My Extremely Painful Life
My Painful Life
Hi, my name is Brandon Valentine. I'm a 16 year old teen with blonde hair and blue eyes who just happens to like My Little Pony. I watched the show when I remembered how everyone said this show had an amazing story. I watched the episodes and I loved it because of the characters and the lessons about being kind to one another. And now I'm a huge fan but my parents don’t understand why I love this show. When they first found out after I came out as a Brony, they thought it was not right and my dad yelled at me for liking My Little Pony. They think its weird for a guy to like this stuff and I cried in bed knowing that they will never understand me, and not even the kids at high school. I go to school wearing my Fluttershy shirt with the words "Yaaay..." on it, and people teased me about it. They said I looked gay and I was probably a creepy pedo (I don't even like kids!) who did it to kidnap kids. All the girls make these weird faces when I'm around them but they are nicer to me, I think they understand a little more how I feel but I don't think they do like My Little Pony as much as me when they try talking to me. In days like this, I just wish I could disappear, I lock myself in the bathroom stalls in school sometimes and cry myself knowing no one will get to understand the magic of Friendship.
No one will ever understand me...
But one day, after I was watching the episode where Fluttershy needed to get more confident about herself when she dealt with Iron Will on my bed with my iPad 3, I thought it would be amazing to have friends who would understand my feelings, even when I'm not always being a nice person cause of how people never treat me with kindness. I look at how the Mane 6 get along so well and they are so different from each other. I would trade in my entire life to just have one of them be my friend, but its just a cartoon and cartoons are fake. Or I thought they were...
Out of nowhere, I had a really bright flash face my eyes and I couldn't see for a bit, but I didn't hear anything for some reason. And what I saw, I couldn't believe with my own eyes. As I could see better, I notice something small walking to me and it was... Fluttershy.
She walked up to me slowly and she has such a nice smile, I can never forget how that smile makes my heart feel happy. Then, I saw her open her mouth.
“Why do you look sad” the light gold pony told me, with the gentlest smile I ever seen.
“I'm not sad… I'm just… thinking” I said, trying to look cool in front of my favorite pony.
“Its okay if you don't feel happy. I know how my pets feel when they are down but you don’t look like any animal I seen.” She said, with a confused look.
“Well, I'm not an animal!” I shouted, annoyed that I was called that. I felt so upset that my favorite pony even saw me as a animal and not a person.
“Oh please don’t get angry at me, I was just trying to make you feel better.” Fluttershy cried out, I felt bad seeing her face almost in tears that she tried covering up with her hooves.
“It's okay, I just am not my normal self when I'm like this. It happens when people don’t understand me.” I said in a more gentle tone, trying to be nicer.
“Oh, its... Okay." Fluttershy said, still looking a bit scared. I tried saying something that would help her calm down.
“I'm a human from planet earth, you all come from this show call My Little pony: Friendship is Magic.” I said, as I showed her with my iPad 3.
“Oh my… I'm not in my world am I?” Fluttershy said, in a worried tone.
“I'm afraid so, it looks like we will have to get you back with your friends, I promise I'll help” I said in a confident voice, as I looked into her eyes while petting her mane.
“Oh, Brandon. That's so nice... of you." Fluttershy said with a gentle smile, as her face was looking at the side for a bit.
"You treat me so well. Not like my family or classmates, who make me horrible to even be alive." I complimented, as I got up from my bed to wake my body.
"Well... Us ponies are gentle creatures." Fluttershy said, with a nicer smile than I have ever seen before, still looking a little to the side which I thought was weird.
"You think I can meet your friends?" I asked, hoping that I can finally escape my suffering of being here.
"Oh...Ummm... Sure, I don't... See why not?" Fluttershy said with a weird pause, she probably feels excited to see how much of a good person I'll be.
I even blushed a little in thinking I how lucky I got to be friends with one of the Mane 6. I never felt happier in my life, and this is the first time I feel that I can finally be who I want to be. I could finally find somepony who understand me and can make me happy.
This is the start of my friendships.
"The Reality of my Life"
I’m not really the person that I seem to be to those around me. I wish that I didn't have to keep a lot about me inside but at times, I felt like it a necessity. People happen to be kind of difficult to understand from time to time and it isn't my idea of fun to work around the complexity of what goes through a person’s head. That’s where my love of a show called My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic comes from. I know many people claim to love the show for reasons most of the fans hear often, but I feel a little different when it comes to that. It’s not the colorful visuals, the kind-hearted atmosphere, or even the fact that a lot of the characters in this show are more interesting than the people I meet. To me, I just loved the simplicity of it all. The simplicity of knowing everything that can go wrong in this fictional universe can be resolved in a twenty-one minute or a two-parter episode between a battle of good and evil. I wish things could be that simple in reality but sometimes, maybe its best to live a more simple life. Sure it might not be all that exciting, but I'd take an easygoing life over the reality of knowing just how terrible it is to live in fantasy. I write this as a reminder to myself in knowing that no matter what happens, I'll never have to go back to Equestria. It's not something a fan of the show should or would say, but I damn well know that I can finally be content with staying here where I truly belong.
It all started on Friday night. There were no dark stormy clouds, heavy rain drops making contact on my bedroom window, or even a sound of thunder. It was just a typical night, nothing that would be out of the ordinary. I would just see it as another night where I could finally chill for a bit with a small bag of chips resting next to my laptop, hearing the audio with my earbuds at a low volume setting, lying comfortably on my bed with my eyes fixated on the screen as Twilight is trying to make sense out of the Pinkie Sense. I couldn’t tell whether I should laugh at the futility of a situation where Twilight was trying to find a logical explanation for the illogical, or find it more questionable that a writer expects kids to believe that some things exist without explanation.
Before I had time to even answer my own question, I heard a knock on my door
“Hey, Samson! I need to talk to you for a second” I heard across the door, as my muscles quickly motioned my hands to slap the laptop shut as I realized my father was likely here for another one of these “talks”.
“Just a second!” I quickly responded as I got off my bed and proceeded to walk to my door, already mentally preparing myself for another talk on my odd enjoyment of a show meant for little girls. My own parents thought I must have been gay for liking this show because as the old stereotype goes; there are boy toys and girl toys. I thought it was absurd enough that they even considered me to be a pedophile for a time when I decided to buy one little figurine of Twilight Sparkle, my favorite pony. I wish I was kidding and that it was just a bad joke I made but my family was the last group of people who would find something like this norma. They constantly mention to me that it’s not right, how I should be playing sports or doing something else that they wanted whenever they see me do this on my own time. Maybe I’m exaggerating on their fears but who knows, I’m not my parents.
I proceeded to unlock the door and I turned to the doorknob to find my father looking to me. I considered him a rather well rounded kind of guy. Well-built, tall, broad shoulder kind of man, someone who looks more like someone who should be working in physical labor over a customer service supervisor. From the looks of it, it looks like he just got back from work as he’s holding his coat right behind his back, with his tie all loosen up, his shirt now wrinkled up, makes me wonder if it was raining over the other side of town where he worked.
“What’s up, dad?” I casually asked, trying to act as normal as I could to avoid suspicion.
“I was just gonna let you know that you need to pick up the mail today. Here’s the key to the mailbox.” My father said as he handed me the key, looking a tad bit awkward as his eyes would look to the side a little more often than I normally expect some people to do.
“Oh, no problem. I’ll be back in a bit” I said as I was preparing to put on a pair of blue slippers that I swore were more comfortable than going around barefoot. As I finally got done being ready, my father had already gone back to his room so I didn’t have to worry about what I was doing to say to him today.
Guess it was my lucky day.
I took a left turn once I got out of my room and as I headed straight to the living room, I could have sworn I heard footsteps right behind me. I didn’t think much of it, maybe my old man wanted to walk around a little bit and I wasn't going to make sudden face contact out of the blue, so I just made way to the door and proceeded to exit the quaint little mobile home we were temporarily staying at. I went down the little staircase connected to our home. I focused my eyes to the mailboxes, which were conveniently placed just outside our mobile home entrance. I began to walk to the mailbox, hearing nothing but my own steps and the sound of the crickets. which was conveniently right next
Until I heard the sounds of someone running behind me.
“What the fuck!?” I thought as I quickly turned around to see if someone was behind me. I was expecting to see a dog, a skipping rock, or even a psychotic killer on the loose. But much to my disappointment and relief, I saw nothing but the pavement, devoid of any life say for it being filled to the brim with parked cars. I started feeling that maybe someone could have been hiding, which alleviated my disappointment but raised my discomfort. Not wanting to be a sitting duck any longer, I quickly focused my eyesight to find our mailbox, number 13.
“I swear, it’s like misfortune loves to keep me company” I thought, amused at how this isn’t the first time number 13 keeps appearing to me in the most random of all places. I quickly placed the key inside the keyhole and turned it, ready to pick up whatever was in store for us.
As I pulled the mailbox handle, I only saw a small dark object lying down.
“No mail for today? Did the mail guy mess up the delivery again?” I half-halfheartedly chuckled, as I reached out to grab whatever this thing was.
No senders name, no address of any kind, no stamp, nothing. Nothing could tell me where this thing came from. Not that I expected when it’s literally just a black piece of plastic. My eyes noticed a grey line circling across this thing on the middle. My fingers felt a space between it so I used both hands to see if they could be pulled apart, and it turns out it’s a USB flash drive.
“I would hand that item back if I were you” A feminine voice spoke from behind, with a unknown sound being omitted from behind me.
At that moment, I froze like a statue. How could I been sneaked up from behind without hearing anything? I didn’t know what to do at that moment. So many possibilities, a mugger, a killer, a rapist, a mobster, a greedy pawn shop owner, so many options raced in my head. It’s one of those moments where I wish I could have said something cocky or even pulled out a weapon to leave this situation in an impasse to even out the odds. Unfortunately, I’m a 16 year old teen. Not a dashing hero or renegade badass.
“I do not wish to harm you, but it is my duty to do what is needed to protect my kingdom and friends. And I will not, hesitate, especially when I know what your kind can be capable of.” The voice said in an almost regal fashion, now that I think about it, it started to sound more familiar the more I thought about it. Then, I said the most random thing I ever could have pulled out of my head
“Twilight?” I blurted, letting out a nervous chuckle
“So you know me, just like the other one.” The supposed Twilight stated, with a hint of venom in her words.
“Hey, I was just kidding. I don’t even know who you are. I’ll give you back this thing” I exclaimed as I turned around ready to hand the black USB, only to be hit by a purple ray of light. I thought I was dead, but to my amazement, I still felt my body kicking, if not feeling scared shitless, so I figured it was time to get the hell out.
Only to realize how fruitless my efforts were. I tried to run away but I couldn’t move! It was like if my body turned to stone, and my lips were sealed shut with a zipper. I never felt so defenseless in my life, and it didn’t help that the light was so bright that I could barely make out what was in front of my eyes.
“If all goes well, I will return you to your world. If not, then that will be up for the rulers of Equestria to decide.” Stated this regal sounding person that sounded like Twilight. I decided that if I was going to die at this moment, then I might as well just accept it, I mean, what else I was gonna do?
With an even brighter flash of light appearing on my eyes, I felt my whole world swallowed away from existence. Little did I know I was going to see in this other side.
And I hope no one will ever have to go through with what I went through.
