//------------------------------// // Love in the Summertime // Story: Everypony Loves Twilight // by YourUncleFuncle //------------------------------// It’s a beautiful day in Ponyville, and for one unicorn, it was perhaps an even more beautiful day inside because- “It’s Random Book Day!” “Is that today?” Twilight Sparkle was inside of her castle library looking around at the massive assortment of books she had collected over the years to make into one of Equestria’s biggest libraries. Her number one assistant Spike was there with her as well, although he didn’t share the same enthusiasm as his friend. He looked at Twilight and saw that her eyes were shimmering, a sense of wonder and excitement in them. She turned toward him with a huge smile. “Don’t you remember? Every third wednesday of the month I pick out a random book from this library and read it.” “How could I forget,” Spike said, rolling his eyes. Twilight gazed at her massive collection one more time before closing her eyes and beginning to focus. Her horn got the familiar lavender glow to it and she began to pull off a bunch of books from the shelves, levitating them around her. After about ten seconds she randomly picked one out of the bunch, moved it over to her desk, and put the rest of the books away. “Did I pick a good one?” Spike responded to Twilight’s question by going over and taking a look at the cover, with Twilight still standing facing away from the desk in anticipation. “What will I be reading about? A book about the Yaks? The 7 deadly spells? The-” Twilight’s thoughts were interrupted by giggling coming from the purple dragon behind her. She turned around fast and saw her assistant lying on the red carpeted floor laughing and gasping for breath. “What’s so funny, Spike?” She walked slowly toward the desk and looked at the book she had picked out. It was a pink book, about medium-sized that had a lavender bookmark on it. The words Love in the Summertime, By: H.H. Holmes grazed the cover in an elegant cursive font in a white color. Twilight blushed as she immediately guessed the reason for Spike’s laughter. She looked at the book apprehensively, and thought of some way that she could get out of it. “Oh would you look at that,” she said nervously, “I forgot to go tell Rainbow Dash that I moved our Daring Do discussion to tomorrow. I better go and tell her.” She turned around and attempted to make a hasty escape, but was stopped by the high pitched voice behind her. “Twilight, are you afraid of that book?” The unicorn screeched to a halt just before getting through the doorway and turned around to see Spike, just getting up from his fit of laughter, with a knowing smile on his face. “What do you mean by that, Spike,” Twilight asked. In response Spike crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. “Then why don’t you go ahead and read it right now? You always do on Random Book Day...or any day for that matter.” Twilight rolled her eyes at Spike’s sarcastic jab at the end. It was true that she was Equestria’s biggest bookworm, and it was true that she could read a dozen books in one weekend if she wanted to, but she was slightly embarrassed by the idea of reading a romance novel. The romance section of the library encompasses a very small section of the library, and it was likely only there for Rarity, who would often take out a book from there (and sometimes even Rainbow Dash, but she won’t admit it). Compared to the sections on pony history, potions, and magic that had shelves upon shelves, it was a far cry. So it was complete bad luck that she had chosen one of them. “Look if your too scared to read it, then-” “Scared?” Spike looked up in surprise at the tone that his friend had used. Her face suddenly seemed sketched with determination as she levitated the book over to her with a smirk. She walked over to the nearest chair and sat down on it, opening the book to the first page, and looking up at Spike with a sassy look on her face. “Watch me!” Spike just stood with a surprised expression on his face. After a few seconds he rolled his eyes, shrugged his shoulders, and walked out of the castle library, shaking his head. He looked outside and noticed that the sun was beginning to kiss the horizon, about to sink below and bring on Luna’s moon. Spike yawned and scratched his back. “I should probably go to bed. Twilight should give up and go to bed soon.” He chuckled again as he moved down the hallway to his room at the thought of the studious and serious princess reading such a ridiculous book. Morning had broken over Ponyville as a new day dawned. It was the next day and Celestia’s light had broken through the castle windows, waking up a baby dragon snuggled under his covers. “Good morning Twilight,” Spike said, rubbing his eyes with his hands, “did you sleep well?” Upon hearing no immediate response Spike turned to face Twilight’s bed, and was surprised to see the sheets as smooth and delicate as the night before. Nopony was laying on it. Spike questioned this before deciding that Twilight had fallen asleep reading again, so he got out of bed, opened the bedroom door, and jumped back at what he saw. There, standing with the book by her side and a big smile on her face was Twilight. She had bloodshot eyes with bags around them which Spike recognized as a lack of sleep from years of experience as Twilight’s personal assistant. “Twilight,” Spike asked, looking concerned for his friend, “did you stay up all night reading...again?” “Yes!” she exclaimed, scaring Spike a little. Her eyes all of the sudden shined brightly as pure excitement overtook her. She then levitated Love in the Summertime in front of his face. “I finished the whole book and I can’t believe how great it ended up being! No wonder Rarity likes these books so much! That Tenderheart is the most romantic stallion ever, and the way he tried to win the heart of Swirling Clouds is so...romantic.” Twilight sighed dreamily and walked over to her bed and lied down on it, the book clinched between her hooves. Spike stood frozen in place, mouth agape as he stared at the dreamy- eyed, blushing Princess gushing about a stupid romance book. “You...actually...likedit?!” Spike then bursted out laughing and fell to the floor with tears in his eyes. “Laugh all you want Spike,” Twilight responded, not moving from the bed, “but this is perhaps the most beautiful thing I’ve ever read.” “Oh really? Even more beautiful than that reference guide on toads you read last week,” Spike managed to say in the middle of his laughter. Twilight just rolled her eyes and stood up, trotting to the door and shutting it behind her. “By the way,” she said before continuing down the crystal hallway, “I told you I would read it!” She didn’t wait for a response before she continued down the hallway inside of her castle. Even after a while of living there, she still couldn’t get over the size and length of the main hallways of her castle, as well as the number of doors that led into a different room. Sure, some of the doors led into smaller hallways that she was more used to with only a few rooms in them, but even they could get overwhelming at times. The Golden Oak Library didn’t have nearly as much space, and most of that was being taken up by books anyways. Twilight figured she could always teleport, but ever since Discord appeared in Spike’s bed looking for her, the little dragon had made Starlight Glimmer and her promise not to teleport without announcement. The dining room was only a short way from her bedroom anyway, so she figured there was no harm in just walking. When she got there she saw her student, Starlight Glimmer, sitting in a chair at the table eating a bowl of Honey Bunches of Oats and reading a book. When Twilight got closer she saw that she was reading Daring Do and the Griffon’s Stone, and seemed to be enjoying it a lot. Twilight remembered how Rainbow Dash would gush to Starlight about how good the series was and often told her to read it sometime. Finally she caved and started to read the first book, and loved it so much that she had already started to read the second book. “Good morning, Starlight,” Twilight said as she trotted into the seat next to her friend, smiling. She then noticed that a bowl and spoon had already been set out for her. “Thanks for setting a spot up for me! That was very kind!” Starlight smiled but didn’t look up, her nose still stuck in the book. “No problem, Twilight. I saw you in the library reading last night and thought you might be tired today, especially since you were really into whatever it was you were reading.” Both of the unicorns shared a laugh as Twilight levitated the box of cereal and a carton of milk, pouring a little of each of the contents into her bowl. She gazed over at the book in Starlight’s hooves, and saw that she was already halfway through reading it. “Wow,” Twilight exclaimed, “I didn’t know you liked adventure books so much!” Starlight rolled her eyes before she answered. “I don’t really even like the genre! If you had asked me a month ago if I would be this invested in an adventure series, I would have said you were crazy, but these Daring Do books are amazing! Who knew that I would love a series like this so much?” Twilight laughed nervously as she brought a spoon of cereal to her mouth. Wow, Déjà vu, she thought, remembering her own experience from just a night ago. Starlight closed the book, moved it to the side, and looked at Twilight for the first time since she had walked in. “So, what was that book that you were so interested in last night?” “Oh...well...see it’s a really funny story. You see...” Twilight stammered looking for a way to get out of answering the question without raising too much suspicion. She realized, however, that since Spike already knew, he would probably tell her anyways, so she turned to Starlight to finish her answer but froze before she could. Starlight was staring straight at her with a wide-eyed look, almost as if her eyes were examining every part of her for a second. Twilight gave her a confused look waiting for her to explain the change in behavior. When no explanation came, she assumed that it was her mane, as she had forgotten to brush it before coming downstairs, and it was often messy in the morning. She laughed before asking, “Is my mane really that bad? I know it’s probably messy but I didn’t think it was that bad.” “No, not at all,” Starlight responded, her expression changing into a small smile, “in fact, it looks really...” “...beautiful.”