The First

"The First"

“Your first Con is always the most exciting,” said the vendor knowingly.  He smiled from under his cowboy hat, decorated with the cutie mark of the earth pony Big Macintosh.  He stood, surrounded by fleece hats representing the personas of near every character from Friendship is Magic.

The girl to whom he was talking laughed lightly, “Yeah, I can tell.  It’s so incredible being here!”  She played with her tri-colored wig, the purple, pink, and cream locks shifting between her fingers.  “Thanks again for the hat.  It’ll be perfect for winter.”

“No problem.  Maybe I’ll see you at a panel later, when my partner comes and switches out with me,” he suggested, making eye contact with a new customer.

“That’d be cool,” the girl replied, waving and walking off.  It took her a moment to find a path through the wave of people, filled with the same excitement as hers.  Pushing through the sea of bodies, she finally arrived at a quiet, near-empty room.  A man in a green Everfree shirt was setting out chairs in front of a panel stage.

She sat down gracefully on a chair near to the door.  As she took out a bag labeled with a gold and blue heart, she resolved to people-watch.  She pulled out a can of chilled soda as a girl cosplaying as Fluttershy passed by.  She noted a Mighty Fine brand “yay” shirt as she felt her wallet, which was so far forty dollars lighter than when she had arrived.  She grabbed a turkey sandwich, beaming at a male trio of Cutie Mark Crusaders.

The girl relished this moment, surrounded by color and friendship and light-hearted fun.  It did something for her soul, covered in friendship and love by people she had never met.  Nothing could spoil a day like this.

That’s when she saw him.  She had to do a double take to make sure, but it was him.  And immediately she burned bright red.

This was something that was bound to happen.  After all, as big as Everfree was, it was nowhere as grand and vast as Comic Con.  She recognized the man instantly, nearly dropping her light lunch.  Trying to calm her breathing was as hopeless an act as trying to reprimand herself, “You don’t even know his name. You know nothing about him, and he doesn’t know you.”

But she did know him.  And she had to finally meet him.

The man had stopped only a short moment to talk with another attendee, right in front of the doorway, before heading off away from the girl.  He hadn’t noticed her, of course, not that it mattered.  She wouldn’t allow herself time to think better of it – she grabbed her things and quickly strode after him.  The panel could wait.

She plunged back into the crowd, filled with men in pony outfits, sweaty bodies, volunteers, and every other type of person from every walk of life there is.  He was lost, but she promised herself not forever.  Suddenly, she caught a glimpse of a red jacket and her eyes lightened.  Squeezing past a duo of Octavia and DJ-Pon3, the girl ran after the person.

It was a little less than a year ago that she had seen him, on YouTube of all accursed places.  Missing out on last year’s Everfree NW had been a real disappointment, but to her delight, she found that Everfree Radio had covered almost the entire thing.  With nothing better to do, she set about watching these videos.  Of course, there were the voice actor panels, over which she squealed.  Michelle Creber was fantastic, Lee Tockar hilarious, and Tara Strong her regular queenly self.  The Friendship is Witchcraft parody duo, Sherclop Pones, was genius and truly funny, especially since the girl had always loved watching it.

But it was one particular panel that she really took interest in.  An audience-participation activity, improve acting based off of ponies.  As a thespian herself, she took great interest in the comical display.  And then, she saw him.  He was cute, and funny, and “practically perfect in every way”.  She knew it was about as ridiculous as a brace-faced eleven-year old crushing on Justin Bieber, but she could hardly help it.

“Excuse me!” she grabbed onto the back of the red jacket, startling herself at her own audacity.  The figure turned around suddenly.

“Yeah?” he asked, just as surprised as the girl.

Her face dropped in disappointment.  It wasn’t the same person. The outfit was nearly identical, the height very similar – but this boy wasn’t him.  She mumbled sheepishly, “I’m sorry, I thought you were someone else…”

Sympathetically, the cosplayer smiled at the pretty face and kept on his way.

The girl was momentarily distraught, when a flash of color caught her eye and she looked up.  It was a parade… or a conga line… The rainbow of outfits nearly gave her a seizure.  Leading the train of people was a girl topped with a frizzy pink afro.  Pinkie Pie, Flim Flam Brothers, Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, three Rarity’s, Photo Finish… And then there was a Royal Guard outfit!  Could it be him?  She practically danced over to the line, in a panic to find a way towards her would-be love interest.

You’re sixteen.  And it’s ridiculous that you have a… crush on someone who’s at least twenty.  None of your friends like guys that old.  No one four, five years older than you would like you.  It’s demented – so why do you like him?!

The conga-line broke up with a burst of laughter and happy shouts as the girl finally reached the second man… only to find that, once again, it wasn’t him.  His friend, dressed as Pinkie Pie, came up to him.  “Nice cosplay,” she commented on the girl’s attire.  “Need something?”

“Oh, no, nothing.  Um, nice costumes yourselves,” she gave a half-hearted grin, trudging off.

“You are the most ridiculous person in the entire world, you know that?” she berated herself.  With a deep, long sigh, she sat down on a tile ring that was surrounding a tiny forest of indoor plants.  She buried her face in her hands, as she heard the room quiet, the people dispersing, most likely headed for the panel she had just taken off from.  “You are such a girl.  You are such a sappy, romantic, head-in-the-clouds, never-gonna-happen dreamer who just—”

“Hey, you okay there?”

She looked up.   She took a sharp breath inward, brushing the pastel-colored hair from her eyes.  It wasn’t – it couldn’t be – but it was.  It was him.

“You okay?” he repeated, looking down at her face.  She noted how perfectly his eyes shined.  He offered her a hand, “I’ve never seen Princess Cadence without any prince.”  Was it her imagination, or did his face turn a little red?  It couldn’t possibly be so in the way that her face did when she saw… him.

She took his hand, slowly standing up.  “And I’ve never seen a Shining Armor without a Princess Cadence before,” something she had never thought she would dare say.  She could hardly believe this was happening.

He grinned as her heart practically melted; he picked up her bag chivalrously and took her arm.  “Well, why don’t we remedy that?”