Twilight Sparkle had always been a bit obsessive, ever since she was a little foal. She knew this better than most would think, but she'd tried her best to get rid of this particular piece of her personality.
The incident with Smarty Pants-whom she had spent almost three days searching for, to no avail-had taught her otherwise.
Thankfully, for the most part, she had managed to firmly stick that part of her personality to the practice of learning and studying practically whatever she could get her hooves on, and it had paid off quite well!
But one little flaw with that, was, well...
The issues she had with Pinkie Pie and her 'Pinkie Sense'-which had been suspiciously inactive for quite some time now-rang through her head. Yes, she was an obsessive individual, but she could usually curb it quite well.
But when something like that had tested her patience, time and time again, she just couldn't help but let herself go a little just to satiate her need, her desire, to learn and understand things. Of course, Pinkie's 'Pinkie Sense' ended up being so completely hard to understand, that she'd just gone and given up on it, for the first time in... quite a long time.
Admittedly, it probably had to do with Emerald's near death at the time-Emerald came too close to death far too many times for her liking, by the way-but even so, she hadn't had the need to go back to studying it since then.
But now something else had some up. Something that scratched at her brain in just the right way to get her slight obsession kicking.
Emerald.
Specifically his traits as a thestral.
Starlight had brought up an excellent point during the tornado last week, a question that she couldn't believe she hadn't been asking the whole time!
'What could thestrals do?'
She'd already learned a bit about their culture-not as much as she'd like, unfortunately, but Emerald's knowledge was old and she doubted he even thought about keeping up to date with his homeland, for multiple reasons-but she knew nothing about their physical, mental, or emotional capabilities!
Of course, she only had Emerald-and in a way Fluttershy or Scootaloo's father, but they were only half thestral, and, while having heard of them, Twilight had never met either of Scootaloo's parents so they were out of the question-so she wouldn't be able to do a full, completely comprehensive analysis on his species, but what she could gather would still be more than she'd read about anywhere on the subject!
Plus, she'd get to spend a little time with him. And, until her friends came by to help, they'd be alone. Together.
She froze in place, the scratching of her quill ceasing.
She'd certainly come a long way. She'd initially been embarrassed out of her mind at the thought of being alone with Emerald-at least she had been after she realized she'd had feelings for him. In hindsight, her not being able to figure that out was mortifying-but now?
Now she just looked forward to it. After all-
-coldlifelessheartnotbeating-
-he wouldn't be around forever.
She smiled to herself, and resumed writing to the Princess about her plans for testing, and a request for some general information about Emerald's health.
Nothing too personal or in depth, just a general overview of his health so that she'd know what kind of things to look for and avoid.
She was already aware of his cleithrophobia thanks to the Princess, so she knew that she should not strap him down under any circumstances. Knowing other, simple, things would help her with the tests.
She was mostly looking for things like blood type-assuming it was the same as a pony's-allergies, previous injuries, diet, that kind of thing. This information would be good for her tests.
And... other things.
Though... she should probably get Emerald's permission to receive a copy of all that before she asked for it.
She hummed to herself, before nodding.
Right, she'd do that the first chance she could.
"So, what exactly are you doing, or having done, to me first, Sparky?" Emerald asked.
Twilight glanced over to him, finding him tapping his hoof by the staircase, though she didn't think he was doing so out of impatience.
They were down in the basement of the library, where they'd-more her than him-done those inconclusive tests on Pinkie Pie. The very machine that she'd strapped Pinkie to was set up-in nearly the same spot too-where some of the lights were blinking innocently, telling her that there weren't any results coming in.
The machine was meant to use her magic to scan the subject's brain waves and record their patterns. It wouldn't tell her anything too crazy, but it would highlight what parts of his brain are more active than others, and, possibly, show just how different a thestral's brain was from a pony's, if at all.
For example, while not by a large margin, there is often more activity in a certain part of the brain depending on what species you were. This is seen most drastically in unicorns, due, in part, to the magic they use, and how close the focus-the horn-is to the brain.
She patted the machine,
"Well, first we're going to hook you up to this. It'll use my magic to perform a scan that measures your brain waves and activity as a baseline, then we'll do some other tests while you're wearing this," she explained, smiling, noticing Emerald frown at the phrase 'hook you up'.
"What... kind of tests, exactly?" he asked, looking a tad wary,
"Nothing much," she said, "Some mental and physical exercises to stimulate different parts of your brain, which this machine will record, and I can compare them to the three tribes!" she said.
"And from whom are you getting the data for the others?" he asked. She only smiled, and waved the question off,
"I've already got data from myself, and I'm sure Applejack, Rainbow Dash or Fluttershy wouldn't mind helping me with the last bit after we finish all the tests," she said.
"Why did you record your own brain activity?"
"I had to make sure this machine worked when I first got it, of course!"
"So you... strapped yourself to a machine that may or may not have malfunctioned and caused serious injury to yourself... with no one around to make sure you were okay?"
Twilight huffed, though she smiled at the hint of concern in his voice,
"Oh come on! It's not anywhere near that dangerous!" she said firmly, then frowned, "Though... maybe I shouldn't use my own results to avoid bias..." she muttered, then waved him over, deciding to figure that out later, "C'mon! Let's get started!"
He sighed, but allowed her to strap the headpiece onto him, making sure to mind his ears as she did so. She automatically moved to strap his hooves in as well, but caught herself in time. He didn't seem to notice this, but she wouldn't put it past him to have noticed and just not reacted. She moved over to the control panel and, after doing some minor configurations, flipped the switch and began recording the results.
Emerald flinched slightly as the machine beeped and began to shake slightly as paper started filtering out the slot. Twilight hummed to herself as she scanned over the graph, idly making notes with her magic.
At first glance, the data wasn't any different from a pony's, but, after a bit, she began noticing some minor, but abnormal, spikes and drops amongst the uniform data. She frowned, and made a note of it, but let it be for now.
"Okay," she said, turning away for a moment, her magic digging through some other papers she had planned, gently shuffling and re-stacking them, before levitating them, and a pencil, over to Emerald, "here are some small puzzles for you to do. They'll get more and more complicated as you go," she said, smiling, "Don't worry about getting them right or going fast, just get through the stack," she said, turning back to the data.
They weren't anything too complicated. Some crosswords, colour and shape tricks, some riddles, and a couple logic puzzles.
"You just have these laying around?" he asked suddenly, peering over at her. Twilight shrugged, peering at the data,
"Some of them are fun," she said idly, the vast majority of her focus on the incoming data.
Right now, it wasn't too interesting, aside from the abnormal spiking and dropping, but the mere sight of it and the thought of the upcoming analysis was already beginning to excite her!
Plus, the mere fact she now had these results was tantalizing in and of itself. All this information, all this knowledge, and she could very well be the first pony ever to have access to it!
"Done," Emerald said, gently tossing the papers onto the desk beside him. Twilight started slightly, and looked over at him,
"Already?" she asked, surprised. She didn't doubt his intelligence, but that was fast!
In contrast to her thoughts, Emerald only quirked a brow, the headpiece tilting slightly as he moved,
"I don't think twenty little quizzes in ten minutes is all that quick," he deadpanned, then glanced at the papers, "They weren't hard either, like you said. The only difficult one was the crossword, and that's only because I don't recognize every word on it," he explained.
Twilight blinked, and glanced at the clock. Had it really been ten minutes?
She shook her head when the clock did, indeed, confirm his words,
"I... I didn't even notice," she muttered, a tad embarrassed that she'd been so engrossed in her thoughts that she'd lost track of time, "But ten minutes is still a good time," she said, turning back to him, with a smile, "I've known ponies who'd take just as long and not even be done with one!" she said.
Emerald scoffed and rolled his eyes,
"I don't doubt that," he said, then gave the metal a quick rap with his hoof, "Can I take this thing off now? It's beginning to annoy me." Twilight rolled her eyes at him, but nodded, her magic already removing the straps,
"Alright!" she chirped, clapping her hooves together, "Now we should move on to the physical tests!" she said, her magic hard at work at gathering various things from around the basement. Piles of papers soared through the air, quills, inkpots, and several notepads following along with them. Small devices and little tools also rose into the air, before all of it gently found its way into a set of saddlebags, which ascended and fell gently onto her back.
Emerald smirked at the light-show,
"You really are excited about this, aren't you?" he asked, teasingly. Twilight only nodded, her eager smile not dipping at his tone in the slightest,
"Of course I am!" she said, hopping up the first few steps towards the first floor, "These tests can help bridge the gap between the way ponies and thestrals look at each other!"
"Oh? And how exactly do we look at each other?" Emerald asked, frowning slightly, "I don't think you've met near enough thestrals to have an accurate account of that," he pointed out. Twilight paused for a moment, but gave him a tentative nod,
"Well... that's true," she said, but shook her head, "Still, I've read a lot about the various cultures around the world," she said, peering down at him intently, "Not enough to really understand them, not as much as I'd like to anyway-" she muttered, "but through everything I've read, I've never even heard of thestrals before I met you," she said, frowning. She glanced away from him for a moment, "I... to be honest, I don't like not knowing something. I... well, I understand that it's kinda arrogant of me to want to know everything, even if it's not my business, but..." she trailed off, not entirely certain how to explain,
"You just can't help it," Emerald said, smirking slightly, "Have I ever told you how nosy you can be?" he asked idly, his smirk growing. Twilight glared down at him, though it lacked heat,
"No, as a matter of fact, I don't think you have," she retorted, though she couldn't help the smile still stuck to her face.
"Guess I'll have to remember to do so," he said, following her up the stairs, "Let's get these physical tests done and out of the way," he said, brushing passed her. Twilight only huffed,
"Do you even know where the tests are?"
"Not at all."
"Okay!" Twilight chirped, eagerly looking out over the near daily source of her torture.
Training.
She meant training.
Honest.
Anyhow, she looked over the obstacle course that Emerald had let her use alongside him, feeling a nice warmth bubble up into her chest. This was the place where she had finally started bettering herself, the place where she pushed herself to the limit as often as she could, the place where-
"So, why are we here?" Emerald asked, his sudden question completely derailing her train of thought. She glanced over, finding him standing near the boxes they used to rest on during breaks, idly tapping his hoof to some rhythm she couldn't hear. "Aside from the obvious 'physical tests' we, or rather I, am going to do, that is."
"I thought it would be fitting that I'd be the one testing you here, instead of the other way around," Twilight said, already heaving off her saddlebag and setting out the equipment.
Well, calling it equipment would be rather generous. It was really her just sorting out the various tools that she'd gathered for these tests in an orderly fashion, from the one she was going to use first, to the last.
"First!" she chirped, standing up straight as she levitated a roll of measuring tape from off the ground, "We'll do some measurements to compare you against the pony average. Height, wing span, body-length, that kind of thing," she explained, then lifted up some papers and a paddle, "Then we'll test your eyesight. I know you have excellent night vision, but I'm curious if it changes how well you can actually see things."
"Reading is a lot harder," he said, "But I can discern letters and words off of paper easily enough. Provided I could read it in the light, then I could probably read in the dark. It'd be harder, but I could," he explained. Twilight nodded, taking a quill and notepad and jotting down that information.
"Alright, but we'll still test that out," she said, setting the other things down, before lifting a small speaker with a dial and large red button, "This is a frequency emitter-" she explained without prompt, "we'll use this to test what you hear at higher frequencies."
"That's a normal test?" Emerald asked, "I don't see how knowing what frequencies you can or can't hear is important enough information to warrant a test," he said. Twilight nodded,
"It's not, not really, but it's still interesting!" she defended. Emerald rolled his eyes,
"Anything else?"
"We'll also check how good your hearing is. I know it's better than ours but-!" she said, interrupting him before he could speak, "I'd like to know how much better."
"Fine. Anything else?"
"Weight lifting," she said simply. Emerald blinked,
"I'm sorry... what?"
"Weight lifting," she repeated, "A test of your physical strength. How much can you lift with your legs, your wings, what's your limit to how much you can carry with your wings, that kind of thing," she explained.
Emerald only blinked again, staring at her blankly,
"... How long have you been wanting to do this again?"
"Ever since I learned you were a thestral," she admitted easily, before placing a hoof against her chin, "Though, I hadn't really given it much thought until Starlight asked about your wingpower," she said, then brightened, her horn doing the same, "Speaking of, we'll be testing that as well!" she chirped, before disappearing in a flash of light, leaving Emerald all alone in the clearing where his course was.
"'I hadn't given it much thought', she says," he muttered, "Bullshit."
Twilight returned moments later, now holding onto the anemometer she'd used during the hurricane trials.
"Alright! I think that should be everything," she said cheerfully, quickly going through her mental checklist. She was silent for a moment, before she nodded, "Yep! That's everything for this test!" she said, "Now we just need to wait for the others!"
"'The others'?" Emerald asked, a tad warily. Twilight nodded,
"Of course! As much as I'd enjoy this being just the two of us, I really need the data from the others! Plus, it'll be fun!" she said, "The seven of us all doing these fun little tests and seeing how well we do will be interesting! It'll kinda be like a party game!" she chirped.
"Did somebody say 'party game'?!" the loud, excited voice of Pinkie shouted as she zipped into the clearing, "Ooh, are we playing pin the tail on the pony?! Or-or hide-and-seek?! Ooh! How about-?!"
Pinkie was roughly, but thankfully, silenced when a familiar pair of orange hooves clamped around her muzzle,
"Simmer down, Pinkie. I don't think Twilight had us all come out here jus' ta play hide-an'-seek," Applejack said, before turning to Twilight, "Er, didja?"
"No," Twilight said, smirking a little. Applejack nodded at that, and let go of Pinkie,
"See?"
"Aww..."
"Hellooooo!~" sang the voice of Rarity, who all but sauntered into the clearing, "Sorry I'm-oh!" she gasped, looking around, "Goodness, it seems as though I've arrived much earlier than expected," she tittered, then clapped her hooves, "Well, better early than late, in the end. Good afternoon, everyone!" she called once more.
"Good afternoon, Rarity!" Twilight returned, in contrast to Pinkie's more peppy greeting, and Applejack's simple 'Howdy'.
"Sweet, I ain't late," Rainbow's voice said, before the rainbow mare it belonged to crashed into the ground. She shook off the landing, not paying much attention when Fluttershy landed, gently, right beside her,
"Oh, do you have to land so roughly, Rainbow Dash? It might scare the forest critters," she said. Rainbow cringed,
"Er... sorry, Shy, I, uh... I'll keep that in mind," she said hesitantly, looking a tad uncomfortable. Fluttershy's eyes hardened for a moment, stunning Twilight with their intensity, before they softened and she nodded,
"Okay."
Guess those seminars really stuck...
Twilight shook off the momentary trance she'd been put into, just in time to hear Emerald speak,
"Do the six of you coordinate this kinda thing, or is it natural?" he asked, looking at her with a smirk. She only frowned,
"What do you mean?"
"You had just told me about them joining, and suddenly all five of 'em pop up, one right after the other. Seriously, is there some sort of rehearsal I'm not aware of, or...?"
"Now that you mention it, it is rather odd..." Rarity noted thoughtfully,
"Ooh! We could totally do that!" Pinkie said eagerly, only to be cut off by Twilight's laugh,
"No, we don't do anything like that," she said, smiling, then turned to the others, "I'm glad you all could make it on such short notice!" she said, "I'm sorry if I interrupted anything, but I just had to have you all help me with this!"
"It's perfectly alright, darling," Rarity said, waving her worries off with a smile, "But, out of curiosity, what are you having us do?"
"Yeah, you weren't exactly makin' sense," Rainbow added, "You just popped out of nowhere and asked me to come." Twilight blushed, and laughed sheepishly,
"Hehe... sorry about that," she said, before shaking her head, "I'm wanting to do a full exam analyzing Emerald's thestral traits and how they compare to a pony's," she said. Rainbow blinked,
"That's... cool, I guess," she said, hesitantly,
"That certainly sounds interestin'," Applejack said, "An' ya decided ya'd test 'im against us?" she asked. Twilight nodded,
"That's right!"
"Darling, you do know that none of us are, what you could call, average ponies, yes?" Rarity supplied, "Rainbow Dash and Applejack do quite a lot of work, and are much more athletic than the average pegasus and earth pony. Fluttershy is less athletic and has a rather unfortunate fear of heights, no offense dear, I..." she paused for a moment, "Well, I suppose I am rather average for a unicorn," she admitted, "And Pinkie is... Pinkie. Not to mention we're not even the same gender."
Twilight nodded along with Rarity's explanation, frowning,
"Yeah, that is true," Twilight agreed, thoughtfully, "I... suppose I hadn't really thought about it like that," she admitted, "I was just so excited, I guess I wasn't thinking..."
"To be fair, that didn't really occur to me either," Emerald supplied in support.
"Well, if it makes ya feels better, I'm sure I can get Big Mac ta help ya out," Applejack said, Rainbow nodded,
"Yeah! I can totally get Thunderlane down here too," she said, scowling slightly, "Moron still says he's got the featherflu, but Flitter and Cloud tell me he's been fine for a couple days now. Figure this'll teach him to skip work," she said.
"Look who's talkin'," Emerald snarked,
"Hey! I don't skip work!" Rainbow defended hotly, "Sure I put it off sometimes, but I still do it at least!"
Emerald stared at her for a moment, before nodding,
"Good point."
Twilight nodded, ignoring Emerald and Rainbow for the moment,
"Okay, so that's an earth pony and a pegasus male," she said, then frowned, "I... don't know any male unicorns in town," she admitted.
"Big Mac isn't exactly average either," Emerald interjected, "For the same reason as Applejack."
"Yeah... Thunderlane's... probably average, actually," Rainbow muttered. Twilight frowned, then shrugged,
"Well... this isn't an official study, and some data is better than none," she said, then turned to the girls, "I hope you'll all still be willing to help."
"Sure."
"Totally!"
"Of course!"
"Um... I can help too."
"Yeah, it'll be fun!"
Twilight smiled.
Her friends were the best!
"Eighty-two... Eighty-three... Eighty-four..." Fluttershy gently counted from beside Twilight, doing her best to keep the counting even and at a good pace.
They had moved on to the push-up segment of the testing, primarily to test their upper body strength and endurance. The four being tested, Rainbow, Applejack, Emerald, and Rarity, were told to keep going until they couldn't anymore, and Twilight would record their results and they'd move on after some rest.
Rarity, predictably, had been against being made to do these particular tests, but, after promising a spa trip once they'd finished, she'd agreed and gotten started.
It was astonishingly surreal, watching the alabaster mare, who'd probably never done a work out like this before in her entire life, pant and turn red from exertion, before falling to the ground after the twentieth push-up, gasping like a fish out of water.
Twilight didn't say anything, other than congratulating her for doing so well, but she'd been quite stunned that she'd lasted that long.
"Eighty-five... Eighty-six..."
"Ugh..."
"Mm..."
Twilight's gaze moved from the still gasping unicorn over to the pegasus and earth pony duo. She didn't voice it, but the amount of vindictive pleasure that coursed through her at the sight of Rainbow's red, panting face would've been downright shameful, but the memory of her failed training session with Rainbow completely nullified any shame such feelings would've brought.
Applejack was taking the exercise much better than Rainbow, her face only slightly red, and her pants coming out in slight grunts. She wasn't sure if Applejack's better condition was a result of her work on the farm, or just her constitution as an earth pony, but that's what these tests were for!
Still, neither mares really worked on their upper bodies, with Rainbow focusing on her speed and wings, and Applejack on her back and hind legs. What they could do was amazing to Twilight, and she doubted she'd ever reach that level.
But, when compared to someone who actively trained their upper body...
"Two-hundred-forty-three! Two-hundred-forty-four! Two-hundred-forty-five!" Pinkie chanted excitedly.
Emerald, seemingly in a rare case of wanting to show-off, was doing a non-stop set of push-ups, and wasn't even breaking a sweat. It was astonishing, watching him do something that no athletes she knew-of which Rainbow and Applejack were the only ones, unless Shining counted-could do.
It was... frankly a little intimidating, but she wasn't exactly surprised. She'd never seen him training with his spear, but the maneuvers he performed during his 'fight' with the Mutts and Discord had to require an obscene amount of physical strength to perform, and his endurance was easily more than she could imagine, considering how many times he got right back up after taking a beating from Discord.
Intimidating or not, however, Twilight had an admittedly difficult time looking away from Emerald. A mixture of awe, surprise, and-to her shame-a slight twinge of arousal made it harder than it should've been.
Still, this was valuable data! Even if it was completely skewed due to the difference in lifestyles of her test subjects, it would at least give her a frame of reference if she ever managed to do an actual test!
Assuming she could look away from Emerald.
Next up was the flying test, one that Twilight could tell Rainbow was looking forward to quite a bit.
Twilight didn't blame her, either. For someone like Rainbow Dash, who put her pride into her flying ability, to be up against someone like Emerald in what was, likely in her mind, a competition... There was no question. She was excited.
Like Rarity in a fashion competition, or Applejack during that whole Flim Flam fiasco. This was her element, and Emerald was clearly familiar with it as well.
This test was to determine how fast they could fly, their wingpower, and their general ability in maneuvering.
Rainbow, unsurprisingly, did phenomenally in the maneuvering and speed portions of the test, performing, yet another, Sonic Rainboom to demonstrate, and doing an entire set of acrobatic twists, loops, and spins to prove herself.
Her wingpower hadn't changed since the tornado, however, but that wasn't too surprising.
Rainbow chuckled beside her as Emerald got into position to start,
"This is gonna be awesome!" she muttered to herself, "I'm totally gonna-!'
Whatever Rainbow was going to say, and Twilight was honestly curious, was cut off when Emerald's wings snapped shut, propelling him forward far faster than Twilight had anticipated, and he was in the sky instants later.
Moments later, he snapped his wings again, and she heard a familiar *BOOM* echo across the sky, though it lacked the, by now familiar, wave of colour, meaning it was easy enough to see the streak of green shoot across the sky, before it slowed down and made its way back.
Twilight blinked in shock, but wrote down her findings regardless.
She hadn't been expecting a second sonic boom, but she probably should've.
He moved onto the aerial maneuvers after that, but even Twilight could see him struggling with it. He could perform spins, loops, flips, and basic things just fine, but the second he moved on to more advanced acrobatics, things Rainbow had done with ease, he faltered and the routine fell apart.
He didn't seem too put out by it when he returned to the ground, though. Almost as though he'd already been aware of his difficulty.
"I never was a stunt flier," he'd said when she pointed this out, "Spits has always beaten me in that regard, and I'm honestly not even a little surprised that Rainbow kicks my ass as well. I'm good at a lot of shit, but I'll never be better than someone who actually puts real effort into something, other than fighting. Why do you think I'm a cashier and not a baker?"
She hadn't known how to respond to that.
The results of the night vision test were unsurprising.
The results of the physical strength test were equally surprising as they were unsurprising. She really should've seen that one coming, considering how heavy some of those weighted vests Emerald wore during the obstacle course were.
Still, Applejack had done remarkably well in comparison. Even Emerald was surprised by how strong she was compared to him, being able to lift only fifty pounds more than she had.
Though, she supposed lifting strength was different than hitting strength.
When that thought struck her, she'd been tempted to have them hit trees to test it out, but figured that it wouldn't be the best idea. Not right now, at least.
She forgot about his wingpower!
He refused to test his wingpower...
The hearing test was quite interesting. Unlike the others, all seven of them participated in this one.
Twilight wasn't too surprised that Rainbow stopped hearing the frequencies first, as pegasi were recorded as having worse hearing than unicorns and earth ponies on average due to the high altitudes they tend to frequent.
Applejack was the next to go, with Pinkie not long after.
She and Rarity lasted up until the frequency hit 35kHz, with Fluttershy surprisingly reaching 45kHz, likely as a result of her mixed heritage, and Emerald only claimed to stop hearing at nearly 60kHz.
After that, they moved on to testing how well they were able to hear quiet sounds. This was was made to be a little more fun, since it involved Fluttershy heading into the Whitetail Woods and hiding, producing small sounds every minute until she was found by the subject.
Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, and Emerald each took turns searching for Fluttershy, having to wear special noise cancelling earmuffs while she hid.
Rainbow took over ten minutes to find her. Applejack took almost the same amount of time as Rainbow, but she'd managed to catch some of Fluttershy's sounds a bit quicker.
Rarity didn't find Fluttershy.
Emerald, however, found her immediately. Taking off the earmuffs, heading off for a bit, before turning and making his way directly to Fluttershy's location without further preamble.
Rainbow said that she'd found her because she'd heard her muttering, Applejack claimed she'd managed to catch the sound of her breathing, and Emerald...
Emerald said he heard her heartbeat.
He said it took a bit of focus, but he'd managed to catch and follow the sound of her heartbeat after a moment of searching.
The thought of him just so casually listening to her heartbeat both startled Twilight, and made it beat a lot faster.
Twilight smiled to herself as she carefully organized the papers in front of her. Today had been good. Not much had happened, she got to learn more about thestrals, and she got to spend time with all her friends!
Especially Emerald.
-or found myself falling for the sixth one, seemingly out of nowhere.
She swallowed, even as she had to fight the smile and giggle forcing themselves onto her.
It was strange, how that thought alone was able to send her insides squirming, her heart beating, and her mind into mush. But it was a good kind of strange. The mere memory of those words sent spine-tingling shudders running through her entire body, setting it alight with all the subtly of a raging thunderstorm.
Eventually she failed, the giggle escaping her throat.
She couldn't help it, though! Even as she dropped the papers and tried to stifle the sound with her hooves, the giggles only grew louder and came faster.
"Hehehe!"
She squirmed suddenly, before throwing her hooves out into the air,
"He likes me back!" she shouted gleefully, unconcerned with the idea of anyone hearing her in the empty library, "He said it! He said it! He said it! He said it! He said it!" she chanted, dancing in place. She flopped backwards, not caring at all about the cold floor against her back.
"I have to ask him out," she said to herself determinedly, her horn lighting up. A distant book was covered in a lavender glow, before it was yanked from its shelf and zipped over to the prone mare, stopping, gently, above her. It opened, the pages flying about until it stopped on one particular page, titled 'The First Date'.
She'd never tell Rarity about her new interest in Love Bug's Matters of the Heart: A Self-Help Guide, but she resolved to pay the mare back for introducing her to the idea in some way.
Hearts and Hooves Day was in a few weeks. According to a later chapter in the book, that was an excellent day to head out, since the day itself was dedicated to couples expressing affection for each other. It advised using Hearts and Hooves Day-provided it was around the corner. Not once did the book recommend just waiting for Hearts and Hooves Day to come around-to make the first move. Since the day was dedicated to forming couples, it would be a nice, traditional way of asking someone out for the first date.
Twilight contemplated that fact for a moment. Would it be a good idea to ask him out then? His culture was different than hers, and she doubted his culture had a Hearts and Hooves Day-like holiday. Then again, he'd been living in Equestrian culture for the majority of his life, so... She nodded. She'd ask him out then.
Matters of the Heart: A Self-Help Guide had a lot of little, simple tips to help relationships prosper and bring about a lot of love between the two individuals. It recommended starting small. Dates like going out for dinner at a semi-casual place, taking walks together, telling stories, all very simple things to keep a relationship interesting in its first stages.
Twilight bit her lip slightly as she read over the short chapter-idly wishing it were longer-using her magic to take notes off to the side.
She needed a plan, of course. If she was going to ask Emerald out, then she needed to know what kind of things he was interested in. She could ask him out to eat, but she didn't know exactly what he liked to eat. He always went to Horte's Cafe and ordered the alfredo-she'd seen him there nearly every other day for lunch-but she didn't know if that was because he really liked alfredo, or if that was just because it was the only thing on Horte's menu that he enjoyed.
This was one of the reasons she'd asked the Princess for information about him. Yes, it had been for her tests, but, if Twilight was being honest, it was mostly so she'd know what kind of places he'd be able to go to for a date.
His diet told her what restaurants he'd be able to go to-he could practically eat anything-past injuries told her what activities he couldn't do anymore-he didn't have any lasting injuries that debilitating, thankfully-allergies told her what foods to avoid-strawberries-and much more. The only things she didn't know, really, were his likes and dislikes.
Plus, after eating, they'd have to go out and do something interesting for both of them.
They could go see a movie, but Twilight herself wasn't too interested in any, other than science-fiction, and she doubted Emerald would be either.
She wasn't very good at any physical sport, so something active that he would probably enjoy was... not out of the question, but she'd rather avoid embarrassing herself in front of him.
...
Embarrassing herself more.
She groaned, letting the book fall onto her chest, her legs spreading out around her.
"What am I gonna do...?" she asked herself, staring at the ceiling as though it would provide the answers.
The door into the library creaked open,
"Uh, Miss Light? Are you there? There's somethin' I kinda need your help with..."
Twilight blinked, her neck craning to the side to watch the young filly walk into the room, her little hooves making almost no sound as she walked.
She stared at Wisp for a moment, her eyes unblinking.
All at once, her eyes began to shine, and her smile stretched across her face.
If she wanted to know what Emerald would like-
"Uh, Miss Light? The look on your face is kinda scarin' me."
-who better to ask than his own little sister?