Filthy Rich shouted something incoherent at me as he charged at a full gallop. Rarity tried to hoist me up as I was still somewhat disoriented from having performed a teleport just a few moments earlier. Somehow or other, I was able to erect a magic barrier just before he reached us and he slammed into it and fell to the ground. He rose to his hooves groggily and tried to shake the cobwebs loose. The sight caused me to chuckle, but Rarity wasn't so easily amused.
"Aurora, when did you learn how to do that?" asked a perplexed Rarity. I grinned at her and flashed her a quick wink. My composure faltered as the stallion readied himself for another charge. The scowl on his face caused my composure to weaken further, but I continued to maintain the barrier.
"That was something Twilight taught me how to do a couple of days ago," I replied as Filthy tried to attack again. He pounded a hoof against the barrier a few times before giving up on trying to attack us. "Oh, and Filthy -- I'm not helpless anymore. You'd do well to fork over that fifty bits you owe me," I addressed him. He scoffed at me.
"I owe you nothing!" he exclaimed indignantly before turning tail and going back into his store, muttering to himself about crazy ponies. I dropped my magic barrier at this point before turning my attention to my "sister." I flashed her a sheepish grin at this point, practically shrugging my shoulders.
"Should we head back to your boutique or should I return to the library? I'm not sure I want to face Twilight's wrath," I opined, my words tinged with worry.
"That's entirely up to you, darling -- what would you like to do?" she asked. It took me a moment to formulate a response and an awkward silence fell upon us before the fashionista cleared her throat again, giving me an expectant look. The ambient sounds of several ponies doing various and sundry things intruded upon the silence.
"I'm not sure -- but maybe we could stop by the bakery and get a bite to eat? I'm feeling kinda hungry. Using all that magic works up an appetite, y'know?" I grinned. I then realized something, my ears instinctively lowering. "Um, I guess I kinda forgot I don't have any money," I added glumly.
"Not to worry, darling, I have it covered. Perhaps I can design a new outfit for you," the fashionista mused wistfully as I collected myself and trotted around in a small circle to get my bearings back. I shook the cobwebs loose and did a quick look-around to see if any ponies were staring at us. I saw a stray pegasus smirking and flashed a glare at her before she flew off in some random direction.
"Okay, that sounds cool. Thanks, Rarity," I said, smiling warmly at her. We began to trot towards the bakery at this point.
"It's no problem, darling," she replied, returning a soft smile. Seeing her smile made me smile as well, the sound of her voice quite pleasant to my ears.
We trotted a bit further towards the bakery when Twilight suddenly teleported to us. Her expression seemed somewhat neutral, but I couldn't decipher it.
"Amethyst, I believe you have some more studies ahead of you," she announced matter-of-factly. "I need you to come with me back to the library."
"I'm kinda hungry right now," I protested weakly. She rolled her eyes at me and gave a dry chuckle.
"You can eat when we get back to the library. Rarity, he didn't cause any trouble did he?"
"No, darling, but Filthy's still a bit on edge over what happened yesterday," the fashionista replied. "He's been so obsessed over his money ever since that failed venture over that university of his," she added. "He lost a lot of money over that."
"He wasn't trying to scam ponies out of their money to attend classes on how to be successful, was he?" I asked. Rarity nodded her head, causing me to chuckle in irony. "Hmm, no wonder he's broke," I mused. "So much for me getting that fifty bits for you."
"Don't worry about it, Aurora darling, it's no big deal -- Twilight, is he going with you? I have to get caught up on my orders," Rarity noted and departed before Twilight could get a word out. The librarian turned to me and glowered in disapproval. I fidgeted nervously as her gaze seemed to bore into me.
"I'm still upset with you for what you did earlier," she said, her glower causing me to hang my head shamefully.
"I'm sorry," I offered meekly, averting my gaze from her. She used her magic to turn my head back towards her. The sudden movement of my head against my will caused me to flash an angry look at her, which she dismissed with a chuckle.
"Sorry's not good enough -- now, we're going into Mr. Rich's store, and you're going to apologize to him," she commanded. "And we're not done after that, either!"
"He's going to attack me if we go back in there, Twilight," I retorted, fear evident in my voice. "He got mad at me because I mentioned the fact that I had talked to his wife earlier!"
"We're going to have this out," she said and nudged me towards the door. She opened the door with her magic, then shoved me forward again. The stallion saw the door open and ventured out to see what was going on.
"You've got a lot of nerve coming back here," he stated coldly, giving me his best death-glare. He approached us at this point, my blood going cold because my magic hadn't recovered fully.
"Tell him, Michael," Twilight nearly growled at me. Upon hearing her use my human name, I whirled around on her, a look of utter fury on my face.
"How DARE YOU!" I roared at her, causing her to back away from me fearfully. The brown stallion raised his eyebrows and lost his anger at this display, but continued to watch. "How dare you use my human name! Did I not tell you about that?" I shouted at her, advancing on her and tapping my right fore-hoof against her chest. The look of apprehension on her face was somewhat satisfying but I wasn't done yet. "Answer me! What did I tell you about using my human name?"
"Sorry," she squeaked almost pitifully, as she hung her head in shame.
"My boy, here's that fifty bits," the other stallion stated proudly as he hoofed me a small bag and turned around and trotted back into his store.