I moved to the suburbs when my family was just beginning, and everything seemed to be going great. It went like that for a few years...we had a daughter, and she was the top of her class in elementary school, and although she didn't have many friends she didn't seem to mind. Then my office went bankrupt, and I was left managing a few admins and a huge house which devoured my income. My wife was supportive in the beginning, but when she realized we would have to move eventually because the pay rate was just not keeping up, she couldn't handle it and filed for a divorce. It saddened me greatly to know that the woman I cared about had just married me for my money, and how could I tell that to my daughter? She knew something was going on, but was sad because I was never explicit on the details, especially since the divorce happened right when she started high school. She took to watching cartoons and not doing so well with her grades because she spent so much time on the computer, and a local Realtor has taken to stopping by every so often to bother me about the house. The other kids are pretty nasty here, so it's a wonder my daughter has any morale at all. They are so rich like we used to be, and they love to parade it around like a crown on their heads, and treat their picnic benches in the front of the school like thrones. I know that high school is a dog eat dog universe, but I think that private schools are worse than public schools. I regret sending her there purely because the way the other kids act towards anyone with a humble approach to life. However, hopefully she'll understand one day that I had no intention of sending her to a nasty school on purpose, and that my only hopes were that she would turn out in a better position than I someday. She's too smart for anything otherwise.
I took to watching some of her cartoons with her, just so she wouldn't feel so alone. She knew another shy girl who was more than a sidekick than anything else while they were at school. I say this because the girl barely had any time to hang out with my daughter more than once a week because of all her extracurricular lessons. So my daughter took to finding characters with real personalities that she could relate to. The only show that I thought was different than her "relate-able" anime characters was one called My Little Pony. Every time I walked by her bedroom and her door was open nowadays she'd be watching that show. Curious as to why a girl who used to enjoy the emotional and wacky dramas generated from Japan would transition to an American-made TV show full of brightly-colored, large-eyed ponies who sang and danced their way through each episode, I sat down and watched it with her one day, to her surprise.
She explained to me that the only reason she watched it was that it kept popping up in the section of recommended things to watch on Youtube, and for some reason the bright colors of the show were "hypnotic". Then she broke halfway through the first episode we watched together and said, wide-eyed and content, that she loved how happy the characters were no matter what happened to them, even though they faced hydras and evil princesses and chaotic lords of darkness they always stuck together and sprang back with joy because they knew they would defeat every one of them with the magical bond of friendship that held them together. She said that she'd never known a show whose characters she loved equally, and hoped that one day she'd have a group of friends that acted as they did and went on epic adventures too.
Glad that my daughter was finally enjoying herself, I kept her company and watched the show with her. I ended up liking the pink one--named Pinkie Pie-- best, because she reminded me of this girl who I used to date when I was in high school. She was happy-go-lucky and was the one who always kept the group in good spirits even when they were facing the toughest of challenges. I hoped that one day someone would come into our lives that would help us like Pinkie Pie helped the Mane 6, as my daughter called them. We tried our best but sometimes days just ended up dark and that was that.
One night I came home after a terrible day at work and my daughter said that this one girl named Jennifer was teasing her because she liked a certain boy in class, and Jennifer, although too afraid to approach him herself, was jealous. She was in tears, asking me what she should do, because Jennifer had finally decided to start asking him for homework help and he would ignore my daughter even though they'd be in a conversation. The poor girl had finally gotten up the courage to talk to a boy...I went to sleep that night, although I had a strange dream about a lightning storm in my bedroom. The lightning was magenta, like Twilight Sparkle's magic...I woke up, realizing how silly I was that I would remember that minute detail in a cartoon show. Come on, Kevin, I said to myself. Pull yourself together, man!
I lay awake in bed, trying to forget how real the dream was...then I heard it. There was a strange snuffling sound coming from the foot of my bed. You're losing it man! I thought, eyes wide awake, mind alert. There's no such thing as monsters...maybe you should take a break from work, no...just stop watching so many cartoons...that's it...gotta pay the bills and all--
The snuffling sound happened again. Was this for real? Had something actually happened in the middle of the night, and I'd witnessed it when I was half-asleep? Cautiously, I crawled to the end of the bed and looked over the old brass rail, which gleamed from the moonlight outside--I gasped when I looked over the edge. It couldn't be possible! No, I was seeing things! But the more I looked, the more I studied the details of her fur...her hooves a bit dull and mud-covered...her mane and tail were straight as planks for some reason, but the telltale blue eyes told me that it was in no doubt her.
Pinkie Pie was sitting in front of my television.
