The Real Page Turner

by The Local Rat Queen

Chapter 1 - Settling

The country smells odd. The lack of city smog is the first thing you notice. The small village of Ponyville had the smell of dirt and sugar in the wind. The next thing you notice is how silent the countryside is. The station was a lot quieter than the one back in Manehattan. No hustle and bustle of the city and the railyard of the big station. The station had one track next to one platform, with a singular line for goods traffic. The last thing I noticed was the lack of a crowd. The station had a ticket master, a porter, and five other passengers boarding and unboarding; that was it.

Lila and I stepped off the train, the porter unloading our bags. With four suitcases between us, we then realized how fun this would be. Lila carried both of hers in her magic while opting to pull them under my wings. She would need her magic to help with Fluttershy and the animals.

“We should probably find our rental; are we talking studio or multi-room?” I asked, struggling with the luggage wheels on dirt roads. Some citizens of my new home looked concerned, but I kept a brave face.

“Father said it was basically four rooms. A room for each of us, a general room, and a rest—Page duck!” she shouted, however, a little too late.

I felt an object, and a pony hit me in the side, sending me to the side of the road. Lucky for me, they hit my suitcase and not my body directly. It still hurt like hell, however, and my wing was the only casualty.

“Scootaloo, you just hit a lady!” A little girl with a squeaky voice said.

"Ma'am, are you okay!?” A southern child said above me: My face being in the dirt meant I did not see the source of the voice.

I of course articulated a perfectly rational and reasonable response: “Where's the leak, ma'am...?” Perfectly irrational because of the pain.

I heard a larger set of hooves walk over and say, "Ma'am, are you alright? I'm a might sorry, my sister and her buddies gotta ya’.

Before I could respond, I felt magic pull me up. Lila’s magical pull was familiar and welcomed. As I got reoriented with the world around me, I saw four figures. Three of them were fillies no older than thirteen each. One little girl had a white coat with a light purple two-tone mane that's curled slightly at the ends; another was yellow with a red poofy mane and a bow larger than any archery bow in her hair. The last little girl caught my attention due to her undersized wings for her age. I think it’s rude to stare, but as a fellow pegasus, the orange and purple filly was disconcerting. The idea of lacking flight was such an abstract thought for me that I sometimes forget Lila could not fly. I mean, call me stupid, but if you have something your entire life to the point of second nature, you forget it when others don’t have it. I guess an inverse example would be eyes. I wear very thick glasses due to my eyes not developing right, but to me the blur is normal, and I don’t fully understand how bad my eyes are, as they are all I know.

Recentering my thoughts, I turned to look at the adult mare, with an orange freckled coat; she was maybe twenty-ish years my senior with a blonde mane. Her green eyes were warm and concerned, as was her face. Her soft look of worry for my safety was contrasted by her muscle to rival the gym bucks of Manehattan. Her hoof was over her chest, with her stetson hat between them.

Now, with the magic fading and my hooves on the ground, I smiled apologetically.

“Yes, ma’am. I am fine; I am so sorry for not paying attention to my surroundings,” I said, breaking my momentary eye contact by looking over my hooves. Out of my peripheral, I saw Lila looking at me, also concerned; I just fell. I am not going to die; these ponies are worry warts.

“Ma’am, pardon me saying so,” she said in a polite yet firm tone. “I believe my sister and her friends owe you the apology; those speeds in this town was a very irresponsible move.”

I was now growing increasingly uncomfortable. Just let me take responsibility and move on; it is not a big deal. “Ma’am, I am fine; no one got hurt. Let’s just let it be.”

She looked at me for a second before her expression changed to an almost forced positive expression. The three girls had already long gone to hide from the tongue-lashing they might have received.

“Pardon my manners; my name is Applejack.” She said, reaching a hoof for a shake with us both, her positive expression being less forced.

I shook Applejack’s hoof first, saying, “My name is Page Turner; this is my friend Lila, blossom.” My friend in question was now levitating my bags as well as her own, damn. Lila did not say hello or shake the hoof; she just waved with a temporary small smile, the average Lila response.

"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you folks.” She said, then paused, looking at Lila, “You would not happen to be the Lila studying under one Miss Fluttershy, would ya’?”

Lila and I looked at each other in bewilderment, then back at Applejack, “Yes, I am; do you know her?” Lila asked while I eyed how to get my luggage from her magic.

“Flutters and I are old friends; shoot, she is ranting and raving about having a student finally,” Applejack said with a smile. “What about you, Ms. Turner?”
Why was she asking me? Lila was the one with a good reason: "Work, ma’am.” A cookie-cutter response—not untrue, but not the whole truth.

“What kind of work? With the harvest coming up, my farm could be a choice, given you are up and dandy,” Applejack said, making me nervous. It's an offer I can't really pass up but wish I could. Jobs don’t grow on trees, though. Well, maybe hers does. I was just hoping to breathe before I needed my first ever job.

“Once we get settled, I will give you a visit,” I said without planning on it. “I appreciate the offer.”

She looked at me like she knew I was full of cat shit. “I hope you do, ma'am.” Her expression became more pleasant again. "Well, I’ll see you fillies around; take care!

Applejack wandered off after we said our byes and continued walking as I said to Lila, “Odd lady,” and got a hum from Lila in agreement.

“Maybe I should get the farm job,” I pondered further as we strolled.

Lila spoke up from behind me in a concerned tone, “Are you sure that is such a good idea? Hicks are not usually the most accepting type, and you cannot wear the dress in the field.”

I sighed, hating the reminder that people now hate me for existing in the life I live. “It’s worth a shot; besides, isn't that one really trans-inclusive clothing brand from here? I can buy some work clothes from my savings; I’ll need to either way most likely,” I said, proud of myself for being logical.

“Just please be safe,” Lila said earnestly.

I did not respond but did nod, rolling my eyes subtly.

---

We arrived at our new very small house; it was near the Everfree Forest, chilling but cheap. It makes me wonder if the realtor told Lila’s parents about its proximity to the forest, and if they did know, would they really rent a house this close to the Everfree?

Currently, Lila and I have separated to hang out in our own rooms and get settled; however, she left an hour ago to meet with Fluttershy. So that left me alone in my room, setting up my typewriter and my mirror.

Aside from my bed and dresser, I had three things of note in my room. The first was a desk with my older, reliable typewriter; it was a dusty old hunk of iron, but I loved her. The second was a model train on my desk; it was one named Lode Star, and I absolutely adored it. Lastly, there was a large mirror where I talked to myself to get writing ideas. However, when I say talk to myself, I mean I pretend to talk to the protagonist of my novel, Fresh Take.

Fresh Take is an orange pegasus with orange hair in a messy bob cut. She was tall and thin, with commanding eyes and a confident look on her face. She had the fur pattern on her legs, which most people refer to as socks; however, hers were brown on the ends of her hooves. I know all this for two reasons, one being that I made her. She is a figment of my mind.

The second reason was a bit more dubious. I shall put it like this: as I looked in the mirror, I saw her staring at me from over my shoulder. Her purple eyes looked right into my orange ones. I started seeing her after I created the concept for her story, A Fresh Take on Life. After that, I started to talk to her, and this game of pretending that she was here was comforting. She talked me through things; she is the reason I moved to Ponyville. Talking to this figment of my mind was good for me; it helped me think.

“How are you doing, my dear?” She said to me in her posh pseudo-Canterlot nobility accent, “The move has been interesting so far.” Her voice was soothing and caring.

"Well, aside from the assault of preteens and their overly polite hick sisters, I am doing the same as always.” I felt just numb to the change.

"Why, my dear, aren't you glad to be away from that terrible place? The only thing everyone saw was you with pity-framed, rose-tinted glasses. That is no way to live. Here, you start with a Fresh Take. Let’s not waste it, sweetie.” She said, wrapping her own wing around me in a brief hug, that she was right. Most ponies back home saw me through the lens of pity or as something to keep around so she ‘doesn’t have another episode.’ It is frustrating because once you show even a bit of weakness, ponies see you so differently. They pretend like it is not there or hide it away. However, the stain is always on the mask.

“You are right as always, Freshie. Maybe I should send mom a postcard, though.” I said, but was cut off by Fresh. “And worry your mother like that; a poor woman needs to just forget you. You have already caused her enough pain; let's not forget the reason you needed to move.”

I was quiet and placed a hoof on my neck at the mention of that. After a moment, I said, ‘I was in a bad place then, but I left, so I left it behind. Nothing would go around my neck again; I left that behind me.”

Fresh smiled a warm smile. “Good; reinforcement is good for habits. Speaking of, I shall plan our route in case this turns sour. It would not hurt to be prepared. Now why don’t you rest?”

At that, I started to feel a wave of exhaustion. I was pretty tired. With that, I rolled over and decided to catch some sleep. Knowing I was in good company, I was taken care of.

Author's Note:

I hope you like this one, i'll be honest and say i wrote this very fast. Don't expect this speed to be regular lol.

Comments

[Geeknerd]

Love the inclusion of her fictional character talking to her. Were you inspired by that spy movie Argyle starring Henry Cavill?

[The Local Rat Queen]

11877929
I was not but I make check it out. The idea came to me after listen to "The Ribbon," by stupendium. Great song about Allen Wake 2.

[inigoCheesyFeets]

Me wh-whe-when fresh take......😰😢😨😱 THIS CHAPTER WAS AWESOME TOO, I did feel like it was a bit shorter than the last one BUUUT you did say you wrote this one a bit more quicker so that explains it 🤑🤑🤑