From Freak to Friend

"Brrrrrrr!" You shiver as you walk to work. The forecast said it wouldn't be snowing, but it lied. It also said it would be warm. Well, unless the weatherman thinks 2 degrees above zero is nice. You, for one, do not. But it's northern Minnesota. What is there to be expected? Definitely not suntanning weather in January. But anyways, it's time for another long, boring day at your job. You work as a waiter at the local diner. Nothing extravagant. But it gets the bills paid. You are tall and very athletic. You used to be the best on the track team in high school. But when you graduated last year, you haven't really have had anything to do with running. And you also have one major secret. You are a brony. You have told nobody of this. Not even your best friend. You first discovered the show about six months ago when you were babysitting  your little cousins.

Originally, you thought the show was kinda stupid, but once you sat down and watched a couple episodes, you were hooked. From then on, you made a point of watching every episode. *DING!* The bell on the door jingles as you walk into the diner. The first person you see as you walk in, is Melissa. She works as the cashier and you have a secret crush on her. She is very pretty. She looks like the hot girls that were always on the cheerleading team back in high school. But she wasn't one of them. But the best part, she doesn't act like them. She loves video games! She has long, brown hair and one of her favorite games to play is halo. You two often play together and she kicks your butt almost every time. And the best of the best, she is a brony too! She is not a closet brony, and she is proud of it.

She greets you with a smile as you hang up your coat on the rack near the door. "Nice weather were having?" She jokes. "Yeah right!" You exclaim, teeth still chattering. You walk over to her, your shoes making squeaking noises on the grey tiles. "Here, give me your hands."  She puts our her hands and you put yours in front of her. She rubs her hands against yours to heat them up. If your face wasn't already red, she would have noticed you blushing. After a minute or so, she deems your hands to be warm and resumes sorting money in the register. With a smile on your face, you get to work.

After 8 hours of work, and almost $80 dollars in tips, it's time to go home. After checking with the manager, you got the ok to leave. As you walk to the front of the store, you see Melissa putting on her jacket and scarf. "Hey! How was your day?" you ask.

"Oh, it was fine. One costumer got really mad because his debit card came back empty and he had to pay with cash!" She laughed. "Boy was he pissed!"

"It would have been great to see!" You tell her. "Well, I had better get home now. My cat needs fed and laundry needs done. You know, the usual. Oh, and I have something for you!" You begin to dig in your pocket for the gift. Finally, you bring out two slips of paper. "I won free tickets for two at the movies. Wanna come? You can choose the movie."

"That would be great!" She giggles. And suddenly, unexpectedly, she envelops you in a great, warm hug. You feel the soft touch of her lips on your cheek.

"This day could not get better!" You think to yourself. You both let go at the same time and smile.

"Thanks! Bye!" She says as she walks out the door. "Bye!" You yell after her. This time, your not afraid to blush. After putting on your jacket, you stumble out of the door. The snow has drifted into a small pile in front of the door and your grateful that you didn't fall and break your head open. You turn and head up the sidewalk for home. It looks like somebody tried to shovel the sidewalk, and did a bad job of it. When it wasn't snow, it was ice.

"This is going to be a long walk home." You tell yourself.  You only lived about four blocks away, but when its cold and snowy, it feels like a mile. You begin a light jog to stay warm. It's becoming easier to keep your balance on the ice. Your house is nearly within sight. You have your own house because your parents moved when you graduated, and left you the house because you didn't want to go with them. It is a small house so they weren't leaving you much. But it is better then nothing at all. You are about thirty feet away from the front walkway. You hear a car behind you so you turn and look.

The car is moving a lot faster then you probably should on icy roads. It speeds past you, its brake lights bright and wheel turned, but it is still going straight because of the ice. It slowly slides to a stop next to the curb several feet away. Your attention turns back to getting home, and your about to overshoot your front walk. You turn and try to stop, but a patch of ice is directly under you. Your feet slide out from under you as you throw out your arms to try to catch yourself on something. No luck. You put your hands behind your head as you fall to protect yourself.

But when you should have hit the concrete, you didn't. It was as if you were falling from a greater distance. Then the expected came. You land on your back. Hard. The breath is knocked out of you and you sprawl out on the ground, gasping for air. When you open your eyes, you don't see the familiar grey, snowy clouds. Or the the bright, multicolored houses that were near you. Your not even on concrete anymore. Your on what feels like gravel. You look around and at least a hundred eyes return your gaze.

"Nice job with that fireworks spell you idiot." You hear somebody whisper in the crowd. You look to your left, and it takes a moment to register, but these are ponies looking down at you. You look to your right, and you see a carriage. It is made out of wood, and is painted gold and white. And in the carriage, sits Twilight Sparkle, Princess Celestia, and Princess Luna.

"What is it?" Twilight whispers to Princess Celestia. And with that, you hoist yourself to your feet, and do what you know best. Run. You run the fastest you can. The ponies make room for you as you bolt. Luckily, you seem to be at the edge of town. You see a wooded area not far off. And that is the first place you go.

It takes a minute before you get there, and you look behind. You have pursuers. Five or six royal guards are running and flying after you. But they don't catch up to you before you enter the wood. You go deeper and deeper into the forest, and the foliage gets thicker and thicker. It seems like the guards gave up on catching you a while back. You stop running and sit down. You try to calm your breathing as you take off your coat and sit on it. You begin to sweat from the heat because you just came from super cold, to really warm.

"Oh man, what have I gotten myself into this time?"