Simply Research

You stepped inside as Twilight greeted you.

“I can't thank you enough for coming over to help.  It really means a lot to me.” Twilight said with endearing eyes as she tilted her head to one direction, her mane loftly flowing down her neck.

You nodded, “Of course.  That is what friends are for.” And you were not lying.  You wanted to help Twilight in her research . . . problem is you forgot what you offered to help her find.  You came just to spend some time with Twilight, because you found her geekiness to be appealing in a cute, quirky way.  You also admired her smarts, good looks, and sort of always got turned on by her mini freak outs.  While those were rare, you enjoyed watching her get worked up over little things, the way her voice pitch would change, and her mane gets mangled.  She gets frantic.  You always wanted to be there to calm her down and make things better.  To say you loved her might be overstepping your boundaries.  It wasn't like you disliked her, and you would be happy to call her your marefriend, you just weren't sure if she was the one or not.

You realized that this whole time your mind was wandering, she was talking.  You had also followed her up her tidy stairs and into her bedroom.  Oh my!  Her bedroom.  She was still talking, and you glanced around the room.  Books, papers, pens, just random junk was everywhere.  It was a complete 180 from the rest of her house.

“These books are the books I've already gone through.  I stuck yellow pieces of paper in them if I felt the information was valid for the project.  I used pink notes if it was must used information.  Blue notes mean it is good reference notes, while green was . . . “ And she kept going on and on.  You looked over at her actual bed, which had an imprint of her body on it, as well as books fashioned in a messy circle around her.  You scanned past her window and by her dresser drawer, and noticed her waste basket.  It was filled with tissues.  That was tissues, right?  Not paper.  It is tissues.  You glanced back at Twilight who was still looking at you in the eye talking to you.

“The orange notes represent the . . . “ Twilight kept talking.

You looked over at the waste basket again, then scanned the room and noticed two unopened boxes of tissues.  You peered back at her bed and noticed and open box beside a thick brown book.

Something else you liked about Twilight was her sneezes.  She had the most adorable, absolute best sneezes.  Well that is what you thought anyway.  It was just her way of being helpless and cute about it.  She was vulnerable about them, and you loved how they always aggravated her.  If she sneezed too much, she sometimes lost her cool, and it was up to you to make her feel good about herself.  That is what you liked.

“So if you can start in this little stack of books and see if you can find anything, that would be great.”  The sound of a stack of books hitting the table got you out of your daydreaming.  You looked down to see about ten books before you.  Looking up, the purple mare swished her tail side to side as she walked over to her bed and jumped upon it, twirling once, and laying down.  Using her magic, she picked up a big book and began swiping through pages with a determined expression upon her face.

“So-so-so what are we looking for?”  You mustered out.

Twilight closed her eyes a moment and put her book down.  “Anything that you think I could use in the paper.”

“And this paper . . . “ You started but were interrupted.

“This PAPER is very important.  It focuses on  . . .” Twilight stopped mid sentenced.  You looked up.

Her eyelids began to close as her nostrils flared and her mouth opened.  It was happening before your eyes.  Twilight needed to sneeze and you were in plain view.  Using her magic, she scrambled for a tissue and pressed it against her snout as she released.

“Haaappssshhhh!”  She wiped and folded the tissue neatly, then wiped again.  The tissue, in almost a perfect square, was then tossed into the garbage bin beside her bed.  The majority of the tissues were wadded up, but you figured she wanted to act more civilized around guests.

You blinked a few more times, then realized you should have probably blessed her.  You said nothing.

“Excuse me.”  Twilight said sighing, in a somewhat flustered tone.  “As I was saying, the paper focuses on the development cities along Equestria's coastal regions.  How trade, transportation, agriculture, races, and everything comes together to make the thriving coastal cities we have today.”  She ended her little speech in a motherly tone, as if embracing you for being there with her.

“Oh yeah, I guess I forgot.”  You said looking back down at your book.  You couldn't help but notice a few strands of her mane out of place and wafting above her eyes.  They broke apart from the perfect alignment of her mane when she sneezed.

“The book you have there focuses on Equestria's western coast.  I am reading about the eastern coast here.”  Twilight explained looking down at her book.  She was using magic once again to swipe at her nose with a tissue, then in small circular movements, was rolling it around her snout.  It was beginning to redden.

You didn't want to look away, but you figured you should.  So you peered down at the book and went through the chapter index reading the subsections within your head.  “The history and exploration of the Equestrian west coast.”  You turned the page, then began thumbing through looking at the few pictures and maps in the book.  A rather large sniff was heard and you peered your eyes up to see Twilight trying not to be bothered by her irritated nose.  If only she would sneeze again.  You looked back down at the book, looking at a historic photograph of San Flankcisco.

“The Great Fire of San Flankcisco is pretty interesting.”  You mentioned.  You heard Twilight make an agreement noise, though you could tell she wasn't all that interested.  You flipped the page and there was a historic map you began to examine.  Peering up again, you saw Twilight still looking into her book.

You run through a few more pages and see a diagram of a seaport.

“I'm going to go get some water.”  You say as you get up off the chair, leaving your book open.  You pause a second for her response, and she finally answers.

“You know where the cups are.”

You can tell she is very intent in her studies.  You just hoped it would be a little bit more fun, you and her.

You walked out the door, leaving it open, and trotted down the steps.  Opened the cabinet up and grabbed a cup.  You walked over to the sink and poured some water in it, then turned the knob off.  As you turned around, you couldn't help but notice the salt and pepper shaker on the table.  If only you could use some of that pepper to coax out some more . . . NO.  No!  You are not going to sink to that level to get Twilight to sneeze.  That is just weird.  You sip some water and take the glass with you back up the stairs.

As you make your way closer to the room, you hear it.  The sound of sneezing.

“Heeessssssssnnn!”  Haaaaassssppphh!”

You think they are stifled, or semi stifled, you aren't sure.  You quickly open the door to see Twilight already blowing her nose and folding the tissue.

“Did I miss anything?”  You ask nonchalantly.

“Well, I did find . . .” Twilight begins to speak digging deeply into her nostrils with a new tissue, “out that Fillydelphia originally started as a garbage dump.  I guess it didn't change much over the past couple hundred years.”  She chuckled to herself.

Then you said something kind of stupid . . . at least you thought it was.

“Oh cool.  So how has it been going Twilight?”  Your eyes trying not to watch her push almost an entire tissue into her nostrils and massaging around them.

“Excuse me?”  She asked, stopping the her massaging of her nose.

You could feel your nerves kicking in, as your forehead felt hot, and sweat began to break on your temples.  “I was just meaning, how have you been doing?  You know . . . like . . . just YOU.  Have you been doing okay?”  You gave a cheesy grin as you quickly sipped some water to cool down.

“Oh.” Twilight's eyes wandered a moment, then looked at her book as she book marked it, closed it, and put it behind her.  “I'm good.  I don't have much to complain about.  Just really busy with this research.  How are you?”  She seemed to fixate her attention on you.

“Thats good, thats good.”  You nodded as you tried to think of  way to answer and keep things away from just studying books.  “I've been good.  Still single and all.... heh heh.” You slapped your forehead in your mind with such a horrible response.  Twilight must think you are hitting on her.  How dumb of a response is that?

“It is hard to find some special somepony.  I've often learned though that the special somepony is usually someone right under your own nose.”  Twilight said thoughtfully.  You smiled because she brought up the word, 'nose.'  You wanted her to keep talking about her nose, and her sneezes, but you didn't know how to carry the conversation well.  You also wanted to know her feelings torwards you, but didn't want to ruin your friendship status.

“You actively looking for somepony?”  You asked, as you tried to regain your composure.

“Sometimes.  I feel that he will just kind of fall upon me.  Or maybe I will fall upon him.  I just take it one day at a time.”  Twilight said with her eyes closed as she folded up another tissue and tossed it away.

“You have a cold?”  Again, you bashed your forehead in your mind for such an abrupt conversation change.

“No, my allergies are really acting up today.  It happens whenever I pull out all the books for research like this.”  She answered.  She pulled out another tissue and began dabbing her nose.

“Do your eyes just water?” You asked, knowing full well her symptoms are more then that.

“Yes, my eyes water, my throat can get scratchy, my nose either runs or gets plugged up.”  She stopped.  She didn't say the word 'sneeze' as you hoped to hear her say.

“I don't have allergies, so I wouldn't know.  You know . . . all the symptoms like watery eyes, nose, and snee . . . “ You stopped yourself.

“Should we get back to our studies?”  Twilight asked, her eyes getting larger with excitement.

“Sure . . . “ You said half heartedly.

Twilight quickly opened back up her book and began examining the pages for forgotten gems of information.  You looked around the room at all the books littered from place to place.  A large stack sit beside Twilight on her bed.

“Have you looked through those books yet?”  You asked.

Twilight barely looked up.  “No, but they are for the east coast.”

“I just wanna see something.”  You reached over and grabbed a big book on top, realizing all these books were dusty, you brushed them off and the dust clouded.

“Hey, hey, careful!”  Twilight fanned the air and pinched her nose with her other hoof.  You could see her eyes beginning to water as she squeezed her eyelids shut.  Her nostrils expanded in size as they sucked in the dusty air.

“Oops!  Sorry!” You lied.  You knew full well what you were up too as you quickly shuffled back, dropping the book back on the top of the stack.

Twilight stopped fanning the air and quickly placed both hooves over her snout, covering her nostrils completely.  She used her magic to grab about four tissues and they hovered just by her nose ready to use.

Her chest puffed out pushing against the bed sheets, as she was laying on her belly.  Her rump potruded higher into the air as her tail curled between her legs.

“Hhhhhhmmpppphh!”  She stifled the sneeze into her hooves, and made the sneeze sound quiet.  She did it again.  “Hmmmppphhh!”  You watched with baited breath, release!  Just release the sneeze, you told yourself.  “Hmmmmccchhhppt!”

She titled her head back again for a fourth sneeze.  All the nostril and mouth work being completely hidden underneath her hooves.

“Hhmmppphhhh!”  Her cheeks expanded, and posterior rose higher then ever before.  She paused as her eyes opened slightly then squeezed shut again.

“Hmmmmmppphhh!”  She stifled again.

She waited, then removed her hooves from her snout.  “Gosh!” She said, blushing and for some reason smiling.  “You caught me off guard.”

You spoke without speaking.  “You should just let them out instead of stifling all the time.  You might like blow your eyes out.”

She giggled.

“I don't think it works that way.”  Her nostrils twitched as she rolled over onto her back, and sat up on her bed.

“Oh it does.”  You said with a joking ton as you ribbed her.

“Stop it.”  She playfully said as she pushed back at you.

“I don't want to come in here and find you blew your eyes or brain out or something.”  You took a risk and went through with it, hoping to keep the topic on her sneezes, so you dragged out the conversation a bit longer.

Twilight laughed.  “My brains?  I would sneeze out my brains?”

“Yes, you might!  You have some pretty strong sneezes!”  You said 'sneezes', oh my gosh!  You never say that word allowed.  You just allude to it, never actually say it in conversation.

Twilight playfully nudges you as you sit right beside her on her bed.  She continues to laugh.

“What?  My sneezes aren't that strong!  Ha ha ha!”

“They totally are.”  You weren't sure if you should say this, but you've gone in this deep.

Her laughing died down, your heart sank.  “Woooo.  Good one.”  She wiped her eyes and put her hoove down beside her . . . which happened to be right on yours.

“Oh!”  You said in unison quickly moving your hooves.

“Excuse me.”  Twilight blushed.  You blushed too.

“No big deal.”  You wrapped your hoof around her shoulder.  What are you thinking?  That is a sign of affection!

Twilight perked up, her ears shot straight up, and her tail strung straight out as your hoof carressed around her body.  She slowly turned her head to yours with a surprised look, her face beat red.

You decided to back off, quickly pulled your hoof away.  “Oh!  Sorry, too much . . . I thought we were playing around?”  You turned red.

“No, no.  Put your hoof back . . . I liked it.”  Twilight said, lowering her head, blushing, and smiling.  You couldn't see her eyes under her mane, but she was smitten at the moment.  Her nostrils continued to dance, as if irritated.

Your hoof went around her back one more time, and reached up around her shoulder.  You felt cozy, and a rush of calming warmth overwhelm you.  The two of you sat in that position for about a minute, without saying a word, Twilight leaning her head onto your chest.  How did this happen so suddenly?

Suddenly the calm was broken as you felt her hooves rush up to her snout.  You completely forgot about her sneezing.  She had her hooves a few inches from her mouth this time, and you squeezed her tighter as she sneezed into her hooves.

“Haaaccchhhpppt!”  Her head lifted back, and you squeezed tighter again.

“Haaaapphhheew!”  Her body rocked, and you had to hold on quite tightly to stabilize here.  She didn't fully stifle that sneeze either.  Some of it escaped her clutches.

You looked down as best you could, trying to see past her horn and mane.  You saw the top of her snout, red, scrunched, and quivering.  Her hooves ready to catch a third sneeze.  You wanted to intervene, but how?

“Haaaapphhhffeeww!”  She sneezed again, and this time tried to escape your grasp.  You didn't want that!  Maybe she was embarrassed and didn't want to sneeze while in your arms?  To show your resolve, you held her tighter.

Her head tilted back, again for another sneeze, and you took one more desperate move.  You placed your hoof over her hooves covering her snout.  She shot forward with another sneeze, her hooves completely covering the sneeze from releasing any spray beyond her grasp.

“Hmmpphhhhffftt!”

She sighed and let go of her nose, you lowered your hoof.

“You okay there?”

“Yeah . . . I'm fine.”  She said looked rather exhausted.

“That was impressive.  You just sneezed four times in a row and your eyes didn't shoot out of their sockets.”

She chuckled and nudged you.

“You want to spend the night?  We can always do research later.”  She asked after a few seconds of silence.

“Spend the night?”  You were taken off guard.  “Uh, sure!  That would be cool.”  Your mind didn't wander to unwholesome things.  Twilight wasn't like that, at least you didn't think so.  Besides, you have your own morale code to up hold.

Twilight rested her hooves on your chest and nudged her face into your chest.  You felt her mane brush up against you, and her nose, it rubbed up against you.  You felt her nostril flare.

You didn't know what to do, so you continued to hold Twilight.  It seemed like she really enjoyed this, just as you were enjoying this.  But you had no idea that Twilight had been this deprived of romance in her life.  You figured her and that guard guy were dating or something.  You didn't really know.  You knew you liked Twilight and you two were friends, but this escalated so quickly.  Well, night time was coming, and you were now going to spend the night it seems.  Where would this night lead?  Only time would tell.