A Star Without a Stage

Chapter 4

It was just before dawn when the lavender mare began to stir from her slumber. As she began to stir, she could detect a significant amount of warmth. At first, she would attribute it to the fact that she had grabbed an extra blanket as it was mid-autumn, but this warmth felt different. It was more along the lines of concentrated warmth, focused more in a single area, rather than over the rest of her body. The strangest part of it was the fact it was resting just in front of her. It was confusing to think about, especially this early in the morning. Yet, she found herself unable to take her focus off of what was before her in the bed.

Slowly, Twilight's eyes began to flutter open, and the sight she came upon left her simply shocked, her eyes grew wide, wider than physically possible. Before her, being held in a gentle embrace was a coat of azure fur, one she immediately recognized as Trixie's. The moment she saw this, her mind went completely blank. This was a rare occurrence, as she hadn't had anypony share her bed before. How it happened seemed like a mystery. Why it had happened seemed just as mystifying at this early hour. Nonetheless, it had happened and now she found herself sleeping right next to a friend.

'What happened yesterday?' she asked herself, oblivious to the present positions they were now in. With Trixie's back facing to Twilight, and with her hoof around the azure mare, they were not just sharing the same bed, but in fact, they were cuddling. It wasn't until she gazed up a second time did she realize the positions. When she did, it only made the situation far worse, her face slowly gaining a bright red hue to it, even visible through her lavender coat. How could this situation possibly get worse?

Immediately after that singular phrase passed through her mind, it in fact, did get worse for Twilight, as Trixie turned over onto her left side. This indeed did make matters worse as Twilight knew where her own hoof was oh so carefully placed. It only made her blush grow as she thought about it. It was then she knew she had to adjust herself before her guest could wake up. Ever so slowly, she began to move her own hoof, trying rather intently to remove it from Trixie's flank, as she was however, was when the situation spiraled even further out of control.

With Twilight's focus more on removing her hoof from the other mare's flank, she failed to take into account that she was still very gently touching Trixie. This gentle touch proved to be just enough to stir her from slumber, a faint groan slipping out from her throat as her eyes began to flutter open.  Needless to say, the look on Trixie's face was one of great enjoyment.

“Caught with your hoof in the cookie jar?” Twilight froze when she heard Trixie's remark, pushing her right over the edge of complete humiliation. “In just under a day...you're already putting the moves on me?”

“I-I...uh....” she stuttered, unable to find the appropriate words to respond with in her embarrassment. Trixie took advantage of this almost instantly, bringing her own hoof around, placing it just over Twilight's to hold it in place, before she inched even closer to the lavender mare.

“I won't tell if you don't,” she joked. This may of proved to be a bit too much for Twilight, as not only did their eyes meet, but their horns crossed at the same time. She panicked, heart racing, mind blank, she fell from the bed in attempts to get away from possibly the most awkward morning of her life, falling to the ground with a loud 'oof' before finally scrambling back up onto her hooves. Never in her life had Twilight been this red, then again, she had never been this embarrassed in her life before either. Trixie soon broke out into a fit of laughter as she saw the look on the alicorn's face, which made it all the more worth it. “I'm sorry, Twilight...I couldn't resist.” she said as her laughter began to die down after a minute. She quickly shook off the embarrassment, only to replace it with simple laughter as well, in truth, it was actually pretty funny now that she thought about it.

“But...how did we end up like that?” asked Twilight, bewildered.

“Well...you must've shifted in your sleep,” Trixie commented,

“No! I mean, how did we end up sharing the same bed?”

Trixie laughed again, “You really don't remember?” Twilight shook her head, before the azure mare smirked, “The guest bed needs to be replaced...the springs in it poke through the fabric...so you let me sleep here with you last night.” This alone made her cheeks flush again, she could feel them burning now. How could she forget something like that? Then again, it wasn't ever used that much and it had been here before she even moved into the library. By far, it was too early in the morning to have this many thoughts running through her mind, granted the joke Trixie had pulled didn't help any either.

It wasn't very long between the time from when Twilight had fallen from the bed, before the azure mare herself climbed out. Twilight smiled as Trixie climbed from the bed, with quite a bright look on her face. It was uplifting to see this too, considering the look she had on her face when she first entered the library. This one was significantly different, filled with joy and optimism, simply judging by the grin on her face.

“Mind if I cooked breakfast this morning?” asked Trixie, Twilight hesitated right after she asked this. While she had gained just a little weight between yesterday and today, it still had only been a single day since she had been staying in the library.

“You should really-”

“Please?” she begged, “Its the least I could do for you, for everything you've done.” As if the tone of her voice wasn't bad enough for Twilight, she had to make a pouting face unlike any other she had ever seen. It was enough to really pull at her heartstrings fairly easily, especially when her bottom lip began to quiver and her eyes began to glisten a tiny bit in the light. How could she honestly resist that? She really did try to resist saying yes to it, but, soon found herself finally giving in with a soft sigh of defeat.

“Fine,” Twilight said, defeated. If anything, what had actually beaten her wasn't the voice, or the quivering lip, but it was the look in her eyes. The look of begging and pleading that appeared in them. How they glistened, reflecting just a tiny bit of light as Trixie gazed up at her. Not only did it make her blush, but, it also seemed to melt her heart at the very same time, twisting her own emotions against her before she was finally forced to give in.

With a rathe pleased grin, Trixie pulled out of the gaze. “Works every time,” she muttered, to Twilight's surprise.

“What do you mean?” she asked they both began to climb out of the bed.

“It was something my father said once,” Trixie explained, “Something about...a certain look in my eyes when I wanted something badly enough...”

“Oh! You mean like how some fillies plead with their eyes when they want something?” Twilight inquired, Trixie simply nodded in response at first, the pleased grin on her face still rather prominent.

“Exactly that, only difference though is...mine is more powerful!” she jokingly boasted, this show of confidence caused both of them to freeze for a moment, they gazed at each other, and then broke out into laughter.

“I'll agree to that,” Twilight added, trying to hold back another soft giggle, “Whatever you do, do not teach Applebloom and her friends how to do it, please.”

“Is it really that powerful?” Trixie laughed, Twilight's laughter seemed to stop the moment she heard this. Only giving Trixie a very slow nod. Indeed, hers was a bit more powerful than the heartbreaking gaze that Applebloom and her friends often gave others when they received a 'no'. This one on the other hand, it seemed to be a strange mixture of not only the pouting face that they used, but, a stare a certain pegasus used at the same time. Not only was it terrifying, but it was also heartbreaking at the very same time, making it a very dangerous combination. Although she couldn't actually say much about The Stare, as she had only seen it once in her life so far, so it left quite a few questions.

“So, what is it you intend on making for breakfast?” Twilight asked, attempting to change the subject. This made Trixie pause very briefly, bringing a hoof to her chin to think. This proved to be the question of the morning for her as she actually didn't know what to cook. In fact, she wasn't even sure she should actually cook anything at all and actually just leave it to Twilight, however, she had already assured that she would and she couldn't back out of it. It begged the question in her own mind yet again...what had she just gotten herself into?

“I...don't know actually,” Trixie replied after a moment, “Its been quite a while since I've actually cooked anything...and...” Before she could finish her own sentence, she actually caught herself in her own mind. “AH HA! How could I forget that recipe!” Twilight jumped a tiny bit when Trixie shouted, considering her back was turned to her at the time.

“What's the recipe, if you don't mind me asking?”

“Oh...you'll find out!” Trixie exclaimed, “I just hope you have what I need!”

Before another word had been spoken, Trixie had vanished from the room. Never in her life had she seen somepony actually move faster than Pinkie Pie, it was astonishing at how excited she seemed, to the point where it brought a rather large smile to Twilight's face as she heard the hoof steps travel downstairs.

Upon reaching the kitchen, Trixie began to shift around rather quickly, her recipe in mind. It was tough though as she skimmed and searched throughout the entire place. The first thing she took ahold of was a bag of pancake mix, thankfully there would be just enough for the two of them. Carefully setting it aside, she went into the fridge, scavenging for additional ingredients she'd need. On top of the milk and eggs, she also found something else, something she found to be rather interesting. With a grin, she levitated the small basket out, gently setting it aside. She knew right away that it would make an excellent addition to the pancakes, in fact, it was actually something she had hoped for too...something that made these pancakes absolutely perfect. Strawberries

Here is where the real fun began, with a smirk on her face she propped the door open just a tiny bit. It was just enough to allow the full blast of the scent to escape from the kitchen and flow into the library. As Twilight trotted down the stairs, she would be met with this, which in turn caused her stomach to growl rather loudly. What was it Trixie was making? She knew she had smelled it before, but she couldn't place her hoof on it now.

On top of her growing hunger, she also had a growing curiosity about what Trixie was cooking. It nagged at her endlessly, bringing her to the point where she actually trotted right up to the door. Very carefully she pushed it open to peek inside. That is when the scent hit her and it hit hard too. It may have been fairly strong before, but now she actually received it full blast and it was heavenly! As she peeked further inside, she could see the azure mare working around the stove, with a grin on her face.

It was cute actually, watching her move around so flawlessly, figuring it had something to do with her stage performances in the past to make it seem so artistic. Even considering she was bouncing around a tiny bit. This was quite distracting for Twilight as well, as her eyes seemed to lock right onto Trixie's rump instead of where they should be.

“Hey! No peeking!” Trixie snapped, having assumed that curiosity might get the better of her newfound friend. However, that wasn't why Twilight had the bright red glow on her cheeks, instead of thinking that it was related to breakfast, she had assumed it could've been related to the fact that she had been gazing at...Trixie's rump. Quickly, Twilight would withdraw her head, ducking just out of view. It wasn't more than a second later when Trixie's head poked out from the door. “I can't have you taking my secret recipe, can I?”

“I-I guess not,” Twilight replied nervously,

“Now, go wait...I'll call you when its ready!” And with that, Trixie vanished behind the door again, still leaving it open just a tiny bit to allow the delicious scent to flow out. Almost as if she was doing it intentionally just to tease her. It worked too, as Twilight found herself trying to wait patiently for the breakfast to be finished she couldn't help herself. The scent quickly became overwhelming, even when she tried to read a book. She could feel the emptiness in her own stomach and the scent only made it worse.

Trixie on the other hand was thoroughly enjoying this. She carefully peeked just outside the door to look at the struggling alicorn, watching carefully as she would attempt to read a book, only to replace it on the shelf a moment later. It was evident that she was growing hungrier by the second, the smell only adding to the desire. Once she had started drooling, she knew it was time.

She flipped the final pancake onto a plate along with a few others, this brought the total up to four. Trixie had been lucky with this number, while they were smaller than average pancakes, she had been able to pack them with a bit more flavor, with just one more detail, they'd be perfect to her. She dived right into the pantry.

Twilight began to grow impatient as she awaited Trixie, her hunger having reached new and unheard of heights. This wasn't due to anything else, except Trixie's teasing either.

“Come and get it!” Trixie's voice called out as Twilight began to tap her hoof incessantly on the floor. Without another word, she entered the kitchen and the sight she came upon looked absolutely scrumptious.

The wait had been well worth it for Twilight as she gazed at her plate, while there were only two of them, they were fairly decent sized, golden brown, except for around the edges. They seemed to have a bit of a pink tinge to them, unlike the typical white, which made her curious. What was slathered over them however, only made her want them more. By this time, the drool brought on by hunger was beginning to hang down.

“Strawberry pancakes with blueberry syrup,” Trixie stated, “Made with a few...secrets that my father showed me...enjoy.” Twilight didn't even need to be told, instead she dug right in.

That first bite, that very first bite was absolutely divine to Twilight, the combination of the strawberries in the pancakes and the thick blueberry syrup seemed to bring her mind to an intense euphoria. It was intense as with each bite, she could simply just taste the intensely sweet flavor. It was even better than one of Celestia's favorite cakes!

“W-where did...you learn to cook these?” Twilight swallowed,

“Like I said...I learned from my father,” Trixie stated, “He...taught me nearly everything I know.” This caught Twilight's attention as she virtually attacked the pancakes. It became rather apparent just how much she enjoyed them by the fact she had forgone using an eating utensil to just wrapping it in her aura and eating it like a burrito instead.

“What about your mother?” Twilight asked, before immediately regretting it. Upon that one simple question, Trixie's entire expression changed, she seemed almost appalled, yet, hurt at the very same time.

“I--” Before she could articulate a response however, a knock came to the door of the library, which was rather unusual, especially at this time of the day.