//------------------------------//
// Now What? 
// Story: Guarded Emotions 
// by Alabenson 
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Twilight shifted uncomfortably as she awoke the next morning. For some reason, Twilight’s bed felt strangely cold and hard, and the large pillow she was hugging was unusually firm. Not to mention that said pillow was also strangely warm and fuzzy…and felt like it was breathing. Twilight’s eyes snapped open as the morning grogginess was swept away in an instant, the events of the previous night coming back to her. Looking down, Twilight saw that the ‘pillow’ she had been clutching was Moonwhisper himself. The newly minted couple had never actually made it out of the castle’s map room, having been far too engrossed in kissing and nuzzling each other to think to find somewhere more comfortable to sleep than the cold tile floor.
As Twilight regarded her new paramour, not quite ready to relinquish her grip on him, she felt Moonwhisper stir and turn to face her. “Good morning, Twilight,” Moonwhisper said, “I see you’re finally awake.”
“Good morning to you too,” Twilight replied, giving Moonwhisper a peck on the nose. “Ugh, next time we do something like this let’s try and make it back to an actual bed before we fall asleep,” Twilight said as she shifted her weight, “or at least a couch. I’m all stiff from sleeping on the floor all night.” As Twilight spoke she stood up and spread out her wings in an effort to work the kinks out. “Definitely worth it, though,” Twilight added with a sly grin.
Moonwhisper barely managed a nod in response as he pulled himself to his hooves, still trying to process Twilight’s use of the term ‘next time’. “I will say, last night was a rather enjoyable alternative to traditional therapy,” he finally managed to joke.
Unfortunately for Moonwhisper, Twilight didn’t seem to find his remark humorous in the slightest. “You are not going to stop seeing Conscious Mind!”  Twilight snapped as she spun around to face Moonwhisper. As Moonwhisper began stammering a response Twilight quickly closed the gap between them and pressed herself against him to help calm him down before she continued. “Moonwhisper, listen to me carefully,” Twilight began, keeping her voice low, “you’ve been through some truly horrific experiences, and I can’t simply kiss and cuddle it all away. Celestia knows I’d love it if I could, but things just don’t work that way. You’re still going to need help if you’re going to get better, and that means you need to keep seeing Conscious Mind.” Moonwhisper let out a snort of irritation and tried to look away, but Twilight pulled his face back to force him to look her in the eye. “Now, I want you to promise me that you’re going to keep seeing Conscious Mind. And,” Twilight added before Moonwhisper could respond, “you’re going to start taking you’re therapy seriously. No more just spending the entire session glaring at your therapist.”
Moonwhisper grumbled a bit before finally letting out a defeated sigh. “All right, I suppose I can endure a certain amount of tedium for the sake of your peace of mind.”
Twilight simply smiled and rolled her eyes at Moonwhisper’s grudging agreement. Just knowing that Moonwhisper was going to finally take his therapy seriously was a huge relief. “I should really get cleaned up,” Twilight finally said after a few moments, “I promised Rarity and Pinkie Pie that I’d meet them and the others for breakfast today to let them know how last night went. Also, I still need to apologize to Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy for blowing up at them earlier,” Twilight added sheepishly.
“I’m going to need to head out as well. As it is I’m already late for my meaning patrol, not to mention the fact that I’ve missed my morning exercises entirely.” Moonwhisper folded his ears back as a self-conscious look came over him. “I think I may need to make some adjustments to my daily schedule going forward. Although,” Moonwhisper added, “as you put it, it’s ‘definitely worth it’.”
“Well, if anypony understands how important a schedule is, it’s me,” Twilight assured him. “To be honest, I get the feeling that both of us are going to need to make some adjustments from now on. Why don’t you come by tonight and we can talk about it some more over dinner?”
“That’s an excellent suggestion,” Moonwhisper said as Twilight walked him to the castle’s foyer, “it’s a date then.” A slight dazed look spread over Moonwhisper’s features as he slowly realized what he had just said. “It’s a date…we have a date…” Moonwhisper mumbled to himself as he unsteadily trotted out the front door of the palace, the corners of his mouth involuntarily twitching upwards. Seeing the apparent changes in Moonwhisper’s demeanor brought a smile to Twilight. As Twilight turned to get ready for the day (she could only imagine what a mess her mane must have been), the sound of a familiar voice coming from outside stopped her in her tracks.
“Hey, Moonwhisper, you’re sure here early,” Twilight could hear Spike cheerfully say. “Hey does this mean that things aren’t weird between you and Twilight anymore?”
Moonwhisper nervously cleared his throat at Spike’s question. “Well, I can confirm that things have certainly…improved between Twilight and myself.” Twilight could practically hear Moonwhisper blushing furiously as he spoke. “That said, you may wish to speak with Twilight herself. I’m sure she would be more than happy to fill you in on the details of the recent developments.”
Twilight inwardly sighed at the realization that she was going to have to have a talk with Spike before doing anything else. Granted, Twilight had logically known that Spike was going to be one of the first of her friends that she talked to, but that wasn’t going to make the impending conversation any less awkward. Taking a deep breath, Twilight put on a large smile and went to greet her assistant as he marched through the front door. “Hi Spike,” Twilight said as naturally as possible, “how did you big important briefing with the princesses go?”
“Great! Princess Celestia said it was the best briefing on a new dragonlord she’s ever had. Which makes perfect sense, seeing how that was the first briefing she’s ever gotten from somepony who was actually friends with the new dragonlord. The thing is, I’m not really sure how much Princess Celestia actually got out of it,” Spike added in a slightly more serious tone. “Right before we got started Princess Luna came in and whispered something to Princess Celestia, and after that Princess Celestia seemed kinda distracted. Wait a second; Princess Celestia worried about something, Moonwhisper here first thing in the morning…”
“Oh dear Celestia, Spike’s figured it out for himself already,” Twilight thought to herself, hoping that Spike didn’t jump to any embarrassing conclusions.
“There’s some horrible disaster coming, isn’t there?” Spike wailed in horror. “What is it, Twilight, tell me! Did some monster escape from Tartarus? Is Chrysalis back already for revenge for what happened with Thorax and the other changelings? Or-“
“Spike!” Twilight yelled, interrupting her Spike’s panicked babbling. “There’s no major disasters heading our way, so you can relax. Although,” Twilight added, “there is something that we need to talk about. You see, last night Moonwhisper and I talked and…well…as of last night we’re officially a couple.”
Spike started at Twilight in complete shock for several seconds before letting out a high-pitched squeal of excitement. “Are you serious? You and Moonwhisper are gonna be dating from now on? That’s awesome, way to go Twilight! So, does this mean that Moonwhisper’s going to be hanging out around the castle more from now on?”
“Yeah, I guess it does,” Twilight said a little uncertainly. Hearing Spike’s question had made Twilight come to the realization that, for all the energy she had put into worrying about the previous night she had barely given any thought to what would happen afterwards. Mentally, Twilight added that particular worry to the growing list of things that she wanted to talk to her friends about at breakfast.
Whatever Twilight’s concerns were on the subject, however, Spike seemed rather pleased with the possibilities. “Aw man, this is gonna be great! Hey, if Moonwhisper’s finally warming up to everypony maybe I can talk him into coming over for guy’s night.” Spike paused for a moment, a suddenly thoughtful expression on his face. “Huh, I wonder what everypony else is gonna thing about this?”

*********

“Are y’all serious?” An incensed Applejack asked. “After all the hullaballoo Twilight kicked up when she found out we thought she had a thing for Moonwhisper she’s gone and decided she like him after all? What the hay changed her durn mind that fast?” As Applejack vented she looked around the table at the rest of her friends. None of them had thought much of it when Pinkie Pie and Rarity had invited them to breakfast at Sugar Cube Corner. It wasn’t until everypony had arrived that Rarity revealed what Twilight had discovered about her feelings for Moonwhisper, and some were talking the surprise better than others. 
“Now Applejack, darling, to be perfectly fair to Twilight, at the time she hadn’t fully realized how she felt. Out talk the day before last was likely just the nudge she needed.” Rarity paused to take a sip of tea before continuing. “Besides, when Pinkie Pie and I met with her the other day she felt just awful about her little outburst.”
“I just wonder how last night went for her,” Rainbow Dash mused out loud. “I mean, Moonwhisper doesn’t really seem like he’s the romantic type. You think he’ll really be all that interested in dating?” Rainbow Dash sighed as she idly prodded her muffin. “I really don’t want to think about what Twilight’s gonna be like if Moonwhisper turned her down.”
“I don’t think you’re going to need to worry about that,” Pinkie Pie replied with a grin.
“Yes, I do have to say Twilight did seem rather confident that Moonwhisper was secretly harboring feelings for her,” Rarity added. “Although I do have to agree with Rainbow Dash on one point, it will be simply dreadful if Moonwhisper were to reject her.”
At the moment the bell on the entrance to the Sugar Cube Corner tinkled as Twilight trotted into the bakery. A hush quickly fell on the table as all eyes were drawn to the alicorn princess. “Well,” Applejack said impatiently, breaking the silence, “don’t just stand there. Tell us how it went with Moonwhisper last night.”
“Um, well…” a slow blush crept into Twilight’s cheeks as she nervously pawed at the ground. This, along with the smile that quickly spread across her face told her friends all they needed to know about the events of the previous night. Twilight was promptly inundated with cheers and congratulations, with Pinkie Pie going so far as to leap up from her seat and embrace Twilight in a flying tackle/hug.
“Oh darling, that’s wonderful news!” Rarity exclaimed. “I have to admit I am a touch jealous of you, to have finally found a special somepony of your very own.”
“Thank you,” Twilight said before turning to the rest of her friends seated at the table. “I owe all of you an apology for the way I acted the day before last. You were just trying to help me and I-“
“Don’t y’all fret none about it, we forgive y’,” Applejack interrupted. “Like we said back then, romance can do funny things to a pony. Besides, sounds like everythin’ turned out alright in the end.”
“At least this means you’re not going to be moping around all the time,” Rainbow Dash added, chuckling to herself. “Honestly, I still can’t believe Moonwhisper was really interested in you like that.” A stunned silence followed, and it took a moment for Rainbow Dash to realize what she had just said. “Wait, I didn’t mean it like that!” Rainbow Dash yelped. “What I meant was it’s weird to think of Moonwhisper being interested in anypony at all like that.” 
“I guess I can understand why,” Twilight said. “To be honest I wasn’t really sure how Moonwhisper felt about me until I finally got him to say it out loud. He’s just so reserved that it’s hard to tell how he’s feeling.”
“Well it was pretty easy to tell how Moonwhisper was feeling earlier today,” Pinkie Pie said with a sly grin.

*********

Ever since he had woken up that morning on the floor of Princess Twilight’s castle, with the princess’s hooves wrapped around him no less, Moonwhisper had felt, for the lack of a better term, good. Truthfully it was something a novel experience for him. If somepony had forced him to put how he felt to words, Moonwhisper would have described it as a feeling of lightness. It felt to Moonwhisper as though a massive weight that he had carried for all his life had been suddenly whisked away. The one downside that Moonwhisper found was that his newfound mood made it difficult for him to maintain what he felt was the properly dignified demeanor of a Captain of the Equestrian Guard. While Moonwhisper could have tolerated the fact that he couldn’t keep himself from grinning like a loon, his inability to stop skipping around like a schoolfilly was too much. Eventually Moonwhisper was able to restrain himself to something between a prance and a collected trot, but he still felt ridiculous. Any irritation Moonwhisper felt, however, was vastly eclipsed by the sheer elevation he felt at the recent developments between himself and Twilight. 
The change in Moonwhisper’s attitude didn’t go unnoticed by the residents of Ponyville. Most of the townsponies simply shook their heads and smiled, content to speculate and gossip about what had prompted such a change in him overnight. This particular state of affairs suited Moonwhisper just fine. As happy as he may have been, Moonwhisper wasn’t quite prepared to explain the reason for his newfound joy to anypony else. Fortunately for Moonwhisper even those few ponies who did decide to talk to him were hesitant to ask him outright. Just when Moonwhisper started to believe that he would be able to go the whole morning without a discussion of his personal life, however, a familiar pegasus in lieutenant’s armor swooped out of the sky and landed in front of him.
“Sir, Lieutenant Silverstreak reporting with a message from Canterlot, sir.” As Silverstreak spoke she pulled out a scroll with her wing and proffered it to Moonwhisper.
“Thank you, lieutenant,” Moonwhisper replied, his newfound cheerfulness seeping into his voice. As he unfurled the scroll, Moonwhisper glanced up at Silverstreak. “So tell me, lieutenant, how are things in Canterlot these days?”
Silverstreak, however, didn’t seem to particularly interested in small talk. The guardsmare had noticeably tensed up and was coldly eyeing Moonwhisper as though something were profoundly wrong with him. “Sir, if you don’t mind I’m going to have to ask you to levitate that scroll about one foot in front of you, up at about eye level.”
Moonwhisper stared at Silverstreak in half-disbelief before complying with her demand, letting out an irritated snort as he did so. The seemingly inane drill Silverstreak was running him through was in reality a test intended to determine if he was actually an imposter by checking the color of his magical aura. Moonwhisper had designed and implemented the test himself after the first changeling invasion, and while the test was far from exact it was able to out a careless imposter. As much as Moonwhisper appreciate caution in on the part of a member of the guard, however, he felt in this case Silverstreak was being ridiculous. “Well, lieutenant,” Moonwhisper said as he completed the drill, his face having reverted back to his typical irritated scowl, “are you satisfied that I’m not a rogue changeling yet?”
“Sir, I, uh, yes sir!” Silverstreak stammered as she quickly took a few steps backwards. Any doubts that Silverstreak may have been harboring about Moonwhisper’s identity had evaporated the moment she had met his annoyed stare. “It’s just that…well…permission to speak freely, sir?”
“Granted,” Moonwhisper replied simply.
“To be honest, it’s just very unusual to see you, well happy. I can’t even remember ever actually seeing you smile before. If you don’t mind me asking, sir, what happened? Did you get word that something happened to your father?”
Moonwhisper couldn’t resist chuckling at Silverstreak’s question. If there was anything that could have lifted his spirits as much as the events of the previous night, it would have been news of this father’s ideally painful and humiliating demise. “No, lieutenant, to the best of my knowledge my father is regrettably still alive.” Moonwhisper paused for a moment as he regarded Silverstreak. The lieutenant was inevitably going to learn about his new relationship sooner or later, and as he reflected on it Moonwhisper concluded that in the long run it would be better to set the record straight now rather than wait for rumors to start. “The truth of the matter is, as of last night Princess Twilight Sparkle and I can be considered to be romantically involved.”
For the next several seconds Silverstreak simply stared at Moonwhisper as she slowly processed what he had just told her. “SWEET CELESTIA, YOU’RE DATING THE PRINCESS?” Silverstreak suddenly yelled, her wings flaring out in shock.
“Lieutenant! You will refrain from making a scene in the middle of the street,” Moonwhisper snapped. “You are an officer of the Equestrian Guard and I expect you to behave accordingly.” Moonwhisper let out a sigh; he hated to admit it but this was actually going better than he had expected. “That being said, you are correct in that Princess Twilight and I are now, as you put it, dating. Last night Princess Twilight informed me that she was interested in entering a relationship with me, and she proved to be remarkably well-prepared when it came to countering my concerns.”
“Why that clever little…” Silverstreak muttered to herself before breaking into a grin. “I have to say, sir, this is amazing news. If you’ll permit me to say, it’s good to see you finally actually happy for a change. I just have to ask, though, now that you and the princess are a thing, what’s next?”

*********

Twilight froze and blinked several times, as though she hadn’t quite heard Rainbow Dash’s question. “Hello, Equestria to Twilight, I asked you ‘what’s next’? You know, now that Moonwhisper’s your coltfriend.”
“I…I…” Twilight stammered as she glanced around at the eager faces of her friends. “I really hadn’t ever thought of that. But, being in a relationship is basically like friendship, right? I mean, the word ‘friend’ is right there in ‘coltfriend’, and I’m the Princess of Friendship!” Twilight’s declaration elicited a series of half-hearted murmurs of agreement from her friends, which did little to improve her confidence. “Ugh, to be honest I really don’t know how any of this is supposed to work. I’ve never even thought about being in a relationship before, at least not a serious one anyway.” Twilight’s face suddenly brightened as a thought occurred to her. “But, at least I have all of you to help me. I mean, it’s not like I’m the first one of us to actually find a coltfriend, right?” Twilight’s question was answered by an awkward silence as several of her friends shifted uncomfortably in their seats.
“Ah just haven’t met the right stallion yet,” Applejack finally said, breaking the silence. “Besides, my chores on the farm don’t really leave me with much time fer romance anyhow.”
“It’s pretty much the same deal for me,” Rainbow Dash added. “I’m too busy with the Wonderbolts to go around looking for a stallion as awesome as I am.”
“I, um, haven’t really met anypony that…” Fluttershy mumbled, her voice quickly vanishing into inaudibility.
“And I believe that everypony present is already sufficiently acquainted with my own romantic misadventures,” Rarity said, practically daring anypony to utter the names ‘Blueblood’ or ‘Trenderhoof’. “It would seem, darling, that your relationship with Captain Moonwhisper is taking you into uncharted territory for our little social circle.”
“Honestly, though, Ah wouldn’t worry too much about it,” Applejack reassured Twilight. “Like y’all said, most of its probably gonna be just like any other friendship-“
“Just with added make out sessions,” Rainbow Dash added with a grin. “What?” Rainbow Dash asked as most of the table turned to glare at her. “That’s what ponies do when they’re dating, isn’t it?”
“That may be true, but you could have at least tried to find a more tactful way of putting it.” Rarity said with a huff.
The conversation at the table quickly shifted to the act of ‘making out’, along the techniques and propriety thereof. Much of the conversation was purely speculative, owing to Twilight’s friends’ general lack of experience. For her part, Twilight spent most of the conversation deflecting questions about her own experiences on the subject. It wasn’t until the conversation drifted to the potential merits of Spike’s tongue that Twilight finally excused herself. With everything else going on the last thing Twilight needed on her mind was Rainbow Dash’s musings on the possibilities offered by a three-foot long prehensile appendages. As Twilight made her way back to the castle she continued to ponder what the future had in store for her Moonwhisper. Of course, Twilight knew that she would always be able to turn to her friends for emotional support if needed it, but she still would have preferred to be able to talk with somepony with actual relationship experience. The only pony Twilight could think of that fit that description, and who Twilight would have felt comfortable talking to, was Princess Cadance. However, aside from the practical issues presented by the fact that Cadance lived in the Crystal Empire, Twilight wasn’t entirely certain she wanted to rely on her sister-in-law for relationship advice. It was only when Twilight trotted past the hole where the Golden Oak Library had once stood that the answer to her problem struck her like a thunderbolt. If Twilight couldn’t find somepony with relationship experience to ask for advice, then she could find a book on the subject instead. This would have been an absolutely perfect solution were it not for two small problems. The first was that Twilight’s library currently lacked any actual books on the subject. Granted, Twilight did have a number of romance novels, but she was keenly aware of the fact that trying to apply romance novels to real life was a recipe for disaster. Complicating the problem was the fact that the selection it Ponyville’s bookstore was rather limited when it came to self-help books. Fortunately all Twilight would have to do rectify the situation would be to seek out a larger bookstore, such as the bookstore she had frequented when she lived in Canterlot. There were a few things Twilight would want to see to before she left, but by the time she reached her castle Twilight was certain she had almost everything worked out. The only factor that Twilight was still concerned about was Moonwhisper himself, given that a round trip to Canterlot and back would likely take most of the day meaning that there was no guarantee that Twilight would be back in time for her dinner date. Twilight was still trying to figure out how to resolve this dilemma when she entered the castle to find Moonwhisper waiting for her.
“Ah, Twilight, I have something that I need to talk to you about. I’ve just received a message from Canterlot approving a few requests that I had submitted shortly after a first came to Ponyville.”
“What sort of requests are you talking about?” Twilight cautiously asked.
“Well, specifically it was a request for additional personnel, as well as the establishment of a permanent base near the Everfree Forrest. Once of my first responsibilities upon coming to Ponyville was to evaluate what sort of force would be needed to properly secure the town. And, to be honest,” Moonwhisper added, a slight blush creeping into his cheeks, “given recent developments the fact that Canterlot is responding to my evaluations now is something of a relief. I’ve been stretched fairly thin between my responsibilities as your bodyguard and the need to monitor the Everfree Forrest, so having extra guards on hoof will be a welcome change.”
“I suppose that makes sense, but just how many guards are you talking about?” Twilight asked, fervently hoping that the situation wasn’t going to spiral out of hoof. 
“There wouldn’t be any need for a full garrison, if that’s what you’re worried about,” Moonwhisper assured Twilight. “My request was only for a dozen or so guards, just enough to maintain regular patrols along the border of the forest. Even that will have to wait for a proper barracks to be constructed, though. Until then, the only additional guards will be my two former lieutenants, Lieutenant Silverstreak and Lieutenant Sharpshooter. From what I understand you’ve met them before, correct?”
Twilight nodded her head, mostly just grateful that Moonwhisper wasn’t going overboard. Mentally, Twilight was already making plans to help welcome Silverstreak and Sharpshooter to Ponyville, which would almost inevitably be supplemented by a Pinkie Pie welcome party.
While Twilight pondered how best to introduce the two guardponies to the rest of Ponyville Moonwhisper shifted uneasily on his hooves. “There is one slight complication associated with this news, however. I’m afraid I’m going to need to go into Canterlot today to finalize some of the transfer paperwork. As such, regarding our date tonight…”
“Actually, that will work out just fine,” Twilight replied as she silently cheered this bit of serendipity. “While I was out I remembered that there’s something that I need to go to Canterlot to take care of. I was a little worried that I was going to miss our first date, but since we’re both going to Canterlot we can just go out to dinner there.” Twilight’s suggestion left Moonwhisper looking visibly relieved and he offered no resistance as she herded him towards the door. “I still have a few things that I need to take care of before I leave, so why don’t you meet me at the train station in about half an hour?” Moonwhisper barely had time to nod his head in agreement before Twilight pushed him outside and closed the door behind him. Once Moonwhisper was gone, Twilight quickly made her way to one of the storerooms in the castle’s lower levels. The room’s contents were a shockingly disorganized collection of boxes and bins, many of which Twilight hadn’t looked through since she moved into her castle. As a result it took Twilight several minutes to find the specific box she was looking for. Opening it up, Twilight was rewarded with the sight of a collection of her old dresses from before he had transformed into an alicorn. None of the dresses had fit properly after Twilight had grown her wings so she had stored them in a box in the basement of the Golden Oak’s Library. Twilight had always meant to have the dresses altered to fit her new appendages but had never actually gotten around to it. Thankfully, this procrastination had meant that the box had survived the destruction of the library’s upper levels by Tirek. After a few minutes sifting through the collection of outfits Twilight found what she had been looking for, namely the sundress that Rarity had made her for her birthday. Carefully folding the garment so that it would fit in her saddlebags Twilight trotted out of the room to finish the rest of her preparations, mentally making a note to see about properly organizing the room later.

*********

The train ride into Canterlot itself was largely uneventful. Moonwhisper and Twilight spent the trip sitting next to each other in silence, which was broken only by the occasional attempt at small talk. Twilight found the entire experience to be unbearably awkward. Everything, even something as simple as sitting down next to each other, suddenly seemed like it had acquired a host of new unwritten societal rules. It was actually a relief when the train finally pulled into the Canterlot station, signaling an end to the awkwardness.
“So, once we’ve finished our respective tasks, why don’t we meet at the palace end of Restaurant Row and look for a place to have dinner there,” Moonwhisper said as they stepped onto the platform.
“Restaurant Row?” Twilight asked, wrinkling her nose. “Are you sure you’d want to go there?”
“From what I’ve heard, the quality of the food there has vastly improved in the last few months,” Moonwhisper replied. “But, if there’s somewhere else in particular that you’d rather go-“
“No, it’s alright, I’m sure we can find someplace there that would be fine,” Twilight said quickly. Giving Moonwhisper a quick peck on the cheek, Twilight took off into the air. As much as Twilight hated to leave in a rush she was anxious to complete her business. It only took Twilight a few minutes to reach her first destination, namely her former Canterlot home. Moon Dancer appeared to be absent, which suited Twilight just fine as it meant that she wouldn’t have to explain what she was doing to anypony else. Once inside, Twilight removed her saddlebags and pulled out her sundress. To Twilight’s relief the dress still fit reasonably well provided she kept her wings folded, which became much easier to maintain once she put her saddlebags on over her dress. The result wasn’t exactly the most fashionable ensemble imaginable, but it would sever Twilight’s needs perfectly. Twilight was frankly a little embarrassed that she, the Princess of Friendship, needed to seek out a book on relationships and thus wanted to go to the bookstore incognito. Luckily, thanks to the generally self-absorbed nature of most Canterlot unicorns going unnoticed would be as simple as keeping her wings out of sight. As far as anypony would be concerned, Twilight would just be another unicorn going about her business. 
The trip from Twilight’s old home to the bookstore wasn’t particularly long and Twilight knew the route by heart. As she had hoped, nopony on the street gave her a second glance as they went about their business of being more important than everypony else. Twilight’s good fortune continued when she reached the bookstore itself, as the pony at the register was relatively new and therefore didn’t recognize her as a former regular. “Pardon me, sir, do you happen to have any books on relationship advice?” Twilight asked the cashier, a portly unicorn sporting a short, unkempt beard.
The stallion slowly put down the book he had been reading and looked Twilight over for a moment before gesturing down one of the aisles of bookshelves. “Those are gonna be in with the self-help books in the back. Quickest way to find them would be to go down through the romance novel section until you reach the far wall, that’ll take you right to ‘em.”
Twilight thanked the clerk, who responded with a grunt as he returned to his book. His directions proved quite accurate and Twilight soon found herself in front of a large shelf of books bearing covers featuring hearts and happy couples. Mercifully, the section was almost completely deserted aside from a single stallion wearing a stetson hat and duster standing at the far end of the shelves. Ignoring him, Twilight began pouring over the various titles, occasionally pulling one down and flipping through it. After Twilight looked through each of the books she would either return them to the shelves or place them in a neat pile next to her. “Let’s see…Finding Your Perfect Stallion, no I’ve already found him, the problem is I’m not sure what to do next…Managing Healthy Relationships, now this sounds more like it…How to Please Your Special Somepony, huh, I wonder what it means by-“ Twilight opened the book, only to immediately snap it closed. “Oh, that’s what it means. I don’t really think I’m going to need to worry about anything like that quite yet,” Twilight muttered to herself as she blushed furiously. After thinking about it for a moment, however, Twilight surreptitiously slipped the book into the middle of her pile. Mumbling something to herself about how the book might become relevant at a later date, Twilight turned back to the shelf to grab another book. When Twilight tried to levitate the book off the shelf, however, she felt it pull away from her. Glancing at the book, Twilight saw that in addition to her aura there was a second, dark blue aura trying to envelop it as well. 
“Pardon me, miss, but do you—TWILIGHT?” A deep voice to Twilight’s right suddenly yelped. As Twilight looked up at the voice’s source she felt her jaw fall open in surprise. The unicorn in the duster that Twilight had noticed earlier was now standing next to her, and looking down at her from underneath his stetson was none other than Moonwhisper.
“Moonwhisper? What in Equestria are you doing here?” Twilight asked, desperately trying to keep her voice at a whisper. “And where the hay did you get that outfit?”
“Ah, the outfit was a parting gift form Lieutenant Sharpshooter from when I was first assigned to Ponyville. I had left it in storage here in Canterlot as officer’s aren’t normally permitted to accept gifts from their subordinates, but apparently there are exceptions if, for example, somepony is being transferred to a different command.” As Moonwhisper spoke, he slowly shifted his position to interpose himself between Twilight and a pile of books at the far end of the shelves.
“That doesn’t really answer my main question, though,” Twilight said, giving Moonwhisper a hard stare. “What are you doing here?”
Moonwhisper coughed nervously before letting out a deep sigh. “The truth of the matter is, Twilight, earlier today I came to the realization that I’m not really certain how to approach being in a romantic relationship. What’s more, all of the stallion’s I know who have experience with healthy relationships live too far away to rely on for advice, and in once case the stallion in question would be your older brother. And as the local bookstore in Ponyville doesn’t stock what I was looking for, coming here seemed to be the next logical step.”
A smile slowly spread across Twilight’s features as she listened to Moonwhisper’s explanation and by the time finished she found herself giggling uncontrollably. “I’m not laughing at you,” Twilight said as she saw noticed the slightly offended expression on Moonwhisper’s face, “it’s just that that’s exactly why I came her myself. I’ve never really dated anypony before and I’ve been so nervous about messing things up…” Twilight was struck by another giggle fit at the realization that she and Moonwhisper had approached their shared dilemma in exactly the same way, right down to their concealing outfits. “You know,” Twilight said as she finally regained her composure, “I’m actually feeling better about all this already. So, did you find any books that look promising?” For the next half an hour or so, Twilight and Moonwhisper discussed the books they had found, and by the time they were ready to make their purchases the worst of Twilight’s fears had been put to rest. While it was inevitable that they would face challenges in a relationship that was uncharted territory for both of them, Twilight was confident that they would be able to overcome everything together.