The Tale of Connie Bloom
The Tale of Connie Bloom
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Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria. There was a land, far off to the east in the region of Europonia. A land vastly different from their neighbors. Behind the vast mountainscape of the alps, a country by the name of Awestria lay. Occasionally clad in mist, it was a land of mystery and adventure.
Inhabited by earth ponies, pegasi and unicorns, Awestria didn‘t stretch that far and was regarded as a rather small and sleepy country. The same could be said for most of it’s villages and their inhabitants. One of which was a beige mare with brown hair and sea-blue eyes, from the town of Kirchfeld.
Her name was Connie Bloom and she was known all around her little village. Everypony knew her for the positive attitude and cheerful nature she spread around their small town.
She was a young, lively mare who often got into trouble. Either for sneaking around in places not meant for her or even for startling some farm animals that gave chase and often caused a line of chaos throughout the streets. The list was very long.
And even though she brought trouble, she also brought news. Kirchfeld was especially quiet and peaceful. Nothing major really happened there. One dared to use the word boring to describe her home. Ironic, because it just so happened to be Connie’s most frequently used adjective regarding her village.
Doing chores all day. Learning to be the heir of her family. Getting used to her responsibilities as the firstborn. Caring for her little brother or her Grandma was of course nice, but repetitive and once again...
...boring.
Connie often talked to her Grandma about her personal struggles and how she wanted something exciting to do when she wasn’t busy. Something to spice up her life. Granny simply told her to go out to explore the world, but Connie knew she couldn’t do that. It meant, leaving her family and duties behind which she did love and also care about.
No, she needed a different approach. Lucky for Connie, her pleas were soon answered...
A wandering circus came to town, unexpected and unannounced. Most of the townfolk, having been used to their daily lives as much as to not even think about spicing it up a bit rejected them at first. Connie though, was amazed and entangled by the bright visuals of their huge tent and cheerful music.
Thus she pleaded her people to let them perform at least once.
She promised that, if they weren’t satisfied, that she would swear to stop causing trouble and behave. It was a feeble attempt to let them perform and Connie was afraid that it might backfire on her. Obliging to the terms, the circus crew was granted an evening performance and Connie was having a blast of a time, watching them.
It was an entirely new world for the beige mare, never having seen anything like it before. Yet, as colorful and awesome as their performance was, as funny and silly as their clowns were, there was something else which caught Connie’s attention. Glancing through rows and rows of excited guests, Connie realized something.
She didn’t know half of them. And Connie sought out to ask them who they were. It turned out most of them were from entirely different towns around the region, most of them following the circus to nearby towns only to see them again. Some of them claimed to be somewhat addicted to it.
Connie had trouble sleeping that night. The revelation of ponies gathering around and finding common interests, which ultimately helped binding them together even beyond racial differences, coat colors or origins. And that little something stuck with her for the night, letting her imagination flow.
Luckily the townsfolk had been successfully entertained by the crew. And the circus left a positive impression on them. In fact, it was positive enough, that the townsfolk decided to invite them over to their town again!
And when they came by, Connie always met up with her new friends and over time created a community that now began to get together on a regular basis. It was the perfect change of pace Connie needed. Sometimes she would go visit them. Sometimes, they would come to Kirchfeld instead.
They talked, partied, drank, drew, sang together and word of their meetups and parties drew in more and more ponies from all around nearby villages. Connie was happy about how things turned out. How a small group of ponies, dedicated to a common interest, could spawn a huge amount of creativity and socialize together.
And all of that was made possible thanks to the travelling circus.
Yet as it is with nature, some things begin and inevitably have to end. A lesson Connie had to accept as things began to change suddenly. Hearing that the circus broke up and thus, no longer performed, struck a devastating blow within their considerably grown community and fear of an impending end began to fret them.
But it was then Connie Bloom had an idea. A thought that struck her like lightning. It was simple but precious. They didn’t need the circus to continue meeting and having fun. What counted is what they had in each other. That was the real importance.
Setting up the biggest meeting Connie could manage, she desperately tried to gather as many ponies together as she could before it was too late.
Her stubbornness proved to be a valuable ally in succeeding at said task. Optimism was key and Connie quickly found herself with a large group willing to attend her get-together. She may have exaggerated just a tiny bit on the promotional aspect.
As the day of the meetup came, Connie prepared to present her idea to the crowd, hoping they would share her enthusiasm. Backed up by her closest friends who were already involved, Connie gave her speech:
„Ladies and Gentlecolts. Thank you all for coming here today. Surely by now you have heard the bad news. But I am not here to tell you what you already know. Instead, I am here to tell you a tale. A tale of a pony who has a dream. And her intentions to make that dream come true. We have all found each other entangled by that circus. We laughed, we gasped, we cheered and, most importantly, we had fun. We made more and more friends and connected ourselves in a way we couldn’t have dreamed of. And that’s what made it special. The most important and valuable thing we possess. We fought back first impressions, managed to get along with one another and partied under a common interest. I don’t know about you guys, but that is worth more to me then anything else. I am so very happy to be able to call you friends and I am here today, not to tell you that it ended, but that it merely just begun. I intend to set up a circus with your help, the intention of building up on the foundations the previous left behind. To catch up where they had left off. And we're going to make it even bigger, and we’re going to involve our guests and community too. We won’t even stop at our borders, expanding further and even beyond Awestria. To get as many ponies connected as we can. So, who’s with me...!”
And with that, the crowd cheered loudly, screaming and stomping their hooves in excitement. Connie’s heart was beating heavily but upon seeing them motivated enough to get this thing rolling she let out a revlieved sigh, smiled and thought to herself:
“There will be much work to do and it will be hard. It is going to be tough and some complications are bound to happen, but if we stick together we can do it. I know so...”
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