Twilight Sparkle moved through town at a brisk pace, causing various passers-by to turn their heads worriedly as they wondered what had the unicorn riled up this time. The incident with the doll (of which there was a silent pact to never speak of again) was still fresh in everypony’s minds. The clueless purple pony paid little mind, thoughts still swimming with complex equations and obscure theorems.
She had resolved to travel to Canterlot and meet with an expert on the subject in the hopes of breaking what she’d come to mentally dub a ‘blushing hex’ – And then I’ll give Lyra a piece of my mind! the unicorn resolved.
Before she could articulate the stern talking-to she planned to give later, Pinkie Pie abruptly blocked Twilight’s way. “Twilight! I’ve got something important for you!”
Barely skidding to a halt in time, Twilight almost bowled Pinkie over. “Pinkie-!” she cried out in a reprimand. “I’m on my way to a very important appointment!” Her brows knitted together in frustration as she gave the pink pony an accusatory glare.
Paying no heed to Twilight’s urgent tone, Pinkie reached into a saddlebag, retrieving a pink envelope. Levitating it over and opening it, the unicorn’s eyes traced over the words in the letter, and she raised an eyebrow.
Hearts n’ Hooves Day Bash
Sugarcube Corner
April 25th, 7:00 PM
Bring a special somepony!
“Hearts and Hooves?”
“I remembered to use written invitations this time!” Pinkie crowed proudly. “And I mean, it would’ve been exhausting to do a singing telegram again, ‘cause everypony is invited!”
“Pinkie, Hearts and Hooves Day was two months ago,” Twilight ventured warily.
The earth pony just shrugged, still wearing a wide smile which indicated that she cared not for such earthly concerns.
Twilight shook her head a little, thinking. The 25th was two days away, which still gave her plenty of time to fix her little hex problem and still be able to attend. “I’ll see what I can do,” Twilight relented. “But I’m very busy now, so if you could please excuse me?” She gave Pinkie a somewhat apologetic look, glancing anxiously past her.
At Pinkie’s nod, Twilight stepped past her, continuing along her way. “Okay!” Pinkie called. “Have fun in Canterlot!”
“How did you…?” Twilight turned, only to find that Pinkie Pie had already disappeared into whatever hammerspace she usually occupied. Rolling her eyes, the harried unicorn walked on.
“Hey Bon-Bon, I-“ Lyra swung the door open, a pink envelope hovering in her telekinetic grip, but stopped mid-sentence. “Bons?” Looking around, Lyra found the room suspiciously devoid of habitation, and dark, save for some flickering candles. Marvin Braye music drifted from the other room. That’s odd.
Confused for a moment, Lyra brightened when she spotted a trail of bright, red treats on the floor. “Ooh!” Trotting forward, she leaned down to each rose petal in turn, eating them up with a ‘nom’. Having skipped breakfast that morning, the unicorn was starved. Wrapped up as she was in eating the trail of welcome snacks, she was a little startled when she reached the end.
“Hello, Lyra,” came a sultry voice from just ahead of her.
Lifting her head, Lyra eyed her surroundings. She stood in Bon-Bon’s bedroom, the aforementioned music coming apparently from a phonograph in the corner. The crème-toned earth mare herself was lying atop the bed, a rose clutched in her teeth. “Heya, Bon,” Lyra greeted her roommate casually, mouth still full.
"Would you like to come to bed?" Bon-Bon asked uncertainly, in what she hoped was a suggestive tone of voice.
"Oh, no thanks, Bons. I'd love to take a nap, but I have to leave again soon." She gulped down the mouthful of petals. “You gonna eat that?” She leveled her hoof questioningly at the rose Bon-Bon was holding.
The rose in Bon-Bon’s mouth almost seemed to wilt visibly as she realized that all of her romantic gestures had been misread completely by her oblivious unicorn friend. Ears drooping a little, she tossed the rose to Lyra, who devoured it hungrily.
“Mm! Did you buy that from those Flower Girls?”
Bon-Bon sighed. “Yes.” The trio of florists, good friends of the confectioner, had been aware of her infatuation with Lyra for a while. Almost as great as her disappointment with her failure was her sadness that she would need to break the news to Roseluck.
“You’ll have to thank them for me,” Lyra said, glancing around the room again. “What’s with the music and candles?”
“They are relaxing,” Bon-Bon half-lied, resting her cheek on one hoof with a glum expression. “I was just… ‘hanging out’, as you say,” she finished lamely.
“Well, thanks for the snack, Lyra continued, heedless, licking her lips. “But I needed to show you something!” She waved the letter in Bon-Bon’s face with a smile.
The earth pony furrowed her brow, unable to focus on the rapidly-moving pink envelope. “What is it?”
“Pinkie Pie is throwing a Hearts and Hooves party, and everypony in Ponyville is invited!”
“In April?”
Lyra shrugged. “It’s Pinkie Pie.”
Bon-Bon nodded a little, unable to argue with that simple fact. She managed to catch the letter, opening it and inspecting the text therein. “… ‘Bring a special somepony’?” She turned her eyes up to peer questioningly at Lyra.
Lyra nodded. “Yeah. Pity I don’t really have one to take with me.” She pouted for a moment, before her eyes widened, gaze turning up to Bon-Bon. “Unless…”
Bon-Bon felt her heart flutter. Was Lyra implying…?
“Unless I ask Twilight Sparkle! This is perfect!”
Of course she wasn’t. Bon-Bon buried her face in her forelegs and muttered, “Gówno.”
Lyra shook her head wearily. “You know I don’t speak Foalish, Bon.”
Bon-Bon peeked over a foreleg to give Lyra a look. The unicorn rolled her eyes, knowing better than to press Bon-Bon when she got mad enough to lapse out of Equish entirely. “Any way,” Lyra said, pulling the conversation along hastily, “it really is perfect! If I can finish a song in time, I can serenade her and make her fall for me!”
“So simple?” Bon-Bon quipped sarcastically.
Lyra sighed happily, eyes distant. “Hopefully.”
Bon-Bon snorted ruefully, glancing away. Let Lyra fawn over the town librarian for now, she decided. But the next time she saw this Twilight mare, she was going to give her a piece of her mind.
“You’ve really outdone yourself this time, Pinkie,” praised Rarity as she levitated a red streamer to the wall above her. “All of Ponyville is atwitter! More than half the town is bound to show up to our little soiree.” The two were busying themselves with decking the pastel walls of Sugarcube Corner with theme-appropriate decorations. Red and pink hearts were especially predominant along the edges of every surface in the building.
“Well, Dashie handed out most of the invitations,” Pinkie chirped from atop her ladder. With a hum and a smile, she fastened a banner in place, then hopped down to walk over to Rarity. “Besides, this whole party was your idea, Rares!”
Rarity turned to her bubbly friend, smiling at her praise. “Only for Twilight, my dear.” She turned back around, eyeing the decorations anxiously. “Oh, I hope this works, Pinkie Pie. What if Twilight and Lyra still can’t admit their feelings for one another?”
Pinkie smiled brightly, resting a reassuring foreleg over the unicorn’s withers. “Don’t you worry, Rarity! I’ve been to the last chapter, so you can trust me that it turns out all right for everypony!” Giggling at Rarity’s puzzled expression, she began to trot away, all the decorations they’d planned for all in place.
Stopping, Pinkie called back, “Oh! Speaking of the party… Don’t forget to duck!” The earth pony winked cryptically and left, leaving a bewildered Rarity behind.
It was late that evening when Twilight Sparkle arrived at her destination. Canterlot was recovering quickly from the changeling invasion, throngs of workers hurrying about the streets to repair their city. Everywhere, the clang of hammers and buzz of saws filled the balmy spring air.
Breathing in the familiar scents of her city of birth, Twilight turned left down the street, past a café. Having lived here for most of her life, she was intimately familiar with most of the twisting and winding streets of the ancient capital city, particularly here, close to the castle. It was in this borough of Canterlot that the greatest of scientists, magicians, and great minds of Equestria resided. It was one of those great minds with whom Twilight hoped to meet during her evening here in the city.
Stopping at the end of the boulevard, Twilight eyed a fancy dwelling, small by comparison to those neighboring it, and mentally matched the address with the one in her head. 632 Bridleton Lane. Exhaling and stepping up to the door, she gently rapped on it with one hoof, and waited a moment.
The sound of approaching hoofsteps followed soon afterward, and the sound of locks unlatching came from within the house. Pulling the door open, a large, grizzled-looking stallion peered down at his visitor. Twilight blinked up at him for a moment. Dr. Hooferov did not have the sort of wizened, thin, bookish sort of appearance that one might expect of an academic. He was of enormous stature, standing almost as tall as Ponyville’s own Big McIntosh. He was dressed in a tweed jacket and tie, intense blue eyes peering through wire-framed glasses down at the unicorn. His bushy, brown beard and eyebrows gave him an almost wild-looking quality.
“Twilight Sparkle, I presume?”
The mare blinked, and then nodded, smiling. “That’s me. Thank you for seeing me on such short notice, Professor.”
“It’s no trouble at all.” The stallion stepped aside to allow entry to the unicorn. “Please, make yourself at home. I had a kettle of tea on the boil.” Smiling gratefully again, Twilight trotted in, eyeing the inside of the house. While nowhere near as stocked as her library, Dr. Hooferov’s home was lined with several bookshelves, all full of tomes on magic theory and various other subjects.
At the scientist’s nod, she stepped left, into what seemed to be the den. Two armchairs with plaid upholstery sat across from one another in front of a crackling fire at the hearth. Taking a seat in one, Twilight bounced experimentally, trying to make herself comfortable in the chair. It was a couple of minutes before Hooferov joined her with a kettle and two teacups, pouring drinks for the two of them.
“You’re quite the star in Canterlot this past week, Ms. Sparkle.”
Twilight smiled, reluctant as always to accept praise. “Thank you, Professor. But I do have an urgent manner to discuss.”
“Ah, yes. You mentioned a hex in your letter?” Leaning forward intently, the hexologist focused his gaze on the unicorn. Hexology was still a young field, and hexes themselves had only been recognized as a legitimate field of magical study within the last year. But in that time, Alexei Hooferov had already distinguished himself as somewhat of an expert in the field.
Nodding sadly, Twilight sipped from her cup of tea. “I believe I’ve been afflicted with one. There’s nothing on how to counter it in any of the books in my collection.”
Resting a hoof under his chin, the earth pony professor nodded thoughtfully. “I see. How long has this been going on?”
“Two days,” responded the unicorn, setting her cup down.
“That would be the day of the Royal Wedding,” the academic noted ponderingly. “I’d say that the changelings were responsible, but to my knowledge, they haven’t mastered any hexing incantations as of yet. Perhaps you should be a little more specific?”
“Well,” started the unicorn, thinking back to the night in question, “it was at the reception, and I was dancing with this unicorn I know, Lyra Heartstrings. And after that… well, my cheeks kept heating up! And I couldn’t think about anything else.” She puzzled for a moment. “It’s not some sort of mind-control charm, is it?”
The stallion lowered his cup, raising a bushy brow at the younger pony. “Ms. Sparkle,” he stated flatly, “I don’t think a hex is responsible for your predicament.”
Twilight blinked, baffled. “Huh? Then what is?”
“Do you know what a crush is, Ms. Sparkle?” broached the professor carefully.
Twilight nodded. “Sure. Feelings of infatuation and—“ Twilight blinked again, trailing off as she slowly put the pieces together.
Noting the dumbstruck look on the young magician’s face, Dr. Hooferov nodded in understanding. “I won’t keep you any longer, Ms. Sparkle. I’m sure you want to get this sorted out.”
Nodding numbly, Twilight mumbled some thanks, hurrying to leave. As the door slammed, the professor finished off his cup, chuckling. “Young love.” He shook his head and returned to his study.