Burnt Orange Juice

by Mike the Red

And Then the Morning Comes

We chatted some more over dinner, though after finishing my plate, Rarity used her magic to put more food on it. I flashed a worried look at her, but she continued to smile at me.

"Darling, you must eat -- don't want you going to bed hungry now, you know!" she chortled as she filled my plate up.

"Miss Rarity! Please! I'm not trying to get even bigger!" I protested. Sweetie turned to me and giggled.

"C'mon, Aurora! You're going to be big and strong, you need to eat!" she goaded.

The food was quite tasty, but the fact that I had been given a second plate left me feeling depressed -- I wanted to eat, but I was also concerned about putting on more weight. I was already feeling somewhat full and took a few more nibbles at my food. "Um, I'm sorry, Miss Rarity, but I can't eat any more," I declared. "Thanks for dinner, it was very tasty!"

"I'm glad you liked it, Aurora -- I'll try not to give you so much next time. You two run along and go to bed now -- and if you would be a dear and help Sweetie with her homework, I'd deeply appreciate it," the fashionita stated, smiling warmly at me. "To be honest, darling, there's a part of me that would be thrilled to have you as a twin to my little sister!"

"Thank you very much, Miss Rarity," I replied, flashing a grin at her. Sweetie giggled at the mention.

"C'mon, Aurora, let's go back to my room -- I have a little homework you can help me with," she offered as she trotted toward the stairs. I followed her up and she got her homework, though upon seeing it, I couldn't decipher it. She noticed my look of puzzlement. "What's wrong, Aurora? Can't you read?"

"Um, I can't read Equish, Sweetie -- I'm familiar with a different language," I replied. She giggled again in response.

"Here, let me teach you then," she offered as she pointed out each of the characters for me -- the Equish alphabet was similar in some respects and different in others and the way my brain translated the characters to an English equivalent gave me a bit of a headache. Sweetie noticed my horn glowing as I read the paper and commented on it almost excitedly.

"Hmm, must be my magic trying to work while I'm concentrating on reading your homework," I mused. The filly touched her hoof to my horn and giggled at the sensation. "Oooh, you -- you should be careful -- ooh -- when you do that," I uttered breathily, her touch causing a tingling sensation to run through my body. "Um, you -- you wouldn't want -- me -- touching your horn like that," I added.

"Oh, sorry, Aurora -- I just wanted to see what that felt like," she opined as she moved back a little to give me an opportunity to lay on my belly and stretch out so I could find a more comfortable position on the floor. The filly laid down on the floor next to me in the same position and watched me intently, though she grinned at me as well. "So, Aurora, can you read it now?"

"Well -- I think I can read some of it -- but it's gonna take a little while before I have all the characters memorized -- some of it doesn't seem to make any sense," I offered in response as I held the paper in my aura. "Some of the terms used must be pony idioms or something like that -- I'm not sure what this means," I said as I pointed my hoof to a particular section.

"Let me get my book -- that part means I have to read a chapter of the history book we were assigned," Sweetie noted. She used her magic to fetch the book and opened it for me to the particular section indicated in her homework. She began reading and I followed along, noticing the further we went, the better my comprehension became. After reading the section completely, I found I had become so interested in the history book that I continued reading, though I decided to start from the beginning.

"Aurora, we don't have time for you to read from the beginning -- but tell you what -- you can read it later -- but not tonight -- we gotta get up early for school tomorrow," she stated. "Let's finish up my homework, okay?"

"Okay, Sweetie, sounds good -- this book is very interesting, nothing at all like history books when I was in school," I noted cheerfully.

"What were they like for you in your world?"

"They were very boring -- it's almost as though they didn't want us to learn about our history, or at least make it so tedious that we didn't want to learn about our history, other than certain parts which showed us in a positive light," I replied. I thought about expounding further on the subject, but decided to hold back as the filly yawned briefly. I yawned in response, almost involuntarily.

"Let's get some sleep, Aurora -- you can sleep in my bed with me if you want," she offered. I raised my eyebrows.

"Are you sure that's a good idea? You know what I am, don't you?"

"C'mon, Aurora, it'll be okay -- I don't mind if you don't," she replied warmly, a seemingly sincere smile on her face.

"I suppose so -- I just don't want to give the wrong impression, that's all," I said as I climbed into her bed. She followed me in and snuggled close behind me, draping one of her forelegs over my barrel.

"I like having somepony to sleep with, Aurora -- mmm, you're warm!" she giggled as she hugged me tightly from behind. I was silently hoping Rarity wouldn't come in and see us like this, though having the filly laying so close to me felt very nice, her warmth against my back giving me a feeling of contentment. I drifted off to sleep quickly, given how comfortable the bed was and the filly's light breathing lulling me to sleep as well.

---

"Wake up you two, it's time to get up!" Rarity announced in a sing-song voice. She had opened the door and was staring at the both of us, the filly having wrapped herself around me in a tight hug, a big smile on her face. I tried to disentangle myself from her clutch, to no avail.

"Umm, Sweetie, you have to let me go -- it's time to get up," I said softly, nudging her with a hoof I managed to free up.

"Mmmh, just another fifteen minutes, Aurora," she moaned. Upon opening her eyes, she saw her older sister tapping a hoof impatiently, a stern look on her face.

"Sweetie Belle, you mustn't keep me waiting! I have breakfast waiting for both of you if you hurry," she offered. She flashed me a smile. "Aurora, I trust Sweetie didn't give you any trouble last night?"

"No, Miss Rarity -- but I was worried you might disapprove of me sharing her bed," I replied. I managed to disentangle myself, largely because the filly released her vise-like grip on me, grinning sheepishly as she did so. I hopped out of the bed, landing perfectly on all fours, flashing a grin as I accomplished the small feat.

"As long as you behave yourself and not cause her any trouble, I have no problem with that, dear," she opined before turning to go downstairs.

"Miss Rarity, if I may have a few minutes to freshen up?" I asked her retreating form.

"Don't take too long, darling, your breakfast will get cold," she advised, her voice seeming to reverberate from downstairs. Presumably, she had already reached the table and was setting our plates for us.

"Let's help each other," Sweetie suggested as she trotted into the bathroom. I followed her in and we quickly washed our faces, brushed our teeth, then combed out our manes to some degree. "We can finish up after breakfast," she noted as she trotted towards the stairs. Once again I followed her, but made sure not to stare at her as I listened to the sound of our hoofsteps. I hoped we hadn't taken too long in the bathroom -- my stomach seemed to growl in eager anticipation of our breakfast, eliciting a few giggles from the filly and her sister.

"Aurora, dear, it sounds to me as though you didn't eat enough last night," Rarity opined, smiling warmly at me.

"Um, I appreciate your generosity, Miss Rarity -- but -- as I said last night, I'm not trying to get even fatter," I declared, my tone sounding a bit downbeat. My ears drooped a little as well as I displayed some concern.

"You shouldn't really worry about that, dear -- you'll burn it off quickly enough -- I suggest you eat your fill so your stomach doesn't talk so loudly," she chortled, her smile widening a little.

"Come on, Aurora, you'll be okay!" the filly chirped, a giggle or two escaping her lips as she finished her statement. She flashed a big toothy grin as well, a sight which made me smile.

"I appreciate your enthusiasm," I said as I tucked into my plate of pancakes. The taste was quite intense, especially the sweetness of the syrup. There seemed to be just a hint of saltiness to the food, something I commented on.

"Those are hay pancakes, Aurora -- what do you think?" asked the fashionista.

"Very tasty -- best I've ever had," I replied after taking a drink of my juice to wash it down. I hadn't thought that mixing hay into the batter and topping it with syrup could taste so good -- but then again, pony taste buds were quite different from human ones.

"Glad you like them, dear -- eat up, there's plenty to go 'round," she stated warmly. "By the way, Twilight told me your sleep was troubled the night before last," she noted.

"Yeah, I think Discord might have stopped by for a very quick visit," I replied glumly. "But -- he didn't show up last night -- I wonder if that might be because I was with your sister," I mused.

"Hmm. I think it might be a good idea to let Twilight know about that -- if Discord's causing trouble again, I'd be very worried about that."

"Discord? I thought he'd been reformed!" Sweetie exclaimed in disbelief.

"Well, well, well! Look who's bandying my name about! You've already gotten your cutie mark? How amusing!" the chaos entity chuckled. I hadn't even heard him make his entrance.

"How'd you get in here? I thought you were supposed to make some sort of noise before showing up," I said, making my annoyance evident.

"The super let me in the back door, little Aurora! Or did you forget who or what I am so quickly?"

"Ugh. What is it you want? Why must you torment me like this?" I asked as my annoyance simmered further.

"Oh, how quickly you forget! I couldn't help but have a little fun at your expense!"

"So visit me while I was trying to sleep?"

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Of all ponies -- or humans, for that matter -- why must you be so ignorant? Oh, how quickly I tire of this," he grumbled before teleporting away.

"Miss Rarity, I think a visit to the library is in order here," I suggested. The alabaster mare nodded her head in agreement, as did the filly. "But -- what about school?"

"What did Miss Cheerilee tell you yesterday, Aurora? Didn't she tell you --" Sweetie began.

"Yeah, that's right -- but what about you? Don't you have school today?" I asked. She grinned sheepishly at my question before dashing upstairs to fetch her bags and headed out.

"Seeya later, sis -- you too, Aurora! Let's meet up later for some more fun!" she giggled as she cantered out the front door, then broke into a gallop for the school.

"Okay, Aurora, let's get going -- I'm sure Twilight might have some suggestions on how to deal with Discord again -- such a trouble-maker," she mused as I followed her out the front door. She locked the front door and hung a closed sign on it, then motioned for me to follow her as we made our way back to the library.

Comments

[Kichi]

I don't understand why talk with Twilight, when they know Discord is going to ignore her. Is best talk with Fluttershy so that she can be angry with Discord.

[Ugly-Duckling123]

5478599 yeah...

Along with (at the end) his kitty, his bunny, his parrot, his ossolot, and some other pets that 'ran away when he was at Summer Camp'

[ferret]

I wonder what exactly Discord did that was so wrong.

[Pinklestia]

Dude, please describe the cutie mark already!

[Mike the Red]

5797487 Next chapter, I promise! I'm working on it -- will try to post it soon.

[Renodil]

5479129 I think Discords the one who brought him there in the first place.

[Renodil]

Hey Mike. How's the next chapter coming? Can we expect to see it soon?