A feeling of uncertainty ran through my mind as I sat down at my computer, doing what I usually did more often than not. Sometimes it was a video game, but these days, it was mostly browsing of the internet. Nothing in particular, mind you.
I've never gotten into websites such as Facebook all that much. I do have an account, but I never really touch it all that often. Most of the time anyways, most of the friend invites comes from people that I've never spoken to before or even heard about. Social media was a good idea to start out with, but I feel that it's gotten completely out of hand.
The recent election was to no surprise to me when I heard the winner. Maybe I was simply half expecting it, or else I just don't get surprised by politics anymore. It's hard to tell what's going to happen these days anymore. I always feel this nagging feeling that things were going to get worse before they get better.
Now, don't get me wrong about this. I know that whatever happens, happens. And I always try to stay positive as much as possible. It's a balance that I try to maintain in order to hopefully keep my sanity, but if you were to ask me today what the situation of the country is like, I would likely say that the civilized world is practically coming to an end as we know it.
As I looked back to my web browser, I was going through My Little Pony fan work as I usually do these days. It was fascinating whenever I really think about it. If someone were to come up to me months back and told me that I would be watching My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic on a constant basis and actually like it without being paid large sums of money to do so, then I would have likely believed them to be crazy and attempt to change the subject.
But ever since I came across the word of brony and the link between a men audience and the reboot of a show initially designed for an audience of young girls, I could not resist a bit of research to determine of someone was pulling a practical joke or not. But as I continued with my research, I found it to be real and have a serious community behind it. When I finally had the courage to actually watch the pilot episode, I was surprised. Apart from the gut wrenching theme song that kept conjuring up images of cutesy girly stuff in my mind for a while (it was gut wrenching at first, but the song slowly grew on me), I saw something which lacked from most other shows, quality.
Ever since television cartoons started lowering their standards on what they put on the networks, I have been watching less and less television. Growing up, I have watched shows such as Gummi Bears, Tale Spin, Rescue Rangers, Bonkers, and other shows that featured interesting characters. The reboot of My Little Pony had interesting characters that I could easily relate to, especially Twilight Sparkle as she has shown in the episode Lesson Zero. One time I got so upset with someone over an assignment that I failed to turn in, that I said some things I shouldn't have. In the end, I apologized and the matter was considered settled. If only I've seen the episode sooner.
Other parts of the show included the overall visual and audio quality. But my biggest surprise was the fact that some of the episodes had great music segments that would most likely be reserved for a direct-to-video release at the least and not from an actual episode. My favorite song, of course, was “Smile, Smile, Smile,” which was sung none other than Pinky Pie herself.
When it came to favorite characters, I had no particular favorite. I liked them all equally. But, if someone were to ask me for a particular favorite, it would most likely be Twilight Sparkle as I could relate to her the most. I am a college student, and even though I am not a perfectionist as she is, I still like how she tries to handle the situation, if she can, that is.
A voice cried out from downstairs, “Daniel, go to bed now. It's already pass midnight.“
Realizing how late it got, I responded, “Okay dad!”
Right away, I closed down all the programs on my computer and began the process of shutting everything down. I know that if I didn't, that my father would come storming up and ensure personally that I would go to bed, which was annoying for the both of us. And I wasn't really in the mood to talk to him right now. After shutting off the monitor and speakers to help save power, I decided to crawl into bed so I could try to get some sleep. But before I had the chance to, I began to hear something.
It was faint at first and difficult to make out. It was just small, muddled voices that seem to come from everywhere, yet nowhere at the same time. I could not trace the source.
Then the voices grew louder until I could recognize the voices, but I could not believe it. It was some sort of conversation between none other than Spike and Twilight Sparkle. I checked my computer speakers to make sure that it wasn't some sort of weird computer problem, but even with the speakers at maximum volume, I couldn't hear anything coming from either speaker.
“Are you sure this is a good idea Twilight? The last time, we nearly set the library on fire.” Spiked asked in a hesitant tone.
“Why do you think we are on the edge of town instead of the library?” Twilight asked, in a confident tone.
“Do you think the spell will work this time?” Spike asked unconvincingly.
“If what will work?” I found myself asking, suddenly realizing that my voice was causing an unusual echo in the room.
“What was that?” Spike asked in a shocked manner, then continued, “Is somepony out there?”
But before I could respond, the entire room started glowing and humming almost like a hummingbird. It was subtle at first, but then it grew in intensity with each passing second. It grew to the point that I could not see at all from all the bright light. I covered my eyes to try to shut out the brightness.
“Twilight! W-what's that bright light? Stop it!” Spiked asked in a voice that was increasingly getting distorted.
Before I knew it, as some unknown force started pushing and pulling on my body as if it were clay. I couldn't see as my eyes were still blinded from the light, and my joints were increasingly getting stiff in seemingly random places as it continued. It didn't hurt, but it had the oddest tingling sensation and it did cause great discomfort to the point where I was yelling out during all the confusion.
“SPIKE! HELP ME!” a voice cried out. At this point I wasn't sure who was calling out as everything continued to get louder and brighter.
After a certain point, I passed out from all the stress. Then silence and darkness enveloped me like a crashing wave of black water. A constant ringing in my ears was still left over from the event. For what seemed to be the longest time, only the sound of my own heart beat could be heard and that of my own breathing. Then a muffled voice called out in a commanding voice.
“What happened?” Right after that moment, I collapsed from exhaustion. The words, echoing silently in the darkness.