My Little Pony-Friendship is Magic

The Romancing Quest

By Doctor Scraps

Disclaimer: My Little Pony- Friendship is Magic is property of Hasbro and all affiliated parties involved, and the author claims no rights to any characters, settings, or events. This story was written for entertainment purposes only.

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Chapter 2—

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"Well…tonight's the night." Twilight stared at herself in the mirror, adjusting her mane a little and eyeing what little makeup she had applied. She wondered if it was a bit much for a blind date. She wanted to appear honest, and she didn't really like using makeup. At the most, she put a little star shaped clip in her mane. She nodded approvingly, feeling her confidence swell.

"Let's do this."

…

"So, yeah I'm pushing around 200 pounds regularly. You know. Working my way up to lifting 300." Twilights date, a bronze earth pony with muscles toned as though they were carved from the earth itself, rambled on, flexing and stretching his muscles to emphasize them for her. "It takes a lot of dedication to get this ripped, but you know, I started young, and kept at it. The day I start getting all flabby, is the day I'm done with life, y'know?"

"Yeah, I totally get what you mean." Twilight spoke through the clenched teeth of her forced smile, having barely touched the protein drink her date had ordered for her as they sat together inside the juice bar next door to the Ponyville gym. "I…try and workout every now and then."

"Oh yeah, I can tell. You get really nice legs, Twilight, but you should really work harder on your flank and your midsection. I see a lot of walking around going on there, but not a lot of toning. You should really think of maybe hitting the weight machines and—"

Twilight huffed, blowing her mane out of her eyes, sipping her drink, drinking in the fact that her date just called her fat.

…

It was the second day, and time for the second date…Twilight only had a name to go by, Renaldo, and a note to look for a Pegasus with a red scarf at the fountain by the park.

Renaldo was a blue Pegasus, a flowy red silken scarf wrapped around his neck, adjusting his meticulously groomed mane whilst peering into a compact mirror, almost far too absorbed to notice Twilight approach. She smiled and greeted him cheerfully, "You must be Renaldo! I'm Rarity's friend, Twilight Sparkle."

"Oooh, it is so good to finally meet you, Miss Sparkle!" Renaldo squealed and shook her hoof. "Oh I just adore your hair. You simply must tell me your regimen."

"O-oh, my hair? I…don't really do anything to it, it's just how it naturally falls, I guess." Twilight brushed back her mane, allowing it to fall back into place.

"Oh, I'm so jealous! I go through seven bottles of shampoo a week to keep my hair this lavish! With Rarity's help of course. I would simply just die of embarrassment if I had to spend a week without her magic touch, and letting my hair get all flat. You know for a dressmaker, she should have gotten a dual-cutie mark for being a master hairdresser as well." Renaldo said, primping his features.

"Ah, fancy that. So…Have you two known each other long?" Twilight asked, trying to get the conversation off of Renaldo's hair.

Renaldo put a hoof to his chest and breathed deeply while remembering. "Oh yes, we met years ago during a very dark and trying time in my life. I was a foal without style, without class…Without purpose! Why, if it wasn't for her and her sense of couture, I'd still be buying retail clothes off the rack at department stores, and not the fancy variety they have in Canterlot, but like in Cloudsdale." He shuddered. "They do NOT know how to dress in Cloudsdale. It's all aviary or nothing, dear."

"Ah, great to hear…so, where we going on our date?" Twilight asked.

"I was thinking maybe a little shopping? I was just thinking how this scarf makes me look fat…And it's so...Last week."

…

"I've been having a really nice evening, Swift." Twilight smiled up at her date, a tall and fit olive colt, sporting a rose as his cutie mark, who smiled back and brushed a hoof along her mane as they came to rest on a bench during their walk from having dinner at Chez Alfalfa.

"Think nothing of it, Twilight…The honor was all mine. I've been wanting to ask you out, but I just never had the courage..."

Twilight smiled and closed her eyes as she leaned against him. She felt so warm and safe. Maybe this is what Rarity was talking about. Maybe this was finally working out. Swift was just so…approachable.

"Why, hello there…What's your name?" Swift suddenly said. Twilight looked over and saw her date giving a purposeful look to the sudden arrival of Fluttershy, who was now frozen in sudden 'oh Celestia, someone's talking to me' anxiety.

"I-I…I'm Fluttershy…" Fluttershy lowered her head and stepped back a little, eyeing the taller pony with her usual anxiety.

"Fluttershy…that's a very pretty name…" Swift said, leaning closer to the Pegasus.

"Um…Excuse me…" Twilight cleared her throat.

"So tell me, Fluttershy, what are you doing later tonight?"

…

Fluttershy sat on the stool in the ice cream shop looking very embarrassed and upset, while Twilight stared angrily at the large sundae in front of her, smoke still drifting off of her horn after sending Swift into the next county on a magically summoned tornado.

"I'm sorry I ruined your date…" Fluttershy said timidly.

"…Let's not waste a perfectly good evening. Grab a spoon and help me finish this…" Twilight grumbled through a mouthful.

…

"Shut the door! Shut the door!" Twilight Shrieked as she barreled through the door leading into the almost domed room lit with an orange glow and a pulsing pillar-like control device in its center on a platform. Her date followed after, a brown pony sporting an hourglass cutie mark, slamming the door shut and shoving himself against it while fishing a small pen-like device out of his satchel. "Mmph mm mrrr!" He grunted as he activated the device to lock the door, while green glows and small explosions erupted on the other end.

"What?" Twilight asked as she scrambled up onto the platform surrounding the console.

The Doctor spat out the device. "Flip the switch!"

"Which one?" Twilight panicked. "There's seven switches!"

"The blue one marked Materialization! We've been over this, Miss Sparkle!" The Doctor galloped up to the console. "Get us Equestria on the Star Map while I get us a clear shot out of here." He started flipping switches, and turning dials while Twilight used her magic to utilize the controls in tandem to scan through the star charts for Equestria. The console sparked in Twilights face, causing the room to shake and a whinny to erupt from the Unicorn.

"Behave!" The Doctor pounded on the console with his hoof. "This is no time to be jealous! Are you alright?"

"Just…fine…Alright, I found it! We're locked in!" Twilight manually turned the dial while rubbing one of her eyes.

"Geronimo!" The Doctor cried out as he pounded a large red button, a sudden shift in turbulence sending them both sprawling as the Tardis was sent flying to safety.

…

"Well, then…That didn't end well, did it?" The Doctor just laid there, staring at the ceiling of the Tardis's console room. "I was really hoping to show you the Crystalline Waterfalls of Saturnine Seven. "

"It's alright, Doctor…It's not every day a girl gets to…Travel through space, save the universe twice, meet a young Princess Celestia…" Twilight sat up and thought back.

"Rescued said Princess from pirates…" The Doctor continued.

"Stop a Cybermpony invasion of Manehattan…" Twilight said.

"Don't forget the ordeal with the golden Hay Bale."

"How could I forget…" Twilight laughed wearily as she flopped back onto the floor.

"So…Tell me, Miss Sparkle…Am I at least worth a second date?" The Doctor asked.

"Give me a week to recover…and I'll think about it." Twilight chuckled, half joking.

…

And so it went. A week passed, and more and more dates came and went. Dates that weren't complete disasters were complete bores.

Twilight lay curled up in her bed, face buried in her pillow. Sher was tired and cranky. She had called off the arranged date tonight...Much to Rarity's disappointedment, whom had tried to assure her that Twilight would have loved her friend Chippendale. Things just weren't going as she expected. Nothing of value had occurred, with maybe the exception of her and a time traveling pony keeping the time line accurate…but that had nothing to do with the project in play. She was supposed to be learning how to date, and all she had learned was that colts could be complete wastes of energy.

She groaned and buried herself in her covers when Spike entered, letting in the wretched light. "Go away…I'm not in the mood…"

Spike held up a scroll bearing the seal of the Princess, "Well, excuse me for thinking this might be important."

Twilight peaked from beneath the covers and used her magic to bring the scroll to her.

…

"Dearest Twilight, my loyal pupil…

Love is a strange thing, even for one such as myself. It has many faces, and wears many masks as well. Love is as simple as a hug between sisters, or as complex as two pony's raising another life in this world. But to fall in love is something else entirely…a different kind of magic. It feels like the world ceases to exist, except what is around you and the one you love. When your heart races when you lay eyes upon them, or their hoof brushes yours. Love is acceptance, love is togetherness.

Like Cutie Marks, I believe that each Pony in Equestria has someone special waiting for them. We never know when we will meet them, until the day we do. I wish you luck, Twilight Sparkle.

-Princess Celestia"

…

So even someone like Princess Celestia can't define something as abstract as love. Twilight went over the letter many times, propping her chin up on a hoof. She sat there for a few moments, thinking. "Spike, my notebook."

Spike brought her the notebook and quill, and Twilight set to writing. At first it was just lines of nonsense, letting her mind speak freely on the page, keeping her thoughts focused on the concept of love, and how it connected to the magic of friendship itself. Amidst the writings, she took note of one musing- Can an enemy be a friend? So beside it, she scribbled- Can an enemy be loved?

"So, what are you going to do now?" Spike asked, peering over her shoulder.

Twilight closed the notebook and crossed her arms while hanging her head in thought. "I need to find my old old enemy."

"Enemy? But you don't have an enemy. Everyone loves you, Twilight." Spike asked, a little confused.

"No, but she thinks she's my enemy...So it's close enough."

…

"Are you sure about this, Twilight?" Spike asked as he and Twilight stood outside of a small flat near the center of Canterlot. It was small and humble on the outside, almost the exact opposite of the person they had come to visit.

"I have a hypothesis I want to test." Twilight said calmly, although she herself was uncertain how this was going to play out. "

"Alright, if you say so…" Spike took his cue and moved out of sight as Twilight approached the door and knocked. There was a long silence. Twilight knocked again. Finally the door opened some as a disheveled mane of white hair peered out at Twilight.

"Twilight Sparkle…" A rather annoyed voice called out, the door opening fully to reveal a blue pony, looking as though she had just now crawled out of bed. "To what does the great and powerful Trixie owe this sudden visit?"

"Hi, Trixie." Twilight said, maintaining a friendly tone and demeanor. "Did you want to get a coffee or something? My treat."

…

To be continued.