Finding Freedom

I woke up. At first I didn't dare open my eyes, terrified of the idea that I would see doctors and white walls. I didn't hear the music anymore, and the sound of the car had faded as well. Eventually I opened one eye to see… nothing (like when you close your eyes, but not black, just nothing). I moved an arm in front of me and I saw my hand. The clothes I had been wearing were still there, and I could feel the weight of my necklace. My knife was in my pocket, and my katana was laying on the ground next to me. No sign of my ipod though, shame.

I looked around and saw that I wasn't laying on anything, just kind of floating. I sat up and tried to put my feet on the floor. To my surprise I felt something solid under them. I stood up and jumped around. I felt really light , but at the same time incredibly heavy. I am a master of ignoring things, and convinced myself that feeling two opposites at once is completely normal. Not to mention that im currently in a big area of nothing.

For a little while I simply looked around, wondering if I had succeeded in awakening my spirit. I still had my body, so it looked like that was a no. Hopefully I wasn't in purgatory, that would blow. I was never a man of staying still and waiting for something to happen, so I grabbed my katana from the "floor" and started to walk.

For all I know I could have just been walking in place, I just know that it seemed like I had been walking forever. I suppose it's possible that I did, but I'm not going to think about that. Eventually, I came up with a great idea. I took out my katana and I shoved it into the "ground". The blade sunk in easily and stayed upright. My friend would understand, if I ever saw him again. I continued to walk and noticed with satisfaction that the blade was getting further away. I considered going back to grab it, but then I could be walking in circles and not even know it.

I continued to walk, and strangely I never felt tired. For a millennia I walked that wasteland of nothing, or maybe it was only a minute, It's hard to tell. Eventually something happened, I saw another man sitting on the "ground". As I got closer to him I noticed he was more of a boy, 17 at most. Or he could be eons old, but I have no idea.
I approached him and opened my mouth to talk, but he beat me to it.

"my name is Martin" he said "at least that's what they called me on earth".

"Glad to meet you, but would you happen to know where we are meeting at?"

He looked at me with a grin.

"I have no idea, and probably never will. I've been here an eternity, or maybe an hour. If you haven't noticed this place is very confusing. I wonder though, would you tell me how you got here?"

I stopped smiling and said "It's not a very happy story". He only shook his head. "Alright then, don't say I didn't warn you. I came from a planet called Earth, more specifically, Michigan. I woke up today, or is it yesterday? Whatever, one day I woke up and decided I had enough of life's bullshit, and I took my own life, in an attempt to free my spirit."

He looked at me and said "Then we aren't so different. I lived in Texas, and I hated it. everyone there looked down on me and made fun of me. You see I'm not the typical Texan, I like to use computers and think working out is a waste of time. Most of the other guys at school bullied me or worse, and anybody who tried to be friends with me were also bullied. I spent most of my time alone on the computer talking to others like me. One of them told me about this show that always made him feel good when he was down. It was called My Little Pony. Before you laugh at me let me explain. It was this show that was meant for little girls, but the ideas behind it were amazing".

He took a deep breath and started again "It was about true happiness and friendship, but it also preached about tolerance and loving each other. It was this that inspired me to kill myself. I thought if I could get to that world then I would be happy, and I could be accepted for who I am. When I did the act, I only though about that place and how badly I wanted to get there. Now I'm here with no idea of what's going on."

I looked at him and grinned "Well then, we should get going don't ya think?" He looked at me quizzically (how does one do that? do you just raise your eyebrow?). "Listen I know exactly what you're talking about, that show also inspired me to take my own life, maybe not to get there exactly, but I could live there. So get up and follow me, because we're going to get there no matter what, we will arrive in Equestria, even if there is no Equestria. Shall Heaven or Hell stand in our way, we won't be stopped!"

He nodded his head and stood up "You're crazy, you know that?"

I smirked "If I wasn't crazy then I would still be living a pathetic life on earth, so I'll take that as a compliment."

We walked for awhile in silence. We shared a few stories about what our lives on earth were like, but for the most part I wanted to forget the past and move on. Martin was 15 when he took his own life, making me the elder by 3 years. As we walked in silence I started to experiment with the nothingness around us. I could see no ground, but I could feel it. I expected a ground to be there, simply because there was ground everywhere.

Before I could get more into my philosophical reasoning, I was interrupted by a question from Martin.

"Uh… What's that?"

I looked up and my smile vanished. Sticking in the ground was my katana. Either I had accidentally walked back the way I came, or this place really did go in circles. I approached the blade and pulled it out of the ground. Doing so left a hole in the nothingness. I pushed my eye to the tiny hole and looked through. I could see shapes moving by my vision buy couldn't make anything out. Martin poked me and I let him look through.

For awhile he just looked, but shortly he exclaimed "That's Earth!"

"You sure about that?"

"Ya I can see the statue of liberty, the empire state building, all kinds of things. It's like I'm watching a TV show where the scenes go by quickly."

"Hold on, so when I tore a hole through the nothingness with my blade, I opened up a hole to earth? That makes sense. Now if I were to try again I wonder what would happen."

I took my katana and shoved it into the ground, but I dragged it and then pulled it out. I pulled on the tear in the nothingness to reveal… more nothingness.

"Well that was a dud" I sighed.

"Wait… What if it only opens when your thinking of something?"

"I can see that, I was thinking of Earth and my buddy who gave me this when I shoved it into the ground."

Martin took the katana from me and concentrated for a second. He opened his eyes and shoved the katana into the ground. He pulled it out and opened the tear. This time we got results. I could see flashes of vibrant color and lots of four legged creatures.

Martin jumped up and screamed "That's it! That's Equestria! Come on let's go through!"

I grabbed him before he could jump through. "Hold it, we have no idea if that’s safe. Let's try putting something through first. I took my hat off and said my goodbyes. I dropped the hat through the hole and watched. It changed as it went through. It became more cartoonish, ya that’s the word. It landed on some pony's head. He looked surprised and examined the hat. He smiled and put it back on his head and continued on.

"Enjoy it while you can pony" I grit my teeth "Cuz I'm going to get that back."

Martin looked at me nearly dying of excitement "Let's go, this is what I died for!"

I couldn't stop him and he jumped through the hole. I smiled at his enthusiasm and looked around for my sword. I then realized the horrible truth. Martin had took it with him! There were other places I had wanted to go before settling down in Equestria, so many adventures to be had. So much for that, looks like I was going in now.

Before I could go through the hole a voice called out "Stop!"

I turned to face…. Nothing, why was I surprised.

"Do not go in there, for you do not belong in there. You're friend already has made a grave mistake. You must go back to earth, for it is where you belong."

This guy had just managed to piss me off, quite an accomplishment for a disembodied voice. First he tells me to not do something, then he tells me to back to Earth, and finally he tells me that I belong there. I hated this guy with a passion.
"Alright mister disembodied voice guy. Just who the hell do you think I am?! I'm the defender of the universe and an immortal spirit! Who are you to tell me where I belong and where I can't go!"

The voice sounded confused "what is an immortal spirit, and there is no such thing as a defender of the universe. Your name is unimportant, what is important is that you take on a new body, back at earth."

"Immortal spirits are those who fight against fate, and those who would control us. Right now there is only me, but soon I will muster an army! I will free everyone from the oppression of fate and let them decide what they want, not some disembodied voice!"

If you haven't noticed yet, I'm making shit up right now. As I was shouting and distracting him I was inching closer to the hole. I hadn't yet thought that he was a disembodied voice and could be behind me. Even if he wanted to stop me he probably couldn't. As soon as this thought entered my head I changed tactics.

"Wait, why am I arguing with you? You're a disembodied voice and I'm in the middle of nothing. It doesn't make any sense, so I'm going to ignore you and the fact that there is a hole to a world based off a TV show, and just go in."
I did just that. Without waiting for a response I jumped through the hole. A tingling sensation went through my body as I fell. As soon as I was through the hole behind me closed and I hit the ground. Hard.