//------------------------------// // Chapter 6: Better Understanding // Story: Through the Amulet // by TasteTheSun //------------------------------// So many things were going through my head. I needed a moment to think. I hid the amulet in my sock droor and headed down the stairs. As I was heading towards the door, my mom asked me where I was going. I told her I just needed some fresh are and some time to think. She replied with an "ok" before I went out the door. Ever since then, I just walked. Just thinking about the events of what happened to me earlier kept going through my mind. Honestly I didn't know what else to think. I had a doorway to a whole other world in my hands. This also meant I had a new secret life. I could go and live there as long as I want and nobody here would know that I was gone. Maybe it's fate that led me to this, but the only question is why? I didn't know. I probably still don't know. It's something I'll have to find out later on, if ever. Point is though, I had a whole new secret life all to myself, and nobody knew about it, until later that is, but that I'll get to later on. I continued to walk until I noticed my house coming up and that I went in a circle. Just then, I noticed Mike approaching me on his skate board. "Hey Stevie, how's it been?" he asked. "To tell you the truth, I've had the most weirdest day in my life, not counting the stuff we do here." "Oh I get it, date didn't go to well?" "Date went fine, it's just, well, it's kinda hard to explain, and plus I don't feel like talking about it right now." "Alright, but what are you doing out here then?" "Just trying to clear my head I guess," "Cool, well I'm heading over to the diner for some pie, you in?" "Nah, I'm gunna keep walking, you go on," "Well alright," was the last thing he said before taking off. Even though I felt like being alone, I was starting to get second thoughts, plus my stomach was starting to rumble. I quickly took off after Mike, calling to him to wait up. ••• "So what are you going to get?" I asked Mike as we both entered the diner. Lucky for us, it was a slow day there. We saw a few people either eating their meals or just chatting away. "Well it's almost two thirty, so I'll just get a burger," Mike replied. I was kinda craving the same thing. We went up and sat on the stools near the counter. "Hello? Service?" Mike called ringing a nearby bell. A nearby waitress heard his calls and came to take our orders. "Yea, what can ah get ya-... Oh, you two. You have a lot of nerve being here," she said in an annoyed tone by our presence. "Linda, so great to see you again, how's it been?" Mike said casually, not taking the fact of how 'well known' we are here. "It was just fine until you two boys showed up just now," "Listen, we don't want to cause any trouble this time. All we want is some food from your most renowned eatery in all of Scottsville," "How charming, now what can ah get y'all today?" "Well just take two burger specials," I said as Linda wrote our order down on her notepad. "Will that be anythin' else?" She asked. We nodded our heads. "Alright then, hey Joe, we need two burger specials over here!" She exclaimed to the guy in the kitchen. "They'll be ready shortly, an' ah got muh eyes on you two," she said with a suspicious look on her face before heading off to attend to another costumer. Mike only smirked in return. I chuckled at that. "Man, I can't believe she is still going on with that," Mike said in amusement. "Well what do you expect from the stuff we do." "Hey, some off the stuff wasn't entirely our faults and you know it." "Yea, like that time someone stole all the candy from the shop down the road and we became the prime suspects," I added, being reminded of such memories. "Yea, and boy was sheriff Rogers mad, but what am I talking about, he gets mad at everything," Mike added. "I know, and I feel like every time he sees us, his blood pressure immediately goes up. Ha, what a hot head," I said jokingly. We both started to laugh at that until we heard someone clearing their throat loudly behind us. We tensed up nervously. Chills ran down our spines. We were worried who might be behind us, and when we turned to see who it was, our worst fears had been realized. "Sheriff Rogers, how nice to see you on this fine day, and might I ask, what have you been doing lately? Digging bugs out of you wife's- OW!" I had to punch Mike in the arm to keep him from finishing that sentence, so that I could replace it with something else. "-roses, he meant roses! You did mentioned a few days ago that your wife's rose garden was infested with bugs right," Sheriff Rogers gave us both a suspicious look. "Yea, right. Ah took care of that problem yesterday. Thanks for askin'. Linda, coffee, black, an throw in a couple a donuts would ya?" "No problem sheriff," Linda replied before going through the door that lead into the kitchen. The sheriff then turned his attention towards us. "So what have you boys been up to lately?" "Not much, just hanging around," I replied in an atempt to sound casual. "Well then, ya better not be gettin' into any trouble, ya hear?" "Yes sir," Finally, Linda came out with our food, which was great, considering how awkward it was getting. "Lets see, ah got a coffee an' donuts for you, an' two burgers for you two," she said as she placed our plates filled with food in front of us and handed Sheriff Rogers his coffee and bag of donuts. He took them up and waved goodbye before heading out the door. "Thanks Linda, fine job as usuall," Mike said rhetorically. Linda simply shrugged before heading back into the kitchen. I looked down, grabbed my burger and took a bite. It was nice and warm, and pretty good. Just then the door opened and I noticed out of the corner of my eye, a girl sitting next to me on the counter. I turned to see who it was and it turns out that that girl was Jenny. "Hey guys, how's it hanging?" "Not much," Mike replied with some hamburger in his mouth. Jenny nodded and then rung the bell for service. Linda them came to see who needed what. "Oh hi Jenny, what can ah get ya?" "I'll just have some apple pie." "Alright, be out in a jiffy." "So Jenny, what are you doing here, besides coming for pie," I asked, to which she replied. "Oh you know, I was wandering around at the ranch and just felt like wanting some pie," after a few minutes, Linda came out with a plate with a slice of apple pie on it. "Thanks Linda." "Don't mention it," she replied. Jenny grabbed her fork and dug it into the pie and brought the piece into her mouth. "Mmm, this is some really good pie," "Trust me, you haven't tasted a real apple pie," I said denying her opinion. "What do you mean?" "Well, a uh, friend of mine made this apple pie, and it tasted amazing. Almost like..... magic," I got lost in thought when I said that. I was being reminded of my little trip I had earlier. It was strange. That pie actually did taste, and feel like magic. Well there were unicorns in that world, so my guess is that there has to be magic there. But I don't know how Applejack got it to taste like that. Was it something about her, or her apples. Or is that whole just simply enchant- "STEVIE!!!" I was brought back to reality when I heard someone practically screaming my name. "What," "What happened, you kinda froze up there," Jenny said, explaining what happened to me. "Sorry, lost in thought I guess." "Well ok." I felt my face getting warm from the embarrassment that was happening. I noticed that my two friends had finished eating and were now waiting on me. I quickly ate my burger, left some money to pay for it and left to join up with my friends. "Well that was nice, so what do you guys want to do?" Mike asked. "I was planning on heading to the library. You can come if you want?" Jenny suggested. Mike booed at the idea, but I thought it was a great idea to go and do some research. "I'll go," I said as I followed Jenny to the library. "Hey wait up!" Mike called out as he went off to catch up with us. ••• At the library, Jenny was already reading a book about the proper care of raising horses while Mike was reading some magazine he found. As for myself, I was looking for something to help figure out what this amulet was. I desperately searched until I stumbled upon a book entitled Artifacts of the Unknown. Guess I should start here then. I took the book out and went to towards the table where the others are. Sitting down on one of the seats, I opened the book and began flipping through the pages in hopes of finding what I'm looking for. I kept looking until I made it to the end of the book. Nothing. I closed it and went back towards the shelves. I found another book and I checked it out. Nothing again. I put it back and I got another. Same results. I continued searching through practically all the books in the shelf and didn't found anything. As I flipped through the pages of one book, I was starting to get the sensation of simply giving up until I found something. The amulet. I was thrilled that I found something useful. As I read down the page, my hopes were running low. The Equine Amulet There is little information about the origins of this artifact. In fact, very little bit is known of said artifact. It was said to have been discovered in the early 1900s, but disappeared soon after. Origins: Unknown Gem Type: Unknown Durability: Unknown Cleavage: Unknown Color: Unknown Class: Unknown Great, back to square one again. I placed the book back on the shelf and was on my way towards my friends when I noticed a title of a book that caught my attention. Unicorns, Pegasi, and other mythological creatures This should be interesting. ••• I read for approximately the entire day. Mike and Jenny already left a while ago. Only I remained, reading the mythical creatures book and anything else that hopefully gave me an idea into what that other world had. So far, I haven't found much, but then it hit me. if I want to learn more about that world, then I should just do research there, it was pure and simple. It was only until that I realized it was almost closing time that I finished up my book and headed out the door. It was pretty late, and I had to get home. So I quickly took off from the library all the way to my house. When I got there I snuck around the back and stood beneath my bedroom window. Since my room was on the second floor, so was the window, but that never stopped me. Whenever I would go sneak out to hang out with Mike, I would always use the nearby tree to get in and out unnoticed. I would climb out of the window and set myself on the thick branch and then climb down, or do it the other way when I came back. I got to the base of the tree and began climbing it. I continued up until I got to the branch. I got on it and scooted my way towards the window. Once I was in front of it, I opened it and climbed back into the room. I closed the windows, and climbed into bed. I have been exhausted from an extremely long day of traveling to other worlds and doing research and whatever else, and I'm probably still going to go back in the morning, but boy will it be worth it. After a while, I fell asleep in an instant. ••• I was back. Back into the land of ponies, and also near the rock where I hid the amulet. It was a nice morning, just like the last time. This time, I was we'll prepared. I tried passing through with my bookbag full of things I need, and when I got here, it turned into saddlebags, but still had my things. It was mostly things like food water, and a book. I hid the amulet within my bag so that no one would find it. Once I did just that, and double checked my belongings, And then headed off to Ponyville. It was a bit tricky trying to determine which building was the library, that is, if this place even has a library. It wasn't until I passed a sign with a picture of a book and a title that read 'Ponyville Library'. Jackpot! Looking at the library, I took notice of how different it was from all the other houses here. Turns out that the library was an oak tree. Strange, but no matter. I came here searching for some answers, and I'm going to get them, if it kills me. So I went up to the door and knocked. When it opened, it seemed that no one was there, until I looked down that is. Standing in front of me at the door was a small purple and green dragon. I was both shocked and yet a bit confused at the same time. "Can I help you?" he said. I cleared my throat before giving him my response. "Uhm, yea hi, listen, are you the librarian here cause I need to look for a specific book?" "No, but Twilight can definitely help you in your search. She's great with books, believe me, I know." "Twilight?" "Yea you know, the pony who lives here, real smart, princess-" "I know who she is, I just didn't know that she lives here." "Oh, well come on in, the little dragon motioned for me to enter the large oak that he called a library. I set my bags down before taking a good look at the inside, and it looked amazing. It was hollow with books lined up around the walls. Why there's probably more books here than the Scottsville library. In the center of the room was a wooden carving of a horse's head. It looked just like the one back at the old house Jenny showed me yesterday. "Hi Stevie! What are you doing here?" I heard Twilight call out as she was entering the room. "Hey Twilight, I was hoping if you can help me find a book." "Of coarse! What did you have in mind?" "Do you have anything on mystical artifacts and such?" "I believe I do. Check in that shelf over there." She pointed towards a bookshelf at the far end of the room. I headed over there and begin skimming through the titles on spines of the books. I then came across a book that captured my attention. I took it off the shelf, opened it up, and began to read it. "Oh, hey Twilight, is it ok if I stay here for a while reading? This could take some time." "Sure. I'll be in the other room if you need me," she replied before disappearing through the door of the other room. I smiled before continuing with my research. ••• Twelve hours of searching, and I have found NOTHING!!! All I got was from the history pf this place to simple magic spells. This was getting rediculous. I searched every single book in this place and not one gave me enough info on the amulet. I finished up my last book before heading towards the door. Twilight came into the room and spotted me leaving. "Stevie, are you alright?" She asked. "Yea, I'm just gunna head on home. Thanks for letting me use library, even though I couldn't find what I was looking for." "Stevie, you've been here all day going through every last one of my books. What was it that you were searching for?" "It was... nothing. Never mind. I'll see you tomorrow Twilight, and thanks again for helping me." Without another word, I grabbed my bags, headed out the door, and closed it shut behind me as left into the dark and foggy night. ••• Questions, comments, complements, Any errors are accepted, Always room for improvement! Be sure to like and follow both here and twitter (@Pony3T)