The days had passed by slowly enough and the awkwardness of what had happened seemed to begin to simmer down. Oh, but that was only the awkwardness though. Big Mac tried to avoid his sister, even though he hated himself for it, but every single time she saw him she would wink at him or bend over in front of him or even tease him by shaking her rear end; it killed him because she acted like what had happened was normal! It wasn't normal! None of it was!

Later that day when the clock struck noon, Big Mac couldn't be any happier. Noon meant break time, his books were due to be turned in, and it felt like he hadn't been away from Sweet Apple Acres in an eternity; Celestia knows that getting away from the farm and from his sister would do him some good.

He went up to the house and grabbed his bag off of the bed post and then walked downstairs and told Granny Smith that he'd be going into town and asked if she wanted anything. As usual when he went off to town, she told him no and to go enjoy himself but be gone no later than an hour and a half. He kissed her on the cheek and ran out to the barn where he went for his secret stash of books, placing them all into the bag as neatly as he could, along with one that he had left upstairs a few nights ago. Once he was sure that he had everything and had double-checked the haystack, he set out for Ponyville.

It was a quick walk down to the little village and, as usual, was an uneventful one. Big Mac found himself approaching the city hall. As he walked through the town he waved and smiled at some of the ponies who greeted him and then went about their business, and then he also dodged his littlest sister Apple Bloom and her two friends as they came zipping past him on Scootaloo's scooter. As he walked on in silence he saw the treetop that was the library just over the tops of the buildings.

As he turned the corner and saw the Golden Oak Library before him, he thought about how he wished he could stay down here longer. With all that was going on in his life right now, he just felt that the more time he spent away from the farm the better it all would be. Only, he really had no other business for being in Ponyville other than to drop off his books. Granted, he could probably piddle around and see what was going on at the market or visit some of the shops. No, he would be neglecting his duty and thus his family if he wasn't back and working at the farm; every minute was precious during the work day.

He walked towards the library door and opened it; the bell over the door rang. He walked inside and saw that all was quiet and the library house seemed empty. He assumed that Twilight Sparkle wasn't home so he would just have to place all of the books into the return tray, otherwise he would have given them all to her up front and would have offered to help her put them back up. Big Mac opened his saddlebags and walked over to the table where the trays sat and then began to place the books one by one into the tray marked “Returns”.

As he was doing so, and around his third book in, the sound of creaking stairs startled him and he almost dropped one of the books that he was holding. A familiar voice eased him though. It said cheerfully, “Hi Big McIntosh! Returning your books?”

He turned to see Twilight Sparkle coming down the stairs with a little flair in her step. “Eeyup,” he said respectfully and nodded his head.

“Oh,” she replied as she came towards him, “you can just give those to me. I can go ahead and put those up.” She smiled at him and used her magic to take the books that he had placed down and the books that he still had in his saddle bags.

“Can ah help?,” he offered her as she started to walk away from him.

“That's very sweet,” she told him, “but you don't have to. It's fine. I appreciate it though.” Twilight continued to silently check the book's author and place them on the shelves appropriately; meanwhile she became obvious to what was happening around her. Big McIntosh was persistent though, so he took advantage of her obliviousness and took some of the books from her magical aura without her even noticing anything. “Aww,” she said when she noticed that she was short a couple of books and had looked over to see him placing them up on the shelves in their correct places, “Thank you Big McIntosh. You know that you really didn't have to do that.”

He merely smiled at her and said, “Eeyup...” He went back to placing the last two books.

Twilight giggled and thanked him once more. “Say, would you like something to eat or drink? I really appreciate the help and it's the least I can do.” Big Mac was just about to tell her no, but then his stomach let out the most audible growl. He blushed and looked down at his stomach. With playfully cocked eyes Twilight answered for him, “I know what you were about to say. Come on, it's really no trouble.” She smiled at him and then used her magic to pick up his hoof and tug on it just slightly. She walked towards and into the kitchen where she continued, “Sit down and make yourself comfortable. Spike's not here right now,” she opened the fridge and looked into it, “he's up in Canterlot interning for Princess Celestia. It'll do me some good to make a meal for two again.” She giggled and pulled some sandwhich materials out.

She asked him what he liked and he told her, ending each item with “please”. She fixed his food first and then placed it on a plate and put it on the table along with a tall glass of lemonade. After that, she fixed her sandwich and then sat down with him at the table.

“You don't have to be so formal you know,” she said, “It's very nice and I do appreciate you saying please, but you know that I'm your friend, right? You don't have to act like it's the first time we've ever met.” Big Mac merely blushed and nodded his head, embarrassed by his tendency to be over-polite. “You come over here at least once every other week. You keep being so formal with me and I might just let Applejack know about your little interest in reading.” Hearing this, Big McIntosh swallowed a bite a little to hard and coughed a few times as a result. He looked at Twilight with pleading eyes for a few moments. Twilight only giggled though and said, “Don't worry, don't worry. You know that I'm only joking and that your secret is safe with me.” He smiled back and her and nodded once more. They were both silent for a moment but then Twilight drummed her hooves on the tabletop for a moment or two and then asked, “So... do you know what book you want to read next?”

Big Mac thought deeply for a moment before he responded. Really, it didn't matter to him what he got; he just loved to read! In truth, he went about selecting his next book based on the title. If it had a title that sounded interesting or even had a beautiful font or design, then chances were that he was going to take it and read it. Not really possessing an answer for her, he took another bite of his sandwich, swallowed, and then simply said, “Nnope.”

“Oh!” Twilight exclaimed, “That's pretty great actually. I could help you if you wanted.” She smiled and her ears perked up at the chance to help somepony pick out their next book. Again, Big Mac merely smiled and nodded and then took his last bite. Twilight Sparkle hurriedly finished her food and then quickly stood up where she then physically took Big Mac's hoof in hers and took him back out into the main library. “Come on!” she said. He stumbled after her and then followed her around as he listened to her talk and throw out recommendations. She stopped in her tracks though when she realized how ahead of herself she was getting; Big McIntosh was a grown stallion and he could make his own decisions about what he liked and what he didn't like. He didn't need her to tell him what he should read. “Sorry...” Twilight said and then sheepishly smiled and blushed. “I get ahead of myself sometimes. I'm such a geek...” she looked down at the ground. In that moment, along with so many other similar moments, she hated herself for possessing such a love for reading and having such a geeky and somewhat pushy demeanor. Sometimes it was enough to want to push her to tears!

“Ah think it's kinda cute...” Big Mac's voice mumbled.

“What?” Twilight asked and then looked up at him, her eyes growing wide. Nopony had ever said that she or her love of reading or... anything about her really, was cute.

“Ah...” Big Mac hesitated, “Ah said Ah think it's cute.”

“Oh,” Twilight said, a blush starting to form across her face, “thank you. That's... so very sweet of you to say. Not that I'm complaining, but... why do you think so?”

“Well...” Big Mac started slowly as he always did, “Ya like it fer one. You show it in yer own way and you ain't afraid of it. Ya don't hide it like I do.”

Twilight blushed deeply at the very sweet, so-true comment. True, Big McIntosh wasn't the brightest apple in the bunch, but he certainly was the sweetest. She kissed him on the cheek. “Wow...” she said, “You... you have no idea how much it means to me to hear that.” Big Mac laid his ears down in extreme embarrassment and merely glanced into her eyes to acknowledge that he understood. After that, all was quiet for a moment as the two of them were left standing there, mentally reeling from the kiss that she had given him. “Can I tell you something?” she asked slowly.

“Eeyup,” Big Mac answered, slowly as well.

Twilight was silent for a moment as she hesitated about telling him what she wanted to tell him. Eventually, she admitted, “I... I don't want this to ruin our friendship. You've got to promise me, Big McIntosh you've got to promise me that it won't ruin our friendship if I tell you.”

Big Mac smiled softly at her to let her know that her secret would be safe with him that whatever she had to say wouldn't affect their friendship at all. “Ah promise,” he replied.

She smiled nervously back at him and then continued, “Well,” she chuckled nervously, “I... I... I've always had a bit of a... of a crush on you.” They both blushed deeply and even the silence in the room seemed to grow even deader. “You're a very sweet stallion... and you like me for me.” Twilight sighed and hung her head. She was quiet for a moment but then she continued, “I've never been an independent mare and I don't consider myself to be one now. That's why, you know, just you being here in the house with me, well... I just feel so safe.”

Big Mac, even thought silent most of the time, was at a total loss for words. He couldn't and wouldn't be able to speak even if he wanted to. However, he did have a thought on it. He thought that it was pretty ironic because he too even had a type of affection for Twilight Sparkle. She was very, very nice and was certainly very beautiful. Not only that, but she was very understanding of him. He could almost bet that if it was any other pony running the library, news of his love for reading would have gotten out already.

He didn't have much more time to think though before he was blindsided by a kiss from Twilight. This time though, it wasn't a simple kiss on the cheek. No, it was a kiss on the lips! He was slow to react and even then, he didn't really know what he should do. Should he pull himself away? Should he run out the door as fast as he could? Should he kiss her back?

Almost as if she could sense what he was thinking, Twilight Sparkle answered for him. She wrapped her hoof around his neck and kept his lips against hers. Whether it was out of his feelings for her or natural male instinct when kissed, he didn't know, but he took his hoof and placed it gently on her cheek; he kissed her right back. Big McIntosh kissed Twilight Sparkle back.