for his liking. If he started running now, he could be at his stash of Help, Twilight's gone crazy again letters before she could stop him and Celestia could be here within 10 minutes. "I still think we should go, don't you?"

"Of course!" Twilight replied, instantly cheering up and returning to her usual happy state, "It's always nice to see my friends. Make sure my notebook is ready, I want to try and take as many notes on these 'lovebirds' as I can. It can't be that hard to figure out why everypony keeps getting so excited over these things."


"Argh!" Twilight groaned, throwing her saddlebag into the corner of the room with a little more force than strictly necessary. The party had gone perfectly, everybody had congratulated the two on their three, and then they'd gotten down to the important business of party games. Twilight had won "Pin the tail on the pony", even if Dash had contested her victory on the grounds of it not being fair that she had used her magic.

Her notebook, however, was as blank as it had been that morning. The two ponies had smiled when they looked at each other, but that was all Twilight could ascertain.

Love, as a concept, still eluded her. She was quickly becoming very intimate with friendship, but love seemed like something completely different. Love seemed to make ponies want to spend all their time with each other, and while Twilight liked, say, Pinkie Pie very much, she certainly didn't want to spend all day with her. Love, then, must be something else. Twilight had to know.

She sighed as she sat down in her favourite reading corner. None of the books she was currently absorbing really appealed to her at the moment. A mystery novel was all well and good, but she had a very real mystery in front of her right now, she didn't need fictional ones. "Spike, why don't I get it?" Twilight asked, idly turning one of her books around in her hooves, barely even considering opening it.

"Does it really matter, Twilight? Everypony's different, almost nopony understands magic like you do, so why does it matter that you don't understand things?" he hopefully replied. Twilight shook her head in disagreement.

"It does matter, Spike! I'm meant to be researching friendship, but how can I do that if I don't even really know what love is? No, Spike, clear my schedule. I'm going to figure this one out. Bring me every romance novel we have. They'll surely have the answers."


Twilight sat up, wiggling her legs in the air in a futile attempt to stretch them. She had been lying in that one spot for hours now, reading novel after novel. Her to read pile still towered above her, and her read pile was distressingly small. Unfortunately, she only had three pages of notes so far, and most of that was circumstantial. She was still barely any closer to a grand unified theory of love.

Worse, some of her points contradicted others. Love can bloom between people with the same interests was the reverse of Opposites attract, but both had appeared in several works so far - sometimes both within the same work. To make it even more hopeless, those two weren't even the most contradictory. Love appeared to be more complex than Twilight had first assumed.

She looked at the next book on her pile. Shining knights and summer days looked very similar to the previous few books she'd read, and the blurb didn't help much.

When Summer Days' days feel cold and lonely, what will it take for a plucky young stallion fresh to the royal guard to steal her heart and warm her nights?

Twilight put the book back on the to-read pile, reflexively gagging. She had a higher tolerance to things that sickly sweet than Spike did, but even so there was only so much she could take. Shining knights and Summer Days was quite certainly more than she could bear right now.

"Well, fine, maybe I should look at some non-fiction?" Twilight quietly asked herself, trotting over to the bookshelf marked History and running her nose along the spines. While A short history of pegasus-assisted farming techniques was fascinating, it wasn't likely to teach her much about love. Looking more closely, Twilight thought that none of these books would. How could something as important as love never have been documented?

Twilight sighed, her quest seemed hopeless. Furthermore, it was late and she was tired - it could wait until morning. Twilight extinguished the candles lighting her library with a stray thought, and pulled herself into bed, spending just a moment to marvel how pretty the moon was at this time of the month before drifting off to sleep.


"You should ask Cadence, you know, Twilight. Love is her thing, right?" Spike suggested the following morning to a particularly frazzled looking purple unicorn. Her schedule demanded she woke early, regardless of when she found time to sleep, so Twilight's morning conversations tended to be short and filled with yawning.

"No," Twilight replied, "She won't tell me. I know, I asked when I was younger and she just said," Twilight paused for a moment to clear her throat before putting on her best impression of Princess Cadence, "'You'll find out when you're older, Twilight'". The impression, had it been done within the walls of Canterlot castle, would probably have counted as treason. Twilight was not good at impressions. That wasn't the point - Cadence would be no help.

"Well, what about Rarity? She knows everything about love, I'm sure she could teach you!" Spike continued, cutting an apple into slices for Twilight's breakfast. Twilight normally ate them whole, but she was being demanding that morning.

"Hm, that's true, Rarity must know something at least. Nice thinking, Spike, I'll visit her later!" Twilight replied with a smile. Friendship might not be love, but maybe it could teach her something about it. "And even if she can't, maybe one of my other friends will have an insight, they always do."

"That's the spirit, Twilight. You want these halved or not?" Spike asked, pointing down at the apple. Twilight wasn't really hungry for anything but knowledge.


"Sister, you really should retire earlier." Celestia advised as she wandered out onto one of Canterlot's many balconies, where Luna was currently sitting and admiring the view. It had been a long time since Luna's rescue, and return to common life, but Celestia still caught her marvelling at common sights sometimes.

"I should, sister, and yet here I am," Luna replied, still staring into the expanse. Just because she was the keeper of the night didn't mean she couldn't admire the day, after all. "Need we always keep to such schedules?"

"Of course, maintaining our image is essential for keeping our people happy, you know that." Celestia replied, hanging a wing lightly over her sister's back as she sat next to her.

"What about keeping you happy, Celestia?"


"Love? Why, of course I'd love to tell you about love, Twilight!" Rarity beamed, immediately dropping the half-sewn dress she'd been half-heartedly working on and pulling over a pair of seats, as if she'd been preparing for exactly this situation. "Love is like the most perfect dress you can ever imagine. Something that rubs against your coat and feels electric and alive with passion." Rarity began, closing her eyes as she started to talk.

"Love is like wearing that dress all the time. Every movement you make helping you feel alive, and every moment of your life heated up with passion and every step you take empowered by him!" she continued, punctuating every couple of words with a higher pitch and a flourish of her hoof.

"Him?" Twilight asked, cocking her head. Many of her romance novels had been between two mares and she swore she'd seen one between two stallions somewhere in the pile. Rarity seemed quite insistent on gender, though.

"Oh, well, of course it doesn't have to be a him, but that's how he always appeared to me. Mr. Right is out there somewhere, Twilight, and I shall find him!" Rarity rebuked her. Twilight didn't think Rarity was looking at this love thing very impartially at all.

"I'm not looking for anypony, Rarity, I'm just trying to understand why other people are. It just seems strange to me to waste your time looking for somepony else when you can make yourself happy right now!" Twilight explained, growing slightly exasperated. Rarity was just explaining what she wanted her love to be, not why she did.

Rarity giggled.

"Oh, don't be a foal, Rarity, you know what I mean!"

"Oh, fine. I don't know why I look for him, Twilight, it just feels right. Isn't that enough? We six friends were all brought together by destiny, why can't it bring in a stallion for me too?" Rarity asked, almost pleading for Twilight's understanding.

Twilight snorted. That wasn't the answer she was looking for again. She'd used up all her patience for "Just accept it, it's never going to make sense" on Pinkie Pie's various antics. She had no more to spare; She had to know. "It probably can, Rarity," Twilight admitted, "but I want to know why it does it!"

"I fear I shan't be any help then, Twilight," Rarity admitted, dramatically dropping her head and returning to her sewing. Twilight sighed and turned to leave the room.

"Oh, we are still on for the spa later this week, right darling?" Rarity asked, wanting to make sure neither of them had changed their plans. They never had before, but it never hurt to ask.

"Of course, Rarity, I'm looking forward to it!" Twilight smiled, before leaving. Rarity hadn't taught her anything, but perhaps one of her other friends could. Surely some of them should have a less idealised view.

It didn't take Twilight long to find her next victim. No sooner had she left Rarity's Boutique than Rainbow Dash flew overhead, tugging a small squadron of clouds behind her. It was a glorious day without a cloud in the sky, but it looked like Dash was dead set on changing that.

"Hey, Dash! Rainbow Dash!" Twilight shouted, to no effect. The high-flying pegasus was either not listening or Twilight's voice was being drowned out by the winds. Unfortunately for Rainbow Dash, Twilight needed to talk to her.

Grabbing the multicoloured tail, Twilight yanked and pulled Dash from her planned flightpath. She yelped as the sky was violently ripped from her and furiously flapped for a few seconds before realising what was happening.

"Twilight! You could always just ask!" Dash protested, picking herself up off the ground and brushing the dust and dirt away. "Anyway, what do you want?"

"What do you know about love, Dash?" Twilight hopefully asked. Rainbow Dash blinked and stared at her, completely unmoving.

After a few moments, she shrugged. "I love flying, does that count?"

"No."

"Then I dunno, sorry Twi. Can I go now?"

"Fine. Oh, don't forget to bring that book in for renewal soon, I don't want to have to charge you late fees!" Twilight sighed, letting Dash fly back to her clouds. Rainbow Dash had been even more useless than Rarity. Maybe Pinkie Pie?


"My princess, your presence is requested by one of the ambassadors," a guard calmly announced, interrupting the meaningful silence between the two regal sisters. Celestia silently sighed, ensuring that none of the onlooking guards would be able to tell, and rose.

"I bid you good day, Luna," she said, bowing in respect before turning to leave to perform yet another royal duty. The events, meetings, and speeches never really seemed to end, and while Luna's return had lightened Celestia's workload, the vast majority of her time was still taken up with the day-to-day ruling of the kingdom.

"You too, Celestia," Luna whispered, still sitting on the balcony and admiring the way the sun cast shadows over the kingdom. Sometimes she worried for her older sister, who never took time for herself and always turned down the offer of help. Luna's duties were light, and she'd had to fight for most of them. Not because Celestia felt her weak, but because she felt herself too strong to allow another to carry her burden.

Luna had yet to change her mind.


"So, is it good?" Pinkie asked, bouncing around on her hooves as she watched Twilight take a bite out of her strawberry and chocolate muffin. The bakery smelled as you would expect after a morning of cooking, and Pinkie Pie was covered in a thin film of flour and sugar.

Twilight gave an approving groan as she took a bite of the treat, leaving her mouth too full to answer properly. There was perhaps a little too much sugar, but other than that Pinkie was once again proving herself as a stellar baker and a credit to the town.

Which was to say, she hadn't taught Twilight anything about love.

"Mmm! I love muffins, see! And cupcakes, and cakes, and pies, and oh everything we have! Hey, Spike loves them too! I'll go get you a bag," Pinkie waffled, mostly talking to herself because Twilight had given up listening quite a while back and was focussed on finishing off the muffin hovering in front of her face. The trip had not been a complete waste, at least.

Unfortunately, Twilight had lost hope that her friends could help. Applejack was too busy on the farm, and Fluttershy would probably try and hide behind something sooner than actually talk to somepony that raised her tail, so Twilight feared that neither of them would be of any assistance.

It was time to escalate the issue. Time to bring in the big guns. Time to pull some strings and bring in the unstoppable force. Twilight's breath grew short and her heart began to beat a little faster as she realised what she had to do.

She had to write a letter.


Dear Princess Celestia,

Over the past few days, I have been researching a new concept closely linked with my studies into Friendship. Unfortunately, my progress has been slow and both the local knowledge of the subject as well as my own literature has been unable to shed any light. As such, I formally request that you request Princess Cadence educates me on the subject of love immediately

Celestia's eyes continued to scroll over the paragraphs of text, trying to pull out the important information. Twilight was very good at writing letters, and it was a skill Celestia couldn't quite decide whether she used, or abused.

Your Faithful Student,

Twilight Sparkle

Celestia let the scroll slowly drop to the floor, and raised her quill to her chin in thought. She hadn't expected Twilight to be asking about love for a few months yet, but Celestia supposed she couldn't predict absolutely everything. Even with thousands of years left behind, some ponies could still surprise her.

Dear Twilight Sparkle,

I am happy to approve your request, and will forward my recommendation that the young princess takes you under her wing immediat-

Celestia paused. The letter felt off, something was wrong. Actually approving this request would be a gross abuse of both her power and Twilight's position. She threw it into the fireplace, and began again.

Dear Twilight Sparkle,

I wish you luck in your journey, however Princess Cadence is too busy to fulfil your request at the present mome-

No, that was worse. Celestia couldn't quite place it, but disappointing her student felt wrong too. Surely with all her years of experience, Celestia could come up with a better solution.

Dear my most faithful student, Twilight Sparkle,

Unfortunately, Mi Amore Cadenza is not available to service your request. However, I have a gap in my schedule and would be quite willing to teach you what I know. We can begin as soon as you are ready.

Your Princess,

Celestia

That felt better. Celestia didn't get to spend as much time with her student as she liked these days, this could be an opportunity to fix that, in a completely professional setting. That, and Twilight got so adorably flustered when she was trying to understand new concepts, especially ones as alien as love.

Celestia smiled warmly to herself as her horn glowed and she sent the letter along to Spike, looking forward to Twilight's reply. Twilight's letters were always the highlight of her day, though unfortunately they had grown more infrequent since Celestia had been forced to allow her friends to report on her Friendship project as well.

Much as Celestia enjoyed hearing from all her subjects, some were unavoidably special to her, and Twilight was one of those. Through a series of coincidences too well orchestrated to be anything but destiny, Celestia had come to know Twilight quite well over the years, but Twilight had eventually moved on, and Celestia had too.

Or so she thought.


"Hm, how strange. I wonder why Celestia offered to do this personally, there must be other choices that could provide an equally good education," Twilight mused, reading over the letter for a third time. It was short, but many of Celestia's letters were, she always did have a knack for conciseness. Twilight supposed it came from having more letters to write than there were hours in the day.

"She's been around a while, Twilight, she probably knows even more about love than Rarity!" Spike suggested as he wandered around the library re-shelving books.

"I should hope so, yes. Rarity wasn't much use at all," Twilight muttered under her breath. She tried to hide her more cynical moments these days, though she certainly still had them many ponies appeared to not appreciate them so much.

"I heard that," Spike warned, "but anyway, Celestia probably knows more about everything than anypony, I'm sure you'll learn a lot!"

"Oh, I'm sure I will, Spike! She just talks about how busy she is in her letters so much. I don't want to add to that. She seems to be struggling along as it is. Oh well, she wouldn't offer if she couldn't do it, Spike, take a letter:

"Dear Princess Celestia, I would be honoured to begin my education in love under your tutelage immediately. Shall we rendezvous at the usual place at 5pm tomorrow afternoon? Yours, Twilight Sparkle," she narrated, watching Spike struggle to keep up with her pace. Spike was useful enough for the shorter letters, but anything longer than a few sentences and Twilight had to break out her favourite quill and a long ream of parchment. "Oh, and Spike? Don't forget that muffin that Pinkie gave you, they're delicious."

Twilight stared over at the large To Read pile over in one corner of a room, but decided against it. They wouldn't be much use to her once Celestia began her teaching, and she had a long train ride to Canterlot the next day - turning in for the night seemed like an excellent idea.