//------------------------------// // Looking For a Mare // Story: The Librarian's Longing For Love // by ButtEater9 //------------------------------// Twilight Sparkle sat down in front of the computer she had received a month ago from Princess Celestia. The princess had sent it so Twilight would have an easier time compiling notes and research, but Twilight now had another use for the device. Twilight had revealed her love for mares to her friends nearly three months ago. Her friends accepted her of course, as Rarity and Fluttershy had been in a happy relationship for at least a year, and Applejack and Rainbow Dash had started dating a few months after the romance between the pegasus and the unicorn become known. Pinkie Pie was also accepting, as she did not discriminate on the basis of gender, especially when it came to partners. Since Twilight had come out, she had attempted to find a mare for herself, but she had been unlucky in that department. Twilight grimaced as she thought of her failed romantic attempts. She had been interested in over two dozen mares living in Ponyville, but when she revealed her attraction, the response was always the same: a negative one. Bon-Bon was already in a relationship. Derpy wasn't interested in mares. Berry Punch was attracted to somepony else. Cheerilee simply wasn't interested in a relationship. The only mare who had ever agreed to go on a date with the lavender unicorn was her friend Pinkie Pie, and she suspected it was only out of pity. The two ponies had gone to dinner at a fancy restaurant, but it hadn't ended well. Their conversation was awkward; Twilight's talk about books and her studies on friendship bored Pinkie Pie, and the seemingly random things the pink pony mentioned confused and annoyed Twilight. The worst part of the date came when the earth pony's hyperactive behaviour had also caused her to inadvertently bump into a waiter, who fell and dropped his tray, causing a chain reaction of destruction that lead to 600 bits worth of damage. Luckily, Twilight was able to pay it off with her monthly stipend from Princess Celestia, but the romance of the night had been ruined. The two agreed to just stay friends and they had grown closer when Pinkie had sworn that she'd help Twilight find a partner. However, even with Pinkie Pie's help, nopony else had gone on a date with Twilight. She had almost given up on finding a mare in Ponyville to be her marefriend, but Pinkie had visited Twilight's library a few days ago to give some advice. The pink pony told her librarian friend that since she wasn't having luck in Ponyville, she could find love over the ponynet. Although Twilight doubted the validity of that claim, Pinkie had insisted that she had met a few of her partners online, and that it would definitely help Twilight find a lover. Although she was still doubtful, she promised Pinkie that she would create an account on the dating site. Though Twilight managed to put it off for a few days, Pinkie constantly pestered her to create an account during this time. The librarian finally gave in to Pinkie's questioning and decided to follow her advice, even if it was only to shut her up. Twilight opened her ponynet browser and typed the name of the site into the navigation bar. The site loaded to display several pictures of couples, along with a stylized logo displaying the name of the site: Plenty Of Mares. There were pictures of mares with mares, mares with stallions, stallions with stallions, and even a few pictures of interracial couples, like ponies with zebras and donkeys. Perhaps they really can help me find a mare, Twilight thought to herself. She found the account creation button, and clicked it. This brought her to the new account page, which contained several boxes where she could input information. She began to fill them out, thinking out loud. "Name… Twilight Sparkle. Nickname… um, FaithfulStudent. Looking for… a mare." She continued inputting information: her age, her race, her physical attributes, her personality traits, and what she was looking for in a partner. After a few minutes, she had completed the entire page, and she clicked the confirmation button. The next page asked her if she wanted to upload a picture of herself, but she decided that she would take care of that later. Finally, a message popped up, congratulating the lavender pony on successfully creating an account. Although Twilight experienced a feeling of brief satisfaction at being able to create an account, it was quickly replaced by confusion. "How do I use this thing now? Pinkie didn't mention how it worked." Using her logical mind, the lavender unicorn decided to click the mail icon first, and was greeted by a nearly empty inbox, populated by only a single message. She clicked on it, and read it. It was just a message from the site founder, thanking her for creating an account. She was briefly disappointed that there were no messages from other users, but she realised that only a few minutes had passed since she created the account, and that the site would need more time to work. Seeing that it was around noon, Twilight decided to go downstairs to make lunch and wait for somepony to send her a message. She made a hay sandwich for herself, and a bowl of common gems for Spike. After enjoying a very filling meal, she went back upstairs to her bedroom, and walked to her computer. She clicked on the mail icon on the Plenty Of Mares site. To the lavender unicorn's delight, there were three messages waiting for her in the inbox. She clicked on the first message, hopeful that it was from somepony that was her type. Unfortunately, this was not to be. The first message had come from a user with the name AppleStud. The content of the message was simply text stating "yo filly u so hot. Wana try it wit a real stalion?" and an explicit picture of the sender. Disgusted at both the picture and AppleStud's poor grammar, Twilight quickly deleted the message, and clicked on the next one in her inbox. The second one was actually from a mare, this one named Scarred47. Although it initially seemed promising, Twilight realised that the message was a request for her to join the mare in a threesome with her coltfriend. Uninterested in being involved with a stallion in any way, Twilight deleted this too, but not before noting that the spelling and grammar was at least better than AppleStud's. The third and final message came from a user named Krastos. As Twilight read it, it became apparent to her that the message was just a spam advertisement for some type of quasi-legal drug. She deleted it too, and brought her hoof to her face. "Signing up for this site was a mistake. Who am I kidding; I'm never going to find a mare on here!" Suddenly, a window popped up, displaying an instant message conversation that Pinkie Pie had initiated. Twilight shook her head in wonder; even on the ponynet, Pinkie Pie had a habit of arriving when she was least expected. Pinkie: Hey Twilight, did you sign up like I told you to? Did you? Twilight: Yes, Pinkie, I did. But I don't think it's for me. Pinkie: Oh no, I know what it is! Are you getting too many mares messaging you? That's gotta be it! Don't worry Twilight, you can just ignore the ones you don't want. Twilight: No Pinkie, that's not the problem. I'm not getting any messages from mares. Pinkie: Well have you sent any messages out? You should send some to your matches, you'll get messages back for sure! Twilight: Matches? Pinkie: Well duh Twilight, the ponies that the site thinks that you'll make a perfect couple with! There are dozens of them, all with numbers and things that tell you how alike you are! Twilight: I haven't seen mine yet. I'll check them now. Twilight went back to looking at her Plenty Of Mares account, searching for the section with her matches. During her search, she noticed that she had gotten a couple more messages, both from Applestud again. She deleted the messages without even reading them, and clicked on the icon labelled 'My Matches'. This brought Twilight to a page that listed the user names of the mares she had been matched with, along with their pictures, locations, and compatibility ratings. The first mare on the list, a pink pegasi with a curly blonde mane with the username MerryRow, definitely had the highest compatibility rating at 98%. To Twilight's dismay, MerryRow's location was listed as Stalliongrad – much too far away for her liking. She noticed that the other nine results on the page also lived in distant cities, and she searched for a way to sort her matches based on distance, unwilling to travel halfway across Equestria to meet a potential marefriend. Twilight found the sorting parameters and changed it so that matches closer to her would appear first. To her pleasure, when the page reloaded, all ten matches on the first page hailed from Ponyville. Twilight recognized a couple of ponies on the page – Berry Punch and Pinkie Pie. Twilight didn't even consider sending a message to them; she knew she wasn't compatible with either of them. Unfortunately, it seemed like she wasn't compatible with anyone on the page; the highest compatibility rating on the page was 21%. She didn't want to take a chance on somepony who was that incompatible with her, so she went to the next page of matches. There were no mares from Ponyville on the second page, but there were a few from Canterlot. Most of them had compatibility ratings just as low as the ones on the first page, but there was one outlier. A mare with the name Gr8nPwrful had a compatibility rating of 85%. Twilight excitedly clicked on the mare's name, being redirected to her profile. Gr8nPwrful did not have a profile picture, but looks were not Twilight's main priority. She discovered that the mare from Canterlot was online. Hoping that the high compatibility rating was accurate, she sent the other mare a request to chat using the site's built in instant messaging program. To Twilight's delight, the request was almost immediately accepted. FaithfulStudent: Hi, I was just browsing my matches and noticed that I had a high compatibility rating with you. You seem to be an interesting mare; I hope you don't mind me messaging you. Gr8nPwrful: Hey Faithful. Of course I don't mind. It's always nice to talk to new ponies, especially mares. FaithfulStudent: Thank you, I haven't had much luck finding a mare, either on here or offline. I was almost ready to just give up and just close my account. Gr8nPwrful: To be honest, I'm losing faith in this site. I haven't found a marefriend on here yet. All I get are messages from perverted colts. FaithfulStudent: I know what you mean, this one colt named AppleStud keeps messaging me with rude messages and obscene pictures of himself. He should take a closer look at my profile; it clearly says 'Mares Only'. Gr8nPwrful: Oh Celestia… That AppleStud messages all the mares on here. I'm surprised he hasn't been banned yet; I certainly report him enough. FaithfulStudent: The worst part is his spelling. I can barely tell what he's trying to say. Gr8nPwrful: Unfortunately, his pictures really make his intentions clear. Anyway, enough about him; I'd like to get to know you better, we seem pretty similar. FaithfulStudent: I'd love to learn more about you too. What do you want to know about me? Gr8nPwrful: What sort of stuff do you like to do? FaithfulStudent: Well, I love to read quite a bit, but my main passion is magic. I don't like to brag, but I'm pretty talented at it. Gr8nPwrful: What a coincidence! I love magic too! I've been spending a lot of my free time learning new spells, and I know quite a bit already. FaithfulStudent: That's so cool! I never imagined I'd find somepony as passionate about magic as me! Gr8nPwrful: Same here :) What other things do you like? How about music? FaithfulStudent: I try to enjoy all types of music, but classical music is my favorite. I simply love the Royal Canterlot Symphonic Orchestra. Listening to their music really brings back memories of my childhood when my parents would take me to see them every week. Gr8nPwrful: Oh yeah, the RCSO is amazing. I've only seen them play a few times though, tickets are expensive this year. I'm beginning to get into house music too, especially DJ-PON3's stuff. Her new single is awesome! FaithfulStudent: I haven't actually heard it yet, but I've enjoyed her older music. Gr8nPwrful: So did you live in Canterlot as a filly, or did you just travel there with your parents to see the RCSO every week? FaithfulStudent: I grew up in Canterlot. My parents still live there. Gr8nPwrful: Do you mind me asking why you moved? FaithfulStudent: Not at all. I moved at the request of my magic teacher. She has me doing research here in Ponyville. I've been here for about two years now. Gr8nPwrful: How do you like it there? I had a disagreement with a few rude ponies there about a year ago, but other than that it seemed like a nice enough town. FaithfulStudent: Oh, it's amazing here. I miss my parents back in Canterlot, but I've made a lot of friends here. I was a bit of a shut in before I came here, so it's a definite improvement. How about you, have you lived in Canterlot for your entire life? Gr8nPwrful: No, I was born in Canterlot, but I used to travel a lot. I only recently returned because I had difficulty finding employment elsewhere. FaithfulStudent: Where are you working now? Gr8nPwrful: I managed to get a job as a waitress here. It's nothing spectacular, but it pays the bills. How about you? FaithfulStudent: Well I take care of the library here, but most of the payment I receive from my teacher is for the research I do. Gr8nPwrful: Oh nice, that sounds like the perfect job for you, since you love to read so much. FaithfulStudent: It really is perfect. Gr8nPwrful: Listen, I've got to go offline now, but I really like you. I think we have a lot in common. Do you want to maybe meet for coffee sometime? FaithfulStudent: I'd love to, actually. Do you have a place in mind? Gr8nPwrful: How about 3pm on Wednesday at Jack's Java Shack? It's fairly close to the royal palace. FaithfulStudent: Sounds good, I know exactly where that is. I'll take a trip to Canterlot on Wednesday. I can't wait to meet you. Gr8nPwrful: Same here, you seem like just my type. I'll be at the cafe with a rose in my mane. See you on Wednesday :D Gr8nPwrful has left the chat. Twilight left the chat as well, smiling with glee. She briefly considered jumping around the room while shouting "Yes!", but ultimately decided against it. The lavender pony was happier than she had been in months. However, her joy quickly turned to anxiety when she realised that she had no idea how to behave on a date, even one as casual as a coffee date. She knew that she would need to help of her friends to prepare for the date.