Bowling, Worldcon, and something presentable · 4:15am Jul 30th, 2015

First of all, I wrecked Phenrys in bowling. Here's the proof:

Okay, obviously I embellished a little since neither of us have bowled in a while, but it was pretty fun and awesome to finally spend some time with another fimfic author. He beat me in the very next game, but I saved that image for his blog post about it. Hopefully by now you all know who it is, but for those of you that don't, he's a great writer and a pretty awesome person in real life, too. His page is here and you can find his stories here. They're all nsfw, but as far as nsfw stories go, his are really good.

I should also mention that I'm going to WorldCon in just a few weeks, to add to the brony presence that Phenrys mentioned here

And last but certainly not least and probably adding to my apparent Phenrys fanboyism that seems to be the theme of this post, something "presentable" that I promised from my last blog post. It's not in the category of being its own fanfic, or even being a sidefic to one, but I felt like writing a little something before I left for my vacation a while ago and never got around to actually doing it. I was in the spirit of writing from the perspective of one of my favorite fanfic characters who deserves at least a few bits and pieces of his own story from time to time. So I came up with a little non-canon additive to Phenrys' Five Score story, Dust on the Wind: Irony's Tale.
You can read it after the break.

Ray of Sunshine (Teaser)

These past few days have been a hell of a ride. Do you know that feeling when sometimes life just takes you where it will with or without your say-so? Yeah, that kind of ride. I can't say it's all been bad. In fact, I can say that quite a bit of it has been good. Scary, but good. While I was back home, I said hey to a few old friends, only to say goodbye too-soon afterward. Life is like that sometimes. As soon as you begin to enjoy something, it finds ways to pull you away, but I shouldn't complain. I feel more opportunities have been presented to me now than ever before. Back home it was always a game of waiting to find out what everyone else was doing, then modifying my plans to fit in with their itinerary but here I've found that my goals meet my new family's like a glove.

I have two new mentors now, and they've shown me a world I could have only seen in dreams. The way Lightning Dust handles her business is inspiring. She takes charge when the time comes and never backs away from a challenge. She handles her life in much the same way with her friends and family. She's a clear leader, even if she is stubborn and reckless sometimes. I'm worried that she may be too reckless at times, but I have confidence that she can pull through anything life throws at her.

Then there's Irony. That mare is massive, teetering on being an honest-to-goodness Clydesdale if it weren't for her cartoonish features and magical butt marks. She's even more intimidating standing on two hooves and fully armored. She let me hold her shield the other day, but I could barely even lift the thing with both hands, let alone hold it steady with just one. Flash tells me she was that strong before, and from what I've seen of him before the change, I don't doubt it. Despite her monstrous stature, Irony is actually a very gentle mare most of the time. She tends to hold her feelings down when she thinks it could hurt others, but she has no trouble showing affection to anyone in need.

Even now, she's wrapped herself around me in a bear-hug preventing even the slightest movement. My mind is so riddled with all of the recent thoughts, making it difficult to return the gesture in earnest. Luckily, we're facing each other, so I can get a hand up to her mane and I begin to entangle my fingers in the blanket of hair around her. I could swear I hear a purr come from the pony's chest, but surely enough she loosens her death grip allowing me to slip out. I step about the bed trying to avoid any other ponies, nearly stepping on Dust's wing, before landing softly on the floor. They should really invest in a bigger bed if they want to keep sleeping like that. I don't understand how they can all be comfortable scrunched against each other like that.

Thoughts like that make me wonder how Irony even sleeps laying down. It must be hard for her to breath like that, and it probably affects how she feels in the daytime. Of course I reassure myself that she's not actually a horse, and move on. Animals are confusing sometimes, especially with alien anatomy.

I wander into Dust's family room to find the light already on and two other ponies enjoying the quiet like I had planned to. I choose to sit across the table from Trixie, who was shuffling cards in her magic. She's gotten the grasp of her powers just as fast as some of the others. The unicorns seem to be the best at adjusting, all except Flash, who can't remember a thing about being a pony other than his name and close family and friends. I wonder for a moment if Trixie takes comfort in her task. It would make sense that as a showmare, slight-of-hoof would be a comforting task to take up, but is magic really the same thing in Equestria?

“Good evening, Ray.”

“Hey,” was all I could muster.

The pegasus on the sofa chose to remain silent, apparently holding a staring contest with the floor.

Trixie continued to shuffle the cards, but fixed her gaze on me. “It's funny the things you remember when you're not thinking about them.”

“I would say so,” I reply, meeting her pale eyes. She's impossible to look away from, and I find myself drawn back every time I try.

“I've been thinking about all the ponies here, which ones I remember from the show, and which I remember in my own life. So far, I only have Flash in those memories, and only for a little while before the curse. I'm yet to see Twilight or Rainbow Dash, or even Snips and Snails. It makes me wonder sometimes if Ponyville was even a part of this whole thing, if that is indeed what it is.”

“I wish I could help you. Deep down, I feel like I would have met you if I lived life as a pony.”

She flashes a slight smile, but then she looks vacant and sighs. “That's right, you weren't a fan of ponies before any of this. You wouldn't know how ponies saw me.”

“I did see some, but I knew you couldn't always be like that, even if the show was accurate. Why do you talk like that around others? Why only drop the act now?”

A pause.

“Everyone expects it. You have to give the ponies what they want if you want any merit whatsoever. If I ever dropped the flashy behavior in public, ponies would catch on and treat me differently. I was even accused of being a changeling for a short time because I slipped once. My marefriend dumped me and told the whole town I was a faker because I opened up to her.”

“That's horrible.”

She let out a small chuckle, “I'm sure you've dated girls like that before. As soon as they're done with you, they spread vicious lies to try to ruin your life.” She winced, “Not that all girls are like that. Sorry, Soarin, I didn't mean you.”

The pegasus grunted his dismissal of the subject. “Don't sweat it, girls are catty. You and I should both know. I have to get to bed anyway. I'm just trying to get this singing unicorn out of my head, but I don't think she wants to leave anytime soon. Good night, you two.”

“Good night,” Trixie coos.

“Night,” I say.

Soarin sulks quietly to his bedroom leaving Trixie and me completely alone. Once again, she holds my gaze and fireworks go off in my head. My heart races and I ball my hands into fists. Trixie waits for me to clear my clouded mind again with a tiny smile tugging on the corner of her lips. Her eyes dart downward, followed by her muzzle to hide the blush appearing on her cheeks.

I cough to break the silence. Trixie knows about my small crush and it's even harder to hide when we're alone together. It hasn't happened often, but it's beginning to happen more since we're both night owls.

“Anyway, I've really only been in one relationship before Irony's herd, and I'm still not sure how well I'm fitting in there.”

“Wow, so you've only dated m- one person before?” She stumbles on her words as they come out, “Who was she? What was she like?”

“I shouldn't tell you since there's a small chance you know her. I mean for all I know, you could even be her and I would never know. I can tell you that I regret the relationship ending, but it was a hard time in my life and I needed to sort things out alone. I just couldn't stand burdening her with all of my problems, so we broke up. She was very understanding when that happened, and said that she wouldn't hold it against me.”

“Why do you regret ending the relationship?”

“She was good to me. Sherry was one of the most caring people I knew and she was always a ton of fun to be around. I never thought I would get over the loss of my brother, and I didn't want her to be stuck with a broken man for the rest of her life.”

Trixie walked around the table, setting the cards that she stopped shuffling when Soarin left down on the table. She put a hoof on my lap and brought her head up to mine. “You're so sweet, Ray and you don't even know it. You don't have to be everyone's glowing beam of sunshine forever.” She put her head down and brushed up against my chest, nuzzling me. I considered wrapping my arms around her, but decided the gesture would be too forward.

“Do I know you?”

“Hm?”

“You called me a beam of sunshine. My family and friends used to call me their 'Ray of sunshine.' Do you know about that?”

At that, Trixie let me go and addressed me sternly. “Don't ask questions you don't want the answers to, Ray. Just appreciate what you have now and let the past live behind you.” Another sigh escaped her, “And yes, we know each other. I'm sure you can figure it out on your own, but until then, there's a hulking blue earth pony who needs you more.”

I blink in response. Could I really have been talking to her all this time?

“I appreciate our talks, and I wish they could continue longer, but the dream world calls, and we both need our beauty sleep.” She leans up and kisses me on the cheek. “Good night, Ray. Sweet dreams.”

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