[RGR] Harshwinny Story [Title in Development]

[RGR] Harshwinny Story [Title in Development]

Started on 2020 06-Jun 22 Mon
Started in https://boards.4channel.org/mlp/thread/35472752#p35488673

>You are Ms. Harshwinny, a professional Professional.
>It's you who helps inspect, organize, and run public events (most notably, the Equestria Games).
>You are on a train, riding home to Canterlot.
>Your name is Harshwinny for a reason.
>Not just because that's what your parents named you.
>You're harsh and exacting.
>A perfectionist in all things.
>You hold high expectations for yourself and others.

>Frankly, you're kind of a cunt, but only if you have to be.
>You've spent a long time working that kind of personality into your profession, to the degree that it's slowly helped you build a reputation
>Unfortunately, the saying that you catch more breezies with honey than with vinegar rings true
>Your reputation hasn't exactly led to a successful love life.
>There's been the occasional stallion who was interested in your professional success, but when you couldn't drop the persona, they always ended up leaving.

>It was a kind of catch-22.
>Keep the personality up, and you drive ponies away, since you're not "fun to be around".
>Try to change your persona for your non-professional life, and you're suddenly "not the same person they expected", or you're just too clumsy and awkward to hold their attention.
>Can't risk thoroughly changing your personality.
>That'd hurt your career that you spent so long building up.
>If anything, stallions who see an adult mare abandon a full career to "find themselves" as more pathetic than anyone else.

>With a career like this, you were on the road for significant parts of the year, so it's much harder to maintain a relationship with that.

>"Stallions like a strong guiding hoof to keep them in line"
>Hah, nonsense.
>You've got a lifetime of lonely nights to prove that wrong.

>Suddenly, you hear a new wave of interesting things in the news.
>It seems that some magic researcher under the Princess screwed up (clearly a result of not being "professional" enough in her work).
>She accidentally teleported a non-pony into her lab somehow.
>That the one who ended up in her lab wasn't a pony wan't all that surprising, really.
>In your travels, you've met with ponies of all three tribes, crystal ponies, griffons, dragons, you name it.

>What IS surprising is that this non-pony isn't any one of those.
>They're a "Hyuu-man", whatever that is.
>A male, as if that researcher didn't screw up hard enough in the first place.
>Subjecting a male to this kind of event, uprooting his entire life, is the kind of thing that makes a mistake ten times worse.
>Mares could handle it.
>They learn from a young age to be resilient to the wrenches life throws in their plans.
>Stallions are delicate, flighty creatures at the best of times.
>Whimsical or not, their emotional well-being depends on feeling safe and secure enough to act out.

>This researcher, Twilight, just caused the Princess a bit of a scandal.
>She's going to be under a more watchful eye for the next little while.
>One of the problems with commissioning other ponies who are less professional than yourself to do work for you.
>Also, one of the reasons you try to keep your responsibilities to a one-mare operation.

>A one-mare operation in more ways than one.
>It's really starting to bother you, almot like jet lag from travelling from one end of the world to the other that you just can't shake.
>Or an uncomfortable train seat that you're going to be stuck in for a twenty-six hour trip.

>You get these urges once in a while.
>Urges to try going on a date with someone.
>"Maybe this time it'll be different", you say to yourself.
>"Maybe this time, they'll like what they see, and how I act".
>"Maybe this time, I can finally get to the point where I can fuck out all the stress that's been building up over the years".
>Your hoof and toys just aren't cutting it anymore, and the "escort services" that can guarantee enough privacy to prevent damage to your career cost more than you can honestly afford.

>Nopony can stick around in polite society if they've been known to pay for "stress relief".
>There have been too many stories of organized crime abusing stallions by forcing them into prostitution, and those stories tainted the whole industry.
>That, and stallion prostitutes are a common component in bribery.
>You actually got your first real break in this industry when your predecessor was trapped in a scandal like that.
>It turns out that they were bribed with bits and "services" to choose one location over another.
>In the wake of that scandal, your early reputation for "professionalism above all" made you the best choice for those who wanted objective decisionmaking.
>It still hurt to turn down the occasional bribe offers you did receive, though.

>As you're thinking about these urges and their history, your eyes turn down and glance at the paper.
>On the page, front and center, is a large photo of the Hyuu-man, Anon.
>He looks nervous and overwhelmed.
>Not surprising, considering what he has to adjust to, and all the media activity there.
><The poor thing.>
>Next to him on his left is a unicorn pony, looking embarrassed, and like she's trying to do damage control.
><Not the most professional body language I've ever seen, but it could be worse>
>Then, on the hyuu-man's right, is Celestia herself.
>Ever the diplomat, she seems to be trying to ease everypony there into understanding that the mistake her researcher made has been noticed, and that all attempts to fix it are being made.
>As professional as she is, you're sure that there's going to be some sort of political fallout from this as long as this is in the news cycle.
>No more embezzling the country's budget to buy artisinal cakes for a while for her, you suppose.

>Curious, you unfold the paper further, so you can see the whole page.
>The headline reads "Princess-sponsored magic researcher's experiment abducts colt from another world! Can we trust a vaguely-defined position that has no public oversight?"
>You wince.
>That's a bad look.
>Sponsored by the Princess of the Sun or not, if it ends up in abducting a colt and throwing him into a world he doesn't understand or fit in, ponies are going to want answers and accountability.
>You're not sure if even the Princess herself can manage her way out of this without some kind of long-term consequence.

>The photograph and press conference took place in Canterlot, just the other day.
>Interesting, considering the researcher was supposed to be based in some other city, if you recall correctly.
>You suppose the Princess wants to play this one close to the chest.

>Back to the photograph, then.
>Anon here looks stressed and overwhelmed.
>Like he could use some kind of stability in his life.
>Being a stabilizing and standardizing force in a chatotic world is exactly what you did for a living.
>If he was around you, no-one would dare try any nonsense with him.
>Often, just one stern, disapproving glare from you was enough to make mares stand straighter with their eyes forward.
>You could do a lot for him if you had a colt like that.
>And... maybe he could do some things for you?
>He wasn't from around here.
>He was from a whole other world.
>Maybe you two would even...
>No, it was too much to seriously hope for.

>It makes for a fine enough idea to wander around in as you doze off in your seat to wait out the last few hours of the ride to Canterlot, at least.
>"Sweet Dreams", you think to yourself as you drift off.