The Darkest Time is Just Before Dawn

by bookhorse125

An Unexpected Visitor

Life had gone steadily downhill since a certain pandemic sprang up.

First, we all got quarantined. And I lost my job due to budget cuts.

Next came the mask mandate. The only companies that thrived during this year were the ones making the disposable blue masks that were available in the checkout aisle at every store in the world.

Then came the shortage in the strangest products: toilet paper, hand sanatizer, baked beans... Well, at least at my local Wal-Mart. I was now having to go to the parks to surreptitiously grab the biggest leaves I could find as an alternative. A lot of people saw me, but they did nothing. A few even asked, "Run out of tp?" I would nod and go back to my business.

Now I was running low on money and probably wouldn't have bought toilet paper even if it was in stock. Since I'd lost my job, I'd had to rely on my rainy day savings to buy me enough food to eat and pay the bills. Although I lived in a small apartment and tried to restrict myself from using a bunch of electricity and only using the sink or toilet when I desperately needed to, the numbers on the bills just kept escalating and escalating as the number of days in quarentine increased exponentially.

I had a brother who hadn't lost his job and was probably at home rolling in Benjamens, but I was too prideful to contact him and ask for some cash. Me and my brother had a complicated relationship and hadn't spoken to each other in years.

Of course, being stuck inside all the time, I probably would have been driven insane if not for one thing. I'm kind of a nerd about that thing, and I would gladly give my life to keep its presence strong. But that thing was frowned upon by modern society, and I would most likely find myself being harrassed if word got out. Not even my girlfriend knew. But that thing was the only thing keeping me going, the only thing that kept me holding out for hope that, someday in the future, things would get better.

I'm gonna come clean with you: that thing is My Little Pony.

I know, I know. You wouldn't expect a twenty-year-old man like me to adore a television show primarily designed for younger girls. But, the truth is... it's not really. I mean, yes it was, in the beginning, but once the bronies came along (teenagers and young adults who like the show), then the show also started shifting towards a more adult audience. There is an episode for every single problem in your day-to-day life, and because I've watched every single episode, I've learned a lot. There are certain situations that I would not have handled as well as I had without My Little Pony. And there's a whole community out there, other people like me who like the show, and it gives me a feeling of hope that I'm never alone in life.

Of course, if there's one thing COVID is good at, it's making people feel alone and hopeless.

I sat on my living room couch, the only piece of furniture in there besides the television. I'd sold everything else to get a little more money, and I was still feeling squeezed to my breaking point. I flipped through news channels until I settled on CNN, although I wasn't sure why. CNN never took a positive spin on things, but I watched it anyway.

"...And reports are still coming in about new varients of coronavirus that are more deadly than the original," the reporter stated, her blond hair falling in front of her face as she read off of the script in front of her. "Of course, new COVID vaccines are still in the process of being approved by the FDA, but people are wondering if they will work on the new varients of coronavirus. And now to my colleague for a weekly weather report."

The screen faded to black as I clicked the power button on the small black remote in my hand, sighing and holding my head in my other hand. The news always tired me out these days; it was so depressing. I stood up, stretched, and strolled leisurely down the hallway to my room.

My room, like the rest of my house, was virtually empty. The only things in there were my bed and a suitcase, which held my two weeks worth of clothing. My bed was basically a mattress on top of a box, but what most people didn't know was that the box was actually a safe place to hide my obsession with My Little Pony so that no one would find out.

I pulled the mattress off and fingered the word combination lock at the edge, which kept the box shut. My fingers spelled out the word pony and the lock clicked. I lifted the lid and looked down into the hidden safe of my pony merch.

On top were DVDs of every single season and the three Equestria Girls movies, excepting Legend of Everfree, which was only available on Netflix. Below that were my plush ponies that I made myself (not anymore, as I had to sell my sewing machine) and my books about the ponies. Also in there was my laptop computer, which I refused to sell, because I had Youtube on there, and Youtube was the only way I stayed connected with the brony community, besides Fimfiction and Equestria Daily.

I picked up Season 1 and carried it back to the living room and inserted the disk, sitting back and relaxing as the annoyingly familiar theme song began to play. I picked up the remote and selected Episode 1 and let out a relieved sigh as the episode began, nearly making me cry because of the nostalgia.

I had been ten when the first episode had aired. My parents had this wierd thing where they switched on the TV, flipped to a random channel, and watched whatever was playing. So, on October tenth, they switched on Discovery Family on Saturday morning for my younger sister, who was three. They asked me to watch her while they went to work that morning, as they do every Saturday, and I figured it would be easy because she would be watching some boring, girly kids show.

Boy was I wrong.

The moment Celestia's voice began to narrate the scene, I felt pulled in. This, at least, was something decently interesting. I pulled my sister on my lap, hoping that if my parents came in, they would see that I was watching her and wouldn't care that I was secretly very intrigued by the show.

I was not expecting My Little Pony to be that good. I was just expecting it to be another girly cartoon that wasn't worth my attention. But by the time Discovery Family finished playing My Little Pony for the day, I felt a strange thirst for more ponies. So, when next Saturday came around, I eagerly volunteered to watch my baby sister when my parents went to work. They looked at me strangely, because I never really wanted to hang out with my sister, but they agreed.

And so it was that, every Saturday, I could watch the new episode underneath the cover that I was being a loving big brother and caring for my sis. Until Diane turned eight. Then, she decided that she didn't like ponies anymore. Instead, she wanted to watch princess movies like Tangled and Cinderella, and, while they were nice, I really wanted to find out what was happening with Twilight Sparkle and her friends. The last episode I had seen was the one where the Cutie Mark Crusaders finally got their cutie marks, and I was eager to see what would happen next.

So I volunteered to baby-sit other kids at the age of two and three. I would watch the ponies with them while earning a little money that I saved up for merchandise. Whenever my mom asked me to run to the store and buy something, I would pick up a piece of pony merch and hide it in the basket. The cashiere would always ask me why I was buying these things, and I said that they were for my little sister.

Until college. There were no little kids to be my cover, no private place I could watch in peace, and I was surrounded by bigger guys who were obsessed with things like motorcycles and who drove a nicer car and getting the best looking girl they could find and making it a competition. I was already the odd one out - I didn't need to give them another excuse to harass me.

Without ponies in my life, I was an absolute wreck. I kept getting into fights and my school work was always turned in late and sloppy. Eventually, I got kicked out. I started to work at a McDonalds just so I could earn enough money to make a living. Eventually, I got hired at Wal-Mart to stock the shelves. I loved this job, because now I could keep an eye on the pony merchandise. Except... there were a lot of new toys for My Little Pony that advertised a movie.

I was shocked. I had missed out on a big theatrical release involving celebrities voicing the colorful pink ponies? I hurriedly began to buy every single season as soon as it hit the DVD shelves and hid them at home, away from my parents' watchful eyes. When I earned enough money to move out of my parents' house and into my own apartment, the first thing I bought was my television; the second, my bed.

I continued to watch ponies in peace until I found out about the other fans. Bronies. My life was changed forever when I realized that I wasn't the only person my age who liked the show. It gave me hope to keep ponies in my life. Until I met my girlfriend, and I found out that bronies weren't exactly looked up upon. Instead, they were persocuted for stupid things that I can't even begin to name. I vowed that no one would ever find out about my secret obsession for ponies as long as I lived.

I had been watching Season 1 for about an hour when the knock came. Paniced, I switched off the TV and stuffed the disk back in the box, which I then hurried to return it to its proper place underneath my bed, where no one could find it. I rushed to the door and waited for a moment so I could catch my breath.

The knock came again. It sounded... different from human knocks. Not like a fist, but like a... hoof.

I shook myself. Although I had seen StormFX3's videos about ponies in real life, I knew that the ponies weren't actually real. The animation clips came from already existing episodes. There was no possible way that there could be a pony at my door. While I told myself that, I couldn't stop from hoping against hope that maybe, just maybe, things were about to turn around. My hand shook as I reached towards the doorknob and gripped the cold metal in my fingers. I nervously turned the handle and stepped back as the door opened.

A small unicorn mare stood on my doorstep. She had a gorgeous pink coat that looked like a sunset and a wavy mane that faded from orange to gold with bright yellow streaks. Her mane was pulled back into a ponytail, except for her bangs, and she had soft golden eyes that looked around with interest.

My heart stopped. I could hardly breathe. She looked up at me and smiled, but I couldn't think.

There was a pony on my doorstep.

"Luster Dawn?" I choked out.

Author's Note:

Constructive criticism is appreciated. Thank you for reading!
Inspired by My Little Dashie.

Comments

[23 KM To Nerdiness]

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[Movingtarget Productions]

I approve of this story! A+ 10x!

[Pete100]

Imagine this happening to you.

[Pentium100]

10781223
It has the potential of being something good or something really, really bad, depending on the reason it happened.