Charlotte pushes herself up from my bed and grabs her bag that she dropped by my door. “I figured you would say something like that, so I brought something that might help.”

She digs inside and pulls out a wrapped present, holding it up for me to see.

“You bought me another Christmas present?”

Charlotte rolls her eyes and tosses it to me. “No, that is the present from Tyler you never opened.”

I blink back tears and stare down at the gift, afraid to open it. In all the commotion on Christmas, I totally forgot that he got me something. I shoved it under the tree to open later on and, after our fight, I didn’t want anything to do with it.

“Well, open it!”

With a sniffle, I rip into the paper and stare in confusion at what I’m holding in my hand.

“Bronies: A Documentary,” I read aloud. “Seriously?”

Charlotte pulls a folded piece of paper out of her purse and hands it to me. “This came with it too. Sorry, I already read it.”

Snatching the paper out of her hand, I give her a dirty look before unfolding it and quickly reading through Tyler’s hand-written note.

“Look, I didn’t get this whole thing either, but after I read that note, Gavin sat me down and explained everything to me and then made me watch Tyler’s copy of that DVD. If I have to suffer through this documentary to try and understand a guy I’m NOT in love with, then it’s only fair you do the same since you ARE in love with him.”

Setting the note aside, I stare down at the DVD. “Charlotte, he thinks he can find his real dad at BronyCon. I want to support him, but that’s just too crazy even for me.”

She sighs and perches on the edge of my bed. “Ava, I think deep down he knows he’s not truly going to find his real dad there. You need to understand how important this is to him. You need to realize how much he just wants to know and understand where he came from. It’s a pipe dream that he’ll find his dad out of all of those people, but it gives him hope. No one has ever understood the whole Brony thing he’s got going on, aside from other Bronies. He just wants his real dad to be someone who understands him.”

Sixty minutes after Charlotte left, I’m sitting on the floor in my room crying harder than I’ve ever cried in my life. Friendship IS magic. Tyler is part of a community that believes in friendship and being happy, why is that so bad? People only think it’s weird because they don’t understand it, but these horses are role models! Fluttershy represents people with crippling social anxieties and Twilight Sparkle embodies bookish people without making them look like nerds. It’s genius!

It’s about people trying to belong! Sure, they dress up like ponies and there’s Cloppers and Furries and other things I don’t understand, but that’s not the point. These people don’t want to have sex with ponies or do weird shit with them. Okay, some do, but not the majority. Most of them are simply looking for friendship and a place where they belong, a concept I’m very familiar with. All this time I’ve been looking for a place to belong. My mom tried to make it be Seduction and Snacks and I was miserable. Fashion is where I belong, and talking to other people about fashion. Tyler found his place to belong a long time ago and who am I to discourage that?

I immediately get out of bed and fire up my laptop. Hopefully I’m not too late and I can still do this. I’m going to show Tyler once and for all that I’m not afraid. He fought my battle for me with my mom, but I’m going to fight this one for him. I’m going to make sure everyone understands what I love about him.

As soon as I get what I need printed off of my laptop, I head towards my door just as my mom comes through it.

We stand there staring at each other awkwardly for a few minutes before she finally speaks. “I don’t like apologizing.”

I nod. “Me either.”

Glad we established that.

“I forgive you for not wanting to work at Seduction and Snacks.”

“And I forgive you for not understanding my dream,” I tell her.

She leans in and wraps her arms around me. I slide my arms around her shoulders and hug her back.

“You’re totally my favorite child,” she whispers before pulling back.

“You just said that same thing to Charlotte a few minutes ago, didn’t you?”

She shrugs. “Does it matter?”

“Nope.”

I thrust my arm out and hand her one of the print-outs. “Now that we like each other again and Tyler made you cry, I expect you to be there.”

She looks over the page and then gives me a questioning look. “You have got to be kidding me.”

“I would never kid about something like this.”

Mom looks back down at the paper. “If I go to this, can I make fun of people?”

I start to tell her no and then think better of it. If I tell her no, she definitely won’t come and I need her to be there. “You can only make fun of people if they make fun of you first.”

She thinks about this for a few seconds before nodding. “I can deal with that.”

I walk out of my bedroom with a smile on my face, making plans in my head and hoping that everything works.

Chapter 28 – BronyCon

“I still don’t understand why I have to be blindfolded. Are you going to do some weird, kinky shit to me?”

Gavin laughs and I feel his car come to a stop as he turns off the engine.

“Sorry, no kinky shit for you today, my friend. Today, your dreams are coming true,” Gavin tells me.