Side Effects may Include

After sitting on his bed for 5 minutes or so, feeling sorry for himself, Ken took out his phone and opened up the Netflix app. He needed something to ease his mind after all that had just happened.

He scrolled through the list of shows and movies that he could watch, most of them he had already seen, but a couple of them were new, but nothing eye-catching. Ken was furious, for it seemed like nothing could go right for him that night. Of course, what was going to happen next could be considered going right or wrong, but I’ll let you be the judge of that.

Most of the title cards (you know the things you click on to watch the show/movie) on Netflix’s list tended to be colored blue, orange, black, red, or green. So when there was a PINK title card in the mid-section of the list, it stood out like a sore thumb, causing Ken to direct his attention to it. When he saw what it was, he cringed.

“My Little Pony Friendship is Magic?!” Ken exclaimed, reading the title aloud. “Ugh, I thought that was just some dumb toy line some company made when I was younger, they really brought it back?” He shook his head. From what he remembered, there was a TV show that came out along with the toys when he was five or six called “The Newborn Cuties” or something like that.

As a kid, the only parts of the show that he saw came from promos on it that he had to slog through. He remembered them having mouths that didn't even move and creepy, soulless, sticker like eyes. Ken shivered at the reminiscent of them.

So basically now you can imagine that Ken wasn't too keen on watching THIS show. But then again, there was something about it that intrigued him. It just looked so colorful, or at least the cover art did. The pink that had caught his eye from before was from the show’s logo, and right below it were 6 cartoon, multi-colored ponies starring right back at him.

Ken couldn't help but smile at this. He hated to admit it, but this was the kind of thing he so desperately needed. Something that was happy and full of joy, something that could cheer him up after the sucky events prior. But of course, he still had his doubts.

“What if it turns out to be just like that other show?” He thought to himself. “What if I actually LIKE the show, I would either have to keep it a secret from my friends and family, or I would just tell them hoping they’ll still accept me. And what if, what if… what if….”

Ken starred directly into the screen, with the show still there, waiting for him to make his move. Ken longed for a release, to escape reality and all of its hardships for a while.

So without any second thoughts, Ken tapped on the show, and selected the first episode. And with that, he simply let himself be sucked into a world that was way more than he bargained for.