Moondancer walked out of the Canterlot Central Library, her head held high in accomplishment.
She had every right to be proud, she told herself. A sizable amount of quality studying took place today—few ponies in the world could recite the quadratic formula by heart like she could now. Plus, she'd actually finished all of her homework with time to spare! In a rare occasion, she'd had an opportunity to hunt down some... extracurricular reading.
All in all, a good day, with all missions accomplished. And just in time, too—school was tomorrow.
Moondancer walked down the first few steps of the library, ready to blend into the crowd on the road. The sooner she could get home and dig into the books she'd checked out, the better. She smiled as she thought back to the one she'd been sampling at the library.
Just as she spotted a gap in the traffic, however, a boisterous voice called out from behind.
"Moonie! Hey, Mooniiiiieeeeee!"
Moondancer stifled a cringe, and sighed. Only one pony ever called her that. "Hello, Minuette," she said, without turning around.
Minuette skipped to catch up. "Hiya, Moonie! I saw you inside, but you seemed suuuuuuper-concentrated. I didn't want to disturb you!"
Gestures such as those, however, were why Moondancer tolerated Minuette's... eccentricities. "Thanks, I appreciate it," Moondancer replied, facing Minuette with an almost-smile.
"Sure! Gotta ask, though: what were you reading?" Minuette said, leaning in close to the other unicorn. "I mean, you looked way more into your book than usual! But you had that spell of darkness obscuring the cover, and..."
Moondancer tensed. "I, um... j-j-just some things for class! Yeah," she babbled, hustling down the last of the library's steps. "Really hard math problems, and—whoa!" She tripped, and the ground rushed up at her.
Minuette thought fast, and acted faster. One teleport later, Moondancer landed softly in Minuette's forelegs.
"Oh my gosh," Moondancer said, gasping for breath. She gently pushed away from Minuette, and dusted herself off. Once she regained her composure, she smiled gratefully. "Minuette, you... you saved me. Thank you."
"Hey, no problem. Are you okay?" Minuette asked.
"I am, but..." Moondancer realized her load was noticeably lighter. "Oh, no. My books!"
"Whoa, they're all over the place!" Minuette exclaimed, grabbing scattered paperbacks from the road with her magic. "Though I guess I should expect that from... um..." Minuette picked up another book with her hoof, took a closer look at it, and blinked. "Okay, I didn't expect this."
"No!" Moondancer cried. "Don't look—"
"'She's a shy physicist who's always down to earth,'" Minuette read off the back cover. "‘But when she meets a ravishing astronomer who always has her head in the clouds, the world becomes their laboratory for experiments in love...'"
Minuette blinked, and gasped. "Moonie, is this... is this a romance novel?" She looked at the rest of the books she had floating in her magical grasp. Several showed mares and stallions in various states of embrace on their covers. "Are these all romance novels?"
"Stop!" Moondancer cried, scrambling for the remaining paperbacks. "Stop stop stop stop stop stop stop stop stop—"
By now, however, Minuette was beside herself. "Oh my gosh, they are! And they're all so… nerdy! 'Love's Missing Variable'? 'Bliss in B Minor'? 'The Square Root Of Passion'? Are these all going to be on this week's test?" Minuette asked, laughing.
With a stifled scream, Moondancer snatched the books from Minuette in her own magic. Hastily, she stuffed them into her bag. "No one asked you to look!" she barked. "O-or for that matter, to let them fly out of my bag in the first place!"
Minuette stepped back, frowning slightly as her brows pinched together. "Gee, thanks, Moonie. Should I have let you take a header into the dirt, breaking Celestia knows how many teeth, all so you wouldn't be embarrassed?"
Moondancer winced, shrinking back herself. She rubbed a forehoof along her other foreleg, looking down. "I... I’m sorry, Minuette. I know you did the right thing. I-I just..." She sighed.
"Hey, no worries," Minuette said, a soothing smile blossoming on her face, as she stepped back toward Moondancer. "I'm not mad. And look at the bright side: you and your books are all okay!"
She looked back at the very first one she'd picked up, entitled 'Dancing With The Stars', and noticed a crude doodle of Twilight on the inside cover. "The library's probably going to charge you for this one, though," she said, showing the doodle to Moondancer.
Moondancer gasped like a mare out of a horror movie and snatched the book away. "You can't tell anypony about this!" she hissed. "Especially about this." She blushed and turned away, magically erasing the sketch as she did. "I-I don't know what happened here," she muttered. "I must have gotten lost in my reading, and—"
"And sometimes your horn says the stuff you don't want to?" Minuette offered.
Moondancer sunk to the ground, covering her face in her hooves. "I'm such an idiot."
"Moondancer," Minuette said, her voice soft and reassuring. "Come on. It's not even remotely that bad." She held her hoof out to Moondancer. "Here. Up we go."
Moondancer looked up from beneath her hooves and sighed. Reluctantly, she took Minuette's hoof and rose.
"Your secret is safe with me, okay?" Minuette said, smiling affectionately. "Heck, do you have any idea how happy I am for you? Love can happen to anypony and everypony, whether they're outgoing, or... well, someone as comfortable in their own world as you are." She patted Moondancer reassuringly on the back.
"But what do I do about it?" Moondancer asked. "I mean I tried ignoring it, but..." She looked back at the paperback she'd come close to permanently vandalizing. "Well, clearly my brain's not going to let that happen."
"Hmm." Minuette put her hoof to her chin. "I have some ideas, but a brainstorm might be better. And I always think better on a full stomach. Donuts?" she said, still smiling.
Moondancer rolled her eyes. Still, if she was going to subject herself to public humiliation, at least sugar would dull the pain.
"Lead the way," she said.
---
Donut Joe's was always bustling on Sunday afternoons. Students from all grades gathered to enjoy pastries and shakes, and eke out the last minutes of their precious weekends before the drudgery of school resumed. This Sunday was no different.
Lemon Hearts and Twinkleshine were already seated at a booth built for four, and scarfing down donuts like there was no tomorrow. Minuette went straight for their table upon opening the door to the shop.
"When you get a sugar headache," she said, sliding into the booth across from the pair, "don't come crying to me."
"You're one to talk," Twinkleshine said, taking a sip of her milkshake.
"Hee. I sure am. But hey, girls!" Minuette gestured to her plus-one. "Look who I picked up on the way here!"
"Moondancer!" Both seated ponies exclaimed.
Moondancer gave a weak wave. "Hi."
"Come on, sit down with us!" Lemon Hearts said. "We already got the basket special!"
"Don't mind if I do!" Minuette said, grinning as her hooves hovered over the basket full of donuts. "Oh my gosh, sprinkles. Sprinkles now."
"Jelly for me," Moondancer said.
"Sure thing!" Lemon Hearts replied. "Seriously, just take what you want."
"Thanks." Moondancer hunted down a powdered jelly donut and levitated it to her mouth.
"So what brings you here?" Twinkleshine asked.
Moondancer took a small bite of her donut, glancing at Minuette. "I'm not so sure I had a choice in the matter."
Minuette laughed. "Moondancer here is finally getting it through her head that some ponies might actually like her company and want to be around her. Also, the reverse."
Moondancer blushed.
"Well, ponies besides Twilight Sparkle, I'm guessing," Lemon Hearts said.
"Ain't that the truth," Minuette said, winking at Moondancer.
Moondancer sunk into her seat a little.
"Oh come on, we're not making fun," Minuette said, giving Moondancer a playful shove. "It's just visible facts. Every new class, you two find your own, separate table away from the rest of us, and you just slide back into your own little world. It's like nopony else even exists. And it's been like that for years!"
Twinkleshine sighed, smiling dreamily. "Gotta admit, I think it's awesome to be that close to somepony for that long."
"A total true-blue," Lemon Hearts added, with a laugh. "I bet your slumber parties are just drowning in nerdery. Formulas before bed? Spin the beaker? Come on, what's it like with her?"
Moondancer blinked. "Slumber parties?" she said, face scrunched in confusion.
The other three blinked back at her, staring.
"You..." Minuette pointed. "You mean you've never—"
Moondancer shook her head. "Nnno. Is that… bad?" she asked.
"What about just talking?" Lemon Hearts asked. "Shopping? Recess? Study hall?"
Moondancer perked up at the last one. The three mares leaned in.
"We'll bump into each other at library shelves sometimes," Moondancer said, reaching for another donut. "But we don't really make much of it. We both value the quiet study time that the library gives us."
The three mares deflated.
"How are you two still friends?" Minuette whispered, harshly. "How have you lasted this long? What do you two do when you're not in class?"
Moondancer shrugged, her expression serene. "We really do just look forward to talking in class. About classwork. We used to walk each other home, too, but then Twilight started living in the castle." Moondancer sighed, looking down. "So, the much shorter commute means much less time to talk. Now, for me, usually it's class, then house, class, then house. Or, on the weekends, it's library, then house... and every once in a while, I end up with you girls."
"At least we don't have to drag you here kicking and screaming anymore," Lemon Hearts said, resting her head in her hoof. "Okay, look, Moondancer, no offense, but you sound like you want things to change. Do you?"
"I..." Moondancer looked away, biting her lip.
"Because if you want more ponies to have your back, then you have to show 'em you're okay to approach," Minuette said. "Trust us, they're just as scared of you as you are of them." She froze, then grinned awkwardly. "I... meant for that to come out more reassuring than it did."
"And that goes double if you want to get to see Twilight more," Twinkleshine said. "'Cause you're not wrong. She stays shut-in more than you do. I guess it's because she's Princess Celestia's star student and stuff."
Moondancer flinched. "It's... it's going to take more than just me to distract her from her books."
"What do you mean?" Minuette asked. "I think it can't be anyone else but you! You gave her that gift like I suggested, right?"
Moondancer nodded. "Yeah…"
"Aaaaand?" Minuette said, rolling her hoof.
"She... she liked it," Moondancer said, blushing.
Minuette slammed her hoof on the table. "See? Proof positive right there!" she said, grinning excitedly. "You've got nothing to worry about, and everything to gain!" She leaned in closer to Moondancer and added with a whisper, "Especially if you really want to be dancing with the stars one day..."
Moondancer slid out of the booth, and stood back. She shook her head quickly.
"T-Twilight and I just know each other! We just have stuff in common. We're... we're peers. Co-workers. Fellow scientists. It's always been just that." She looked at the ground. "A-and besides, I... I'm... I'm just not friendship material! I don't really have anything to offer to anypony.
"I'm boring, I'm shy, I don't like what most other girls like, and what little I can bring to the table... Twilight already has. In abundance." Moondancer squeezed her eyes shut. "S-so she doesn't need me either."
Moondancer looked back up to the other mares with glassy eyes. "Thanks for trying. Seriously," she said, her voice cracking. "But I'm just not worth all this trouble, okay?"
Minuette gaped, eyes wide. Then she leaped out of the booth towards Moondancer, and wrapped her forelegs around her as tight as she could.
"Moonie," she begged, sniffling, "I don't want to hear you telling yourself you're worthless ever again. All that stuff that makes you... you, is also what makes you special and valuable!"
Lemon Hearts and Twinkleshine left the booth to join the hug. "She's right," Twinkleshine said.
"The only one really getting in the way of making this work is you," Lemon Hearts added.
Moondancer sniffled, basking in the warmth. It was the same odd, heady feeling she'd experienced when Twilight had thanked her for the book. If only she were here as well, it would be perfect.
But if Moondancer was being honest with herself, this wasn't that bad either.
The hug eventually broke up, leaving Moondancer looking at three young mares who were all smiles. She wiped her eyes. "Thank you," she whispered. "I guess sometimes I do need somepony around to talk some sense into me."
Lemon Hearts nodded. "Sure thing. And Twilight's our friend too... technically? We just see you more because you're not locked in a castle tower a bunch. Thank Celestia for that." She looked out the window and in the direction of the castle. "I wonder if you think she's happy up there?"
"I don't know," Minuette said. "But what I do know is that you two keep to yourselves so much it's legendary. And it's getting in the way of the friendship you want. Meaning one of you is going to have to break the cycle. If you wanna get to Twilight—or anypony else for that matter—you gotta put yourself out there. Present yourself. Sell yourself. Let them know what you really think of them. And... I suggest doing it all in one fell swoop." She wrapped her hoof around Moondancer's withers, and gestured to the sky. "That’s why I'm thinking... friendship party!"
Moondancer tried to back away. "But I... don't do parties."
"Oh, 'party' is just a word," Minuette said, redoubling her hold. "It can be the loudest shindig, or the quietest, happiest gathering. It's up to you. But the important thing is that attendance is friends only." She took Moondancer's hooves in hers. "You ready to find out who those are?"
Moondancer bit her lip, looking around at her… friends. Yes. Friends. With a steadying breath, she slowly nodded.
"Then let's get some plans drawn up," Minuette said. "Don't worry. This'll be great."