#seaddle

Pinkie joined us on another trip to Seattle, but then I forgot her at our friends’ house while we were out and about.

Adorkable Twilight & Friends - “Beyond Rocket Science”

Shocking!  I decided to release an episode early?  I didn’t plan one for Wednesday, but sure, lets do one today.  Maybe nothing Friday this week.  Hope you all had a nice Christmas!

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One of the premier pony conventions is taking place this weekend in beautiful Seattle, Washington, May 12-14th!  They are bringing Equestria to earth for three days!  I am talking about Everfree Northwest 2017 in beautiful Seattle, Washington . . . well . . . SeaTac (the airport) . . .  but close enough!  Everyone at Adorkable Twilight and Friends wishes the convention and go-ers a wonderful time!  Everyone else, have a great weekend!

Hello, my little ponies.  I’m in a rather good mood tonight.  I figured out a few more functions of my laptop, and I’ve come to grips with my fatherhood – which was confirmed to me recently by a reliable source.  To be more precise, I’ve come to grips with both the aspects of fatherhood I will not experience – my daughter’s doing well enough on her own, it seems – and those that I will experience – I will write my parents tonight and assure them, without naming any names, that the Velvet genes will be passed on at least ONE more generation.  My father was awfully disappointed that none of us had foals, although I’m sure I’m not his first choice for passing on the bloodline.

Speaking of my family, I’ve been dwelling on them.  Those first few nights back were wonderfully nostalgic – arguing with my sister, helping with the cooking, my mother preparing my old favorite alfalfa recipe – but things quickly began to chafe between us.  The quarrels that had separated us in my adolescence, before my journeys, had been forgotten, but they were still there, waiting for us to rediscover them.  It was in no way immediate, but it became apparent to me that staying with my family would become an issue.  Ergo, I immediately began to seek out another reason to leave the home – higher education.

It seemed natural to want to go to college.  I had developed a distaste for most menial jobs.  My new passion didn’t exactly pay well.  I didn’t have an exact job in mind at first, so I decided to enter as an undeclared major (often looked down on as a “blank flank” degree, but it made sense for me) and see what fit.  I sent out several applications, although I knew I couldn’t afford any huge establishments like Stallionford.  Even for a less famous university, I expected I’d have to work my way through.

Well, I was accepted everywhere I applied – a full passport complements high grades nicely.  I eventually chose the West Canterlot Academy of the Arts – one of the newer schools in Canterlot, it was starting to develop a positive reputation but wasn’t really established nationally yet.  Also, it was far from my family, which was sounding increasingly attractive.  I did run into an interesting roadblock – real estate in Canterlot is very expensive, and I simply couldn’t afford to live there – but there was a simple solution.  I did as many of Canterlot’s working-class ponies do: I bought a flat in Baltimare near their train station, which is only a single stop down the tracks from Canterlot.

So it came to pass that late that summer, I left home for good (I returned a few times on holiday, of course, but I never returned to live at my parents’ house again).  I knew what to expect with long goodbyes from my family, this time – a stiff farewell from my brother, a mercurial shoulder-punch from my sister, a warm reminder that I’d always be welcome in her house from my mother, my father bawling his eyes out.  I was struck by how little they had changed over the past three years – and how much I had changed while I was away.  Or was I wrong?  Did they see me for anything near what I was?  Did they even see that I was fundamentally a different pony than the one they said goodbye to last time, or were they thinking the same thing about me?  Maybe we’re all changing, all the time, and we’re all just too self-absorbed to notice it in each other except when the change becomes physical.  I didn’t look any different, except that I had a shiny new watch and I had enough luggage to require a wagon this time.