UK PonyCon 2015 report: Sunday

A quiet King's Hall early on Sunday morning. Idris in orange!

After a generally good night's sleep (despite a couple of students being annoyingly noisy far below), it was a slightly more leisurely start on the Sunday, thanks to not having to arrive early for registration. Admittedly this had been accomplished smoothly, but simply being able to wander in with con badge ready around neck once proceedings began at 10 o'clock was very nice. Leicester station was packed with people heading to the later Argentina v Namibia Rugby World Cup match, but I had no trouble getting to the Mercure.

I was very pleased to find Idris early on, and we had a short but pleasant chat before I wandered off to do a little early shopping. Despite being sorely tempted, I didn't buy Kuuru Pop's Filly Fluttershy plushie, as I felt one was enough! Instead, I picked up a couple more prints and a few badges. Back in the main hall, Idris and his remarkable cosplay made for quite an attraction, and our little group ended up hosting an impromptu fanfic-and-welding mini-panel. (No, really.)

A few of us were booked in for the pony-related Oculus Rift, but my health doesn't allow that and so I spent a pleasant while chatting with the others, trying hard not to squee about "Crusaders of the Lost Mark" in deference to those among us who hadn't yet seen the episode. After my camera had let me down the previous day, I managed to get a reasonable shot of the excellent Lyra fursuiter, as well as the extremely good JD Fox (with Micro paw-puppet) as "Fluttershy's Animal Friends".

Lyra does a little dancing with JD Fox

The Sunday panels were largely targeted at collectors (eg Nirvana Ponies with the con's special guest, Summer Hayes), so we gave them a miss. That said, we did have a very interesting chat with a seller of G1 ponies, something UK PonyCon has in abundance. Then a disappointment: the Charity Auction was significantly late, and some of us were so hungry that we had to give it a miss and go for lunch instead. Still, there was no chance that most of us could have afforded anything anyway!

This time, we did get a table in the pub, and much fun was had. I met some more new people, ate food, drank cider and talked ponies at great length. This is perhaps the greatest joy of a convention: you know that the people you're chatting to are as interested in all this as you are. Nobody cared that some of us were twice others' age, just that we were all MLP fans enjoying every minute. After a relaxed meal, I bought a really nice Rainbow/Tank print from StormBlaze, then we returned to the venue for... more singing!

The piano was pressed into slightly more service this time, though still not exactly much. Fiddlepony had requested the previous day that we hold off on "Apples to the Core" until she could join us, and she sang along with great gusto. Although we did repeat a couple of the classics, we also had a go at some newer material: "I'll Fly" and "In Our Town", for example. We even branched out into fan music with some "Nightmare Night" and "Great to be Different". It was huge fun, once again.

Idris in costume, including self-made mask

Unfortunately, all this meant I missed the second and last Rainbow Dash Attack contest, but no matter: the episode screenings had reached "Sleepless in Ponyville", and I wasn't going to miss that! By now, the stallholders were winding down a bit, and there were some nice closing bargains to be picked up. We were all trying not to think about how close the end of the convention was getting, but rather than go back to singing we got ourselves back to the main hall in preparation for the closing ceremony.

This went on much longer than the opening, as it incorporated the prize-giving. As one of the rosette sponsors (for the art contest winner :P ) I even had my name mentioned. Ooh, horse fame! ;) Archer and the committee received a rousing reception for running the con so well, and everyone I talked to afterwards said they'd had a fine time, whether they were a con veteran or a first-timer. We decided to go back to the pub for our post-con meal, rather than sticking around for the after party...

...which didn't happen anyway. The venue apparently decided, against previous assurances, that people had to leave as soon as the con had officially closed. I heard later that Archer was (quite understandably) livid at this, and that somehow all the helium balloons that had been carefully tied to chair backs ended up floating to the hall's very high ceiling. When we heard that, we knew that UK PonyCon 2016 would be looking for a new home!

Archer (as Derpy) presides over the Cosplay Contest

Our final meal together was very nice, if a little sad thanks to people gradually drifting away to catch trains as the evening wore on. I stayed until about 8 o'clock, making sure to have a little more cider, then – after a couple of goodbye hugs – made my way back to the station, picking up a sausage roll on the way for later consumption. I was a tiny bit disappointed not to run into any other obvious pony people on the way back to the hotel, but never mind.

And that was my convention. The rest of the evening and Monday morning consisted of nothing more interesting than trying (with eventual success) to stuff everything into my two large bags. After my curtailed con last year, I'd got through a full UK PonyCon experience. All I can say is that it's like nothing else – you certainly don't get dozens of eight-year-olds cosplaying at BUCK! – and if I can possibly make it to UK PonyCon 2016, then I would really like to do so.