July 7, 2013
Sunday morning, I felt like I didn’t want to get out of bed. The previous night had gone late, what with reviewing the submitted fics for the contest, going to the author-reader meetup, and then hanging out at the Ponystock rave until the early hours of the morning.
Through it all, I had barely managed to hang on to Chrysalis’ secret. It was distracting, and several times during the course of the evening I had almost blurted it out; in the quiet hotel room while grading stories, in the busy hangout area with readers and other authors, at the bass-heavy dance party. At least the wubs would have made it impossible for anyone to actually hear.
I probably made the right decision, however. Looking back at it in hindsight, it was probably better to keep the secret and just go on with my life than it was to spread it everywhere and ignite some sort of alien invasion hysteria.
To be fair, bronies would probably at least give the changelings a shot at being friendly. If that didn't work out, I wondered how some sort of fight would go down and decided that I didn’t want to think about it.
There were a few hours until the first panel later in the morning. IHOP was having some sort of pancake sale, so we headed down the street to get some. I was still a little zonked from the late night and Maria handled the driving. For some reason, there was a Delorean parked beside our car in the garage.
The elderly Sunday morning crowd at the pancake house regarded my Mohawk and tired dopey expression with distain. It was a good thing that I’d decided to go back to long sleeves after the previous day’s incident at lunch. I might have shown off my ink to draw attention away from Chrysalis, but fortunately that was not needed as she’d gone out “normal” for breakfast. I can only imagine what the old folks would have thought of her costume.
We had breakfast and came back in time for me to go to the first panel. It was still morning and not many people had arrived while we were setting up. I was talking with Moonglow beforehand when I felt someone shoving my away from the front row of audience seats. Gary Oak pushed in. “Sorry guys; you can’t ignore my girth.”
“You’ve been in the crowd on pretty much every panel so far,” I pointed out. “Maybe a little absence would make the heart grow fonder.”
“In my experience, absinthe makes the heart grow fonder,” replied Moonglow.
And that pretty much set the tone for the panel. It was a good thing no kids were in the audience. The next panel, half an hour later, had a larger crowd and was a little more focused on its subject. Mr. Tristan, The General, and a few others joined us.
I went to lunch rather than sticking around for the next event where the winners of the writing competition were announced. It helped that I had reviewed them and already knew who won.
As I was heading downstairs to grab a bite to eat, I spotted Chrysalis posing for pictures with fans. Several had t-shirts and merchandise depicting her natural form. Many more expressed their personal choice of Best Pony with sqees of delight when she came into view.
I was struck again how mind-blowingly perfect her costume was. Of course it was perfect – Chrysalis looked exactly like whatever she pictured in her mind. What I found most impressive, and somewhat frightening, was how she’d managed to blend human and changeling into something that was aesthetically pleasing and awesome by brony standards, while not going over the line into obviously alien.
I looked around for Maria and found her a short distance away, distracted with studying some of the items available for sale. She looked like she trusted Chrysalis enough to give her a longer leash.
I went over to Maria to say hello while I was passing by. My schedule was weird today, and we’d already made plans for her and Chrysalis to get lunch on their own time.
“The silent auction is still going,” Maria said. “Your story isn’t doing too hot, though.”
The ten thousand word story I’d promised to whoever won the bid wasn’t supposed to be a huge deal, but I would have liked to see it do well. The Seattle Childrens’ Hospital needed money just as much as any other charity. I took a moment to visit the gallery to see the depressing news. The opening bid was two dollars.
The morning had been pretty good. I’d probably made the right decision to keep my mouth shut about Chrysalis. We’d eaten pancakes for breakfast. I’d had a good time at the panels. Even being a speaker, I was still learning things about writing. Despite all that, I headed off to lunch knowing that the item I’d donated for bidding wasn’t even worth a Big Mac hamburger. It seemed like maybe the afternoon wouldn’t be so great.
By the afternoon, the time the last panel was scheduled, I’d recovered somewhat. Some lunch had been nice and I’d used my off time to do some writing. The panel was the last one before the convention’s closing ceremony.
We made it one to remember. The audience, led by Gary Oak of course, was active and asked a lot of good questions. Wrapping it up, I felt like we’d accomplished something and was happy to have been a part of it.
Stepping out into the main hall, I found a crowd of people waiting for the closing ceremony. After hunting around, I met up with Maria and Chrysalis. The changeling queen was beaming, clearly excited about something.
“I’m ready to go home,” she explained.
“Can it wait until we’re away from these crowds?”
She nodded. “Yes, I understand. Anyway, I’ve very much enjoyed the feelings I received. I will miss these bronies.”
We headed to the central area, the Mane Stage, for the closing ceremony. Despite my anticipation of seeing Chrysalis off, the event seemed to pass quickly. Perhaps also because overall I’d enjoyed the convention so much that I was reluctant to see it end.
The ceremony was brought to a close. After a thunderous wave of applause and self appreciation, Everfree Northwest was officially over. Making our way through the crowds, we found our way downstairs and out of the building. The evening was warm, and the sun was still high enough for plenty of daylight left.
Nearby, I saw that The General was trying to get away from fans and go home. I chuckled slightly under my breath. A couple dozen people had wanted to take pictures with him at the meetup the previous night. I almost felt sorry for the guy, but that’s what he got for writing well and being famous.
Eventually deciding that he wasn’t going to get away so easily, The General gave up and began to conduct an impromptu panel right there on the grass beside the hotel. A group of listeners quickly gathered.
I caught sight of Tristan in the crowd of people still flowing out of the building. He waded his way over to say goodbye. I shook his hand. “Maybe see you next year?”
He nodded. “Sure. Oh yeah, I wanted to tell you—
I didn’t get to hear what he was saying. My attention was yanked away, riveted on Chrysalis, who stood a short distance away and was looking upwards. Her eyes were wide, staring skyward while her horn blazed with green magic.
Then I saw a spot of light appear in the sky. It stretched open, widening into a portal that expanded over the hotel.
When the first changeling drones started to come through the gaping hole in the sky, I realized that someone - probably me - had a serious problem.