//------------------------------//
// Chapter 10 
// Story: A Little Visit 
// by Annabelle RTH 
//------------------------------//

Twilight’s POV
"So, are you excited Twilight?" Cadence asked. Princess Cadence, my friends and I were having a late breakfast. We were up for a good part of the night thanks to that unexpected slumber party. Pinkie Pie sure didn't want to go to sleep. She did her best to keep the party going.
"Definitely. It's been too long since Shining and me have had any sister-brother bonding."
I yawned and covered my mouth. It was about a second for it to travel and one right after the other, we yawned.
"Some night, huh girls?" Applejack asked.
"I still think we should've gone the whole night," Pinkie said.
I sighed. We were all about to pass out by the time we got Pinkie to agree to go to sleep for the night. 
"There was absolutely no way Pinkie Pie. We all need our beauty sleep," Rarity told her.
We finished up and the girls decided to walk me to the Crystal Heart where Shining said we should meet. He said there was something he had to do before we would spend the day together.
"Thanks for walking me girls, but I don't want you to be late for your spa appointment. I can take it from here." We were almost to the Crystal Heart.
"Oh, we can wait with you until Shining Armor gets here, I mean, if that's okay," Fluttershy said.
"No, no. You should go and be on time. I'll be fine here. I'm sure he'll be here any minute now."
"Are you really sure 'bout that Twilight?" Applejack asked.
"I'm sure."
They left after that. A few minutes passed by.
I walked around the Crystal Heart wondering where my brother could be.
"Twilight!"
I turned around to see Shining running towards me. We hugged.
"Sorry I'm late."
"That's okay, we still have the whole day." I was just glad to be spending the day with my big brother.
"So, how about we hit the new bookstore?"
"Perfect. I've been meaning to get some new books."
"Then, you might want this." He levitated my saddle bag to me.
"Thank you."
We started walking away from the castle.
"So, did you finish whatever it was that you needed to do?"
"Uh-huh."
"What was it anyway? Some kind of report?"
"You could say that."



"Mmm, how about this one?" I took a book off the shelf and read the back cover. It was about a mare in Manehattan trying it make it as a journalist. It could be a maybe…
"Um, Twily, don't you think this might be enough?"
I placed the book back and turned around to find a pile of books floating with legs. Oops.
I took the books in my own magic and placed them on a nearby table. "You might be right about that."
"Might be?" He raised an eyebrow at me.
"Well…" I looked away embarrassed.
He sighed. "I'm sorry Twilight, but I'm putting a limit on how many you take."
"What, you can't do that."
"Twilight, if you were to take all the books you wanted you'd need a whole train car to transport them back to Ponyville. And do I need to I remind you of how Rarity packs?"
I'll admit he did have a point there but they're books. There's so much knowledge and adventure to be had. A good book is a one way stop to new worlds and different ponies. They're a gift.
"I know how much you love to read and that's great, but how about you stick with six this time?"
I looked at the big pile on the table. "Just six?" I looked at him pleadingly hoping I could get him to agree to allow me to take more.
He sighed and wrapped his foreleg around me. "We've got time to narrow it down."
"But-"
"No buts Twilight. Just six, that's it. Besides, do you really have room for fifty plus new books in the library?"
"I can always make room." i smiled.
"Then you can make room for six. Let's get to work."
I sighed. He wasn't going to give in. "Fine, you win."
"That's a good Twily." He patted my head.
We tried to spread the books on the table but that was definitely not going to work so I took the books in my magic and levitated them. We browsed again and again through the books that I managed to pick out from the various shelves in the store. The eliminated books were put back where I found them. When we narrowed them down to ten, I placed them on the table.
"So should I take three fiction and three nonfiction or two fiction and four nonfiction."
"I'd go with the first option."
"Of course you would."
"I like to read about the many contributions of Star Swirl the Bearded as much as the next pony, but a short story can be just as exciting."
"I doubt that, but back to the books. There are four fiction and six nonfiction books. Let's look at the fiction first."
I chose two that I was really interested in which left two more to choose from. I placed the books I was absolutely going to take in my saddlebag. I looked at the two remembering the summaries on their back covers. One was about a sweets shop owner who had to care for her ailing mother while keeping her shop open and out of the hooves of a big business tycoon. The other was a coming of age story about an Earth pony with a farm that was struggling.
"Do you have a preference?" I asked Shinging.
"Both of them seem kind of tragic to me. I'm not sure what to tell you Twilight."
"That is true, but great literature tends to not be happy."
"I have noticed that." He nodded.
I looked at the books wondering which one to pick. "How about you pick at random?"
"Mmm." I made a face. I didn't really want to just pick one. The books I take have got to be ones that I think I will definitely enjoy reading.
"Come on Twilight. You gotta make a decision. We should grab lunch soon."
"Eating can wait." I flicked my hoof at him. "Oh I know. I'll read the first chapter of each book and pick which one seems to grab my attention more."
"All right, now we're getting somewhere."
I read the first chapter in the book about the shopkeeper and then the first chapter of the book about the young colt.
"Mmm."
"Well?" Shining asked.
"I think I'm going to go with the shop keeper." She seems to be like a real hard worker but I don't think she goes out much. Reminds me of me actually, and this one regular customer I think might help her come out of her shell.
"Okay." He took the book in his magic and placed it into my saddle bag. "Now onto the nonfiction."
I decided to choose books that were about subjects I either did not know about or that I had miniscule knowledge of. Surprisingly, I choose the three in five minutes.
"Finally."
"Oh, it wasn't that bad." I told him as we walked out of the store.
"I'm starting to remember why I haven't gone book shopping with you since you were a filly."
I nudged him.
The rest of the day, went by really fast. After lunch, we checked out an art expo in the park where there were demonstrations of traditional art forms in the Crystal Empire. There was dancing, painting, music, everything. It was a really good opportunity to better understand the culture of the Crystal Ponies.
It was dusk by the time we made it back to the castle.
"Well this was a great day. Thanks Shining." I nuzzled him.
"Aw, you're welcome Twily." It seemed like there something on his mind.
"Something wrong?"
"No, not really, but I've been meaning to tell you that I'm sorry about the way I acted towards Flash yesterday. It was wrong for me to well…"
"To try to scare him off?"
He cleared his throat and tried to smile.
"Yes, yes it was. I forgive you Shining. I know you were trying to be a good brother." I smiled at him.
"Which is why I apologized to Flash this morning."
"What really?" That's what he had to do this morning? I hope he didn't make things worse.
"Yes and before you say anything else, just know that we talked things out, I'm going to try to be his friend and I won't treat him any differently from the other guards."
"Really?" It would be nice if there wouldn't be any tension between them and for each of them to be comfortable with the other.
"Really."
We hugged.
"I'm glad to hear that Shining. But you know, we're not even dating. There isn't anything to worry about."
"Is there something to worry about now?" He gave me a look.
"Shining..." I gave him a stern look.
"I'm sorry, it's just going to take a while for me to get used to the idea." He shook his head a little.
"Listen Shining, Flash and I are going on a date to the museum. Okay?" I wasn't asking for his permission. This is my life and I can choose to go out on a date if I want to. I just wanted to see what he'd say.
He took a breath. He opened his mouth to say something but closed his mouth again. He was struggling in his mind and his eyes darted everywhere. I was starting to get worried before he finally said something. "Just make sure he's not a changeling and that you're back here by 8."
I laughed. "Well, I'll be sure to check and just to make you happy; sure, we'll be back by eight."
We laughed and continued to walk into the castle.