//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: The Book // Story: Dean's Real Life // by Moon_Skritch //------------------------------// Edited by: Selkowitz Chapter 3 The Book _________________________________________________________________________________________ The train ride to Canterlot was like any other normal one: boring and bumpy. It would have been way better if Pinkie was with me, but she is at the Crystal Empire. I look over to Red Velvet, who is practically about to bounce around the whole car. She is so hyper right now to the point that not even Mantalist can calm her down. She squeals loudly. “I can’t wait to be a normal unicorn again!” She has said that like a gillion times now. “Calm down, Red Velvet. We aren’t even sure if Celestia will let us look at the book. Besides, I don’t even think we will get to see her. She is probably very busy,” Mantalist says. “Hush. Don’t kill my good mood. I haven’t been this happy in a long while,” She replies to Mantalist. I really hope we are able to change her back. I could never deal with that much stress from being an alicorn. All the stares and the talk behind my back. Not my thing. We finally reach our destination, and Red Velvet uses her magic and teleports out of the car. Mantalist just sighs and shakes his head. “What am I going to do with her?” he chuckles. I just shrug as we get off the train. There is one thing I do not like about Canterlot, and that is the snooty nobles. They remind me of the preps in school, except they actually hold their heads high like other ponies should kiss the ground they walk on. We see Velvet standing on the platform, being stared at by everypony. They just shake their heads at her. I sense, next to me, Mantalist getting upset. He calls out to her. “C’mon, Red, let’s go!” She hops over to us, almost like Pinkie does, but less boingy than hers. I hear Mantalist chuckle a bit next to me. “You are so adorable Red,” he says. She just smiles at him and hugs him. “We should go before it is too late,” I suggest. “Good idea,” Red replies. We start off toward the castle. I look behind us. “I think we have followers,” I say. The others glance behind us and see that random ponies are following. Most of them are nobles. Why they would care about us is beyond me. As we approach the gates, a guard stands there. “What business do you have with the Princess?” he asks, looking a bit nervous. It’s probably due to her appearance. Red Velvet steps forward. “As you have probably noticed, I am an Alicorn. I do not wish to be one, and we think we have found a way to change myself back into a normal unicorn. May we pass?” “I told you there is no way to fix it.” A voice sounds from above us. We all look up and see Princess Celestia flying above us. We move back a bit as she lands. “Yes, there is. Dean here has an idea,” Red says. Oh great… Now I have to explain. I am not good at this. The princess turns to me. “What is this idea you have?” “Well… uh…” I don’t like speaking when there are tons of other ponies around. I hate public speaking. I clear my throat. “My idea is, uh… well I know this doesn’t work on most things… but… uh… what if she read the spell… backwards?” Celestia stays silent for a moment. She looks over to Red Velvet then back to me. “Follow,” she says to us and starts walking back to the castle. Red happily trots behind her. Alex, Mantalist, and I follow suit. Worry begins to hit me. What if my idea is wrong? She will be stuck as an Alicorn forever. We follow Princess Celestia down the corridors of the castle. After minutes of walking, we come to this door. It looks rather plain. It’s just a simple wooden door. “It’s a plain wooden door,” Alex says, stating the obvious. I just facehoof and sigh. “Oh, it may look normal on the outside. Just wait,” Celestia says with a chuckle. Her horn glows, and the door changes its appearance. It has a golden frame, and the door is now silver, and there is no handle. The door opens, and a light shines from behind it. All of our mouths drop as we look inside to see a hall full of items on pedestals. I can’t even explain what they look like right now in words. “Now, follow me, but don’t touch anything. I mean it. You don’t know what this stuff could do to you,” she says sternly as she closes the door behind us. “What is all this stuff?” I ask, being my normal curious self. “These are magical items I have gathered over time. I keep them here so nopony can get near them and hurt themselves or others with it. Basically, it is storage for powerful magical items.” We all nod our head and keep close to the Princess. I look around at the items. They are the most fascinating pieces of equipment. After a bit of walking down the hall, we stop at another door. She lights her horn once more and the door opens, revealing a room with another lectern with the book on top of it. “Alright, Red, go ahead. We will wait out here.” Celestia says. “Aren’t you coming in with me?” Red asks. “No, something might backfire and hit us. Don’t worry we will be right here,” the princess reassures her and closes the door. We wait there for a good while. Mantalist is leaning against the door with a worried expression on his face. I wonder how he feels about all of this. “Hey, you okay?” I ask him. “Just worried is all. To be honest, I liked her Alicorn form, but whatever makes her happy makes me happy,” he smiles. Just then, the door starts to open. We all step back to see. The door opens all the way and there stands Red Velvet. Still an Alicorn… She just sighs and says, “I can’t do it...” “Why not?” we all said in unison. Even Celestia was concerned. “I need Mantalist with me.” “You do realize if he goes in there, you risk him getting hu-” Celestia begins to say but is cut off by Mantalist raising his hoof. “Don’t worry about it, Princess. I will go with her. She needs me,” he says and walks in with her. I look to Celestia, and she has this worried look on her face. I hope all goes well in there. Minutes go by and from under the door, we see a bright light shine. We then hear Red Velvet yell, “I AM A UNICORN AGAIN!” The door bursts open and a smaller version of the tall alicorn Red Velvet stumbles out. Mantalist walks out of the room and helps her up. Red pulls him into a hug. “Thank you so much Mantalist for being there for me. I love you so much.” She kisses him deeply on the lips and nuzzles him. “I love you too Red Velvet. I am glad you are back to your normal self,” though you can tell in his voice he isn’t. Red pulls away from him and looks at him. “What’s wrong, love?” Mantalist sighs and looks away. “I kind of liked your alicorn appearance. It’s what got me to like you in the first place. You looked out of place and looked like you needed a friend, so I came to you. I had no idea you were originally a unicorn. I mean, I love your unicorn form... it’s just...” He sighs. Red Velvet sits there for a moment. “I-I had no Idea... I wish you could have told me before I did it.” “I didn’t want to kill your happy mood. I want you to be happy. If you are happy I am happy.” She puts her hoof under his chin and brings his face to hers. “Do you want me to change back?” “No, you have waited so long for this. I don’t want you to do something for me just because I don’t like it. Over time, I will get used to it. I still love you like I did before, Red. It’s just gonna take me a while getting used to your new look.” Silence fills the air for a few moments. The book room door closes, breaking the silence. “Um... I think we should get back home, it’s getting late,” I suggest. Maybe some sleep will make them feel better about this. Celestia escorts us out of the hall and out the door. She then uses her magic, and the door returns to its normal boring look. We all thank her for her time and help. She nods, and we walk out. Making our way to the train station, Alex says, “I am hungry,” just out of the blue. I look at him and laugh. “Well, I am,” he chuckles. “I think we all are,” I say looking back to Mantalist and Red, who are both looking away from each other, looking really sad. “Yeah... I am a bit hungry,” Mantalist says. “I guess I am too,” Red adds. I sigh out loud. What am I going to do with them? “C’mon, guys, maybe some food will make you feel better.” “Okay,” Red sighs, still looking away from Mantalist. I look around on the street for some type of restaurant where we could eat. Perhaps some hay fries or something would do right now. I just want to eat and go home. I see a basic little fast food restaurant, even though I don’t really like fast food. I just don’t want to be hunting down a place to eat all night. “Let’s eat there,” I suggest. Alex takes off toward the place. Mantalist and Red just walk slowly behind us. Every now and then they look at each other. I really wish I could help them somehow, but I have no idea what to say to them. We walk in the restaurant. The clerk greets us and we order. Alex orders some sort of super-sized meal and gives the mare the bits needed. He always gets a lot of food, even when he was a human, yet he doesn’t gain any weight... I get an order of hay fries. I’m not really that hungry. I give her the bits and move out of the way to let Mantalist and Red Velvet order. “Just a salad,” Red says and puts the bits on the table, not looking up. “Red Velvet?” the clerk asks. She must be a friend of hers. She looks up at her. “It is you! What happened to your wings? Those things were really cool.” “Oh... um... I reversed the spell I used and it made me normal again...” “You don’t look too happy about it. I thought you wanted to change back. Now it seems like you don’t want to be one anymore.” “It’s just,” she started as she looks to her side to see that Mantalist is gone. She looks around and sees him at a table laying his head in his hooves. Alex is over there also, with his food. “Is that your coltfriend?” The clerk asks with a giggle. “The one laying his head down, yes. He isn’t too happy about the change.” “Aww why’s that?” “He apparently liked me as an alicorn more than this form. Well, he really didn’t have any idea that I was a unicorn to begin with. He thought I was an alicorn since when I was born or something.” One of the other workers comes around and hands me my fries. I walk over to the table with Mantalist and sit next to Alex. “You should just accept her for who she is, Mantalist. So what if she is a unicorn? She is still Red Velvet,” Alex says as I start to eat my fries. “Am I right, Dean?” I nod to Mantalist and say, “Yeah, dude, she is still her normal self, but just in a different body.” I then nudge him. “Now it should be easier to do things now that you two are the same height, if you know what I mean.” I chuckle a bit. Mantalist smiles and says, “You’re right.” “About what, the same size thing?” “Well, there’s that and also the fact that she is still Red Velvet. I don’t know why I got all upset about her changing into a unicorn. I just felt different about her. You know what... I will go make it up to her. There is no reason for me acting like this about one thing.” He then gets up and walks back over to her. Alex and I watch as he taps her on the shoulder. She half-smiles, and he pulls her into a hug. We can’t really hear what they are saying, but we know for sure it is good things. They pull away from each other and smile before kissing. Maybe now, everything will be better until the girls come back. Red and Mantalist come back over to us and sit down. “So, I see everything is okay now?” I ask, even though I know everything is good. “Yes, everything is just... perfect.” Red says and nuzzles into Mantalist, letting out a happy sigh. Mantalist nuzzles back, closing his eyes. I smile at them both. “That’s good. So are you gonna get some food?” I say as I eat my last hay fry. “Oh, it’s no problem. We aren’t that hungry right now. Besides we have food at home,” Red says. “Alright.” I look over to Alex, who is finishing off the last of his food. “You ready?” I ask him. He nods his head, and we all get up from the table. After cleaning up our area, we head out and make our way to the train station. As we walk, some of the nobles look over at us, remembering us from earlier. They notice that Red has changed, and the looks on their face were hilarious. In my opinion, at least, they looked as if they saw a ghost or something. Red notices them looking and she playfully sticks her tongue out at them. We all crack up at that. The nobles then go back to their snooty attitude and stick their noses at us. We hop on the train back to Ponyville and find our seats. I sit next to Alex while Red and Mantalist sit in front of us. I lean my head back and sigh. It has been a long day. I am then shaken awake by Alex. “C’mon dude, we are here,” he says. I nod my head and we get off the train. We say our goodbyes to one another and split off to our homes. I look to the sky to see Luna’s Moon up there. It’s so beautiful out here tonight. I wish Pinkie Pie was here. We could lie in the field or something and look at the night stars. I’ve always wanted to stargaze with someone, but no one ever wanted to go with me, so I just didn’t go at all. I open the door to Sugarcube Corner and walk inside. “Dean, you’re back!” Mrs. Cake says as she walks out of the kitchen. I smile at her. “So how did it go? Is Red Velvet back to her old self?” I nod my head. “Yeah, she’s a unicorn again. Anyway I’m going to head to bed, if that’s alright.” “It’s no problem. We are pretty much done for the day anyway. I’m just cleaning up the last bit of stuff.” “Okay. See you in the morning.” I say and make my way upstairs and to the bedroom Pinkie and I share. I climb under the covers and close my eyes. I realize how empty the bed is without Pinkie. I miss her so much right now. Finally, sleep overcomes me and I doze away...