//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 (Edited) // Story: One of those Days... // by Crimson Valor //------------------------------// (Thanks to LordGremlin for Pre-reading this chapter) Chapter 5 One of those Days I woke up the next day to Ruby nudging me with her nose; I sat up and rubbed my eyes to clear my vision. I looked towards the clock, noticing that I slept through the whole morning. "Wow, I haven’t slept that well in ages," I muttered to myself. The clock read 1 o’clock in the afternoon. I got out of bed and realized more casual clothes had been laid out for me. 'Rarity must've made some more for me. I must thank her properly when I get the chance'. After getting dressed, I opened my door and began walking downstairs, Ruby following behind me sniffing at the air. She started walking ahead of me when we reached the bottom of the stairs. She sniffed the floor as though she was following a familiar scent. Her tail then started to wag as she approached the door, but stopped when she reached it. Ruby then lay on the floor next to the door. Instantly recognizing what she was planning, a small smile appeared on my face. I went and sat on the sofa facing the door and waited for the poor pony about to be jumped. -----------^^----------- Twilight Walking towards Cadence's house, Twilight shifted the weight of her saddle bags a little, full to the brim with books of Equestrian history. "I hope this isn't too much for him to read," Twilight said to herself as she approached the door. As she got closer, her horn sparked to life as she grasped the handle in her telekinetic grip and pushed the door open. Twilight noticed Simon sitting on the sofa staring at the door with a smile on his face. "Hello, Simon. You seem rather happy today; I presume you had a good night’s sleep?" Twilight said as she walked in and closed the door, unaware of the golden stalker to her left crawling toward her. Simon just sat there trying not to laugh at what approached. Twilight took note of this. "What's so fun....ARGH!" -----------^^----------- Simon The door opened to reveal Twilight entering with her bag filled to the brim with books. She looked up at me with a smile. "Hello, Simon. You seem rather happy today; I presume you had a good night’s sleep?" she said as she shut the door with her magic. My eyes quickly flicked over to Ruby, who was sneaking up to Twilight. I tried valiantly to hold back a laugh, but all that did was leave a weird expression on my face. Twilight picked up on this. "What's so fun...ARGH!" Twilight didn't get to finish her sentence as Ruby pounced on Twilight’s side and knocked her over. Failing to control my mirth, I burst out laughing as Ruby assaulted Twilight’s face with licks. I struggled to breathe as Twilight tried to breathe through the onslaught of licks she was receiving. Recovering from the laughing, I whistled to Ruby to stop and come to me. She did so and sat down in front of me as I head a gasp of breath coming from the pony on the floor. I petted Ruby and walked over to Twilight to help her up. Twilight sat on the sofa wiping her face dry from the recent lick assault. She didn't seem too impressed with my laughter. I decided to speak up "Sorry about that, Twilight. She used to do that to me when I got back from late night studying. I couldn't help myself," I said to her. Twilight looked up towards me with a blank expression. I looked toward Ruby who was sensing Twilight’s look and had her ears down flat against her head. "Ruby, what do you say to Miss Twilight?" I said to her. Ruby looked towards me, and then to the pony opposite, and began to walk slowly to her. She gave her an apologetic look and whined as she put her head on the edge on the sofa. Twilight looked at Ruby and then to me with a confused face. I shrugged to her as she looked down to Ruby, a small smile teasing at her lips. She raised a hoof and stroked Ruby's head. Ruby acknowledged the friendly gesture and started to brighten up, waging her tail and giving the hoof a small lick before lying down next to the sofa Twilight sat upon. I then stared at the books that were lying in an organized pile on the table. "Hey Twilight, what's with all these books?" I said as I picked one up. ‘Equestrian History 101’. "Oh, well, when I was questioning you about Humans and Earth, I remembered that I didn't really tell you much about Equestria, so I went to the library and took out some books for you to read," she stated as she levitated the books out onto the table so I could look at all the titles. There were 6 in total, including the one in my hand. The titles were ‘Magic Explained’, ‘The Griffon Kingdom and its inhabitants’, ‘The Dragon Kingdom and its Inhabitants’, Pegasi, Unicorns and Earth Ponies’ and ‘The Royal Sisters’. I looked at each of the books and saw how much Twilight expected me to read. 'Holy hell, this is at least two months’ worth of reading at my speed. I'll never finish all of this’. I looked up to Twilight, who was busy rubbing Ruby's stomach as the dog’s rear leg kicked out of control. I grabbed her attention. "Erm...Twilight… you don't expect me to read ALL of these, do you?" I questioned Twilight. She looked at me with a face that said it all. "Well...not really. I don't think anyone apart from me could read all of these. I just thought you'd look at some of these just to get the basics of our world," she stated. That's understandable. I opened up the book in my hand at a random page and saw the title "Cutie Marks". Reading the name again, I looked up and viewed the mark on Twilights hind leg. 'Hmmm, I wonder..." Twilight, that mark on your hind leg, that wouldn't be what this book calls a 'Cutie Mark', would it?" I asked. Twilight looked at her mark, then at me with a smile on her face. "It is. It represents my talent in magic. I got it when Princess Celestia asked me to be her personal student," she said, happy that she could teach something to someone. Looking back at the book, I thought of something that might make a certain unicorn happy. "Hey Twilight, I've just had an idea," I announced whilst closing the book. I return it to the table. "Instead of reading about certain topics, why not just get the information straight from the horse’s mouth....if you forgive the pun," I added on the last part to notify Twilight of the use of the phrase. Twilight’s mouth stretched further then it should have, when a smile graced her face. "That's a wonderful idea. I could tell you anything you want to know about Equestria like the way I asked you about Earth," she replied. I nodded in agreement. "Sounds good. When you want to start?" I asked. "Well. I'm not busy now, and Cadence will be a while, sorting some stuff at the Palace. So, how about now?" Twilight asked. I could sense that she would enjoy the prospect of teaching another species about her own world and culture. I catch her shifting around her seat, eager to get started as soon as possible. "Sure, now seems go-" I was interrupted by my growling stomach, reminding me that I had yet to eat at all today, as small blush appeared on my face. "Erm...maybe we should eat first. I kinda skipped on breakfast," I chuckled sheepishly. Twilight giggled into her hoof and nodded her head. She started heading towards the kitchen to prepare us a meal.