Twilight Sparkle winced as she heard a crash from the other room.
"Spike!" she called out as she hurried over to the main section of the library.
"Why do you always assume that it's my fault?" he said plaintively as she entered. She might have given this more credit if he hadn't been laying at the bottom of a huge pile of books.
"Spiike..." she said warningly, glaring at him.
"Well, you were the one that asked me to go get the latest edition of Theomagica Limited," he responded, unphased. "Here you go, by the way."
A scaled hand stuck out of the pile holding the periodical in question.
"Oh, Spike," she said, a disappointed tone in her voice. "If it was stacked too high, you should have just told me."
"I did. You said not to make excuses," he protested.
"Did I?" she said, surprised. "Oh, well, can you go ahead and put all those other books away? I'm going to be busy. There was an article in here that was supposed to be revolutionary, and totally change the way we look at magic!"
She levitated it out of his hand and started flipping through it excitedly.
"Again?" Spike yawned. "You can read that later, Twilight. We've got company, and I can't help her find what she's looking for, now. After all, I have to clean this all up."
"Really?" She looked towards the entrance, and sure enough, there was a peach-colored mare standing there, looking a bit befuddled at the mess of books.
"Well, you know, Twilight, this is a library, not just your private stash of books. Ponies occasionally stop by to check out and return books. Not many of them, since barely anyone actually reads in Ponyville, but a few. Of course, I usually end up being the one that handles them, since you're always busy or off with your friends…"
"Fine, fine, I get it, Spike."
"Go help her, then. I have a bunch of books to put away."
Right. Try to ignore the mess, Twilight, all the books that aren't carefully catalogued and filed into exactly the right place. Ignore the extremely interesting article just waiting for you. Somepony is waiting, and you have to help them.
She trotted up to the stranger. Earth pony, cutie mark of three peaches. The mare was probably a farmer of some sort, so if she got her a book on agriculture or something, she might go away. Though she did seem trim, with a rather shapely flank. Maybe she wanted a book on exercise or nutrition?
"Hello. I'm Twilight Sparkle. Was there something I could help you with?"
The mare still seemed to be looking past her at where Spike was still digging out of the pile of books.
"Is everything alright back there?" she asked Twilight.
Twilight laughed nervously. "I'm sure Spike has it under control."
Another crashing sound came from that direction, and Twilight winced. She moved to try to block the book pile from the mare's line of sight.
"Um, maybe I could find you a book? The section on agriculture is right over here…"
Twilight pointed at an aisle well away from the disaster area. The strange mare just laughed, red tail swishing back and forth.
"I suppose I do look the type, don't I? Being named 'Peaches' doesn't help the matter, either. I'm not a farmer, though, and I've always found agriculture extremely boring."
"Really?" Twilight blurted out, before she could stop herself.
"Cutie marks can be deceiving, can't they? Just because something is your special talent hardly means it's going to be what you end up wanting to do for a living. I'd imagine you'd know that yourself, since your cutie mark is hardly a book."
Twilight looked back at her flank instinctively. It was true that being good with magic and running a library didn't have much in common, though to be fair, she didn't particularly consider herself a librarian.
"It's true some ponies can be far too obsessed with cutie marks. You should have seen the number the Cutie Mark Crusaders did on my library when trying to get one."
Peaches pointed behind them. "I'd imagine it looked something like that?"
Twilight shook her head. "Touche."
"They could always try attending one of my yoga classes. You never know, one of them could have yoga as a special talent."
"You're a yoga teacher?" That hadn't even crossed Twilight's mind, though with her sleek physique, it made sense.
"Instructor, but yes. The best one in Ponyville, but then, I'm the only one in Ponyville. That's the trouble with these small towns."
"I- I hadn't even been aware there was a yoga class in town."
"Oh yes. It's a small class, but I have a few regular members. Aloe, Lotus, and Blossomforth, to name a few. Have you ever thought about trying yoga?"
"Not really, no."
"Oh, it has plenty of benefits. You get all sorts of flexibility from practice. After a while, you can find yourself able to do things like this!"
At that, she started demonstrating all sorts of poses that looked impossible to get into. Twilight blushed as one of them proved to her that Peaches' mane and tail color was, indeed, naturally red.
"I'm not exactly that athletic," Twilight finally managed to say, as Peaches finished.
"Oh, you don't have to be to get into it. Yoga also helps with relaxation and clearing your mind. Plenty of my students practice just for that." Peaches wiped off her forehead. "It tends to leave me a bit thirsty, though."
Twilight looked over where Spike was still working on putting away the books from the pile.
"Spike? Could you get the two of us some tea?"
Spike sighed, and put down the book he was holding. "Sure, Twi, whatever you say."
Spike vanished into the kitchen.
"So, you were looking for some books on yoga, then?" Twilight ventured.
"I already have anything this library would have on yoga. I was actually looking for some light reading. A mystery novel or two, perhaps, or some fantasy."
As the two of them discussed book preferences, Spike came back with a tray holding three cups of tea and a pitcher. Twilight looked at it quizzically.
"Three cups?"
"Very good, Twilight," Spike said, passing out the cups. "You can count."
Twilight rolled her eyes as Spike grabbed the last cup and started drinking it.
"Anyways, I can get you started on a series about a cat that helps solve crime, or a ghost, or a few others. Let's take a look."
She led Peaches down one aisle of the library, and they started picking out books. Pretty soon, a small pile of books from the library were being signed out.
Once all of them were stashed in Peaches' saddlebags, she came up next to Twilight, brushing up against her side.
"Thanks ever so much for all the help," she said. "Hey, why don't I take you out to lunch, my treat? I'm sure your assistant there can handle the library for a while."
Twilight glanced over at Spike, who appeared to have just finished putting away the last book, and gave her a thumbs up.
"Sure, I'd l-" Twilight looked back ahead and suddenly realized Peaches was right in front of her now, hindquarters right in front of her. She gulped. "I'd love to."
Peaches looked back at her. "So, what'cha want to eat?"
She tried to concentrate on the question. "A salad?"
"How 'bout for dessert?"
Looking in front of her, as the orange mare's rear gently swayed, there was only one thing she could think of.
"Peaches?" Twilight struggled to catch herself. "Um, peach pie, maybe? Or peach cobbler?"
Peaches laughed. "That'll work. Come on."
She walked out of the library, and Twilight followed her automatically.
After they left, Spike went over to a desk, and pulled out a checklist. Next to an item that said 'Get Twilight a Date', he put a checkmark. He hesitated for a moment over the next one on the list 'Get Twilight Laid', but put the paper away. He wouldn't know whether to check that off until later.