I had dreamed about it many times, in my sleep, day dreaming, and fantasising about being whisked away to the magical haven for all bronies, the colourful, friendly world that is Equestria. I dreamed about hanging out with Twilight and her friends and how amazing it would be if I could leave this cruel world forever, no war, no hate, only peace and friendship. I never imagined, that one day, it would happen to me, and how unlike my imagination it would be when I arrived, sometimes, change is not always for the better, things can always get worse…

It started off as any normal other week. A week of abuse from my peers, who had recently found out I love My Little Pony, giving them 100 new reasons to assault and abuse me, and a particularly horrid Friday in which I felt like ending it all, I felt so bad taking my own life seemed like a rational possibility, but of course, like many other stages of depression in my life, ponies did not fail in cheering me up. Saturday however, was spent with my only friend, Becca. She was the only person in the world who could make me smile after a week of torment, she took away all my pain, she even didn’t make fun of my love of My Little ponies, and in fact, she even thought it was cute. I was staring at her as we walked from our street towards the town centre, I kind of did that quite often, and after all, she was amazingly beautiful, her long golden hair often catching my eye. Even though I knew there was nothing between us, and never would be, we were “just friends” I was “big brother Matt” to her, yet I was not in control of these feelings I secretly had.

We were having a usual conversation, gossip about her friends in school, I kind of zoned out as these names meant nothing to me. We walked closer and closer to the town centre, small terraced houses being slowly replaced by gloomy grey office buildings and the occasional shop. We chatted and walked along, entered the usual comic book shop, said hi to the same old comic book guy, whose name I was yet to know, even though we chatted about comics most weekends, looked at some comics, and left, same old normal Saturday. But soon enough, things would change.

I did not see the road. I was fantasising about equestria, for the thousandth time this week, Twilight and me, along with the rest of the mane six, using the elements of harmony to defeat discord, the draconequus god of chaos. And everyone living happily ever after as- CRASH! – the sound of crashing glass and body against metal as my vision turned black and I felt the cold, harsh thud as I hit the ground, my body screamed in intense pain. The last thing I could remember is the wailing screech of ambulance sirens and Becca’s sobbing, after that the black void I was in consumed me as I slipped from the conscious world into an unconscious abyss. Little did I suspect where I would shortly be waking up…..

“W-Wh-What is it? Is it alive?”
“I don’t know! Should we touch it?”
“Eww! It could give you a disease! You could die,” I could hear three different voices, young girls voices, yet they sounded very familiar to me.
“I’ll touch it! Look,” a circular object jabbed my face softly, I opened my eyes to reveal the strangest thing I had ever seen in my life, the three cutie mark crusaders staring back at me, with a beautiful golden sunny sky above. I slowly raised, my head pounding with every slight shift of my body, the only words escaping my mouth being “ehhhhwerghh?” as the three fillies in front of me stumbled backwards in shock and fright. I looked around and my suspicions were confirmed…. I was in equestria! Great apple orchard to be exact! Speaking of apples they looked delicious, the red globes of deliciousness tempting me to steal a few.

I rose to my feet in an attempt to speak to the three fillies. I waved and offered a friendly “hi girls!”
“Oh my god it speaks! RUUUUN!” shrieked appplebloom in her southerly accent as the three fillies galloped away from me.

I watched them gallop into the distance until they were mere specks on the horizon before trying to realize what had happened and work out what was going on. I giggled to myself with the excitement any other brony would have had if they themselves woke up in my position, I should be worrying but my only thought was “hell yeah!” as I skipped towards mane street with an expression of pure glee.

Of course I knew where I was heading, I’d seen every single episode of the show, multiple times, I knew the layout of equestria better than I knew my own hometown. As I was reaching the edge of the giant apple orchard I realized how hungry I was, my stomach felt like a bottomless pit, the temptation of the golden orbs before me became too great as I found myself picking one and taking a bite. The sweet sharp flavour exploded in my mouth into what can only be described as the most pleasurable taste known to man ,and after a single apple I was no longer in need of more, suffice to say, I was stuffed.

Soon enough I was almost there, my destination being Mane Street, Ponyville. The most beautiful place I’d ever seen in my life, as I strolled toward the street I took it all in, the beautiful, perfectly blue sky with a brilliant shining golden sun, beaming down on wooden houses with yellow thatched roofs. I passed the colourful array of tent-like boutiques as I passed by Rarities place and walked into Mane Street. I walked up and down the street taking in the beauty, before noticing it was completely barren, aside from the cutie mark crusaders I had seen nopony whatsoever, this was eerily strange.

I turned around to the pleasant sight of a purple unicorn, twilight sparkle herself, edging towards me, surely she’d know what’s going on and have a rational explanation.
“Umm, what are you? Do you ummm…….” Squeaked the usually confident unicorn, in a way more reminiscent of Fluttershy, which I totally didn’t expect.
“Oh thank god, twilight, your just the-“
“IT KNOWS HER NAME! PANIC!!!!!” came the familiar voice of pinkie from a nearby open window, as hundreds of pony’s burst out from here there and everywhere, from bushes, behind stall, from houses, shops and even from on top of clouds.
“I’m not going to- MPHH!” a flying ball of rainbows plummeted into my chest and I soared through the air, landing in a heap next to a stall that sold hay.
“You leave my friends alone! Nopony, or whatever you are anyway, wait what are you? I don’t even care! Nothing hurts my best friend!” bellowed Rainbowdash lifting her hooves like a boxer.
“I don’t want to…. Just let me speak!”
“NO! You stay away! Come on everypony, don’t let this thing hurt any of our friends and family!” the ponies seemed to hear Rainbowdash’s assertive voice and formed around me, jeering and yelling at me, as if, as if, as if I was a monster. I ran, I ran for my life, the one place I knew I’d be safe… the gloomy darkness of the Everfree Forest…. As I ran, I felt the warm, bitter tears streaming down my cheeks as my vision blurred and I choked back sobs of pure pain, I did not look back to see the ponies once.

I ran into the thick shrubbery and dense, gloomy forestry until my whole body burned of pain and my legs couldn’t carry me anymore, I collapsed next to a tree and began crying again. I was yet to realize it was indeed late in the evening and the sun was setting, and also it had been raining, so now my clothes were sopping wet. I continued to lie there, crying and shivering, and began thinking about everything, realizing finally what had happened, my reaction to arriving in this “wonderful” place was so intense inside I forgot about reality, I’d been hit by a car right? Was I dead? Is this hell? Would I ever see everyone again? My parents- though they couldn’t accept my, they loves me really, my friends – always there for me, and Becca- I wished I could see her that one single more time, see her smile, see her face, tell her how I really felt all this time, to hold her, just the once, I’d give all of this stupid Equestria crap away for just that.

I then thought about the whole Ponyville incident, why did they hate me? It’s not like I hurt anypony, the temptation that is suicide crept into my mind once more, I guessed id just sit there, in the cold, until I starved or died from hypothermia.

I don’t know how long I was there for, but after long while I heard a strange rustling, I expected the worst, a manticore, Ursa Minor, or any other nasty creatures which may lurk in the Everfree forest at night. But the rustling continued, along with the occasional thump and the familiar sound of hooves and beating wings. Soon after, something soft was pushed into my hand. I kept my eyes screwed shut, I had not opened the since the rustling started, but then, I heard the most beautiful sound I’d ever hear in my life. A familiar voice, simply saying,
“Muuuuffffiiiiiiinssssssss!!”
I opened my eyes to see the most beautiful, grey coated Pegasus, with straw coloured hair and golden eyes. Beautiful golden eyes, one looking at me, the other looking in the opposite direction, as if an invisible pony were standing there. I was looking up, at Derpy hooves.

After a few second of awkward staring, she looked at me and simply said, in her heart exploding voice, “Hi, I’m Derpy, you look sad, so I thought you’d like a muffin! Please don’t be sad. What’s your name?”
Her kindness caught me off-guard as tears started flowing down my cheeks, this time though, they were happy tears. “H-h-h-hi Derpy, I’m M-m-matt, why aren’t you afraid of me like the other ponies? W-w-why don’t you hate me?”
“You must be cold matt, come with me” I felt two soft legs wrap around me, and heard the beating of wings, I looked down to see the dark green trees of the Everfree forest below me, moving further and further away. I then closed my eyes in Derpy’s warm, comforting arms, and quickly fell asleep.

I woke up to find me in a slightly small but comfortable bed, in a rectangular yellow room with a wooden floor, the eyes of Derpy hooves once again watching me as my eyes opened.
“Good morning sleepy head!”
“Umm, Derpy, why are you being so nice to me? The other Ponies were nasty to me and sent me away…”
“Because you’r different, and special, just like me. When I first spoke, the ponies called me stupid, and retarded, they didn’t like me either.” A tear trickled down her cheek and she choked back a sob, “I just wanted to make friends, but all I did was make everypony hate me, I just don’t know what went wrong.” At this point, I was crying myself, not out of self-pity, or for personal reasons, but for this poor Pegasus, who had been outcast simply for being different. I got out of the bed, and approached the mare next to it, who was now sobbing freely, and sat next to her, and put an arm around her, I could feel her digging into my shoulder and I could feel the wetness or her tears through my now dry Jacket, as I stroked her soft straw coloured mane soothingly,
“it’s ok Derpy, it’s all going to be ok, your right, were both special, you don’t have to cry because your different, I love you Derpy, and where I come from, believe it or not, there are these wonderful people called bronies, who care about you and love you as much as they love all other ponies.” Derpy looked up at me, and smiled, ever so slightly, and my heart exploded twice. The cuteness level really was, as some may like to say, over 9000.
“Really? There are people who love me? You love me? B-b-b-but nopony loves me.” Her words actually angered me, I hated to see anyone this sad!
“Well Derpy, were going to change that aren’t we. You’re going to fly me to Canterlot and we’ll talk to the princess! She’ll help us, and then we can show everypony were not bad because were different, we shouldn’t try to be like everypony else, they should try to be like us!” Soon after, we were once again flying, away from Derpy’s wooden two story home, and towards the grandest place in all of Equestria! The princess castle itself!

In our flight I explained to Derpy who I was, and more importantly what I was and how I knew people loved her, I told her about the amazing Brony community and Becca, she giggled a lot at the mention of Becca and how I felt for her. On arrival to the castle we strode through the huge golden arc onto the beautiful violet carpet, walking towards the grand staircase, where Celestia herself was talking to a ruby red unicorn.
“Oh, I do apologize midnight, a special subject appears to have arrived to see me, you’ll have to leave, good catching up with you though! See you soon midnight dancer” echoed the authoritive tone of the princess as we approached her, the other pony passed us with a nod hello, which was strange, all the ponies’ I’d seen so far had shown hatred towards me. “Hello, human, what brings you here exactly?”
“What? You know what I am?” I sat there, eyes wide, unsure of what else to say.
“Of course, how do you think your kind knows of our existence, humans have been here many times before you?”
“Why did all the ponies in Ponyville show hate towards me then? And why are they all so cruel to poor Derpy!”
“I’m sorry, what?”
“This beautiful mare right here” I pointed to Derpy “is hated for simply being different, surely your subjects should love and tolerate her like every other pony?”

Celestia seemed rather outraged by this, and not minutes later was I standing in Twilights house, with most of Ponyville's residents inside her book-cluttered room.
“My little ponies, you must learn that just because someone is different to you, does not make them instantly a bad person, you shouldn’t judge someone based on something as simplistic as what they look like, whether it be an eye defect, or their a complete different species to you. Now I would like you all to apologize to Matt here and Derpy.” A very shamed looking pinkie pie approached me wearily.
“I-I-I’m sorry Mr Matt”
“That’s ok pinkie” Pinkie the smiled and returned to being pinkie, which was in this case messing around with Twilight’s telescope.
“Oooh, the sun looks pret- OWCHIES! It burns my eye!” squealed pinkie, sending laughter around the room.
“You may leave now, my subjects, and Matt, could I have a word with you, I think it’s time for you to return home now”
After the ponies had left, Celestia explained that I would never be able to stay, and said she’d cat a teleportation spell to send me home, her horn began to glow and she touched my forehead, I screwed my eyes shut, yet when I opened them I saw the most unexpected sight ever. Becca was in front of me, but I was still in Equestria.
“So, your finally here Matt” a tear streamed down one of her beautiful cheeks.
“But I’m coming back Becca, I’m coming home.”
“No you’re not, your dead Matt, your life support was tuned off seconds ago, I was just crying next to you when... when ... when this.”
“I’m dead? But I’ll never get to see you again Becca” Tears started flowing down my cheeks.
“I love you Matt, I always have”
“I love you too, you know that.”
“No I love you silly” she smiled at me, that gorgeous smile.
“She seems to be fading away Matt, make it quick” said Celestia, and I found myself in Becca’s embrace, she kissed me and I felt her fade away in my arms, the last thing I was left with was one of her tears that had fallen onto my cheek, I wiped it away and fell to my knees, sobbing.

I never forgot that day, and for the rest of my days in Equestria, though I made many new friends, there was always something missing, Becca. I lived the rest of my life with Derpy hooves in Ponyville, but never forgot about the girl I loved.

Dear princess Celestia, today I learned that all friends are important, and hold a special place within your heart, and no matter how many more friends you get, that special place is unique, and if you lose contact with the friend, the space will forever remain empty.

Your faithful subject, Matt.