//------------------------------// // Hey Jealousy // Story: Burnt Orange Juice // by Mike the Red //------------------------------// "I don't think I caught your name," I said softly as I continued to hold her in my forelegs. The softness of her fur against mine, along with the warmth she was radiating felt nice. I couldn't help but be transfixed by her gaze, though it seemed a little disconcerting to see one eye focus on mine before losing focus only for the other eye to meet mine. She continued to smile at me, a light blush coloring her cheeks. A few passing ponies giggled at the sight of us in the embrace. "My name's Ditzy, but everyone calls me Derpy," she responded, her ears drooping when she said the second name. "I'm always messing something up, I never get anything right, I'm always making mistakes," she added, her gaze downcast as we broke from our hug. "You have a good heart, Ditzy, and I admire that," I opined. I smiled softly at her and lifted her chin with a forehoof so her eyes could meet mine, even though they lost focus from time to time. "You're very pretty and it hurts to see you sad like this," I added. I glanced at her satchel which still appeared to have quite a bit of mail in it. "Hmm, shouldn't you be getting back to your rounds?" I asked. "I get all the time I want to deliver the mail," she giggled. "There's not that many ponies who get mail, so I can take my time. I just wanted to see you again and see if you were okay after what those mean fillies did to you," she noted. "But it looks like you're doing okay now!" she giggled again before hugging me once more. I reciprocated her hug, smiling softly at her. "What are you doing, Aurora?" shouted Twilight as she saw me hugging the mail-mare. She approached me at a quick canter, a scowl marring her features. I couldn't believe she would actually get jealous over me hugging the mail-mare. "What's it look like?" I retorted, tightening my grip on said mail-mare, causing her to involuntarily squeak -- I released her at this point, but she blushed and turned to meet my gaze, offered a grin, took up her satchel and flew off to make more deliveries. "Seeya later, Ditzy!" I called after her. "I can't leave you alone for five minutes, and you're off flirting with other mares," Twilight growled at me, stamping a forehoof for added emphasis. I watched the mail-mare fly away, but Twilight cleared her throat to get my attention. "Look at me when I'm talking to you!" she nearly shouted at me. "I wasn't flirting with her, I was talking to her -- and I gave her a hug, that's all. Jeez, I can't believe you'd get jealous over that -- what, does that mean you have an interest in me?" I asked, giving her a somewhat bemused grin. "Don't tell me you have feelings for me, Twilight," I added, though my tone remained neutral. "Rrrrrgh, I don't know what to feel right now! You tell me I'm your favorite pony -- your cutie mark would indicate as such -- but -- why do you do these things?" "Maybe it's because I don't really know how to feel about you, Twilight -- I guess I had preconceived notions of how you might act based on what I knew of you from my home world -- I guess I should have known better than to expect you to act the same way, especially when it comes to strange ponies who come from other worlds, ones who are ignorant of this world's customs and cultures. I would like to get to know you better, but we just seem to fail to connect on a personal level," I stated, a hint of sadness in my tone. "It doesn't help that you still look a lot like Sweetie Belle, even though you're a stallion version of her," she commented. "And I apologize if it seemed like I was being unfair to you. It's just that seeing you with another mare makes me feel a touch of jealousy," she added, her tone softening. "I'm sorry about that, Twilight -- and it's true, you are my favorite pony -- you always will be --" I replied but was cut off by her putting a hoof to my mouth. "I'm not right for you, am I?" she asked, her tone sounding quite hurt and tears starting to well up at the corners of her eyes. "I know you think I'm somepony special, I can see it in your eyes, I can sense it within you -- you even have it as your cutie mark! But I know there's something in you, something that prevents you from being able to give yourself completely to any pony, myself included. You told me so much about yourself, I should have paid more attention to what you were saying several days ago when you first got here." She grabbed hold of me with both forelegs and wrapped me in a tight hug, her tears starting to flow down her cheeks at this point. "I want you, Aurora, I want you so badly -- and yet I know I can't have you," she said softly. I held her tightly in my forelegs and rested my head against her neck. Tears were trickling down my cheeks as well. "We are too different, there's too much that separates us, Twilight -- I would be happy to have you as my special somepony, but I know it just wouldn't work out between us," I responded. I heard what sounded like a zipper opening behind me, a sound I had heard before when a certain draconequus makes his presence known. "Well, well, well, don't you two make a cute couple?" he chortled. We broke off the embrace at that moment and turned to face the chaos entity. I glared daggers at him while Twilight seemed a bit apprehensive. "Now, now, there's no need to be angry with me," he chortled as he addressed me. I maintained my thousand-yard stare. He scoffed, then exhaled, a heavy sigh escaping his mouth. "Now honestly, there's no need to be upset, seriously," he continued as he tried to mollify us. "Aurora, why are you so upset with him?" asked Twilight. "He ripped me from my home world, Twilight -- and turned me into a copy of Sweetie Belle," I replied, more than a little anger creeping into my voice. I glanced over my right shoulder at him. "Maybe it wouldn't have been so bad if he had left me a human, but to turn me into such a diminutive pony..." "You're not that little," Discord chuckled. "You didn't have a couple of mean-ass fillies beat the snot out of you, you know!" I shouted at him. He cast his gaze downward as an admission of guilt. "Um, is there anything I can do to make up for it?" he asked, almost meekly. "Yes, you can stop pestering us," I replied firmly, still glaring at him. "Now, how am I going to have my fun?" he asked petulantly. He once again poured coffee into a cup, producing said items from somewhere. He sipped lightly from the cup, though a cloud of yellow smoke seemed to roil from the surface of the cup he was drinking from. "You have enough fun as it is pestering us ponies," Twilight stated. "Why don't you pester the Changelings for once, and have some fun at their expense?" The draconequus cackled gleefully at the suggestion. "Since you mention it, yes, it has been quite some time since I did so! Excellent suggestion!" he cackled again and vanished as suddenly as he arrived. I flashed a smile at the librarian at her deftness. "Maybe you and I have more in common than you think," I offered softly. "And I'm still interested in discovering more about magic, if you're willing to be a little more patient with me," I added. "And perhaps there might be hope for us yet."