My Little Brony

by K. M. Hayes

  Ms. Zook sighed. “If you insist.”

  “Just so you’re warned, Drew . . .” Skye pointed to her pony ears, grinning slyly. “Harley makes sure everyone is wearing these before we go.”

  My eyes widened. While I was a fan of the show, I was definitely not a fan of dressing up. I didn’t even do that for Halloween anymore, let alone a random day of the week. “Uh, can I get a pass because I’m new?”

  “But it’s fun!” Harley said. “Everyone does it. You’ll feel left out if you don’t.”

  “That’s okay.” But I appreciated his concern.

  Skye shook her head. “It’s gonna happen. You may as well give up now.”

  Ms. Zook and Harley laughed, but not maliciously. It felt like I was part of their family for a moment. They barely knew me, and yet they were at ease. As they joked around and ate, it occurred to me that I’d never seen a family quite like this before. Quincy’s was okay, but much quieter. Mine didn’t even resemble anything like this . . . like we loved each other.

  *******

  I held the Applejack ears in my lap as we rode to Austin Community College for the Brony meet-up. Harley had worn me down this far, saying I didn’t have to wear them immediately, but that I should bring them in case I wanted to once we got there. I cringed at the thought of putting them on.

  Skye laughed. “No one at school’s gonna see you. What’s the big deal?”

  “Everyone dresses up,” Harley said from the front seat. “For reals.”

  I’d seen the online pictures of guys dressed in pony gear. I knew they weren’t lying. But I guess somewhere deep down inside, I still hadn’t quite accepted myself as a Brony even though I loved the show. Putting on these ears was like the nail in the coffin. There would be no going back.

  Did I want to go back?

  “Here we are!” Ms. Zook said as we pulled into Austin Community College. She drove through the parking lot looking for a spot, and when she found one, she stopped the car and everyone got out.

  Except for me.

  Suddenly, things seemed surreal. Just how did I get to this place where I was at a Brony meet-up with a family who donned pony ears? Even I knew this looked crazy, and yet here I was. None of it made sense, but then again what I was doing before didn’t either. I kept waiting for something to click. I had been following Skye hoping I would figure out what I wanted like she had, but I wasn’t any closer.

  The back door opened, and Skye got back in. She looked puzzled. “Drew? Are you coming?”

  “I don’t know.” I clutched my chest, realizing it was hard to breathe.

  “Is something wrong?”

  “Wrong?” My laugh was strained. I must have sounded crazy because Skye leaned back. “Lots of things are wrong! I’m about to go to a Brony meet-up like a . . . like a . . .”

  “Loser?” Skye asked in a neutral voice.

  “Yeah.” I leaned back in the seat, forcing myself to take a deeper breath. “Even my best friend thinks this is weird, Skye. He looked at me like he wasn’t sure he wanted to hang out with me anymore—and he’s a homeschooled, gamer geek with Tourette’s! It’s not like he’s cool either.”

  Skye snorted. “Okay, sorry, I know that’s not supposed to be funny, but damn.”

  “Seriously.” My laugh was short, and then I became quiet. I looked at Skye. Pretty, confident, weird, kind Skye. “How do you do it? How do you take so much shit? How do you know without a single doubt what you want in life? You’re fourteen!”

  “Fifteen next month,” she grinned.

  “A whole month older than me. That must be it.”

  “Drew, let me tell you a secret.” She scooted closer, and my heart raced as I caught a whiff of her floral perfume. “‘No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.’”

  I paused, mulling it over. “I’ve never thought of it like that before.”

  “Eleanor Roosevelt was a smart lady.” Skye put her hand on my shoulder, patting it twice. “Look, I know this Brony thing is all new to you. And I know it’s weird. Trust me, we all know. But it’s also fun and funny and cool. If you decide it’s too much after tonight, you don’t have to come again. I just thought it might help you to meet other guys who like the show.”

  I nodded slowly. “Sorry for freaking out. I guess I just thought once I admitted I liked the show, I’d have stuff figured out, but I’m still as confused as ever.”

  “You’ll figure it out.” She shoved me. “So calm down and—”

  Banging sounded on the car roof, followed by Harley’s voice. “Hurry up, we are late!”

  “You ready?” Skye said, nodding towards the roof. “’Cause he’s only gonna get louder.”

  “Hurry up! Hurry up!”

  Skye rolled her eyes. “He’s twenty, but sometimes he acts like a kid.”

  I scoffed, putting on the pony ears. I’d come this far, so I might as well see it through. Maybe this crazy night would give me the answers I needed. Or at least rule out some things. “Why the hell not? Let’s do this.”

  Chapter 25

  WE WALKED DOWN a quiet hall in the English building. College students studied or slept, not even looking our way. It was odd. If this had been Yearling High School, every single person would be pointing and laughing. Yet no one here seemed to give a shit.

  A door with a giant pink sign on it was in the distance, surrounded by Pinkie Pie’s signature yellow and blue balloons. Clearly we would meet in that classroom.

  Harley clapped my shoulder. “You can be on my team for the trivia game. I always win.”

  “He does,” Skye said. “He’s a freaking genius with pony trivia.”

  “Not even the Brony president can beat him,” Ms. Zook bragged.

  “Then I’m definitely on your team,” I said. “I’ve watched a few times but I’m still a total noob.”

  “I got your back.” Harley opened the door for us.

  It was everything I expected and nothing I could have imagined all at once. Harley wasn’t kidding when he said everyone dressed up. People were in more elaborate costumes than any I’d seen Skye wear, and those not in costumes had Brony T-shirts on. The white board was covered in rectangular papers with numbers on them—must be the trivia game. An assortment of food and drinks were at the back where children and parents mingled. Almost every age group was covered.

  “Harley, my man!” a guy in a red Big Mac shirt said. He looked like he was in college, since he had longer hair and a five o’clock shadow. “I was starting to think you weren’t coming.”

  “Wouldn’t miss it!” They fist-bumped and hugged. “We brought a new recruit from Skye’s school.”

  “Ah, I see.” The guy turned to me, smiling a welcome smile. “I’m Tyler Parr, the president of this fine Brony chapter. And you are?”

  “Drew Morris,” I said.

  “Nice to meet you!” A woman in an immaculate Twilight Sparkle costume came up next to him. “I’m Frankie, Tyler’s girlfriend.”

  Tyler put an arm around her waist. “And the Vice President.”

  “And my hero,” Skye said, ogling her outfit. “Holy wow, is this Grand Galloping Gala Twilight?”

  Frankie nodded. “It’s my show and tell tonight.”

  “Show and tell?” I said.

  Tyler nodded. “We do show and tell so everyone who wants to can share their pony creations. It’s fun to share with other fans in person. At least I think so.”

  “But first we do trivia!” Harley said and pointed to Tyler. “You’re never gonna beat me, Prez.”

  “I’ve been studying!” Tyler laughed. “Okay, okay, let’s get this competition started. Winner gets a special prize this time.”

  Harley’s eyes widened with excitement. “It’s mine.”

  “Alright, everypony! Let’s get this meeting started!” Tyler called. Everyone sat at the desks, and he gave out welcomes, announcements, and a rundown of the evening. Basically it was games, eating, and show and tell.

  Then the trivia compet
ition began. We divided into three teams, Harley heading one, Tyler another, and a girl in a Fluttershy wig the third. Buzzers were set up and we gathered around the one we were assigned. Some people watched instead of playing. I kind of wished I’d been a spectator because the competition was fierce. People answered the most specific questions in just seconds. I was totally useless.

  Harley was epic. He knew how many episodes featured Derpy. He knew the cutie marks of every pony. He referenced the episodes by number and title. He had memorized the songs. I was pretty sure he was the king of the Bronies.

  “What is ear-flop then knee-twitch then eye-flutter?” Harley said.

  “Correct!” the ‘game show host’ guy in a black Brony shirt said. “And that is the last question . . . putting Harley’s team three thousand points in the lead!”

  “Yes!” Harley jumped up and down, and everyone else cheered along with him. There didn’t seem to be any sore losers, just people laughing and having a good time.

  “Excellent showing, fine sir.” Tyler stood up and bowed to Harley. “And now for your prize . . .” He grabbed a large black case from the wall. I’d never seen anything like it before—it probably came up to my waist and was wide, but thinner like a filing folder. “It’s hard to give this up when I know how much I could sell it for, but if anyone deserves it, Harley does.”

  Tyler pulled out a large sheet of paper, and everyone in the room gasped. My jaw dropped as I took in the image—it was Princess Luna, but the style wasn’t quite the same as in the show. It was more dramatic, with lots of contrast between light and dark. Luna looked regal and sad and perfect. Finally, my brain processed that Tyler probably had drawn this poster since he had talked about selling it.

  Tyler was an artist.

  And a pony artist at that.

  “For real?” Harley said as he came forward and took the poster reverently.

  “Yup.” Tyler smiled. “I did it for my illustration class. Don’t really have a place to put it in my dorm room.”

  “Wow, thank you!” Harley turned around, looking our way. “Mom, can we frame it?”

  “We have to!” Skye said.

  Ms. Zook laughed. “Depends on how much it costs.”

  “Framing is pricey. Trust me, I know.” Tyler clapped his hands together. “Well, that was my show and tell. Who wants to go next?”

  Unlike a normal classroom, people eagerly raised their hands. My thoughts went immediately to the sketchbook in my backpack, but after what Tyler had shown, it seemed dumb to share my little drawings. I wasn’t like him—he was obviously studying to be an illustrator or something in college.

  But at the same time, as people shared their costumes, stories, pictures, and handmade pony toys, I kept glancing over at Tyler. The artist.

  He wasn’t some pompous old guy. He wasn’t all deep and painting stuff that went in museums. Maybe he did sometimes, but that awesome Princess Luna was also in the mix. He made it for a class. Classes where he was allowed to draw ponies. He was freaking in college and drawing cartoons.

  My brain was about to explode. Somewhere in the back of my mind I knew people did that, but at the same time I never thought I could be one of those people.

  But now . . . now . . .

  A little boy, maybe around Holly’s age, went up next with his own colored picture of Rainbow Dash. “This is my best Dash! And I didn’t get any help drawing it.”

  People clapped and cheered and told him it was great, just like they’d complimented everyone who had gone before. I’d seriously never met people who were this nice, this supportive. Maybe I was high on Brony love or something, but I wanted to share my own drawings, too. I wanted to hear them say I was doing a good job. Because a little voice inside of me whispered that maybe I did know what I wanted to do with my life, but no one ever told me it was something I was allowed to do.

  “Me next!” Skye said as she stood up. She twirled once so everyone could see her outfit. “I finished this Celestia outfit just last week. I really like how the dress came out, and since it’s simple to make, I’m thinking of adding it to my Etsy store if anyone’s interested. I’m starting to get orders. It’s really exciting!”

  “Awesome! Good for you, Skye!” Frankie cheered. “Really great job on the sewing.”

  “Oh my gosh, thank you!” Skye blushed. She clearly idolized Frankie. Turned out Frankie was Skye’s role model—she was a cosplayer who had won dozens of awards at conferences for her My Little Pony cosplays. The outfit Frankie modeled today was her next big thing. It looked spectacular, but she said it wasn’t even finished yet.

  After Skye sat down, I almost went, but at the last second I chickened out. I almost went again after the guy who read his story about the Cutie Mark Crusaders finally getting their cutie marks. People kept going, and I kept almost going.

  It was weird how I wanted to but was terrified at the same time.

  Tyler stood up after nearly the whole room had shared. “Okay, is that everyone? Last call!”

  I was about to let it go, but Tyler stood up there. I didn’t know him at all, but I thought he was cool. He was someone who, for the first time since I had given up trying to be my dad, I wanted to be like.

  So I raised my hand.

  “Drew, our new friend! What do you have for us?” Tyler motioned for me to come up.

  I took a deep breath and pulled out my sketchbook. As I stood up there, I noticed Skye smiling at me, amused. Like a “See? I told you so.”

  “I’m not that good yet, but I’ve been drawing a lot because of the show. It’s fun. I think I really like doing it.”

  “That’s great!” Tyler said, and my stomach turned over his excitement. “Show us something.”

  I flipped through my sketches, trying to decide. I ended up on the Princess Cadance and Shining Armor I had done for Holly. “I drew this for my sister. Cadance is her favorite.”

  I was surprised so many people said positive things all at once. A “Nice!” there. A “Sweet!” there. Harley stood, clapped, and called out, “Hey, you’re really good at that!”

  “Thanks, guys,” I said, feeling my own face redden like Skye’s had.

  “He’s right, you know.” Tyler came closer and took my sketchbook. “May I?”

  “Sure . . .” I gulped down my nerves as he paged through. This was not in the plan—I was only going to show one picture. Now the real artist looked at my stuff. The mess ups, the good, the clumsy.

  Tyler smiled widely as he handed my stuff back. “How long have you been drawing?”

  “Not much until a couple months ago.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “Seriously? You should keep going, dude. You have a lot of potential.”

  “Really?” I could hardly believe it. This guy was actually good, and he told me I could do what he did? I didn’t expect that at all, and it felt beyond awesome.

  “Yeah, really. Now, more games!” Tyler laughed, having moved on, not realizing he’d changed everything for me in that moment.

  I sat down next to Skye, my mind spinning with excitement.

  She leaned over, a big grin on her face. “Why didn’t you tell me you were drawing ponies?”

  I shrugged, distracted with my own thoughts.

  That thing I’d been waiting to happen? I was pretty sure it just had. All the pieces clicked, and a fire lit inside me. My future wasn’t this mushy thing I had no idea what to do with. Something was there. Something I knew I wanted, and I finally had the courage to admit it.

  I would be an artist.

  Chapter 26

  I COULDN’T REMEMBER a time I had been this happy. As Skye said, the meet-up and everyone there would be considered freakish by normal-people standards, but as we played My Little Pony Monopoly, listened to songs from the show, and ate cupcakes and drank punch, I had so much fun I felt bad for everyone who didn’t get it.

  Because this Brony thing was awesome.

  For once in my life I understood how it felt to belong somewhere, to be ar
ound people who took me as I was and didn’t expect me to fit in the molds I tried so hard to cram myself into. Those molds were too small for what I wanted to be; now I felt free and also a little bit invincible.

  “Oh, you have to get to a con,” Frankie said to Skye as we cleaned up the Monopoly pieces. “It’s a blast, and people need to see your talent!”

  Skye sighed wistfully. “I want to so bad, but it’s expensive! There’s the travel, and the tickets, and the food costs, not to mention the fabric to make my piece.”

  Frankie nodded. “It is pricey. It’s gotten easier for me and Tyler now that we’re making a bit of cash from our work. I actually just got a commission for a major Rarity piece, super detailed, competition level—that’s going to almost pay for BronyCon.”

  “You’re so lucky.” Skye frowned as she glanced over at her mom and brother chatting with another family by the remaining cupcakes. “We don’t have the cash for that kind of trip. My mom says I can go . . . if I can earn the money on my own. At the rate I’m selling, it’ll take me three years.”

  “Are the cons like this?” I asked. It was hard to picture something more awesome than the meet-up, but they made it sound like BronyCon was way better.

  “Imagine thousands of people all geeking out like this,” Frankie said. “Plus they usually invite artists and writers for the MLP franchise, from the show, movies, comics . . . it’s so cool to listen to them talk about the show. And then there’s the vendor floor where people sell pony stuff. It’s fantastic.”

  “Wow.” Although I still couldn’t quite picture it, the idea of it was enough for me to wish I could go. But there was no way; my parents didn’t even know I liked the show.

  Skye whimpered, “I wanna go so bad! Forget Disneyland! BronyCon is my dream.”

  Frankie laughed. “As it should be.”

  “Hey, everypony!” Tyler called over the chatter. “Here’s the sign-ups for food and activities next month. I can’t make these parties awesome without you, so get volunteering.”

  “I’m writing the trivia next time!” Harley called out.