My day started out like any other, with the barely risen sun and a warm breeze stirring the palm trees; I always woke up early, regardless of when I went to sleep. Today was no different in this manner. As a matter of fact, no day was different in this manner. The days wore on and blended together, and I couldn't keep track of when one ended and another began. How was I to know that life as I knew it was about to change forever? More on that later. For now, sit back, relax, and eat your popcorn. I'll be detailing my life up until the point everything changed. I'm Toby Pratt by the way. Nice to meet you.
Years ago, I stood outside on the front stoop, watching the storm clouds roll in and challenge the sun's rays. Sometimes I wished I could be like the storm clouds, never afraid of getting beaten down, relentless, and usually victorious. To be able to say that just once I was able to win against my enemies would have been the greatest gift imaginable. As it was, I never had the drive to do any of that. Once again, more on that later.
I never explained how I got into that situation, did I? Let me get right on that. I'm a Sophomore in a college in northern California, and have very little friends but plenty of enemies. Bullying has been a constant factor in my life since the first grade, and for the longest time I just accepted it as a part of life. I never really fought back or responded to the bullying in any way, I just let it happen. Well, I used to let it happen. Ever since my father's death at the beginning of Junior year in high school I stopped letting it roll off, the reason being that in a letter he'd sent me from Afghanistan he told me in no uncertain terms that I needed to fight back: that I needed to, "Teach those rat bastards a lesson for messing with my son. S.Y.O.T.O.S., Champ..." The next day a man in Navy SEAL formal dress showed up at my house and I could tell from the look on his face that my father was...that my father had passed. From that moment on my life became different. Bad grades, detention, letters of referral, misdemeanor offenses, and fist-fights in the hallways became the norm until I got to college.
Nothing good really happened to me any more, except for the fact that kids at school were finally afraid of messing with me. All I really had left that made me happy was the horse ranch my father had helped maintain. With him gone, the co-owner became the sole owner and declared me as his second-in-command. The man's name was Old Man Branson and he, along with my father, had built Redrock Ranch from the ground up (given that over half of the horses were wild mustangs at one time or another this was quite the accomplishment). Old Man Branson had always treated me like he would a grandson, and things were no different after my father's passing.
One of the worst things about losing my father was that I lost my mother as well. After the SEAL had arrived at our doorstep and told us the news about my father, my mother slipped into a deep depression for almost a full year, and during this time I practically had to raise myself. It wasn't too hard for me (after all I liked being alone), but it took its toll on my mother. She knew that what she was doing was wrong; locking herself in her room and leaving me to my own devices, but she'd been with my father since eighth grade and clearly didn't know how to live without him. The war she waged within herself was brutal, guilt over shutting me out and a determination to be there for me battling head-on with debillitating grief over losing my father. Eventually, perhaps inevitably, my mother couldn't bring herself to battle anymore. It was as simple as that. She gave up trying to fight off the depression and took her own life to escape from it, leaving me utterly alone.
I was handed off to Social Services and would have bounced from foster home to foster home had Old Man Branson not battled for guardianship over me. Now I live away from the hustle-and-bustle of the city, but I still go to college because the students there are Somewhere along the way I'd discovered the show My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and absolutely fell in love with it, perhaps for the reason that every adorable pony had a friend, and none were left to live on their own. In addition, the fans known as Bronies are some of the nicest people I've ever met. Now, living my life with the lingering knowledge that I had no family left, I find myself imagining what it would be like to live in Equestria with Twilight and all of the others. What would it be like to join them in that carefree life? What would it be like to be a pony rather than a human? Even though I'd never know the answers, I still asked and dreamed about those questions.
* * *
"Oooo, this one is going to be fun to mess with!" a creature with the body of a dragon and the limbs of several other animals declared with glee. He set about preparations for what may yet be his greatest scheme ever. The chaos this small act would bring made his wings flutter in excitement.
"Get ready, Celestia. Your world is about to become a lot less peaceful. All it takes is one human discovering something for more to come and take it for themselves. Chaos reigns!" with that, Discord activated the portal that would change life in Equestria as everypony knew it, and with a *POP* the draconequus vanished.
