My Lucky Pony
By Lux
Chapter 1 – Creative Spark
It was a simple idea that entered Shaun’s mind as he sat on the couch in his apartment one Saturday morning. He was watching his favorite show My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic when it was as if a voice spoke in his mind saying, ”Why don’t you create your own pony like the ones in the show?” It wasn’t a new idea as Shaun had seen online on art sires and Tumblr accounts other fans of My Little Pony making their own ponies and even going as far as to create whole sections devoted to these ponies’ lives, these so-called “original characters.” When he started his interest in the fandom about two years ago, he was mainly focused on fans drawing and writing about the characters seen in the show like the Mane Six, Princesses, Cutie Mark Crusaders, and even a few background ponies. Yet the more he delved into the creativity that was displayed, the more the idea of ponies created strictly out of the imagination came to light.
“Maybe I should create my own pony,” Shaun said as the credits rolled on yet another My Little Pony episode, “It shouldn’t be that hard. All I have to do is draw her and come up with a reference sheet about her.”
Turning off the TV, Shaun got up from the couch and sat down in front of his computer system. After the computer booted up, Shaun went right to his art program as he set before him his art tablet. He had drawn ponies before, ones that were from the show, and at least in his mind was starting to do so quite well. But this wasn’t just drawing something that already created many times before by the show and by the multitude of fans. This was to be his own creation, his own interpretation of a pony living in Equestria.
“Ok, first of all should I make this pony male or female?” he asked as he began to sketch the body and head of the pony. Without giving it a second thought, he drew a female muzzle on the pony which transformed the rest of the otherwise basic genderless form into a feminine creature. He didn’t know why he chose a female pony. Maybe it was because many of the ponies in the show were female and he felt comfortable drawing one. With a shrug he added the legs, one curved line flowing into all the others, before drawing the eyes, nostril, and a cute smile.
“Alright, next the pony type,” Shaun said satisfied so far with his creation. Instinctively he drew a horn on the pony’s head making her a unicorn. He always found them to be interesting with their allure to magic. Watching a pony on the show move objects or teleport amazed him and in a way made him feel sort of jealous that magic didn’t exist in his world.
The young man then got to work on the mane and tail, two things he knew defined a pony, separating them from the rest of the herd. He decided on a long flowing mane and tail that cascaded like a waterfall from the pony, giving her form a cute look.
The man then stopped as he realized that there one more things that he needed to complete this sketch: a cutie mark. This was the most important part of the pony, the thing that defined their talent and their personality. Shaun frantically wracked his brain trying to come up with an interesting mark and talent for his pony, looking around his apartment for anything that could inspire him. His eyes then settled upon a certain bookmark that rested on his desk. It was of a four leaf clover pressed onto a white background and a laminated front. He remembered that his mother gave him the bookmark when he graduated from high school, telling him that it would make him have good luck.
“Maybe that’ll work, a pony that can give others good luck,” Shaun said as he sketched out an image of a four leaf clover on the mare’s flank. He now everything to make this pony: a gender, a pony type, a unique mane and tail that defined the character, and most importantly a cutie mark. But a sketch wasn’t enough for him. Shaun was the type of person who was not willing to settle on doing things halfway. To make this pony complete, he had to color her.
“Ok, I need lucky colors for a lucky pony. So, I guess green and gold then.”
He began to go over the sketch, outlining the pony in the selected colors. He then selected yellow for the body and green for the mane and tail. After choosing a lighter green for the cutie mark he then used the same color for the eyes. Shaun then sat back to take a look at his new pony he drew, at all the little details he put into the art. After putting in a simple background another thought entered his mind.
“Hmm… I think I’ll call this pony Lucky,” he said as he added her name to the drawing and finished it. Now his little pony was complete and he knew that this would be the start of something great in his life. But every great pony needed a great story and so Shaun quickly typed up a story about how lucky grew up in Ponyville and how she got her cutie mark after finding that she was a very fortunate pony and how she could spread her luck to other with her magic. Finally Shaun added the most important part of her biography: her personality. She wanted her to be a happy optimistic pony but not overly hyperactive. She has to be smart, kind, caring, brave, and maybe a little on the mischievous side. Shaun found it odd that in making her personality, he found that he was giving all the qualities of what he thought would make a good friend or even a girlfriend. He could only shrug at this irony as he finished Lucky’s biography.
“Welcome to the world Lucky,” Shaun said as he printed out his picture of her and her bio, “I’m sure you and I are going to have fun together.”
Little did he know that soon he would be in for the surprise of his life.
Chapter 2 – A Wish Your Heart Makes
A few weeks had passed since Shaun created Lucky, and he found himself more attached to the pony with each time he spent on the computer when related to the unicorn. At first Lucky was just another drawing of another pony, just like the many drawing he made over the course of the year of characters from the show. But as time crept on Shaun realized that she was indeed different. She was his pony, and if he wanted to truly make a pony worthy of being in the same land as those from the show, he had to pour his time and energy into his creation.
It appeared like his other interests had gone by the wayside as he considered what to do next with the pony he created. Drawing characters from the show decreased while he continually created more pictures of Lucky not just for him but for others online to see. These drawings had Lucky doing different things from the mundane like walking through town or sleeping soundly in her bed to the extreme like traveling to strange and wonderful locations and participating in holiday events. But the one thing that they all had in common was that the young mare always had a smile on her face, one that would melt the heart of anyone that was having a bad day.
His interests went beyond just art as he crafted several fanfics with Lucky as the main character. Most of them were a slice of life story; a glimpse into a pony’s world, specifically Lucky’s where she went through her day helping and making friends. There were even a few where she helped Twilight and the rest of the Elements of Harmony and even met the Princesses. With each new story Shaun knew that he was building her life from just a mere biography to a more realistic character. It was like that he was making the pony more real with each passing day.
Shaun didn’t like to think of what he was doing as an obsession to a character. He had a life beyond Lucky and even beyond My Little Pony. He knew though that if he wanted to do something right, he had to do so with passion and devotion just as anyone would with what they enjoyed. Yet there were times thought that he wondered what life would be like if ponies were real, especially if Lucky was real. It certainly would be a lot more cheerful that the so called real world he lived and worked in. He imagined going to sleep and somehow waking up in Ponyville where the ponies would accept him and his life would be magical from then on. Even more so, he thought about what life would be like if Lucky appeared on Earth, bring her cheerful personality into his world. Sometimes he even dreamt of talking walks with the golden mare in a park or going to the movies with her.
Of course Shaun new that these were just dreams, never to become reality. He was not blind to the fact that it was impossible to bring Luck to Earth and have her live there as his friend just as he knew he could never travel to that place where ponies had fun. It was sobering seeing the barrier between reality and fantasy, never to be crossed but always there to remind him of what could or should be. Still he thought about the possibilities in his life of getting to meet that pony he created.
One night before bed Shaun looked at his latest picture of Lucky with her same cheery smile as if she was there smiling at him, for him. The more he thought about what he drew, the more his mind entered into that fantasy realm of seeing that pony not on a screen as an artwork or a story but really there in his apartment.
“You know Lucky, sometimes I wish you were real. Then we could have so much fun together. You’d certainly brighten up my day like you do with all those ponies you meet.”
Realizing that his wish would never come true no matter how much he wanted it, Shaun shut down his computer and got back into the routing of preparing for sleep. Unbeknownst to him, the line between reality and fantasy would soon be erased as one wish would be granted.
Chapter 3 - An Unexpected Visitor
Morning dawned as the sun streamed through the bedroom window, making with Shaun’s eyes. The young man groaned as he tried turned his body away from that which was trying to prevent him from keeping those few precious minutes of sleep that he could take advantage of. Before he could settle into a comfortable position, Shaun’s eyes opened yet again to the sound of a strange noise. To him it sounded like a thump, like someone was knocking on his door, only instead of it being the front door to his apartment it sounded like it came from his bedroom door. This made him think only one thing: someone was in his apartment!
He knew there was no use hiding under the covers like a scared child waiting for the monsters at night to go away. Lying down with the uncertainty of knowing who was in his room left the young man feeling very vulnerable, something he had to remedy as quickly as possible. To his horror, he felt the bed move as if someone or something had climbed up on top of it! It was like a nightmare, the grizzly stuff found in the newspapers about a serial killer murdering a family in their sleep. While crime wasn’t too commonplace in the city, every time the papers or the news on TV reported on it, there was always a chill running down his spine. Now it seemed that the terror written in ink or told in its digital details had come home, his home.
Shaun then realized that what he experienced could be a nightmare, one of those rare moments where it seemed so real that he could have sworn it was so. He had those times that he woke up in his room not knowing if he was back in reality or still in the dream. But there was something that made him realize that this was something more than just a dream.
This was actually happening. He realized that he was going to face whoever was head on rather than hide. He quickly sat up and in one fell swoop pulled off the covers. And that’s when he came face to face with not a human as he suspected. There standing on his bed was a very familiar pony, a unicorn mare with a golden coat and a green mane and tail. It was then in that brief second that he knew that he was staring at Lucky.
For a brief moment that felt lost in eternity, the human and the pony stared at each other, not sure how to react. It was like seeing an alien race, not sure what to do or think next.
“Um… hi?” Lucky said in an unsure tone.
“Aaaaahhh!” Shaun screamed partly in surprise which caused the pony to scream as well. The two backed up, trying to get away from each other as quickly as possible. In a matter of moments, Lucky caught her hooves in the bed sheets, causing her to suddenly fall backwards. Shaun as he tried to cope with seeing a pony, specifically the one he created, went too far back and smacked his head on the concrete wall. Lucky then fell off the bed, landing on her back with a thud. For the moment the unicorn staggered to her hooves and looked up as if being unsure that she saw the creature before her. As Shaun and her eyes met, Lucky suddenly passed out from the shock. Before Shaun could react, the world around him faded to black as he too fainted.
