The Real Page Turner

by The Local Rat Queen

Introduction - Sisters

I love trains.

I don’t know every detail about them, but I know quite a bit. The coaches we were in were blue with a white lining. We were hauled by a small 0-4-4 locomotive. The coaches had an open interior; however, they were empty apart from me and my traveling companion.

Lila Blossom was my metaphorical sister. We are nothing alike physically. I have a dull gray coat, while she has a shining white coat, which is noticeably better taken care of than mine. I have messy, monotone purple hair, while she has two-toned pink waves in long, neat hair. I was taller and fatter, while she was almost unhealthily thin and short.

She looked up from her romance novel with her ever-so-funny resting bitch face and asked, “Why are you studying me?” She asked in a neutral, non-judgmental tone.
I zoned back into the world of the living and adjusted my glasses with my wing. Yet another difference in us as she held her book in her unicorn magic. “I was trying to describe us as if this were on the first page of a book,” I said, leaning back into my seat. “I failed.”

I let a long, dramatic sigh escape my lips as I flopped my head onto the table between us.

She gently patted the top of my head with a hoof. “How did you fail the description? We aren't doing anything special.”

Her voice remained flat and level. Most found her tone and demeanor intimidating, including me for a time. However, after years of friendship, I learned Lila’s patterns and found her tone endearing, and when it drops to wild and free spirited in private, it is also quite a treat.

“My description felt overly wordy, but I can’t find a way to make it less wordy,” I said defeatedly. “Wording is very hard, one of the reasons F.T.O.L. hasn't had any new chapters.”

Thinking about my own book, as much as I love my creation, my stomach churns. Fresh Take on Life is my own adventure novel, about a prim and proper pegasus who just can't do things right.

I now sat up and looked at Lila. “Let’s hope a new home will help my creative process as well as your aspiration for mammalian medicine," I said, grinning at my own large vocabulary.

Lila let out a stressed sigh. “I am just hoping the program is good; the move has been expensive for mother and father. They could only afford to send me, so I don't even have them for support.”

I felt sorry for my friend; she’s had aspirations for veterinarian work for years but has recently lost her passion for such work. She said it was just a lack of viable methods of practice. Luckily for her, I found an advertisement for “Ponyville Animal Sanctuary.” With her having an actual means to her end and the funding of her parents, I offered to move with her, and now we are here, on a train to our new lives.

I had wanted to leave Manehattan for a few months now, and I am just glad I had someone to come with me.

Back to the matter at hoof: “I know you can do it, Lila; you are a tough bitch.” I stood up in the aisle of the carriage for dramatic effect and said, “You and I have conquered many things in the past. Trails, tribulations, temptations, and trickeries—we conquered them all.”

My antics earned a small smile from Lila as she looked thankful that the carriage was empty.

“Cast forth from the shackles of our home; we shall prosper in our new lives!” I was now yelling in a deep, dramatic masculine voice. I was using being trans for dramatic effect;this is one of the few times I don't get voice dysphoria. I tried to jump onto a table to continue my ramblings, but something caught my purple Starry Night-themed dress, and I ended up hitting the side of the table and tasting the dirty carpet on the coach floor.

Lila started laughing at me while picking me up with her magic. “Page, I don't want to take you to the hospital already.”

As she set me down, that name made me grin. Page Turner, It was new and flashy, a name I chose to go alongside my new pronouns. Lila has been with me through my gender transition from the start, and I owe her a lot of my gender euphoria. As well as most of my gender envy. The night sky-themed dress that I wear was picked out by her during a trip to Canterlot.

“I am too amazing to be hospitalized, so I'll concede,” I said with more mock egotism.
“Don’t do that; you're already conceded enough,” Lila said, returning to her novel.

---

The ride continued in silence for a while longer. I was losing myself in thought when Lila spoke up, “Page, are you doing alright?”

The question caught me off guard: “What do you mean?” I asked back, and I have been fine. I am usually fine.

"Page, you were so quick to leave home; are you still?” She paused and rerouted her sentence. “Are you thinking this through?”

That's an odd thing to ask someone, “Really showing your faith in me now; of course I thought about this.” I had thought about it; I just needed a day to decide to move away. I just think fast.

“I am not doubting you; I just want to make sure you are for sure. I love you.” She said, looking at me with what I assume to be concern or pity in her eyes.

“I love you, too. Sorry for getting defensive,” I said, looking at the rolling midlands of Equestria.

To outsiders, the three words ‘I love you’ may seem odd, but it's a platonic saying between us. The words have been so romanticized that we sometimes forget platonic love, so we say them to remind ourselves that we are not alone.

“The train should be reaching Ponyville soon; are you nervous?” I asked, looking back at Lila, who was putting her book away.

“Very much so; I have to meet Fluttershy by noon, half an hour after arrival.” Lila’s voice cracked slightly from its normal monotone to a more worried sound. Her face mirrored her voice.

“I’ll go with you! Hype you up, or just be emotional support. After that, we go celebrate at a bakery or something of the sort,” I said to Lila, feeling the train slow beneath me.

Looking out the window, I could see the thatched roofs of Ponvillle, along with many more odd buildings. The crystal castle stands out as the most out of place.

We stood as the train stopped at the station and the guard walked through, collecting our tickets.

I looked at my sister, one of spirit and not blood, and said with a grin, “Ready for a new normal?”

Author's Note:

Howdy yall, random story i decided to start on a whim. I hope you like it and I hope grammerly did not fuck the grammar to hard. LMK if you like it!

Comments

[Geeknerd]

ooh

[The Local Rat Queen]

11876745
thank you for the comment, may I ask what you mean by this?

[Geeknerd]

11876748
I like the set up, as I especially like seeing MTF characters. I have a character named Page Turner, who is an author, though she is an earth pony and not a pegasus. I just thought it was amusing that we have characters with the same name.

[The Local Rat Queen]

11876763
i see, and The MTF themes are heave with more than one planned character.

I do hope you enjoy my Page Turner!

[inigoCheesyFeets]

YYEAASSRGGHHHH FINALLY STARTED TO GIVE IT A READ, LOVING IT SO FAR