Fading Summer, Autumn Birth (Preview)

A preview for an upcoming commission celebrating Friendship is Magic's 15th Anniversary, featuring a lovely Kirin TF! Enjoy the preview.

An odd flyer had come in the mail the other day. It contained a voucher for Refreshing Waves, the local water park he was at. It was good for a free visit and other free luxuries  during what was called “Day of Friendship”. All he had to do was show up with the voucher.

Derek had so many questions layered over the vast, initial confusion he had. He was reclusive, a person who rarely left the house other than for his job or errands. He preferred the quiet comforts of his home more than anything else. Why he would get a flyer to a water park he'd never been to or even thought about was beyond him.

Plus, he definitely never gave out his name or address to anything that would've resulted in obtaining said voucher.

Yet, despite the oddity of it all, he was both suspicious and curious. He may not like getting out into the public much, but a free pass was a free pass, and it happily lined up with some scheduled time off. Given the low crowds, he could give this a shot. If anything set up off his alarm bells, he could just leave.

So, Derek reached the main gate and came up to the ticket booth near the turnstiles. The sight of seeing the booth attendant certainly set off some sort of bell or ringing in his head.

Behind the glass was an anthro woman, a pony to be precise. She had pale mulberry fur and a lovely blue mane. She wore a red one-piece swimsuit, one that reminded him of that old Baywatch show his parents watched, and a white jacket over it. The name tag on the jacket read, “Sea Swirl”.

The name and vibe the pony gave off made this feel almost unreal to him. He had never seen an anthro so captivating, beautiful… and very attractive with such a curvaceous figure.

To put it simply, she was a lot to handle for the reserved, meek man, making him freeze up for a moment.

Thankfully, she brought him back down to earth by smiling and speaking. “Welcome to Refreshing Waves.” Her voice was so sweet and warm. “How may I help you today?”

Derek blinked a few times before he could properly speak. “Y-yes!” He cleared his throat. “I, ah, got this pass in the mail…” He fumbled with the duffle bag he brought and pulled out the voucher. He slid it through the opening in the window. “It's for a free day or something?”

“Ah yes!” The pony’s smile grew even brighter. “Another for our Day of Friendship event! Just wonderful!” She sighed blissfully. “So many fans of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic are showing up!”

“What?” Derek asked flatly, confusion returning.

“Oh?” Sea Swirl looked quite surprised herself now. “You don't know? It's the show's fifteenth anniversary today! The park is doing a promotion with Hasbro to celebrate with these passes! Didn't you see the news on the website?”

Derek shook his head. He didn't know what to exactly say. He knew of Friendship is Magic, hard not to on the Internet, but he never watched the show before.

Though, from what he did know and looking at Sea Swirl, she did seem like an anthropomorphic version of a pony from the show.

“Well, it doesn't really matter if you've seen the show or not to be honest.” Swirl returned to her smiling state. “The event is for everyone regardless of being in the fandom or not. As long as you have the pass, you're in!”

Sea Swirl took the voucher and put it somewhere underneath her desk. “Now, for one happy visitor…” She reached around under and pulled out a lanyard. “This is your special entry pass to anything and everything here, today!” She slid out to him.

Derek took the lanyard and looked at the little plastic badge attached to it. There was a picture on it, a headshot of a pony… of sorts.

She had gold, palish gray fur and a reddish brown, curly, thick mane. Her eyes were golden, highlighted with thick black eyeliner it seemed. Instead of a normal unicorn horn, she had a brown, wood-like horn sprouting from her forehead, splitting into two parts at the end and curling back. There were also apple green scales going down between her eyes.

Autumn Blaze… He read the name below the picture. Perhaps she was a character from the show?

Before he could speak, Sea Swirl piped up as if she knew what he was going to ask. “Okay, not exactly a pony, but a Kirin. Still, very pony related and I think you'll like her. She's special, and I just love her in the show.”

Derek lightly nodded, looking at the photo some more. He may not know the show very well, but he did know she was pretty adorable and cute.

Sea pressed a button on the counter, the turnstiles nearby making a loud, clicking noise. “Okay, you are good to head inside! You can change and store your stuff in our locker rooms.”

The pony leaned forward a little. “Make sure to wear that thing everywhere you go so you can get the full experience today! Everywhere is open for you! Have a great day!”