Seeing is believing

Beaten around the Bush.

"So this is what being dead feels like," I thought.

The line between the ocean and the starless sky. The point where the light from your flashlight ends deep within the woods. Your reflection in a dark room. Perfect silence. All these things paled in comparison to the absolute abyss Michael found himself laying face down in. The more he looked into the gloom, the more Michael found the emptiness invading into him, inviting him to become one with the nothing.

"It's not that bad actually,"

Is it now Michael?

The all too familiar voice sent shivers down my spine.

"Can't you just let me enjoy my last moments alone and in peace?"

The sound of footsteps begin to draw closer.

Now now Michael, we both know that you're never alone.

The footsteps stopped next to my head as he reached down and grabbed a handful of hair.

We both know that I'm going to be there for you.

He slowly pulls me up.

Even when you find that you have been abandoned and are now alone, I will be there for you

My face stairs back at me. Cold, calculating, and eyes devoid of any color besides the pinprick pupils that bore into your mind.

And when you have grown old and decrepit, when you have lost you resolution, when you have lost everything, I will be there for you.

His fist punches through my stomach, sending a cascade of blood out of my mouth

Then and only then my you die.

***

"Oh please open your eyes," a frantic voice calls out to me.

Reflexes take over as I roll onto my stomach and open my eyes just in time to see water come retching out of my mouth followed by a fit of coughing.

"Oh thank goodness you're alright," a timid voice frantically whispers.

Groggily I look up to see something I never expected to see. (and coming from a schizophrenic, that should say something). She was the cutest thing I had ever seen and she was standing over me with a concerned look on her face.

I don't know if it was the lack of oxygen from nearly drowning, or the fact that I was face to face with a yellow taking horse, but I began to laugh.

Actually cackle would be a better description. I've never been known to have a 'heartwarming' laugh.

The little pony took a step back in fright as I began to black out.

***

My Little Pony, My Little Pony, Ahhh, Ahh, Ahhhhhhhh

"Phhh! you're not really watching that are you?"

My Little Pony, I used to wonder what friendship could be;

"Helps deal with the depression"

Until you all shared it's magic with me.

"Watching a girl's show with the lights out helps you deal with depression?"

Big adventure; tons of fun

"Well I was considering heroin"

A beautiful heart; faithful and strong

A small smile creeps up on my lips.

"You know you shouldn't joke like that"

Sharing kindness; it's an easy feat

She shares a small smile

"It's actually pretty good, do you want to join me?"

And magic makes it all complete

"Why not, I didn't have anything else to do, that's why I came here"

My Little Pony

"Ouch, right in the pride"

We both know that she has a lot on her plate.

"Thanks Lilly"

You know you are my very best frieeeeeeeeend

***

A conversation stirred me out of the uncomfortable sleep I was having.

"Appears to be bipedal,"

"bipedal; got it"

"Only has hair on the top of it's head; black coloring."

"black hair; only top of head"

As I became aware of my surroundings, I noticed I was wrapped in a blanket and appeared to be lying on a couch much too small for me. Oh, and the mind numbing headache. That was pretty obvious too I guess.

"Hide is a pale cream sort of color"

"Pale, cream, okay."

My face was pressed against what I assumed to be the backing.

"Shows a heightened intellect, ergo the clothes"

"Air go clothes? What are those, Twilight?"

A sigh sounded from behind me.

"Not air go Spike, ergo; it means because of"

"Oh, why didn't you just say so"

"Just keep taking notes"

Twilight? Spike? Fluttershy? What was going on here? No hallucination had ever been like this before. I mean, there was this one time I was riding in the car on a dark night and all the trees turned into-. Suddenly the memory comes rushing back to me. The cold winter night, the screeching sound, and the blinding headlights that filled my vision.

"That's it," I thought, "I'm probably in a hospital bed, and this is my comatose brain trying to cope with the trauma, but why Equestria of all places?"

Until I could figure out otherwise, I decided to roll with it.

"I guess it could have been worse," I thought.

"Ugh, it seems to be emitting a foul odor"

That got my attention.

"You would be too if you wound up in a swamp," I snapped.

A shrill scream followed by the sound of hoofs on hardwood flooring assaulted my ears.

"Congratulations idiot, you just scared someone again," I mentally chided myself.

"I-i-it t-talks," stammered Spike.

"So do you, but you don't see me making a huge deal out of it," I mumbled.

In retrospect, the situation wasn't handled as well as it could have been, but in all fairness, I had just woken up in what very well could have been a hallucination of a pony trying to classify the new animal that had shown up. Plus my social skills have always been severely lacking. Oh, and did I mention the mind numbing headache?

Feeling bad (emotionally and physically) I rolled none too gracefully off the undersized couch and began to stand up and immediately regretted doing so. The room had obviously not been designed to accommodate six foot tall people. Unfortunately I only found this out after hitting my head against the ceiling. I groaned and found myself forced to hunch over.

On the far side of the room, a purple unicorn and a dragon stood as far back against the wall as they could, rooted to the spot in fear.

I decided it couldn't hurt to introduce myself.

I extended my hand in greating.

"Hi, my name is-"

Suddenly rainbow. Rainbow everywhere. Oh hello floor, how are you this afternoon?

"TWILIGHT, RUN I GOT THIS!"

I found myself flat on my back with a cyan pegasus hovering over me, so I did what anyone would have done if they had just been hit on the head one too many times. I applied pressure to my temples, rolled on my side, and curled up in the fetal position.

"Rainbow, wait!" cried Twilight.

"NOPONY EATS MY FRIENDS!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

"Rainbow, he wasn't trying to eat me, he was introducing himself!" exclaimed Twilight.

"So, he wasn't about to grab you and gobble you up?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"- Micheal." I finished with a groan.

"Is everypony okay?" Fluttershy whispered from around the corner.

"Ugggggghhhhhhh"