I still ain't dead, I promise

Hiya, pony people! Sorry I haven't been checking in, college is in session and it's been a priority. I also had the pleasure (and I'm using that word lightly) of being picked for jury duty. But I've got more to write in "Kickin' Flanks" (maybe 3-4 chapters, plus an epilogue) and a few ideas for other stories. You could say that my time is... booked? Ha!

Anyway, I wasn't able to get around to this until now, but I got to see Rainbow Rocks last month in theaters! I'm way late in bringing this up, so I'm sure you've seen it by now. What I'm going to talk about instead is what happened to lead up to that and what came of seeing it afterwards.

See, I'd only known a couple of bronies, Phoena (old editor, got me into the show, lives in Texas) and a couple others (such as Mister-Hand, who did the cover for "Kickin' Flanks" but is no longer involved in the fandom). One time I tried to get a friend into the show, but I ended up being a pushy jerk about it and totally turned him off from the idea. It was only now, maybe a few months ago, that me and this friend ended up in the same D&D group run by a casual acquaintance... and including that dude plus myself, there were now 4 bronies in the same room to torment my friend. It was pretty damn incredible. The real miraculous twist is that one night, said friend decided it was time to give ponies one more shot. So we watched a huge portion of the first season over screwdrivers, which nearly turned into straight vodka for him pretty quickly. Eventually we had to get some rest, but lo and behold, my friend finished the first season all on his own, and soon binge-watched the entire show! Then we finally watched the famous "Bronies" documentary, he started reading my fanfic, and I was happy—I had a little closure because of it all.

So when we discovered that the new Equestria Girls was coming to a theater in our area, a county in Southern California called Ventura, we unanimously agreed to go. I bought a box of the gummy snacks for the occasion (and I wish I took photos of them, they were just deformed and unrecognizable lumps). As I said, you've likely seen the movie, I'm going to skip over that and go to something else. What happened as we left the theater was very, very unexpected.

Third from the left in the top row is Alex, as seen in "Bronies"! Centered in the bottom row is his girlfriend Cheyenne aka Chigs, who makes custom plushies (that you should totally buy)! In fact, the plushies we're holding are ones she's made, and they're spectacular. Yours truly is in the bottom right, and the remainder are the members of the D&D group (I'm keeping names out, just in case of Celestia-knows-what). The photo was taken by one fantastic elderly gentleman who asked no questions, but was very happy to help us out. This was taken well after we'd seen Rainbow Rocks and gone around two separate malls on the hunt for pony merch, plus having lunch at Hooters, which only made the experience even more surreal. Imagine, a bunch of grown adults, holding plush ponies, nerding out in a booth of a restaurant that bills itself as "delightfully tacky, yet unrefined."

Sadly, Alex and Chigs are now hundreds of miles away, driving cross-country back to North Carolina. I won't get into why they were out here and why they're returning—that's a story much too long and a little personal. But I've had the pleasure of being around them a couple more times, and I'm glad we could make their brief stay a little brighter, even if it was for just a moment. And on the other hoof, they're the first friends I made based solely on a shared interest in these colorful pastel equines. Being a brony clearly means much more than being the fan of a cartoon, and it's a fantastic, beautiful thing.

Alright y'all, stick around. I may have a little less time than usual these days, but I'm sharper than ever and I'm ready to get this done. Stay pony, friends.

Comments

[Pyro The Reader]

Yeah!