Where My Latest Little Story Went · 5:11pm Sep 21st, 2019

So I wrote this story:

For the last original minific Writeoff called "The More Things Change." It's only 716 words if anyone wants to click over there and read it.

It was slightly Pony-related, though, so after thinking about it for a couple weeks, I rewrote it, expanding it to 1,325 words and changing the focus a bit, and submitted it yesterday for moderation here on the site. I specifically went through moderation 'cause I wasn't sure if it was Pony enough, and I was happily surprised when it got the OK yesterday afternoon.

Well, I just got a note from Wanderer D saying that the story in fact isn't Pony enough for the site, and the story has now been delisted. I was honestly expecting this result from the beginning, so it's not a problem. I'll just go with Plan B and put it up here as a blog post with the cover art I was going to use and the story description and everything.

Mike

Jim's sad that My Little Pony is ending. His girlfriend Lucy cheers him up by reminiscing about how Sailor Moon changed her life.

The original minific version of this story came in 8th during the 112th Writeoff event, "Under New Management," and the cover art is by Mochaspar. I'll also warn readers up front that neither Ponies nor Sailor Moon characters actually appear in the following.

The More Things Change
The More They Actually Change

"And look!" Lucy turned the big plastic slab of a menu around, her brown hair bunching along her shoulders. "You can get a tuna melt with Swiss cheese! Your favorite!"

Jim shrugged, took a sip of bourbon, and couldn't stop a cough at the burnt rubber taste. Why the Hell had he ordered it, anyway? He hadn't drunk anything harder than ginger ale in nine years, ever since—

He refused to finish that thought and set the glass down on the little napkin with the Dandelion Cafe's new name on it: Temperance Bar and Grill or something. As long as he was refusing to do things, he decided that he wouldn't give the garish logo more than a glance.

A puff of a sigh made his ears wince. Lucy had gotten that look on her face, the one that made Jim feel like he was wearing footie pajamas and shrieking about not wanting to brush his teeth. "I know, Wuffums," he said, doing his best not to notice Dandelion's redesigned interior, the ferns and wood paneling gone, the walls now bare concrete with the ducts all exposed overhead. "Change is the only constant, right?"

That got her smirking at least. "Change isn't a death sentence, Jim. Take it from someone who knows."

As tempted as he was to take another sip of bourbon, he reached for his water glass instead. "Tell that to Circuit City. Or Toys-R-Us. Or Sears."

She flicked her long fingers at him. "Yeah, last time I heard that grouchiness, it was the bourbon talking, too."

The back of his neck felt hot and cold at the same time. How was it possible that ordering an adult beverage could make him feel so childish? Especially after he'd spent two hours this morning online trading comments with his followers about—

Again, he wouldn't let the thought continue. Couldn't let it continue...

Lucy's eyes widened, and she reached across the table, some weird white linoleum instead of the wood-grain Formica it was supposed to be. "This is about My Little Pony, isn't it?"

His throat threatening to squeeze shut, Jim took a swig of water and forced it down. "Don't start, Lucy."

"Start?" She blinked. "I love that you love the show; you know that!"

And he did know it. She didn't watch with him—she said the high-pitched voices hurt her ears especially on Saturday mornings when she was just getting home from patrol—but she always laughed in the right places when he read her his review posts before putting them up.

Another of her sighs brushed over him. "Okay. You remember the first time we met, Jim?"

He didn't want to answer, so he didn't.

That didn't stop her, though. "You were drunk and bloody and beaten unconscious in that alley off Fourth and—"

"Yes, thank you!" he more hissed than said. "I was there, too, y'know!"

She leaned forward. "My point is: you've changed. And I don't think it's a coincidence that you started pulling yourself together the same time you started watching that show."

A slight metallic tang on his tongue made him realize he was biting the inside of his mouth. He almost wanted to blow a breath into her face in the hope that the scent of blood would distract her, but instead he just loosened his jaw.

"Yes," she was going on, that gentle note in her voice that he recognized from the times he'd watched her step in and defuse a touchy situation, "the show's ending. But the friends you've met online will always be—"

"Will they?" As much as he didn't want to say them, the words came out, and he dropped his gaze to the tabletop. "That was the last Bronycon we went to, and with the final episodes airing October 12th..." His throat tried to do that squeezing shut thing again, but he slammed down another mouthful of water. He was a Senior Administrative Analyst now, God damn it! Why did he keep choking up about a stupid cartoon?

The vaguely techno background music cheeped and wubbled around them for a moment, then Lucy's voice rose out quieter than Jim had ever heard it. "When I was a kid back in the home, seeing Sailor Moon every afternoon on that crappy TV in the common room literally changed my life."

A shiver breezed up Jim's spine. Six years he and Lucy had been living together, and she had never said anything even remotely positive about her childhood. "Sailor Moon?" Swallowing every bit of his grouchiness, he reached across the table to touch her hand. "I remember seeing a few episodes of that when I was a kid. They...they would transform under the moonlight and fight for justice, right?"

Her hand shook under his, her eyes downcast though she didn't seem to be focusing on anything. "Serena was a screw-up and a ditz," she whispered. "But she pulled it together and became a hero. I— No one had ever— I mean, even the suggestion that maybe...maybe I didn't have to be a...a—" She snapped her teeth shut so hard, Jim could hear them click.

Not knowing what to say, he went with something stupid. "She always hung out with a cat, though, didn't she?"

She looked up, the tiniest smile pulling those beautiful lips sideways. "That's how I met Felicia, actually. She loved the show so much, she didn't mind sharing a beat up sofa with a mangy old mutt to watch it."

Jim couldn't keep a laugh from popping out. "She called you that even back then?"

Several blinks and a dab of her sleeve cleared the shimmer from the corner of her eye. "She's called me that from the minute she first saw me. Bjorn was in our block, too: he still has the little Tuxedo Mask mask we gave him up on the wall in his living room."

Looking at her sweet, pale face, thinking about the life she'd lived and how far she'd come, Jim pushed the question out, as sharp and awful as a mouthful of pins. "What if I can't...can't do it, Lucy? What if I fall back when the show's gone and...and...and—" And that was as far as he could get.

Her other hand settled on top of his. "You're not alone, Jim. You've got friends now, friends who love you and who only want the best for you. So yeah, change is hard. But as long as we keep helping each other, we can keep it moving in the right direction."

Then she was sitting back, turning her head, pointing a shaky smile at the pimple-faced waiter stepping up to the table.

"Tuna melt with Swiss," Jim said. He pushed the bourbon toward the kid. "And maybe trade this for an iced tea?"

Lucy's smile got wider, and she tapped the menu. "I'll have the whole one-year-old she-goat, uncooked, and could I get the blood and the head in a bucket on the side, please?"

The waiter wrote it down, but he was peering over his pad. "Sorry, ma'am," he said, "but, well, until we get to know the locals, the boss says I hafta ask for some ID..."

The air crackled slightly around Lucy, but her smile didn't fade. In fact, it grew even toothier, curving around the snout that stretched from her face. Black fur bristled to cover her skin, her shoulders broadening, her torso lengthening and widening to fill her Spandex blouse.

"Thank you." The waiter nodded. "Would you like a tankard of the blood now?"

"Please," Lucy said, her voice still hers, Jim always thought, and still gentle however raspy it became.

The waiter left, and Lucy's ears perked along the sides of her lupine head. "See? Dandelion's used to charge extra for a tankard."

"Yeah." Jim felt like grinning all of a sudden, so he did. "Maybe a few little changes here and there every once in a while aren't so bad."

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Cerulean Blue

Cerulean Blue #1 · Sep 21st, 2019 · · ·

It's kinda funny that for some (myself) including this is the end of an era, and it's hard to see what will happen next; but that it happens all the time. A change here and there isn't so bad after all.

Baal Bunny