The Equiteer

by Doctor Monochrome

Chapter 1: Prelude To A Time Of Darkness.

IT WAS A DARK AND STORMY NIGHT!!!

No. Let's forget the cliche story elements.

It was a very wet evening. Everything glistened gloomily under the streetlights as the rain trickled down onto the street. It was foreboding, as if foreshadowing a tragedy to come: or so John Carson mused. Of course, as John sat on his friend's couch, he merely dismissed the rain as a part of a regular storm. He was not, after all, God: who as he knew, was all knowing, all powerful, and everywhere.

John wasn't the very social kind. Thus one reason why he was sitting in the living room of his friend's house alone, and away from the social gathering that was happening between his parents and the parents of his friend: Mark Adams.
John's younger sisters could be seen socializing with Mark's elder sis.

But where was Mark? For a bathroom break, he sure was taking an awfully long time.

Ah! Speak of the devil. Here he comes now!

"Sorry John." Mark said after approaching the couch. "I was getting the game set up."
John lowered his eyes contemplatively for a second.

"That's okay." He said standing up. "We're playing Portal 2 I assume?"
Mark nods and starts to walk to his bedroom. John, likewise, follows.

John walked inside the room and grabbed one of the controllers before sitting on the bed. Mark followed suit: grabbing the other controller and then, sitting on the chair by his desk. With this, he started the Co-op: John being ATLAS and Mark being P-Body.

"So school's been going well for you?" Mark said to John.

"Yes." John replied. "I have good grades in all of my courses. Math isn't doing as well, but It could be worse. How's school going for you?"

Mark nods as he jumps over a gap in the floor.

"I'm doing fine." He says. "You may want to place a portal right over there."

"Got it." John says.

John spies a light blue fabric hiding in the closet: the Rainbow Dash plushie his friend cherished.
Outside of his school friends, only John knew about Mark being a brony. It was a grave secret to bear: John could never fully understand the fandom. But he never thought Mark wrong. A bit odd maybe, but not wrong. Not sinning against The Lord.
Of course, John was not Mark's parent. He was his friend.

"So does your family know you like my little pony?" He said to Mark.

"No. Not yet." He said with a slightly glum tone. "I'm still afraid that my parents wouldn't take the news well."

John nodded understandingly. Howard Adams, Mark's father, came to mind in his head: knowing the fire and force of his sermons. John shivered at imagining what Pastor Adams would do if he found out about Mark's love for MLP. John could only hope he was a discerning and wise man: not prone to jumping to conclusions.

"Ah." John said. "Turret at 3 o'clock."

"On it!" Mark stated. "I mean, I would like to tell them. But they've brought me up to like manly things."

"Yep." John said: looking at the gun and longbow on his walls.

"How bout you. You ever look at an episode?" Mark said to John.
John shook his head.

"I've been busy." He said. "Besides. I have too big of an ego to watch a little girls show."
John dispatches a turret by placing a portal under it and launching it into the dark brown goop below,

"Say hello to slime bot." He says with a mischievous grin.
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.

"Mark. John's family has to go." His sister could be heard saying.

"Ah blast." John says before standing up. "That time already."
He shakes Marks hand.

"Well, I suppose I'll see you at church tomorrow." John says with a smile.

"Yeah." Mark replies. "See you then."

John then turned around and walked out the door of Mark's room: to eventually be greeted by the smiling faces of his parents.

On the drive home, John's mind still was reeling concerning the safety of his friend. He understood why people would react negatively about it, but he didn't see it as a moral issue. The show, according to mark anyways, was good. It was clean, the animation and character design were superb, and the stories were well written and not horrible. The characters were well made in a manner consistent with the show's good writing, and yes...the show even had action and fighting in it: albeit not as much as transformers or any other male oriented show. "It was funny, it was cute, it was great" to quote Mark.

The fact that it was a girls show, of course, was why so many react negatively to a guy watching it. It's content never mattered. But alas, John's thoughts came to a close as the long driveway of his parent's suburban house came into view. They were home already and John couldn't wait to get to his computer and admire the crystal collection he was building.

Maybe he was overreacting. Maybe Mark's parents would take his status as a Brony well. Only time would tell.