The Brony That Wasn't

by ImperfectXIII

Rating: everyone
Tags: Princess Celestia, Slice of Life, Human, Main 6, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Comedy
Length: 5542

A brony thinks he isn't a brony. Touchy-feely hilarity ensues.

I am not a brony. I firmly stand by that statement. I appreciate decent TV shows and the occasional fan-made work as much as the next guy, but you don't see me collecting pony figurines or walking around in a shirt that reads "20% Cooler". I'll say it again: I am not a brony. ...Am I?

(My first foray into FIMFiction: a shameless self-insert, loosely based on events that actually happened -- the first part at least. No offense meant toward readers or bronies in general. Similarities with other works, circumstantial or otherwise, are completely unintentional.)

Published 2012-11-16 15:20:01 UTC
Last updated 2012-11-16 15:20:01 UTC

Chapter 1

‘Brony’.

Noun.

A term used to refer to male (and sometimes female) fans of the newest animated incarnation of Hasbro’s My Little Pony franchise – namely, Lauren Faust’s “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic”. Typically range from 14 to 30 years of age.

…Dear God, is this what the internet has come to?

Now, before you get all up on my jock, I’ll be fair. I know the fan base of every popular TV show, movie, video game, or what-have-you has more than its fair share of…shall we say…over-enthusiasts. I usually choose to avoid associating with such individuals for fear of what’s left of my sanity. It’s a more than decent show; I acknowledge that. But know this: try to drag me into an argument over ‘who is best pony’ or treat this fan base as a cult of some kind (I’ve heard the phrases ‘welcome to the herd’ and ‘resistance is futile’ more times than I’d care to recall), and my hand can’t hit the ‘Ignore’ button fast enough. I’m that fed up.

So let me state it for the record: I hate the word ‘brony’.

No, I don’t mean to say I hate bronies themselves (well, maybe a nameless few who fall into the ‘over-enthusiasts’ category I mentioned earlier). I mean I hate the term itself and what it stands for. Because to me, in my head, the word ‘brony’ refers to people who follow the show religiously. People who spend small fortunes on and collect My Little Pony memorabilia. People who, for whatever reason, work stock words and phrases from the show and fanon into their everyday vocabulary. I am not one of those people. I will never be one of those people.

Am I being mean? Maybe a little.

Am I in complete denial? Quite possibly.

But this is what My Little Pony has done to the internet, and damn it all, this is what the internet has done to ME!

Now, don’t get me wrong. Friendship is Magic is a great show, and I’m thankful for having discovered it. In fact, I’d be lying if I said my TV experience hasn’t been made considerably better because of it. And I’ve tried on more than one occasion to get friends and family into it as much as I am…

…to very little success, disappointingly.

I remember sitting in class one Wednesday afternoon a few months back. There are only about ten students in the room out of the fifteen on the roster, and the professor hadn’t shown up yet. (This came as a shocker to no one, by the way.) I’m talking to two friends of mine about TV shows we’ve all recently gotten into – one of them is really into The Legend of Korra – when I say – and I quote:

“You ever check out ‘My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic’?”

The look I got from the two of them was one of…confusion, maybe? Like they were saying ‘did I really just say that?’ with their eyes. One of them laughed – not at me, mind you, it was more of a surprised laugh, like she just didn’t expect it – while the other steered the conversation toward the new ThunderCats.

Okay, that’s fine. It’s just two people. Can’t change the world in a day. I let it go. No big deal.

I think the bigger eye-opener came this past Christmas holiday, when my brother and I stayed a few nights over at a cousin’s house.

So it’s me, my brother, and my cousin crammed into a 20-square-foot room doing nothing but playing Wii Sports Resort and blasting Lupe Fiasco on the stereo. I’m kicking ass in golf when, once again, the topic of TV comes up and, once again, I can’t help but bring up My Little Pony.

“What?”

That was the reaction my cousin gave, like I’d just said something offensive. Now, I knew the guy; I knew most of his interests and turn-offs, and I fully expected this reaction. The three of us had grown up in the 90’s, and My Little Pony (at least its earlier generations) was purely female-centric. They had ponies and Barbie dolls; we had Transformers and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. So I go on to explain how Friendship is Magic had much going for it: the writing was excellent, the characters were distinct and likeable, the music was catchy as hell, and the lessons it had to teach were meaningful without seeming forced. Plus, I went on to explain how the show was spearheaded by one of the most talented story artists and animators in the business: Lauren Faust.

“Who’s Lauren Faust?”

“The wife of Craig McCracken,” I explained.

“Is that the guy who did Dexter’s Lab?”

I fought off the urge to facepalm; my hand was already a couple inches off my lap. But I was patient with him, as well as my brother who was also in the room and equally as skeptical. So I told them both: sit down, watch an episode, maybe you’ll like it. (If we weren’t in the middle of a game, I’d have likely played one for them then and there.) If you don’t like it, fine. I’m not gonna twist your arm.

“Whatever, brony.”

…My concentration for the rest of that golf game was shot to hell. I still won, but only barely. I don’t know why being called a brony at that moment rattled me as much as it did. Maybe it was because of my stance on the term. Or maybe it was because he said it in a way that made it sound like a racial slur. Like any show with the words ‘My Little Pony’ in the title was something to be mocked or reviled, and that admitting I watched it somehow made me less of a human being. I know, of course, this isn’t at all what he meant by it. But still, it got me thinking.

Being someone who spends more than half of his existence on the internet, I hear stories all the time of people who get into the show at the urge of friends and family members and how much better off their lives are for it. Yes, I know some of those stories are exaggerated, but whatever. I kind of felt like…doing my part, if that makes sense. Share a TV show I like with the people I love. But seeing my brother and cousin shrug off my ‘sales pitch’ and effectively count themselves among the ‘hater crowd’ sort of put things into perspective. I knew for a fact that no one in my family would give this show a second thought, regardless of the nice things I had to say about it. I knew. Guess it goes to show how narrow-minded and judgmental of a family I was born into, but I don’t hold it against them.

I just…sort of wish I had someone to talk it out with. That isn’t asking too much, is it?

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Monday afternoon. The week after winter break.

I step out onto the front porch of my house dressed in light winter clothes. The sun shines reasonably brightly, considering the weekend we’d just had. There are only a few clouds in the sky, and most of the snow’s already been cleared away. The wind presses lightly against my face such that it offsets any heat I feel from the sun’s rays. It was pretty nice out.

Yup. Today was gonna suck. I could feel it.

I’m not pessimistic by nature, but thanks to the sun (that trolling bastard) glaring through the blinds of my bedroom, I’ve been waking up before my alarm clock everyday this month, pretty much guaranteeing that I spent the better part of my afternoon in a bad mood. So much for hoping today would be different. And now I had a midday class and evening class to deal with on top of it. Screw it. I’ll sleep on the train.

With a sigh, I start down the street toward the bus stop, hands pocketed, the music playing in my ears an effective distraction from the monotony. Before I could fully surrender myself to the tune though, a dog across the street barks at me. Never fails. Every day with this. A sign of things to come, to be sure.

Luckily, I had my music to lift my spirits. Almost nothing put me in a good mood faster, made all the better since I’ve added several My Little Pony songs and fan-made music pieces to my playlist.

As expected, the walk from my house to the bus stop was an uneventful one. Hopefully, my trip to school today would be without incident. One block away, however, something catches my eye. Something that stops me in my tracks. For the briefest of moments, a glint of light reflected in the rearview of my glasses draws me away from the song playing in my ears and toward the street corner I’d just passed. “The hell?” There was nothing particularly out of the ordinary. Nothing stood out. Probably just the sun reflecting off a car window, I deduced. I was just about to continue on when an oily creak and noisy hiss coming from some ways ahead of me drags my eyes back to the forefront. There goes my bus. “Aw, come on! Are you serious?!”

It would be a solid ten minutes before another bus showed up. This really was gonna be one of those days.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I step off the bus at the last stop, all the while cursing my steadily growing bad luck. I’d gotten a thick piece of bubblegum stuck to the bottom of my left sneaker just as I’d gotten on the freakin’ deathtrap, and as I left my seat to disembark, I’d struck an overhead steel pole with the crown of my head. That’s gonna be sore for at least several minutes.

At this point, the fact that I was still standing was nothing short of a miracle.

Upon swaying my way through a crowd of people, I pause momentarily to check the time. All things considered, I was still making good time, and I’ll take my blessings, no matter how small, whenever I can get them. Especially on a day starting out like today.

My hands still pocketed, I make my way down the street leading to the train station. Barring any further misfortune, if I board the train now, I’ll be in the area of my school with time left over to grab some lunch.

And because I just thought that, I had a sinking feeling I wouldn’t be making it to class today.

About a quarter of the way there, I observe a guy roughly my age walking toward me. He had a cellphone pressed firm against his ear, speaking obnoxiously loudly into it as his eyes wander. Hey, buddy, you wanna maybe watch where you’re walking? Even with me pressing up against the brick wall to my right, there was no way to avoid bumping into him. I would’ve cut around to his other side, but we were both walking too fast. The inevitable occurs: my shoulder brushes his elbow. Before I could even say I was sorry (force of habit), he sneers at me.

“Watch it.”

Yeah, well, screw you too, pal. I’m not a pushover by any stretch of the definition, but I tend to avoid confrontations if I can help it. That being said, if I find someone’s being an insufferable asshole, I’ll call them out on it.

I’d have said something back, but I stopped myself for two reasons: one, the guy wasn’t worth my time, regardless of how much of it I had to spare; and two, something else drew my attention away from him. As I glance back to stare daggers at the guy, I catch sight of a fuzzy pink blur in the distance that was there one second and gone the next. Nothing that seemed worthy of mention, mind you, but enough that it broke my walking pace.

What’s more…I had the disturbing feeling that I was being watched.

Granted, I don’t live in the most reputable of cities (far from it, in fact), but nothing really bad ever happens around here. For me to feel as uncomfortable as I was at that moment…it was off-putting. I wanted to get on the train as quickly as possible.

I secure my headphones and double-time it down the sidewalk. Every few seconds, I look back to make sure nothing was following me, giving just cause to the small handful of looks I started to receive from passersby. Had I passed by a cop, he’d have surely stopped me to check if I was holding.

Something zips by overhead, casting a shadow over me for a split second before disappearing. Too large to be a bird, and too fast to be an airplane. I crane my head up to see what it was (or might’ve been), and all I see is a faint trail of colors that hangs in the air over the rooftops for several moments. What the hell was I trying to get away from?

The pink blur from earlier appears at the far end of the street I was walking toward. It was just behind me; now it’s ahead of me?

In a mild panic, I veer right, off the beaten path, in an effort to shake off whatever pursuer (or pursuers) I thought I had. It’s only when everything around me goes dark that I finally stop. In my state of anxiety, I had absentmindedly wandered into a parking garage. It’s here that I decide to take a moment to catch my breath; I’d been walking too fast (much faster than I normally walk) and was starting to get winded. Good lord, I’m out of shape.

I check the time again. Wasn’t running late yet.

Just my luck. I go to sleep late every night for the past week or so, and now I was paying for it. I was starting to see things. Pretty sure that not even the most psychedelic of mushrooms would cause me to believe pink blobs were following me through the city. Or maybe they would, but I wasn’t exactly eager to find out. I eat unhealthily enough as it is.

I heave another sigh. I’ve dwelled on this for far too long. With a full 180, I prepare to make my way toward the nearest source of sunlight.

But due to my inattention to my surroundings, I fail to notice something move through the dark to my backside. It stood about two-thirds my height and was on all fours.

“SHIT!”

The sight of the thing nearly knocked me off-balance. It was too dark to make out exactly what it was; I immediately thought it was some kind of overgrown guard dog. As my thoughts raced, I picked a direction at random and just ran.

If I listened closely enough, I could just barely make out a voice calling out to me from behind, but I was too panicked to focus. For all I knew, staying still was the difference between walking out of here with my limbs intact and a trip to the emergency room.

Every possible exit from the parking garage was blocked off by another four-legged creature obscured by shadows, each one’s silhouette slightly distinctive from the last. And each time the echoing voice called out to me, it sounded different. I felt trapped. I could only work my way up, toward the garage’s upper levels, until enough distance was put between me and the voices.

My brain was working at a hundred miles an hour as I ran, trying to process what was happening. Just what was happening? Who or what was following me? Where were those voices coming from? Was something trying to kill me, or at the very least cause me harm? Who would try to hurt me? And why? I don’t remember doing anything recently to piss anyone off. Was I having a nightmare?

The blinding light of the sun draws me out of deep thought, and I nearly stumble as I reach the roof. Only a few cars were parked way up here, and the only person around was me. I could no longer hear the voices, though the muffled sound of footsteps told me I was still being followed. And they were getting louder by the second. Oh, dear God, I’m gonna die. I’m gonna die up here. I’m gonna be torn limb from limb and left for dead in a pool of my own blood.

“Gotcha!”

A tomboyish voice jerks my head to its source. There, I find yet another four-legged creature, presumably having been waiting for me to arrive. And in the light of the afternoon sun, I could see her clearly. A coat as vibrant blue as the summertime sky. Eyes a vivid reddish pink. A mane that shimmered with every color of the rainbow. Outstretched wings that kept her afloat. And upon her flank, a depiction of a rainbow-colored lightning bolt.

…Rainbow Dash.

Holy shit.

I gawk at her for what feels like an eternity, my mind a complete and utter blank. My mouth goes bone dry, and I could swear that my heart had stopped beating.

“…Uh, you okay?”

I hold back from screaming my head off, but a small yelp escapes my lips, catching her by surprise. My knees go weak and I stumble backward, moving away until my back makes contact with the front bumper of a BMW. It’s official: I’ve gone crazy. Reality rears its ugly head, and I fully acknowledge this as a hallucination.

I secure my headphones over my ears again, making sure I hear nothing but the music. I have no idea what Rainbow Dash does at this point in time, as I’ve long since clenched my eyes shut. I wasn’t sure what was happening, but I refused to accept it as real, and just prayed that it would be over soon. This was no TV show. This was not fan fiction. Something was seriously wrong with my head. I’m pretty sure I was mumbling to myself – something along the lines of “go away” or “leave me alone” – but the music drowned out my frantic mutterings.

If the way I’m reacting to all this comes as a surprise, get used to it. I don’t just blindly accept something that has absolutely no physical way of happening. It’s just the way my brain is wired. But anyway, back to me losing my mind.

In fact, I’m fairly certain I’d have collapsed under the pressure of my own shattering mind if an intense yet also soothing warmth hadn’t washed over me when it did. It was calming, reassuring. In an instant, I felt the terror and anxiety melt away, leaving only the sensation of being wrapped in a warm blanket. Slowly I open my eyes and find the magnificent Princess Celestia standing over me, her body and mine both enveloped in a tender golden light. Is she…using magic on me? Once she was sure I had calmed down, the glow left us, and she takes a sympathetic step back. To her left and right sides, I see not only Rainbow Dash, but also Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Twilight Sparkle.

Princess Celestia and the Elements of Harmony themselves.

And they were all smiling at me.

I yank my headphones off so that anything they had to say would come in loud and clear. Even now, I had trouble processing this. Princess Celestia and the Elements of Harmony – characters I had until now perceived as imaginary – looking down on me like it was no big thing.

Princess Celestia was the first to break the undoubtedly awkward silence. “My sincere apologies if my little ponies and I frightened you, sir.”

Oh, wow. Her voice was even more angelic than the show had led me to believe. I still stared in dumb speechlessness at them all.

“Hello? Anypony home?” Rainbow Dash enters with. No doubt my bewildered look was starting to get to her.

Applejack scolds her. “Rainbow, hush! Cain’t ya see he’s in a tizzy over all this?” ‘In a tizzy’? Sure. Let’s go with that. “Ah’m awful sorry,” she says to me. “Would ya like a minute ta collect yerself?”

“I…” I started low, steadily working my way up to normal speaking volume. “I think I’m okay. H-How is this happening? Why are you all here?”

This is where Pinkie decides to jump in. “Well, first we had to follow you from where we popped into your world, right? You weren’t exactly hard to keep an eye on, but Princess Celestia said we couldn’t talk to you unless you were alone. So we had to draw you into a situation where you would BE alone! It was super-duper-fun too, ‘cuz I treated it like it a game! I got to be all sneaky! And I LOOOOOVE being sneaky! But it was also kinda tricky too, ‘cuz you almost caught me a couple times! And I was afraid if you caught me, the game would be over! And that wouldn’t have been any fun! A game isn’t any fun if it ends too early–”

“PINKIE PIE!!!” The rest of the group, save for Princess Celestia and Fluttershy, cries to their hyperactive pony friend.

“Oops! Sorry!”

I cover my mouth to stifle a laugh. Pinkie’s happy, overexcited behavior was why she was my favorite out of the ‘Mane Six’. Any sliver of unease I might’ve still had was now gone.

I think Pinkie picks up on this, because her smile stretches even wider. “Hee-hee! Look, I made you smile!” Suddenly, her ears perk up at the sound of the music playing through the headphones in my hand. Leaning in some, she gives a listen. “Ooh! I can hear music! Can I listen? Can I?!”

Saying nothing, I slip the headphones over her ears and place my iPhone in her hooves. Soon, she was off in her own little world, bouncing up and down to whatever beat she was listening to. I would’ve asked her to be careful with it, but as active as Pinkie Pie was, I didn’t take her as the kind of pony to be careless with others’ belongings.

Twilight shakes her head at this and steps forward. “I’m sure what you meant was ‘why are we here in your world?’, and the answer’s pretty simple actually. Princess Celestia heard your wish being cast across the realms and requested we accompany her to come and find you.”

My wish? I wished for them to come here? I don’t remember making any… Wait.

I just…sort of wish I had someone to talk it out with. That isn’t asking too much, is it?

That… That can’t have been it, can it? I make a wish, and suddenly the Elements of Harmony appear before me? If it were that simple, Princess Celestia would be hearing the wishes of over a million other people.

“You’ve been feeling terribly lonely,” Rarity chimes in with, “haven’t you, darling?”

“…I guess.” I’m not really sure how else to answer, as technically she isn’t wrong. But still, they answered my wish because I was lonely? Because I’m the only one in my family who likes a TV show? How do I go about explaining that? And even if they accept my explanation, what makes me so special? I’m a nobody.

Which is what I would’ve liked to say, but simply came out as the obligatory “Why me though?”

Princess Celestia gives a kind nod. “Your uncertainty is understandable. You feel that others are more deserving of having such a wish granted.” If I wasn’t so sure she was simply picking up on my facial and verbal cues, I’d have wondered if she could read my mind. “As the herald of the Equestrian sun, I hear many a heartfelt wish made from under its brilliant light. And no matter how much I would like to, I know it’s far beyond my power to grant them all. But your wish, my good sir, felt…unique somehow. Such that it was able to reach me from beyond the barrier that separates our worlds from one another. I was oddly compelled to meet the individual who made such a powerful wish.”

As she speaks, I slowly rise to my feet. They came all this way; I wasn’t gonna address them the entire time sitting on my ass. “To be perfectly honest, Princess…it wasn’t that heartfelt a wish. I was really just letting my mind wander at the time.”

She chuckled lightly at my confession. “Sometimes the heart conveys what the mind can’t. In this case, your heart sensed what your mind was feeling and reached out to me.”

Makes about as much sense as anything else that’s happened today. I think, in the grand scheme of things, ‘my heart has a mind of its own’ seems pretty small apples.

…Pun intended.

“I don’t quite know what it was that made your wish particularly strong, but the fact remains that you made it and I heard it. And I can only hope that our being here has eased some of your pain.”

You know…in some weird way, it has. “It’s not like…I wished for a friend or anything silly like that. I have plenty of friends. I’m not that lonely. I… I just wanted…” I was grasping at straws. Here I was, standing in front of who were basically celebrities in my world, and I was beginning to feel like I’d brought them here for nothing. “…Argh! I don’t know what I want!”

I was about to collapse to my knees in defeat when Fluttershy finally spoke up. “… A kindred spirit?”

“Huh?”

“Well…before I became good friends with Twilight and the others, the only ponies I really talked to were Rainbow Dash and my animal friends. And I was happy with that. But after I got to know her and Pinkie and Applejack and Rarity, I was…even happier. I could talk to them about anything, and I wasn’t afraid of being judged. They’re more than just my best friends; they’re…kindred spirits.”

A kindred spirit. …Yeah. That felt right. I think that’s exactly what I wanted. I gave Fluttershy a sincere smile, and she gave me one in return. She read me like a book. “…I think you’re right.”

What followed was probably the greatest time of my life. The eight of us sat in a circle on the parking garage roof, and we just…talked. For a good 30 minutes, that’s all we did. I’m surprised no one came and went during that time. I entertained them with amusing stories of my childhood, embellishing on certain details for comedic effect, while the Elements regaled me with tales of their exploits in Equestria (some of which the show already covered, others new to even me). Obviously, I kept the fact that I knew certain specifics about their personal lives under wraps; no reason to ruin their first impression of Earth with the knowledge that their lives and adventures are on display for all the world to see.

I could feel a great burden lifting from my shoulders. Fluttershy was right. I needed this: to able to talk about a show I like and its events (at least as far as I was concerned) with unprejudiced minds. Not just on a message board, but face-to-face. It was cathartic. I didn’t realize how much I’d wanted to get off my chest. Sure, I had more to say, but I’d taken care not to discuss a certain episode’s events unless one of them brought it up first. Still, incredibly liberating. Like talking to seven therapists at once. The surrealism of it all seemed to die away over time.

At the 30-minute mark, Princess Celestia is first to rise to her hooves. As the Elements around me share a joyful giggle, I look up at her. “This has been very pleasant,” she starts, her angelic tone stroking my ears like the finest velvet, “but I’m afraid we must take our leave now. While I am more than confident in my sister’s ability to watch over Equestria in my absence, I’d rather not keep the Elements of Harmony out of hoof’s reach for long.”

The ‘Mane Six’ and I join her in standing, and I have the most gratified smile on my face. “I understand, Princess. This whole experience has just been…indescribable. I can’t thank you all enough for this.”

Princess Celestia gives a small nod, pleased to know my wish had been granted. “You honor us with your words, kind sir. And we thank you as well for making our first time on your world a most enjoyable one.”

I then cast my gaze down upon the six ponies at her side. I was almost sad to see them leave, but I wasn’t about to be selfish and try to convince one or two of them to stay. “…Thank you, everypony,” I tell them.

“Aw, shucks,” Applejack says, attempting to hide her reddening cheeks beneath her Stetson hat. “‘Tweren’t nothin’.”

“You’re quite welcome, dear,” says Rarity.

“No prob!” Rainbow Dash adds.

“Glad we were able to help,” Fluttershy speaks softly.

“This was loads of fun!” Pinkie Pie exclaims.

“Hah. What they said,” Twilight finishes.

Stepping forward briefly, Princess Celestia brings her horn to my forehead, once again bathing me in the light of her magic. “Remember this, dear sir: no one is ever truly alone, so long as they have somepony to walk alongside. And though we may leave this world, know that the seven of us walk alongside you in spirit.”

I could feel the tears starting to form. “Thank you, Princess. Thank you, all. For everything.”

The warmth fades, and Princess Celestia moves away to join her little ponies. The light around her horn begins to build again, and I could tell they were preparing to leave.

“…Wait!”

The light around Princess Celestia’s horn dims slightly, and the seven of them look to me for a moment.

“…Pinkie Pie?”

The pink earth pony at the far right regards me a bit more intently than the others. I just couldn’t help myself. I crouch down and hold my arms out to my sides, wordlessly asking her for a hug. Pinkie didn’t miss a beat; she trots happily up to me and wraps her forelegs around my neck as I wrap my arms around her barrel.

I could hear a hushed giggle among her friends, and whoever didn’t giggle had gone ‘awww’.

Pinkie was incredibly soft and fuzzy to the touch. She nuzzles the side of my face and neck, and I bury my nose in her thick mane. It smelled of the various sweets she was known for baking at Sugarcube Corner: cake frosting, gingerbread, peppermint, and other such sugars.

My face feels hot as I pull away from the embrace; I’m almost certain I was blushing. “Thanks.”

“Sure!” Pinkie replies with a faint blush of her own. “If you ever find yourself in Ponyville, I’ve gotta remember to throw you a BIG party!”

I chuckle a little and run a hand through her mane one last time. “Sounds like fun.”

She trots off to rejoin her friends, and the seven of them meet my gaze. The Elements wave goodbye to me, I wave back, and in a brilliant flash of golden light…

…they were gone.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I cycle through my iPhone’s pool of menu icons until I reach the photos folder. I scroll down to the very bottom of the list and find two freshly made picture files:

One of me and the ‘Mane Six’, with me in the center…

…and one of me standing to the right of Princess Celestia.

No one is ever gonna believe this happened. I can hear the accusations now. ‘Fake!’ ‘Totally fake!’ ‘Photoshopped!’ It’s just as well; I’m not even sure I believe it happened.

…No.

It did happen. I don’t dare believe otherwise. And I don’t dare erase these pictures out of denial. What Twilight, Pinkie, Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow, Fluttershy, and Princess Celestia have done for me today is something I won’t soon forget. Something I won’t ever forget.

I don’t care if I’m the only one among my friends and family that watches My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. Not anymore. If anything, it just pushes me toward the show even more. Because I know now that I’m not alone. Even though they’re worlds away, I have close friends in Equestria that understand me. I was able to talk about things that would’ve otherwise earned me laughs and raised eyebrows. And for now, that’s enough, I think.

Once I’ve gotten my fill of staring at the two photos on my phone, I double-check the time. Now I was running late. Even if I were to get on the train now, I’d still be at least twenty minutes late to class. But I’d stopped caring about that for a while.

Hmm… I wonder if any stores around here sell Wonderbolts T-shirts.

THE END