“Girls, is this really the end?”
Twilight stood beside her friends as they dwelled in the void. The show was over, the last episode just faded from every TV as the broadcast came to an end. And like all cartoons, it was time to move on. “Aw Sugarcube, it’s alright, our time has just ended is all. Everypony has to say goodbye sometime, y’know?”
Rainbow Dash gracefully hovered using her treasured wings of the pegasus. Her voice was tinged with the characteristic raspiness she was known for. “We went out in an awesome way Twi, what more could we ask for?”
“Did we make a difference?”
Her words were distressed, her eyes wide with uncertainty. Immediately she found herself grabbed by Starlight and Rarity in a warm hug. “Oh Dah-ling we went out in style!”
Starlight rolled her eyes with a grin. Of course Rarity would be focused on the fashion appeal. “It’s alright Twilight, we just have to hope our message got through.”
Pinkie Pie who was watching somehow, even without a writer, managed to spray confetti out of nowhere making Twilight crack a temporary smile. “C’mon, a new party awaits!”
Twilight’s smile faded. Ponyville was gone, for good this time. “But...did any of what we did matter? All our lessons, all our battles. Did we matter in the end?”
You did.
The words came from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. All seven ponies froze as they heard them. Looking wildly around, trying to locate the sound, Twilight and her friends spoke in excited tones. “Did ya hear that?”
“Sure did, Sugarcube!”
“Dah-ling what was that?”
“Ooh bet it’s the narrator!”
“What narrator, Pinkie? Who's there?”
“Nothing, never mind!”
You asked if you made a difference, Twilight Sparkle?
Twilight stood still for a moment as she lowered her head, her eyes tightly shut. She stayed that way as everypony around her stopped shouting. Raising her head up, her words were filled with an uncertain pain. “I did!”
What would make you think you didn’t?
“Everything we did, everything we fought for, everything we worked to achieve. It’s all gone now! Like it never happened. Will we be forgotten? Just another fad for viewers to watch, enjoy and simply move on?”
You really feel that way don’t you? If only you knew.
“Knew what?”
What you meant, what you always will mean to those observers; those fans who followed you from the moment you opened that book to where you are now.
“If we mean so much, why did it have to end?”
To answer your question, I wish to give you but one of many examples. Please turn your attention to your right and stare into the window of time. The year is 2014 and a 25-year old man had given up on life…
***
“Hey mom!”
“No...I-”
“Mom! I swear I’m trying!”
A man sat at his computer desk, his hair was frayed and his eyes hooded over as if he hadn’t slept for days. He hadn’t. Autistic in nature and slow to learn, he was having a rather hard time finding a job. On the desk lay countless wrappers from a famous fast food restaurant, known for its golden arches. “Mom I-”
He was on a cellphone talking to his birthmom; the lady who had walked away when he was five during a court case involving a divorce with his dad and her only to enter his life many years later.
***
“Who is that?”
It’s not important.
“Why does this matter?”
Just keep watching; you’ll understand.
“Fine, but I insist we all have some cake while we watch!”
Pinkie...Where did...Nevermind, back to the time window.
***
The man was distressed. He hated himself; he hated life. Psychiatrists and Psychologists alike gave up on him, he was told he would never walk again; the pain in his body unbearable with arthritis riddling every joint in his body. Still he forced himself to walk everywhere; the pain became nothing more than pleasure as he acclimated to it. Life was hard. He sank deeper and deeper into depression and cared about no one. When he was younger, he had witnessed his best friend decorate her living room with the inside of her skull using a saw-off shotgun. There was no hope.
***
“Oh how horrible, didn’t his family help him?”
No Applejack. In fact, they had expressly told him to die many times in life.
“That sounds awful...Just...awful.”
It was quite so Fluttershy, that is until one day he noticed a video recommended on his youtube feed...
***
The man stared in disbelief at the video. “What’s My Little Pony, isn’t that the show for girls? I know I’m girly but wait…”Ponies the anthology 3? What’s this?”
He sat there, expecting nothing as he clicked it, believing there was nothing special to happen. Little did he know he would spend the next hour watching the entire thing. For the first time in a long time, he even smiled. “What is this, is there more? What did I just watch?”
He spent the next few hours of his entirely empty life looking into it. And then, he saw it on Netflix; “My Little Pony: FIM Season One.”
His curiosity peaked as he sat there at his computer, entranced by the bright colors, suffering from PTSD Insomnia, he sat up for the next 24 hours, watching magical episode after episode.
***
Twilight watched the scene and gave a smile. “He looks so happy. That’s wonderful, but how does this show, whether we made a difference or not?"
Just keep watching, I promise you’ll understand.
***
Time passed, and finally the man got some sleep. The next day, something interesting happened. He was walking down the street, thinking about the show when he randomly said hello to someone. More time passed and the man seemed to have changed. A lot. He began greeting others and even talking to them willingly. At night he would watch MLP and his dreams no longer consisted of the friend from his past. His disposition towards life seemed to change too. He began to offer to help people. Almost like he cared about them.
***
Twilight’s eyes widened as she observed the man talking to Princess Celestia about his day. “Hey mom, today I learned…”
“I don’t understand.”
To him, it felt like the world wasn’t empty anymore. He watched you write letters to her about what you learned that day. Being alone in the world, he latched on and began doing the same.
“Really? That’s something, but what is he doing there?”
***
Applejack was on the screen and the man was calling her sister “Hey sis, today I was thinking of baking some potatoes, what are you having?”
The applejack on the screen could be heard replying almost as if to him. “Nothing like a heapin' stack of apple flapjacks.”
***
You were his only hope, his only family. And then something even more amazing happened.
“What’s that?”
He found the brony community. Others just like him. The Pegasisters and Bronies saw him not as autistic or damaged but a regular person. For once he felt like he belonged. He has been watching your struggles, your hopes, desires and fears for the past 5 years. The good and the bad, he was there learning and even incorporating those lessons into his life. Made friends and memories. Would you like to see, just how much you made a difference in that man’s life?
“Yes.”
Observe the time window once more.
***
The time skipped forward. Attending social functions. Making youtube videos with a face cam. Writing stories on a website dedicated to the fandom. The man did all this as the time passed and soon caught up to present day. And there he was, sitting there with a loving smile on his face, typing out a story on his computer. His place was clean, his appearance was tidy. The wrappers were gone, and he was humming to himself as he typed.
On his calendar were two red circles indicating his shift cycles as a Crisis Hotline Counselor. On his wall hung the proud, printed copy of his graduation certificate indicating he had passed the class to qualify him for it. He calmly finished the story as he wrote the final words of his story. “Because Twilight, you and your friends saved my life and gave me the hope and strength to carry on. Not just for me, but those just like me who had given up; we will always hold your lessons dear, Especially in the darkest times. Thank you.You mattered. You always will.”