Chapter Fourty: The Unwelcomed Guest

The next day, Penny awoke to the sounds of rumbling in the kitchen. After slipping out of bed and heading down the hall, Penny was greeted with the sight of Ember in the kitchen, preparing something that almost looked like cookies but upon closer inspection, turned out to be nothing but sugar piles mixed with some type of golden syrup.

" What in the heck are you making? " Penny asked, rubbing her eyes to get a more clearer view of the sugary snack. Ember had not noticed Penny entering the room and jumped a little from the surprise of her sudden arrival.

" I'm making some breakfast. Would you like one? " Ember offered but after getting a better look at the snacks, decided to decline. " Nah, I think I'm good on that one" Penny smiled as she too searched the kitchen for something to eat that would be less unhealthy.

" Why are you so hooked on sugar by the way? Penny questioned as she looked through the cabinets but found nothing that interested her. The house had come completely stocked with months worth of food so luckily the girls would not have to pay for anything, at least for a while.

" What do you mean? " Ember asked, as she held up one of the snacks and placed the entire cake into her mouth, swallowing almost immediatly.

" You just seem to really really like sugar. You were like that back on Earth? What's up with that? Penny questioned as she continued looking for something to eat.

" I don't know, I guess it's the way my tastebuds work. I've always liked sugar. It gives me the energy I need to kick some serious butt" Ember laughs, as she takes another small snack and gobbles it up.

" Well, I mean, more power to you for that. I don't think I ever really liked sugar. I've always preferred spicy food " It was rare when Penny could actually get her hands on something spicy though every time she could, she would always treasure it.

Eventually, Penny made her way to the fridge to find herself some eggs. This was something she had not per say been hoping for but it would do for now. Penny retrieved the eggs from the fridge and placed them on the counter and then turned around to grab herself a pan.

" Oh you know what? If you like spicy stuff, I've got just the thing" Ember walked over to a counter and leaned down, opening a small cabinet to retrieve a small bottle.

" What is that? " Penny asked, not recognizing what the bottle was, only being able to see that the liquid contained inside of it, was orange in its color.

" I think it's hot sauce. I smelled it earlier and it smelled..well..spicy. Just put it on your eggs and I bet they'll taste amazing" Ember assured Penny who seemed reluctant. " I don't know. I've never really put hot sauce on eggs and not to mention the fact that it probably would not turn out that great " Penny, despite her efforts, was eventually talked into at least giving it a try.

After she had finished cooking her eggs, Penny picked up the small bottle and popped off the top, taking a deep breath before pouring a small pinch of the liquid onto her golden eggs.

" Oh come on, I thought you said you liked spicy? " Ember mocked a little as she happily took a bite from her sugary cake.

Penny, much to her own hesitation, poured even more of the strange liquid onto her eggs. " Okay I'm not doing anymore. I don't even know what this is" Penny announced as she caught a small whiff of the sauce which burned her nostrils. " Oh god.." Penny coughed and tried to simultaneously blow as hard as she could from her nose to force out the oder than had invaded her nostrils.

After finally gathering her composure, Penny grabbed a nearby fork and proceed to dig into the eggs with it. After collecting an amount on it that Penny felt comfortable with, she took her first bite.

At first, Penny had not noticed too much of a difference from regular hot sauce. If anything, it could have been a little more spicy in her opinion. Ember watched on in astonishment that Penny was in fact, eating eggs with hot sauce which she could have only assumed would've been gross based on her hatred of anything spicy.

After a few seconds passed however, Penny's face began to turn a bright red. " Are you okay? " Ember asked, holding back her laughter as she figured that the heat had finally caught up to Penny. " OH GOD" Penny screamed as she ran down the hall and to a bathroom that was luckily the first room you'd come too when traversing the hall from the living room and kitchen.

Ember began laughing uncontrollably as Penny could be heard from the bathroom, gagging and coughing.

" ITS SO BAD" Penny cried out which only made Ember's laughs grow louder. The laughs were only broken by a sudden knock on the door. Ember knew she would have to answer as Penny was currently indisposed.

After walking over to the door, and opening it, it was revealed that the visitor was Princess Aurora herself. The same Princess they had just fought the night before. Ember was not pleased to see her.

" What the hell do you want? " Ember growled, though Aurora smiled her same smile that seemed a combination of blissfully unaware and yet cold and calculated. "

Where is Penny, I wish to speak with her" Aurora demmanded which Ember rolled her eyes at. " She is busy at the moment" Ember answered as Penny shouted from the bathroom " MY MOUTH IS ON FIRE " She screamed.

Aurora seemed a little confused by that statement but was willing to wait until Penny would be able to see her. " I need to speak with her, it is of the utmost importance" Aurora assured.

" GOD ITS LIKE I LICKED A VOLCANO" Penny shouted again which made Aurora giggle. " Are you sure that she is alright?" The Princess questioned, which Ember nodded. " Yes. She tried some hot sauce..and it's not panning out to well for her right now" Ember assured, keeping her body in the door way to block Aurora entry into their home.

" CALL THE FIRE DEPARTMENT..FIRE BRIGADE? I DONT KNOW, CALL SOMEONE " Penny pleaded, which despite the awkwardness of the situation, made Ember laugh a little.

" She really doesn't sound okay.." Aurora was not becoming concerned, which Ember refused to believe was genuine, even for a second. " You should probably come back later so that I can go help her" Ember tried to get Aurora to leave though the Princess seemed very reluctant.

" Yes, fighting fire with fire makes sense. I can actually help her" Aurora reasons with Ember who was not going to allow the Princess into their home under any circumstances, not after the moves she pulled the night before.

" No, I think we are good" Ember hisses back.

" Oh stop it. I'm not trying to move in on your girl. I'm just trying to help" Aurora mocks Ember who was now, growing increasingly frustrated with the situation.

" First of all, if you had wanted to make a move, you wouldn't be able to. Because either I'd rock you or Penny would, again. But also, I don't know why you keep insisting that me and Penny have something. I'm straight" Ember was not going to let Aurora dictate or control this conversation. They would have to get along on some small level, sure, but Ember refused to be disrespected.

" Okay good, then you'll have no problem with me helping her since I'm not a threat physically or emotionally to you or her" Aurora reasoned as she pushed Ember out of the way, causing Ember to stumble a little backwards.

" I said no " Ember ran in front of the Princess, to block her path to the hallway. " Oh sweetie, please move. We both know how this ended last time. I don't want to hurt you " Aurora sneered cockily though Ember would not budge.

" I told you to back off" Ember growled again but this only made the Princess giggle even more maniacally. " I am the Princess and I can go wherever the hell I damn well choose. Now move, or I will have you arrested" Though she was psychotic, Aurora spoke with a calm voice that angered Ember more. The sheer sense that the Princess truly thought she was above and far superior to everyone, was now beginning to click for Ember with Why Penny was so upset. " Why don't you just do as you've done with Lycans, back out while your ahead" Ember argued, this wiping the grin clean from Aurora's face. The Princess's confidence was now replaced with anger.

" What did you say to me? The Princess asked, her hands clenching into a tight fist. " You heard exactly what I said. Maybe, I should just ask you to stay though, sense that is obviously the one way to get you to leave" Ember knew she was taking a chance by saying such things to Aurora but she refused to be walked over by someone so cruel. Someone did have to stand up to her and since Penny could never say these things, Ember felt it was best to be the one in this moment.

" You have no idea what you are talking about.." Aurora hissed at Ember who was now smiling back confidently.

" Yeah. Keep telling yourself that" Ember answers, as Aurora backs away, stepping out of the house and taking her leave back to the castle.

" Freaking Hell" Ember breathed a sigh of relief as Penny made her way out of the bathroom finally, her face as red as a cherry. " I am never doing that again " Penny coughed, breathing heavily.

" I'm sorry" Ember apologized as Penny took notice of the front door being opened. Ember sighed and explained to Penny all that had happened and Penny too was frustrated with the audacity. " I don't know what she wants with me. Probably another training session or something. But I'm sorry you had to deal with that" Penny apologized which Ember assured her was fine.

" Its not your fault. She took her pompous ass back to the castle though. And more than likely, she will come looking for you again later" Ember assessed as she sat down on the couch, exhausted from her confrontation. " Well..thank you. For defending me. " Penny blushed. " It means alot. You put yourself in danger " Penny added which Ember again, dismissed the concern. " Its fine. Of course I'd do that for you. Hell, you've already done it for me" Ember chuckled. " Yeah, I did " Penny nodded and took a place in one of the chairs facing the couch after closing the front door. " Part of me feels like we should have brought Lysette " Ember confessed which Penny could understand. In times like these, The Guardian would have been perfect. Though she was rough around the edges, she was used to the proper etiquette that had to be used in situations such as this. Though, it was hard to keep their emotions calm and collected when someone like Aurora existed and was trying their every single button, more than likely, without even realizing she was doing so. " I feel like she's gonna try to separate us at some point. Dad she doesn't seem to like the bond that me and you have" Ember pointed out.

" And she definitely seems more interested in you than anybody else there and as long as I'm out of the picture, She probably assumes that she can do whatever she wants with you" Ember adds which Penny also agreed with.

" That does make sense. The woman loves power and she knows I have quite a bit. It would be better for her if I was on her side in the end. And she knows that. But I would never betray you or align with that ass" Penny promises Ember who already knew and trusted Penny's loyalty.

" I would say that we can use that to our advantage and play her by having you pretend to cut me off. But, that's playing a dangerous game that I don't feel would end well" Ember suggested.

" That wouldn't be a horrible move except for the fact that it would separate us. And if we are communicating then we aren't able to coordinate" Penny sighed.

" There has to be a way though that we can work this to our advantage. She already doesn't trust me, and she doesn't really trust you " Ember thinks aloud. " And we don't even need her to trust us. We just need her to need you bad enough that she is willing to slip around you" Ember thinks even harder. " She is smart, that's a given. But she is also careless to a degree. She is confident so much in herself that she is willing to put herself at risk, justifying that there would not be a real risk if her plan was good enough. Which, I guess is how she plans to rule the kingdom" Ember theorizes.

" With an attitude like that though, you make alot of enemies" Penny begins to formulate an idea.

" Maybe, we just need to wait for the right enemy"