//------------------------------// // Love at First Collision // Story: Magic Memories // by Kirbster //------------------------------// A tear made residence within Night Light's eye, welling until its breaking point. Once it was content with its size, it took a journey down the stallion's blue face. Before it could reach its goal, Night Light wiped it away with a hoof, stopping it completely. Twilight Velvet tenderly placed a hoof on the stallion's back, staring into his eyes. They exchanged a warm smile before turning their attention to the filly that stood across from them. "We're so proud of you," Twilight Velvet said to the filly, whom she had named Twilight Sparkle. The filly bounced up and down, eagerly awaiting the event that would change her life. "I know mom, you've only said it, like, a hundred times," replied the filly, rolling her eyes, her voice ringing with a mix of joy and annoyance. "No amount of times we could say it would express just how proud we are of you," said Night Light, walking closer to his young daughter, "we want you to know that." "I do," responded the filly, rolling her eyes again. "We love you, so very, very much," said Twilight Velvet, a tear finding its way into her eye as well. "Mom, are you crying?" the young filly asked, her voice filled with concern. "Yes, but just because I'm so happy," the mare said, stifling her sniffs. "That doesn't make any sense. Why would you cry when you're happy?" asked the filly, her love of logic bright even in her young days. "You'll know when you get older," answered the mare. Just then, a flying chariot slowly crept up to the balcony of the home. The Princess sat within, gesturing for the young Twilight Sparkle to board the vehicle. She did as the Princess suggested, sitting next to her. As the chariot began to take off, the Princess smiled and nodded in the direction of the two parents. "Bye mommy! Bye daddy!" a young filly's voice called after the chariot was just barely out of sight. A sibling tear began to grow in Night Light's eye, followed by many more. It was not long until a large family of tears began to fall from his eyes, manifesting his inner feelings into a downpour of emotion. Twilight Velvet, with tears in her eyes herself, put a hoof on his back and embraced him in a tender hug. Night Light looked up, putting his hooves around his wife. They leaned in closer for a kiss, before tripping over each other and falling onto the ground with a simultaneous "oof." They both laughed, and shared the kiss they had intended to when they were standing. Night Light stood first, grabbing a hold of his wife's hoof, helping her up. Chuckles escaped both of their persons once more as the silliness of the events settled in. Their eyes were locked on each others. "That reminds me," chuckled the stallion, tearing his eyes away from hers, preemptively drowning in the nostalgia of the event he was about to speak of, "Do you remember how we first met?" "How could I forget?" responded the mare, fondly recalling the event to which he was referring. Two ponies galloped toward the same destination, the word "stop" and the term "slow down" foreign to their vocabulary at this moment in time. "Oh, I'm already late for my first day on my first job! Of all days for me to have to forget to set my alarm, why'd it have to be today?!" groaned a young mare. This very pony had been recently accepted as a library assistant, one who would organize books and similar simple tasks. Her head was filled with thoughts concerning bad impressions and getting a bad reputation as an uncaring worker. Her studiousness contradicted her empty-mindedness, and she forgot to set her alarm for the next day of work the night before. "I can't believe I didn't check the due date! I always check the due date!" howled a young stallion, rushing to the same place as the young mare. This pony had taken out a book titled Ancient and Forgotten Rituals and was too engrossed to remember to check the date by which it was due. He was currently a single day late, and he was determined to not make it any more. His mind was clouded with concerns relating to being tagged as forgetful and uncaring, which were two words that he'd prefer not to be labelled as. These two ponies kept galloping toward their destination, attracting curious glances from ponies going about their business. They each paid them no mind. The library was in sight for each of them, faint grins crept across each of their faces as they were assured their situations could get no worse. As they both closed in on the entrance, their minds were lightened of their, perhaps petty, worries. Suddenly, they collided and fell to the soft ground below them. The stallion hopped up immediately, preparing a lecture on the importance of watching where you are galloping. As he looked down at the offender, he was filled with remorse for even considering to berate the beautiful creature. He stared at her, his mind creating thoughts it had never done so before. There was a deep feeling in his chest that he had only dreamed about. He could do nothing but smile as he realized what the feeling was. He was in love. "I-I'm so sorry," he started, suddenly remembering his manners, reaching a hoof out to help the young mare that was gently massaging the newly created sore spot on her face. "I had never believed in love at first sight," Night Light said, staring lovingly at his wife, "until I experienced it for myself." The young mare opened her eyes after many seemingly long moments of gently caressing her temples, as a migraine threatened to creep its way into her head. The light blinded her briefly as she stared diagonally upward. A young blue stallion stepped forward, hoof extended, blocking the sun. She looked into his deep gold eyes, feeling the approaching migraine retreat as quickly as it had appeared. "Lost" was the only word that she could think of to describe how she felt as she stared into his eyes. Her mind reeled as foreign feelings began to settle in. She shook suddenly as she realized what he was offering. Silently thanking him for saving her eyesight and her head, she took his hoof. "N-no," she began, tripping over her words, "I'm the one who should be apologizing..." "Neither had I," Twilight Velvet said, returning the loving glance her husband was giving her, nuzzling herself into his neck. "Not at all. I-I wasn't looking where I was going..." "Neither was I-I... please forgive me." "No, stop, I beseech you. You are the one who should forgive me." The young mare chuckled at the silliness of the conversation. She gestured toward the door, inviting the young stallion to go in first. A small smile slowly, but surely, made its way across her face. "N-no," the stallion started, gulping loudly when he realized he was tripping over his attempts to be a gentlecolt, "I-I insist, fillies first." The young mare smiled, her mind completely void of any response. She accepted the kind invitation and made her way into the library, holding the door for the gentlecolt. "T-thank you," the young stallion said, walking into the library, smiling almost unimaginably wide. He began speaking, but the young mare made her way off. "You let another fine mare away, Night Light... you blew it..." the young stallion said to himself, sighing heavily and dejectedly as what he believed to be the sad truth set in. "Say something... say something..." the young mare whispered to herself, looking back at the young stallion. "Twi-" she began, before choking on her own name. She swallowed her inhibitions and shouted "Twilight Velvet, by the way." This garnered a few estranged glances from the ponies enjoying a quiet reading environment. She cursed her awkward loudness silently. With equal volume, the young stallion replied "N-Night Light." "You have no idea how bad I felt when I thought I let you get away," Night Light said, lowering his head downward, lightly resting it on top of the mare's mane. "I'm pretty sure I do," chuckled Twilight Velvet. For a moment, Night Light contemplated the beauty of the young mare's name. Twilight Velvet. It rang through his head time and time again as he stared at the very mare, who was growing smaller and smaller as she walked away. As soon as he remembered what he had came here to do, he jumped slightly, feeling as if he had just surfaced from a deep lake. He began trotting quickly toward a the Non-fiction bookshelf, taking out a piece that detailed ancient remedies and diseases, and then made his way just as quickly toward the desk in the corner of the room. He wished with all of his being for that last encounter to not be the end of his possible relationship, but he accepted defeat gracefully for the time being. "I'd like to return this book. I apologize for the day by which I am late, but I am not without the daily one bit late fee" Night Light began, reaching into his saddle bag for the book and the bit. "Oh, I'm sorry. We raised our daily late fee to two bits. Times are tough, you know?" replied a mare at the desk, her sympathetic opening being betrayed by her voice's lack of caring. Her eyes did nothing but roll at the sight of this pony at the library again. She stared at her hooficured hoof with more concern than anything else. "O-oh," Night Light began, "Well, I'm positive there's an extra bit lying around in here somewhere." He then began to search around his saddle bag, putting the contents on the desk, in search of a stray bit. Meanwhile, Twilight Velvet approached who she was interviewed by. "A thousand apologies for being late," she began, resting her saddle bag down. "I-" she began, before being interrupted with: "Yeah, yeah, whatever," replied an uninterested stallion's voice, "just take these books and organize them. I recognize your face all too well, so I'm sure you know how they're organized." "O-oh, of course," said Twilight Velvet, standing, startled, for a few moments at the apparent indifference to her lateness. "Get to it, I don't pay you to stand around," demanded the stallion, shoving the cart into the young mare. "S-sorry," Twilight Velvet muttered, taking control of the cart with her magic and walking back into the bookshelf-filled library. Night Light was still rummaging through his saddlebag, yet to find the bit for which he was searching. He smiled, awkwardly, back at the line he was holding up, who gave him nothing but many angry glances. "For-forgive me," he muttered, just barely quiet enough to not be audible to anyone but himself. "Perhaps I could just check out this book," he began again, looking toward the mare behind the desk and gently levitating and placing the book he had taken out before on the desk, "and return with the bits some other time." "Sorry, we don't do 'tabs'," the mare said, admiring her hooficured hooves once again, "and all fines must be paid in full before anything else is checked out." Twilight Velvet saw the growing line out of the corner of her eye, noticing the irate looks on the people's faces as the young stallion she had earlier collided with stared intensely into his saddlebag. She had recalled something about the library raising its tardy rates being complained about, but she was sure to never be late. Noticing the distressed look on the young stallion's face, she figured what was plaguing him. She felt some type of kick in the back of her mind. A little voice she usually tried to ignore urged her to try and make a move, and the only thing she could do was listen to it. Almost as if she had lost control, she felt her body retreat back to the place where she had left her saddlebag. Upon originally stomping into the room, she cowered backward, realizing that this event might not bring much favor from her boss. After steeling her courage once more, she restarted her mission, avoiding the sight of the one who had earlier berated her. Upon realizing that he was doing little more than napping, she threw caution to the wind. She began levitating her saddlebag and galloping toward Night Light, her heart was filled with satisfaction and hope. Upon arrival, she found herself taking out a single bit and levitated it in front of the young stallion, almost involuntarily. He stared at it for very many long moments before realizing what she was offering. Taking the role of levitating it, he moved it onto the desk and smiled at the mare who stood behind it. She rolled her eyes behind her thick glasses and said "Thank you," accepting the book and the bits before turning her attention to the rest of the line. In Twilight Velvet's victory, she had forgotten to continue levitating the saddlebag, and dropped it to the floor, its contents spilling. She cursed her absent-mindedness silently before beginning to pick up the spillage. Night Light noticed the mess and decided to attempt to return her favor with one of his own, so he aided her in the retrieval of the debris. "T-thanks," said Twilight Velvet, just barely loud enough to be heard. Once they had completed the task of cleaning up the stray contents of the saddlebag, they exchanged a fond glance and a simultaneous gulp before they both attempted to speak. "M-my name's..." began Twilight Velvet, before internally slapping herself for attempting to state an already known fact. "Th-thanks..." said Night Light, truly grateful for the act of kindness the young mare had shown him in the form of a bit earlier. They both blushed as their voices collided just like their bodies when they first met. "I-" they both began before feeling the same feelings once more. "I'm free this weekend," said Night Light after many long moments of awkward silence. "S-So am I," said Twilight Velvet, staring intently into Night Light's deep gold eyes. "W-want to eat?" asked Night Light, returning the stare in kind. "Y-yes..." "Uhm... how about Saturday?" "Saturday's... good..." "I hear Pony Pete's has really good... uhm... food..." "Y-yeah..." "Okay, uhm... Saturday, at Pony Pete's?" "S-sure..." They exchanged a wide grin and a nod before going off to do their business for the rest of the day. "A date..." Twilight Velvet said to herself, as if it was some kind of foreign concept. "You did it Night Light... You finally did it..." Night Light said triumphantly, also to himself. "I can't believe how awkward we were," Twilight Velvet laughed, fondly remembering the events that occurred that day. "I know," Night Light replied, accompanied by an embarrassed chuckle. They stared into each others eyes like they had that very day. After many minutes of this, they leaned in their heads for a kiss, before bumping their foreheads together lightly. Each of them chuckled and shook their heads. "I guess some things never change," Night Light said, before they leaned in and completed the kiss they had each been seeking.