The Sage

"Ugh, another one?!" Eric shouted in frustration at his laptop screen. Surely it would be cowering in fear at his almighty fury, if it could. The target of his wrath was yet another cliched fanfic where the protagonist has a bad life at home, then SUDDENLY, PONIES! Now the antagonist is in Equestria, which is suddenly doomed due to the return of [INSERT PREVIOUS VILLAIN FROM SHOW HERE]. Meh. Those kinds of stories always popped up, and Eric learned to become...relatively indifferent towards them. However, this one was so identical to the last bazillion that he could no longer control his rage. After he cooled down, Eric checked the clock. 3:28 in the morning. He always found it was easier for him to stay up until his alarm, rather than wake up at his alarm. He sighed, a mixture of melancholy and frustration at the cliched fic, and continued browsing.

Eric awoke with a start. He looked around to see, to his dismay, he was still on the bus. The day at school had been relatively average, except that he had no homework, a strange occurrence. But he wasn't complaining. Days like this were rare, and after all, he had fanfics to read. The bus shuddered to a halt in front of his driveway, and Eric walked down the aisle and off the stairs, his sneakers making a satisfying clomp on the familiar pavement of the driveway. As he plodded up the asphalt, he thought he heard something implacable. A twinkle, maybe? Weird..... Eric thought to himself as he twisted the front door open. He walked inside, being careful to make as little noise as possible- his mother might be sleeping upstairs. She slept a lot lately. Eric knew that his mother had depression, so he figured the sleeping might be a result of that, but she only did this once before. Could it be because of his brother? He thought she already got over it. Eric shrugged it off and trudged upstairs. He went over to his room and started to turn the doorknob when he heard.... a gasp? Is someone in my room? Eric wondered, then froze when he realized what that could mean.

He decided to check. He was a little bit tired after all. Maybe he was hearing things. He had to be hearing things. Nobody was in his room, he locked the doors and windows. His neighborhood was supposed to be safe. Eric steeled himself for what was probably nothing inside, and opened the door.

Inside he saw six living, breathing, flying, hiding, staring, bouncing ponies.