Burnt Orange Juice

Twilight continued to help me with my magic, and I appreciated her being kind enough to guide me along as I struggled a bit to exercise finer control over my mana use. There were more than a few occasions where I thought I tried her patience a bit much because I noticed her facehoof at my failures, then catch herself and remind herself that the pony she was trying to teach magic to was still a pure novice at it. We continued the guided instruction and practice, taking occasional breaks for me to rest and regain mana for the next round of practice. This went on for a few hours before we became hungry, and Twilight requested Spike to cook dinner for us.

"You're doing fairly well, Aurora, a bit more practice is needed, but you seem to be catching on quite quickly," she announced, a hint of pride evident in her tone. I also noticed she was smiling at me, something that had been fairly rare up until that point. I silently wondered how well I was doing, given the fact that I was still a base novice at working magic.

"I hope to advance beyond simple levitation, I mean, I did do a teleport not too terribly long ago," I responded, adding a slight chuckle to the end of my statement. Her shocked reaction spoke volumes.

"Aurora, I had no idea you could do that! That's a very advanced spell!"

"Well, you let me read up on it, and I practiced a little before doing the actual teleport," I replied almost nonchalantly. She surprised me by enveloping me in a magenta aura and checked me, then frowned slightly.

"You wasted a huge amount of mana with that teleport -- I'm surprised it even worked," she averred. "Well, since you were able to do that, I believe I can teach you some more advanced magic -- and also how to teleport without wasting mana!" she giggled.

"That sounds great, Twilight -- I hope you might teach me some short-cuts too and some other fun stuff," I responded brightly, smiling warmly at the librarian.

"We'll have to see about that, Aurora, but given how much progress you've already made, I think we can speed up the curriculum a little. Honestly, you surprise me with your aptitude and intelligence," she noted. I think I faintly detected a hint of pride in her voice.

"I wonder if Rarity can teach me her gem-finding spell," I mused wistfully, the memory of being in her company still fresh. If I didn't still look like her sister but as a stallion, I wonder if I might be able to persuade her to like me better, I pondered silently.

"Perhaps she might, but you have to be careful -- you never know where Diamond Dogs are hiding," she cautioned.

"I don't want to run into those, or those nasty Timber Wolves either," I said, my body visibly shivering at the thought of encountering either.

"Well, if you don't plan on venturing into the Everfree, you should be okay, Aurora," she giggled. "And I'm sure Rarity would be honored to teach you her gem finding spell. Now let's work on your fine-tuning, you still have quite a bit more progress to make," she added with more seriousness to her tone. I sighed in resignation but steeled myself for the task ahead. Twilight is a master of magic, but she's also a perfectionist, so I spent the next three hours practicing with her until my horn ached. At that point it was time for dinner.

We continued practicing until my horn began to ache again -- Twilight assured me that this was natural, that it meant I was improving with my magic. The hour was late and I asked to go to bed. She led me upstairs to a guest room and the bed I saw beckoned me silently. I turned my attention to her at this point, giving her a quizzical glance.

"Of course, Aurora, please, you may lie down now -- we have more practicing to do tomorrow!" she giggled before closing the door behind me. I silently wished she would be generous enough to lay with me, as I did not like sleeping alone. I trudged over to the bed and pulled back the cover, gently easing myself onto the mattress and pulling the cover over my body using my telekinesis. I guess I must have been a bit more tired than I originally thought, as no sooner did my head hit the pillow that I was sound asleep.

"Well, well, what do we have here? A sleeping stallion who looks like a grown version of Sweetie Belle? We can't have that now, can we?" a mysterious voice asked as I turned over fitfully, the sudden coldness of the room causing me to shiver. The voice sounded awfully familiar, as though I had heard it before in an earlier dream -- or was it a nightmare?

A sinking feeling in my stomach caused me to bolt upright in a cold sweat. "Who's there? Show yourself!" I demanded, lighting my horn in the process. A pale blue glow enveloped the room and illuminated a crazy jumbled form of mismatched limbs and torso. In my fevered dreams of the past, I somehow managed to parse his name from my convoluted memories.

"Discord! What are you doing here?" I practically demanded of the Draconequus. He folded his arms over his chest and struck a mocking defensive posture.

"Who, me? What are you talking about?" he asked in mock condescension. I glowered at him. "Oh, this is rich! I've given you the best present a Draconequus could give a human! And THIS is how you repay me? For shame!" he added, feigning indignation.

A younger version of me might have succumbed to his obvious gaslighting, but I was an old man at this point, knowing full well and having experienced more than 30 years of gaslighting from the best in the business, my former "girlfriend" who masterfully manipulated me into giving her everything she wanted. I was wise to his ways, despite his many years of being my elder.

I just hope I know what I'm getting myself into, I silently thought to myself. I just hope he's not smart enough to read my mind, I added for good measure. I'm so screwed, I thought as I noticed him smiling in a more malevolent manner.

"Oh, you're good! I knew there was something special about you!" he giggled. "You're going to give me some special entertainment!" he chortled before disappearing with his trademark zipper sound, announcing his departure.

I am so screwed, I thought to myself before laying back down to grab whatever sleep I could at this point. I probably shouldn't even have tried, as the next thing I knew, the bright sunlight of the morning broke whatever concentration I could apply towards getting any more rest with a harsh arrival.