//------------------------------// // Chapter 15: Wait...What? // Story: Dean's New Life // by Moon_Skritch //------------------------------// Chapter 15 Wait...What? _______________________________________________________________________________ Have I passed out? What just happened, why is everything so dark and quiet, then I hear something fading in and out. ...I used to wonder what friendship could be... ...big adventures! Tons of fun... ...and magic makes it all complete.. ...Do you know you're all my very best friends... My eyes open slowly and I see the television in front of me, nothing is registering, I watch the screen and I see Pinkie Pie come in bouncing around, making me smile, I get up and stretch a bit, and I notice something. I look down and see that I am standing on two feet, I blink and then laugh, I'm a pony, I dont need to stand on two feet, I lay down to be on all fours and then I see them...my hands... I blink again at them, my brain is not able to register any of this. Why do I have hands? Why am I not at my wedding? I notice that I have been holding my breath and I exhale, I stand up again, on two feet, and look around, It...was...a...Dream? No...no... no no no! It couldn't have been! It was all too real! Tears flow into my eyes, it couldn't have been, no, not a dream, this is the dream I just need to wake up, and when I wake up I will be back at the wedding. Just then I hear the doorbell ring, I walk over to the front door and open it, and what I see, makes me almost explode, Alex, standing there, normal human form, wearing a hoodie and baggy jeans, and Airwalk shoes. My eye twitches and I say “H-hey.. Alex..” he laughs and says “Not much bro, just came by to see what's up, you okay dude? You look like you have seen a ghost.” I stay silent. He looks closer at me and he says “Dude, have you been crying?” I do nothing but stand there, dumbfounded, I step back and silently invite him in, he walks in and sits down at the couch, he looks at the TV and says “What the hell is this dude? You into ponies now?” I walk forward to see the TV and I see a specific rainbow maned pegasus come into the shot. “Rainbow-Dash...” I mumble, Alex looks up at me with a confused look on his face. I sit down on the couch and look at the television and I see Pinkie Pie come into view, she says something but I don't really hear it, “Pinkie...” is all I say, Alex taps me, causing me to jump. “What the hell is wrong with you? You are sitting here reciting names of the ponies, what are you a Brony?” I sigh and shake my head and I say “It was just...a dream...” Tears form in my eyes again and roll down my cheeks. “It was all a dream!” I scream out loudly, making Alex jump from his seat, “What are you talking about! What was all a dream?! God, don't scare me like that, I about wet myself.” I look at the screen again and the show goes black and then a thing comes up and it says “We will be right back to My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Right after these messages, only on The Hub.” I blink at the screen, “They aren't even...real...it's all on a TV show...” I say, Alex turns off the television and stands in front of me, “Look I need to know what the hell is going on here, why are you all freaked out and shit!” he says. I take a deep breath and say “I had a dream, that I jumped into a portal and landed in there, where the TV show is based...” I explain my whole dream to him, and when I finish, he just stares at me, saying nothing. I start to cry again, this time more heavily, “I just got married... to the best girl ever... and it was all lies...why? Why does it have to be lies!” I then get an idea, “Hey Alex, Slap me as hard as you can, maybe I will wake up back in Equestria, this could all be a dream here and I am actually still in Equestria just sleeping, as a pegasus, with Pinkie.” Alex shakes his head, “I am not slapping you dude, you are not dreaming, this is the real world. You are fully awake right now.” he says. “No! Don't say that! This is all a dream! Slap me as hard as you can! DO IT NOW!” I say at the top of my lungs. Alex sighs and says “Okay, but if this hurts, not my fault, okay?” I nod and yell “DO IT ALREADY!” Alex pulls his arm back and then moves it in fast, smacking it across my face, I stumble a bit, and I blink, Alex is still standing there, shaking his head, “Smack me again, maybe the first one didn't work.” Alex shakes his head more and says “No, dude you have lost your mind. You're in the real world, you need to come to terms with that, Equestria is not real.” The words “Equestria is not real” echo in my head, over and over, I slump to the ground and curl up in a ball, this can't be true... “It is real... I was there...” I say. I can tell Alex is getting really mad now, he stomps the floor and yells “DUDE IT WAS A DREAM GET OVER IT! IT WAS NOT REAL! LIFE GOES ON!” I stand up and say, “You're right dude... it was all a dream... nothing real about it...” I sigh as my eyes continue to pour out tears, I wipe my eyes with my shirt sleeve. Alex walks up to me and puts his hand on my shoulder, “Come on dude, let's go to the mall, maybe we can see our friends or something, get your mind off of that silly dream. I grab my wallet and keys off the end table and we walk outside, into the late-fall weather, all the trees are bare, it's quite chilly. I breathe out and see the smoke coming from my mouth, I am back in Poplar all over again... We walk over to his car, he presses a button and the doors unlock, I open my door and sit down and stare through the windshield, looking at nothing really... Alex opens his door and gets in, we both buckle up and he starts the car, I stare more into the windshield, still not looking at anything. I sit there in the passenger seat, silent, Alex shakes his head and pulls out of the driveway and we head off to the mall. I shift around in my seat and lean my head against the window, I watch the trees and stores pass by. We finally arrive in the parking lot, he pulls into an empty space, and shuts the car off. I sigh a bit and open the door, I get out and lean against the car, I hear a siren in the distance, and other sounds you usually hear in the city. “Come on dude, let's go!” Alex says, I slowly walk toward the mall, stuffing my hands in my pockets. We walk in the front door and I smell that normal smell you smell in malls, a mixture of weird colognes, perfumes, clothing shops, and food. I walk with Alex around the mall and a specific store catches my eye, Hot Topic, Alex notices I'm looking at it and he says “Come on, maybe there is some girls there that you can get along with.” I nod and say “Sure, wouldn't that be great...” Alex grabs my shoulders “Come on dude! Snap out of it! Jeez you're a total zombie right now, you are normally not like this.” I just stare at him, he lets go of me and says “Come on.” We walk into “Hot Topic” and it's rather dark in here, but I can still see everything, I look around at some stuff and I see something that catches my eye. A black t-shirt, with Fluttershy on it, under her says “yay” in big white letters, I turn away from it, I need to stop thinking about it. I walk over to a shelf and it has rubber bracelets, I look through the racks and I see one that says “Brony” and it has an outline of Rainbow-Dash on it, my eyes begin to tear up again as the memories of the dream push into my mind. I turn away from the bracelets and look at other assorted stuff, I see a belt that shows all six of them on it. I clench my teeth and run out of the store, I run over to a chair and flop down on it. This is horrible, everywhere I looked, it had them on it, including...Pinkie... Alex walks up and says “Why'd you run out like that?” I shake my head and say quietly, “They are everywhere... I can't get my mind off of them...” Alex clenches his jaw, I can tell he is getting very irritated, but I don't care, I just want to go back to Equestria where everything was great. “Why don't we get some food, maybe that will take your mind off of your dream.” Alex says, we walk over to the food court and up to McDonald’s, he orders himself a Double Cheeseburger meal, I look at the menu, in Equestria they don't eat meat... I order a salad and we pay for our meal, we find a simple table and I just poke at my food, not really that hungry. “Why'd you get a salad? I never knew you liked salad.” Alex says. I take a bite of the salad and then almost spit it out, it tastes horrible, in fact I don't even like salad, though when I was pony, I loved it... Alex sees my reaction to the salad and he says “I knew you didn't like salad, what made you think you di- oh...yeah...you're dream...” he shakes his head. “You know, we haven't even seen our friends yet.” he says, Just then we hear someone yell from behind us, “Yo! Alex! Dean!” I turn around and see someone waving to us. “Hey Max! come join us!” Alex yells, the guy runs over and sits down at the table, he fist bumps Alex then holds his fist up to me, I slowly lift my hand and bump his with mine, not really caring. “What's up with you dude?” Max asks. “He had a dream earlier and it's eating him up inside.” Alex says, Max looks at me, “What was it about?” he asks, I shake my head, “I don't want to think of it right now, I'll tell you later, or Alex can tell you, I don't care, but I will be right back...” I stand up and Alex says “Where ya going?” I look at him and say “Uh, bathroom, duh...” and give him a duh face, he chuckles and says “That's the Dean we have been waiting on!” After a while I come back and I see other people standing around Alex, girls actually. I walk over to them and Alex says “Hey! He's back! Dude check it out it's Alyssa, Tina, and Kayla, remember them?” I nod my head and remember how bitchy they were toward me, but not to Alex. Alex doesn't know of the crap I went through with them. I sit there, glum again, They are all talking to each other, I'm kind of out of the conversation. After a while, I close my eyes, memories from the dream flood the darkness that my eyelids make. I then feel a tap on my shoulder, I look up and see Alex standing there “Dude wake up, let's go home, those girls had to go.” I stand up and we walk toward the door we came through earlier, and head to his car. We get in, and we go back to my house, he drops me off and says “Hey, don't let that dream eat you up anymore dude, just go get some rest, maybe you will feel better then.” I nod and he drives off. I walk up to my front door, unlock it and go in. I take a quick shower and head to bed. I lay in the bed staring at the ceiling, I still can't believe it was a dream... I roll over and face the window, which has a curtain on it. Why did that dream happen, I never even heard of that show until today, I close my eyes and try to sleep, which comes quicker than imagined. I stand in Ponyville once again, I look at my hands, which are hooves again, I see Pinkie hopping toward me, “Hey Dean!” She kisses me, but I don't feel it. I look at her, my eyes start to water and I say “You're not real Pinkie, you never were...” Ponyville fades from behind her, then she slowly fades away also, leaving me alone, in the darkness... I look at my hooves again, and they turn into hands again. So that's that, the love of my life isn't even real... (end of chapter 15) (And end of Book one.)