Happy Hearth's Warming!

 
Pinkie's Present

As with last year's post, I've set this to go up just as Christmas Day begins here in the UK. Thank you all for reading this silly little blog, and I wish you all a happy and peaceful Hearth's Warming. Or indeed Christmas. Or Winter Wishday. Or whatever else you feel like celebrating. I shall be back before long. But for now, it's time for too much food a little break. See you on the other side!

Sorry everyone, fanfic's over now, the AI has spoken

Me: If Applejack and Rainbow Dash got married, what would happen?

ChatGPT: It is not appropriate to speculate on the actions or relationships of fictional characters.

Well, blast it.

Ponyfic Roundup 422

Read it Later story count: 94 (-1)

As usual, I'll be taking a week off Ponyfic Roundup because of the festive season. Take a look at the bottom of this post to see what I'll be Spotlighting when I get back in January. This week sees the usual four fics under consideration. A reasonable mix of characters involved, I feel, and as it happens a reasonable variety of ratings as well! Here goes:

Marble's Horizon by The Hat Man
Try by SleepIsForTheWeak
Tending Her Garden by GorisTheDeathclaw
Chrysalicksy by PresentPerfect

★: 1 | ★★: 1 | ★★★: 1 | ★★★★: 1 | ★★★★★: 0
Note: I use a skewed rating system. A fic I enjoy an average amount scores two stars.

My Little Repeats 131: "The Cart Before the Ponies"

So maybe Derpy didn't stop winning races after leaving the Wonderbolts...

S6E14: "The Cart Before the Ponies"

6 Aug 2016

My original rating: ★★
IMDb score: 6.0

The one with Snips senior

Thoughts: Back to earth with a bump now. This episode seemed to have so much in its favour: I love motorsport, I have great affection for Wacky Races, I enjoyed the song, there's Cheerileader, there's a nice Derpy flashback scene and a race gives plenty of scope for interesting conflict. Plus the ep's written by Ed Valentine, who we know can write effective CMC episodes. It could have worked really well. It should have worked really well. Why didn't it? Well, the absurd design of the track didn't help, and the hoped-for Wacky Races homage is confined to one extremely short scene during the song, but I could mostly have looked past that had the characterisation not been so annoying. The CMC's three older sisters are quite unappealing throughout, coming across as a mixture of oblivious and obnoxious. They go pretty much the entire episode without realising their sisters are upset – have you learnt nothing since "Sisterhooves Social", Rarity? This also means that there is a serious predictability about the whole thing, even for a kids' cartoon like FiM. I'm with the consensus on this: sadly, it's a rather poor episode. I'm not bumping this one up any stars.

Choice quote: Applejack: "No, not the fringe!"

New rating: ★★

Next time, I'll be rewatching "28 Pranks Later", another episode I don't have very much enthusiasm for. It would be great to change my opinion for the better, but I'm not all that hopeful.

An AI-generated story

I can't imagine I'm the only person in the fandom who's been playing around with ChatGPT recently. While it still has a lot of limitations, it is now closer to the point where I think some serious debates will need to be held about how much it should be acceptable to use it when writing stories. However much a slice of Twitter wants it to, AI in the creative arts isn't going to just stop. Sooner or later we're likely to reach a point where a blanket ban is going to be about as sensible as telling maths students they are on no account to use calculators.¹ Perhaps even more so for fanfic, where we already did not ourselves create large portions of the world and its characters.
¹ Yes, I know that did happen. That's the point

This isn't to say that "Assistant" (ChatGPT's persona) is currently capable of writing a high-quality ponyfic. It really isn't anywhere near that level, and not all of that is because the body of text it's been trained on is more than a bit shaky when it comes to more than quite superficial details of Equestrian society. (One highlight was telling me that Flurry Heart was the daughter of Twilight and Cadance...) At the moment it's an interesting toy, but it's one that keeps that interest going, at least for me, a lot longer than Eliza did all those years ago. So, just for fun, after the cut you can see what Assistant came up with for me. The title is also its own work.

My prompt: Please write a My Little Pony story in which Fluttershy and Rarity discuss a sensitive issue over a cup of tea. The two ponies are very long-standing friends and trust each other completely. Both of them are quiet conversationalists, so the conversation should have a restrained emotional tone. However, the much brasher Rainbow Dash barges into the cottage halfway through.

Ponyfic Roundup 421

Read it Later story count: 95 (+1)

Here we go, a couple of days late, with the penultimate PR before Hearth's Warming. Sorry G5, but I don't really feel like adopting your terminology for the holiday! As I type it's been freezing for days in my neck of the woods, with ice and a little snow lingering all day. At least it's been quite sunny, which takes the edge off the cold. Also taking the edge off the cold: snuggling up indoors and reading ponyfic. Here's the list of today's quartet:

Pirate Battle by Tangerine Blast
Such Sweet Poison by AugieDog
Class Dismissed by Dash The Stampede
Smile by Holocron

★: 0 | ★★: 3 | ★★★: 0 | ★★★★: 1 | ★★★★★: 0
Note: I use a skewed rating system. A fic I enjoy an average amount scores two stars.

My Little Repeats 130: "Stranger Than Fan Fiction"

There's a stall selling saucepans at the back there. Saucepans. What a convention!

S6E13: "Stranger Than Fan Fiction"

30 Jul 2016

My original rating: ★★★★
IMDb score: 8.3

The one with cardboard box Ahuizotl

Thoughts: For reasons I can't now recall, the mid-S6 hiatus came after 12 episodes. Seven weeks later, we were back with this, an ep generally fondly remembered but also disliked by some for being so clearly aimed at the fandom rather than kids in places. I'm squarely in the "this is great fun" camp. Patton Oswalt is another excellent guest star, and his improvised closing-credits speech on fanfic is a real highlight – one of many. Rainbow Dash has a good outing, too: she's written satisfyingly and she and Quibble make a great "odd couple" team who, in the best tradition, move from sniping at each other to working highly effectively together. (As an aside, though it's very rare now, DashPants shipping was everywhere for a short while.) The dialogue is generally excellent, there's a lot of truly funny humour, the visuals and sounds are great, the convention stuff is glorious... in short, there's a lot to like here. Is it perfect? Nah. Daring Do's pebble thing at the end stretches credulity even for her adventures, Quibble is occasionally a tiny bit too dense... and why did nopony at the con notice Caballeron and his henchponies weren't wearing hoofbands? But none of these ruin what is a tremendously entertaining episode. This is a case where "this couldn't have been made in S1" isn't a criticism. It keeps its four, and it's a high four at that. I love this episode.

Choice quote: Quibble Pants: "You need to get your money back."

New rating: ★★★★

Next time, I'll be rewatching "The Cart Before the Horses", an episode I found frustrating. Great concept, catchy song, fun visuals... but characterisation that just didn't sit right. We'll see if it does any better now.

Oh look, Logan, a meta post

Yeah, it had to happen sooner or later I suppose! Anyway, something came up recently that meant I've got a bit behind on Pony, so in time-honoured Louder Yay style here's a revised timetable. Also in time-honoured, Louder Yay style, none of this is a promise!

Tomorrow (Tuesday 13/12) : My Little Repeats on "Stranger Than Fan Fiction"

Friday 16/12: Ponyfic Roundup 421

Wednesday 21/12: Ponyfic Roundup 422

Wednesday 28/12: Hearth's Warming break, so no Ponyfic Roundup this week

Wednesday 4/1: Ponyfic Roundup 423: Spotlight on... well, wait and see!

TBA: My Little Repeats on "The Cart Before the Ponies" and maybe "28 Pranks Later"

Also TBA: The first potted reviews on Make Your Mark chapter 2 episodes

Presented without comment

Without editing either, other than the bold bits.

Me: Discuss the theory that Friendship is Magic declined in quality in the last few years of its run.

ChatGPT: There are several theories as to why Friendship is Magic may have declined in quality in the last few years of its run.

One theory is that the show became too formulaic and predictable. Many fans felt that the episodes were starting to feel repetitive and lacked the originality and creativity of earlier seasons.

Another theory is that the show began to focus too much on the main characters and neglected the development of the supporting cast. Many fans felt that the show had become too centered around Twilight Sparkle and her friends, and that other characters were not given enough attention or depth.

A third theory is that the show lost its connection to its core themes and values. Some fans felt that the show had strayed too far from its messages about friendship and acceptance, and had become too focused on action and adventure.

Overall, it is likely that a combination of these factors contributed to the decline in quality of Friendship is Magic in its later years.

A blast from the past

Who remembers the days when Fimfiction was constantly just on the verge of expanding beyond MLP to become a general fic archive? My memory may be a bit hazy, but I'm not sure this intention/ambition was ever formally, publicly dropped. The change just... didn't happen. In all honesty, that was maybe for the best. The wider market is generally catered for now by AO3, for all that site is hideous to look at and likely to be in beta until long after the Sun has swallowed up the Earth.

As it happens, Xaquseg's comment at the top of this post was buried away in a long thread. That was actually brought about by this post by knighty, which almost as an afterthought mentions something that very much did happen: the introduction of auto-approval for second and subsequent fics. I remember being iffy about that at the time, but with a few embarrassing exceptions it turns out to have worked okay.

Ponyfic Roundup 420

Read it Later story count: 94 (+3)

More stories today. Honestly, I don't really know what to say here any more. Oh, except that if you get a Terry's Chocolate Orange, you don't eat it like this. You hit it on something – usually a table/desk, but some people insist on using their forehead, and then you unwrap it. Also, if you haven't ever eaten a Terry's Chocolate Orange, you're missing out. Well, unless you don't like orange chocolate. Then you're not. Onward!

C'mon Rarity! by Vera_the_Pegasister
The Last Year of Starswirl the Bearded by WovenTales
The Contingency Letter by TCC56
Decadence by Coconut

★: 0 | ★★: 2 | ★★★: 2 | ★★★★: 0 | ★★★★★: 0
Note: I use a skewed rating system. A fic I enjoy an average amount scores two stars.

My Little Repeats 129: "Spice Up Your Life"

"Second word. Sounds like 'bestie'. Really?"

S6E12: "Spice Up Your Life"

11 Jun 2016

My original rating: ★★★
IMDb score: 7.7

The one with the return of Pinkie's pig costume

Thoughts: Mike Vogel returns with an interestingly different Pony episode. Sadly they didn't quite go the whole hog and make the episode's very decent song into a Bollywood spectacular (although I'm sure I once read that it was considered early on) but the travails of an Indian restaurant in Canterlot wasn't something we'd seen before. Also, yay for this not being in Manehattan. The Tasty Treat's Saffron and Coriander are good guest characters, and I'm a little sad we didn't see them after this episode. (Fun fact: Saffron is voiced by Diana Kaarina, who also voiced Aria Blaze in Rainbow Rocks.) Pinkie and Rarity make a yes-and-no team-up as the Cutie Map makes its first S6 appearance: Pinkie is generally great, encouraging and inspiring in the way she does best. Rarity is perhaps a little more snooty and a little less three-dimensional than she should be by this point, though the flattest character is Zesty Gourmand. It's a shame to see the easy route to depicting a critic (he says during a review!) and a comparison with Hoity Toity from S1 is quite instructive. Also, minor annoyance in the animation: I find it hard to believe Minuette would turn up her nose at the food. She never came across as snobbish in "Amending Fences"! This is still quite an enjoyable episode, in spite of the "don't change who you are" moral hardly being original. The atmosphere, visuals and music help. So, another three-star episode. It's lifted above the average by the animation touches, but not that far above the average.

Choice quote: Pinkie: "That's true times three!"

New rating: ★★★

Next time, I'll be rewatching "Stranger than Fan Fiction", which I had a whale of a time with in 2016. Hopefully the same will be true in 2022!

Ponyfic Roundup 419

Read it Later story count: 91 (-4)

It's finally getting colder here. I've been wearing my winter coat for the first time in many months, and today I even put on a thin pair of gloves. It's not that cold (as I type it's just over five degrees) but after a very mild earlier autumn it's still a minor shock to the system. With heating costs here now outstripping the budgets of many small countries, it's good to snuggle up with a bit of escapist equine literature. This week, I'm looking at four stories. I bet you're shocked, aren't you?

Queen of Clubs by horizon
Don't Look Back in Anger by Super Trampoline
No sugarcube to you by TheValdetiosi
Am I Senna? by Apple Lauda

★: 2 | ★★: 1 | ★★★: 0 | ★★★★: 1 | ★★★★★: 0
Note: I use a skewed rating system. A fic I enjoy an average amount scores two stars.

My Little Repeats 128: Flutter Brutter

"Zephyr, what does that manestyle say about who you are?"

S6E11: "Flutter Brutter"

4 Jun 2016

My original rating: ★★★
IMDb score: 6.9

The one with G3 Rainbow's cutie mark (on the curtains)

Thoughts: Fluttershy's family are finally introduced here, rendering non-canon-compliant all those fics about how pegasi don't have close familial bonds. Given Zephyr Breeze, some may respond "Shame". Still, this is Fluttershy's ep. She's excellent in it, demonstrating character development and a slightly steelier edge since her early days but without having lost her inherent kindness. This is a 'Shy who feels like she should at this point in the series, and indeed this is among my favourites of her episodes in later FiM. The episode is quite American in a "You've been 18 for fourteen seconds, why aren't you in your own house yet?" way, but let's be honest: Zephyr is so annoying that our sympathy for him is always likely to be a bit limited. (Especially when he's trying to hit on Rainbow, though that does lead to a fun misunderstanding from the Shy parents at the end. Poor Dash.) Perhaps Zephyr's personality is a bit over-the-top even for a cartoon, but fortunately the action keeps moving so we don't get bogged down. The song is a pretty good one, if not world-class, and there's even a fun background Zelda reference. I think "Flutter Brutter" is worthy of keeping its high three-star rating.

Choice quote: Zephyr Breeze: "Turns out the animal communication thing isn't genetic."

New rating: ★★★

Next time, I'll be rewatching "Spice Up Your Life", which I moderately enjoyed, but not quite as much as some of the fandom did.

Officially uploaded FiM episode list

Updated 2nd March 2024: added "MMMystery on the Friendship Express" and "Pinkie Pride"

Since Hasbro has been uploading Friendship is Magic episodes to YouTube in a pretty haphazard way, here is a linked list of everything that I've found so far. I would be very happy to hear of any I've missed, although I am only interested in full-length episodes uploaded, cleanly and in full, by an official source, most likely the "My Little Pony Official" YouTube account.

Bear in mind that some video titles are misleading, even on the official account. For example, this one's might lead you to believe it was "Lesson Zero". It isn't. It's one scene from that episode, followed by a bunch of other scenes from unconnected episodes. For the purposes of this post, all I want is the actual episodes, as seen in the lists below.

So far, this is what I've managed to dig up. It's a start, at least! Edit: I've also added the four EqG films. Not FiM of course, but they're the only EqG content to be added that wasn't free from the start like the shorts and specials were. So it seemed a little churlish to leave the movies out. :P

Note: in some cases the YouTube channel uses production order for episode numbering. I have stuck to the familiar air-date ordering.

FiM Season 1

S1E01 Friendship is Magic, part 1
S1E02 Friendship is Magic, part 2
S1E03 The Ticket Master
S1E04 Applebuck Season
S1E05 Griffon the Brush Off
S1E06 Boast Busters
S1E07 Dragonshy
S1E08 Look Before You Sleep
S1E09 Bridle Gossip
S1E10 Swarm of the Century
S1E11 Winter Wrap Up
S1E12 Call of the Cutie
S1E13 Fall Weather Friends
S1E14 Suited for Success
S1E15 Feeling Pinkie Keen

FiM Season 2

S2E01/02 The Return of Harmony, parts 1 & 2 (combined)
S2E03 Lesson Zero
S2E04 Luna Eclipsed
S2E05 Sisterhooves Social
S2E06 The Cutie Pox
S2E07 May the Best Pet Win!
S2E08 The Mysterious Mare Do Well
S2E09 Sweet and Elite
S2E10 Secret of My Excess
S2E11 Hearth's Warming Eve
S2E12 Family Appreciation Day
S2E13 Baby Cakes
S2E14 The Last Roundup
S2E15 The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000
S2E16 Read It and Weep
S2E17 Hearts and Hooves Day
S2E18 A Friend in Deed
S2E19 Putting Your Hoof Down
S2E20 It's About Time
S2E21 Dragon Quest
S2E22 Hurricane Fluttershy
S2E23 Ponyville Confidential
S2E24 MMMystery on the Friendship Express
S2E25/26 A Canterlot Wedding, parts 1 & 2 (combined)

FiM Season 3

S3E01 The Crystal Empire, part 1
S3E02 The Crystal Empire, part 2
S3E03 Too Many Pinkie Pies
S3E04 One Bad Apple
S3E05 Magic Duel
S3E06 Sleepless in Ponyville
S3E07 Wonderbolts Academy
S3E08 Apple Family Reunion
S3E09 Spike at Your Service
S3E10 Keep Calm and Flutter On
S3E11 Just for Sidekicks
S3E12 Games Ponies Play
S3E13 Magical Mystery Cure

FiM Season 4

S4E01/02 Princess Twilight Sparkle, parts 1 & 2 (combined)
S4E03 Castle Mane-ia
S4E04 Daring Don't
S4E05 Flight to the Finish
S4E06 Power Ponies
S4E07 Bats!
S4E08 Rarity Takes Manehattan
S4E09 Pinkie Apple Pie
S4E10 Rainbow Falls
S4E11 Three's a Crowd
S4E12 Pinkie Pride
S4E25/26 Twilight's Kingdom, parts 1 & 2 (combined)

FiM Season 5

S5E01/02 The Cutie Map, parts 1 & 2 (combined)
S5E20 Hearthbreakers

FiM Season 6

S6E08 A Hearth's Warming Tail

Equestria Girls

EQG1 Equestria Girls
EQG2 Rainbow Rocks
EQG3 Friendship Games
EQG4 Legend of Everfree
Note: films 1 and 4 are the second feature in a video; the link for each starts in the right place

Ponyfic Roundup 418

Read it Later story count: 95 (+5)

A bit of a boost to the RiL tally this week, partly because of a few contest entries being added and partly because of a couple of stories that were well reviewed elsewhere. As far as my reviewing goes, it's time for another set of four short stories. As a sneak preview, I'll be reading a longer fic over the Hearth's Warming break, but you'll have to wait and see to find out which longer fic. Not Project Horizons, I think I can disclose that much! Here we go:

Tirek Season by TheDriderPony
Adagio Dazzle, Fanfiction Author by Majin Syeekoh
Feared Abandonment by TheEvilCookie
Misty Needs a Hug by EileenSaysHi

★: 1 | ★★: 1 | ★★★: 1 | ★★★★: 1 | ★★★★★: 0
Note: I use a skewed rating system. A fic I enjoy an average amount scores two stars.

"Winter Wishday" is out today!

For those with Netflix or with... other means to acquire the special, "Winter Wishday" has now been released. I'm not sure whether or not it officially counts as the first episode of Chapter 3, or whether it's meant as a standalone special, but either way it's out there. I will be watching it, but not for a little while as I have a lot of other stuff to catch up on. Not least the little reviews of Chapter 2 episodes, which I hope to begin on by this weekend.

My Little Repeats 127: "Applejack's 'Day' Off"

"Er, Twilight? I think Troubleshoes has already made this act his own"

S6E10: "Applejack's 'Day' Off"

28 May 2016

My original rating: ★★
IMDb score: 6.3

The one with Rarity pronouncing "schedule" the British way

Thoughts: This was written by the Fox brothers, with Neal Dusedau in addition for story duties. Let's be honest, that's not the most inspiring FiM team. And look at that IMDb score. Not great, is it? Even allowing for IMDb-ishness, that's not the sign of a popular episode. It wasn't particularly popular with me either, as my 2016 review score shows. What I remembered, and indeed said back then, was that I wasn't actively repulsed by it but that it just wasn't all that interesting to me. This is still the case: the 22 minutes really do not fly by. Now, a lower-key, small-town feel isn't a bad thing in itself, of course. But I'm afraid this one just feels dull. It also doesn't help that for some of the routines Applejack with eg the pig-feeding, her having stuck to them all this time without thinking about it requires her to be frankly rather stupid. And AJ is not rather stupid, nor even always set in her ways. Indeed, when she fixes the spa machinery her intelligence is there for all to see. Twilight and Spike don't do a whole lot that's actually interesting in this episode, at least not until fixing the farm irrigation system at the end. Rarity has a decent showing in this episode and is probably the most entertaining character pretty much throughout, though Rainbow's pretence that she doesn't like spa pampering is amusing, or at least would be if the one joke didn't go on quite so long. (Her Tank slippers get a point, though!) So yeah, I'll stick with the two-star rating here. This isn't offensive, it's just not very interesting.

Choice quote: Rarity: "An hour of spa perfection? I can work with that."

New rating: ★★

Next time, I'll be rewatching "Flutter Brutter", an episode which many people disliked (largely because they disliked a certain character in it...) but which I rather enjoyed.

Hello from Group C

That probably doesn't make a lot of sense. Look, if you've known me any length of time then that won't surprise you! But what I mean is that the ponyfic part of the fandom, at least, nowadays sometimes seems to me to consist substantially of: A) people who just take everything lightly and take the view of: whatever, because hay, colourful talking ponies; and B) people who are really, really invested and will post highly researched deep dives about Rarity's character evolution or whatever, sometimes running to thousands of words. There is of course nothing wrong with either of these positions. But neither of them are mine.

I mean, obviously the very fact that I've had a blog going for almost a decade and written over 400 Ponyfic Roundups excludes me from Group A above. Clearly all that, not to mention my episode reviews (next FiM rewatch coming this weekend, honest!) means I couldn't really fit into that box. But I'm clearly not in Group B either. Every so often I'll read a blog that goes to enormous lengths to list every single continuity error in the show or something, and I have to admit that my immediate reaction will be: "You know what? I'm not sure I honestly care enough to worry about every tiny note there."

So I'm in Group C. That's made up of people for whom yes, reasonable levels of consistency in writing and characterisation and continuity and so on are important, and so for example suddenly having the internet or something in a canon-universe fic will in all probability make the ride bumpy, as will that bloody bunyip in "P.P.O.V." But on the other hoof, I can let sometimes things slide if they're entertaining. And here's the thing: I know I'm doing it, but I'm not inclined to care so much about it that it undermines the enjoyment I'm already getting.

Post-reformation Starlight Glimmer is a good example. Sure, she unbalances the, er, balance of the Mane Six¹ (as indeed did Twilight's ascension years before). Sure, she was arguably more interesting as a villain. But although I don't always like Reformed!Starlight, I am very firmly in the camp that enjoys her appearances more often than not. Right up to late Season 9, yes. And that's Group C in a nutshell: we're not blind to problems and inconsistencies and sometimes they annoy us, but we quite often feel that Pony being fun is actually more important. I'm quite comfortable with where I sit on this.
¹ Though in one way she rebalances it, as the seven central ponies again include two of each main tribe (plus one alicorn)

Ponyfic Roundup 417

Read it Later story count: 90 (-3)

Another week with various things annoying me, another week with ponyfic providing a welcome refuge from the world. (Okay, that's overdoing it: some things are fine.) And you know what? Another week with me managing to read and review four stories! I'd better not tempt fate, so whisper the next part, but so far I've been keeping up with the four-a-week pace a little more easily than I thought I might. Today's quartet, then:

The Summit by The Lunar Samurai
PROTOTY by shortskirtsandexplosions
A Lesson in Regicide by MayhemMoth
Cracked Cog in the Idyllic Machine by jmj

★: 0 | ★★: 2 | ★★★: 1 | ★★★★: 1 | ★★★★★: 0
Note: I use a skewed rating system. A fic I enjoy an average amount scores two stars.

Fics on Equestrian (de?)colonialism that aren't too American?

I'm just curious as a reader here; this isn't really something I'm planning to write about. But... has anyone here read a good fic dealing with some analogue of colonialism in a specifically Equestrian context? I ask because although I have seen one or two dealing with the subject, from memory (it was a long time ago) they dealt with the issue in a pretty American way, and as a British guy that doesn't really resonate with me so much. Besides, the Equestrian government feels a little more Commonwealth than USA.

MLP canon does not seem especially helpful here. "Over a Barrel" exists but has well-worn problems and in any case is obviously very American indeed in inspiration. The Crystal Empire's name is interesting, but for the most part it is just a name as it's basically a city-state with a bit of snowy hinterland. Slavery has existed (eg Sombra's reign), but again that's not quite what I'm after. And I definitely don't want a "Bravehoof" type of story; that's exactly the kind of "Twitter history" I'm trying to avoid.

I'm struggling a bit to get my point across, so apologies, but basically something that has space for the complexities – in real-world terms, Ireland isn't Bermuda isn't India isn't Anguilla, just because they are or were all British.¹ I'm asking a lot here, I know. It would take a very fine writer to get the tone spot on. GhostOfHeraclitus springs to mind, but I don't think he covered this and in any case he's not been around for several years now. If you do know of any fics along these lines, I'd love to hear about them!
¹Simplified I know: eg I'm aware that European colonisation in India didn't actually end when Britain departed

My Little Repeats 126: "The Saddle Row Review"

"What do they mean, 'Final Demand'?"

S6E09: "The Saddle Row Review"

21 May 2016

My original rating: ★★★★
IMDb score: 8.7

The one with glow-in-the-dark teeth

Thoughts: Back to a non-musical episode, but a very popular one and deservedly so. Arguably Nick Confalone's peak for MLP writing, though some might make a case for Forgotten Friendship, "The Saddle Row Review" is a lot of fun despite being set in Manehattan, which by this time was getting too much attention for my liking. Very much a Mane Six ep (no Starlight or Spike), it's full of great dialogue and is one of the most amusing episodes of this era of the show. It even has a rare example of "Here is a meme for you" actually working, with the fandom producing a variety of remixes of Twilight's "Sweep" song. Plaid Stripes is less irritating to me than she was first time around, but her "I am Foreign-Accented Dodgy Landlord" father is more so; I guess they cancel out. Saying "DJ Pon-3" out in full three times is annoying as all hay, though, and the raccoons aren't as interesting as the episode thinks they are. Nor will I ever think "Miss Pommel" sounds right, and I'm sure DHX hated to have to lose "Coco". Still, there are so many fun bits: the Pinkie clone, Pinkie (again) pushing the bill over, "You're not writing this down, are you?", the J. Jonah Jameson guy, "NO SPOILERS!", and so on and so on. The unusual structure works, and all in all this is a very entertaining episode. I'm very happy for it to keep its (strong) four-star rating.

Choice quote: Plaid Stripes: "All our clothes will be made of spoons!"

New rating: ★★★★

Next time, it'll be "Applejack's 'Day' Off", a much less popular episode than this one overall, though it does have its fans. I wasn't really one of them in 2016. Let's see if I've warmed to it.

Ponyfic Roundup 416

Read it Later story count: 93 (nc)

Little things have been frustrating me quite a bit recently, so I'm glad I've been able to escape into the wide world of Equestria from time to time. Happily I did manage to get the hoped-for four stories read, so this edition of PR is as long as usual. With just as much of Logan waffling as usual, so bad luck! Anyway, this time we have:

An open spot by Verzeih Turncoat
When Ponies Fly by Lets Do This
To Me, the Roaring Ghost by locke_jaw
The Trial of Faux Pas by Wise Cracker

★: 1 | ★★: 2 | ★★★: 0 | ★★★★: 1 | ★★★★★: 0
Note: I use a skewed rating system. A fic I enjoy an average amount scores two stars.

UK PonyCon 2022: Final thoughts

 I'll finally be getting back to my FiM rewatch in the next few days. I want to do something about Make Your Mark too, though FiM will take priority at first. Anyway...

UK PonyCon 2022 was a very good con. A very good con. I have not changed from my view that my friend was right when calling it a "solid 9/10", and since there are always little things that might have been different I think that's about as good as it gets. Here's a final summary post about what I liked and what I didn't. The pluses, I'm glad to say, very much outweigh the minuses.

The innovation (for UKPC) of having show guests was a triumph. Both Andrea Libman and Anneli Heed were excellent and really added something. How on earth the convention can match that next year I have no idea! Maybe third time lucky with Kelly Sheridan, maybe not. It'll be a long time until we know. But this year's convention, the Guests of Honour were superb. Even when eating custard creams.

As I've mentioned in passing already, it was nice to get back to a fully normal con, with the musicians back and the Covid restrictions gone. This meant a late finish on Saturday, and in an ideal world I think 10pm would have been easier than 11pm for those of us not staying across the road, but I was definitely pleased the 10am start was kept. That extra hour in the morning means you actually have time for breakfast!

One of the few small disappointments that did make a practical difference: no water cooler this year. Quite a few people mentioned this, and I really hope it's possible to bring it back next year. Yes, water bottles were allowed to be brought in, but the presence of the water cooler in 2021 was a major plus and I'd definitely like to see it return. Hydration is really important.

I've said this for several years now, but personally I'm rather sad at the noticeable decline in families attending since my first UK PonyCon. I have to accept that we G4 people are partly to blame, since it was us who drove the large increase in demand that led to on-the-door sales disappearing from 2015 onwards. But despite the welcome continuing substantial non-G4 presence, UKPC does feel a little less unique than it once did.

Nottingham has gone up in my estimation, possibly because I didn't have to spend much time in it at night. Staying out of town worked brilliantly and I'd consider doing it again. Well, assuming the convention doesn't move. I strongly suspect its roving days are over for good now, and though it's a slight shame I can't deny that the NTU building is an extremely convenient venue, and the committee clearly have good relations with the place.

A few little thoughts... I wonder if the huge 2019-style tombola will ever return? That was so much fun. Great as the concert was, perhaps there could be less very loud music next time. It's probably an enormous pain rights-wise, but another film showing (Rainbow Rocks, say) would be brilliant. The con book was the best I've seen from any UK convention. And in the end, UK PonyCon remains a great event which deserves continuing success.

Ponyfic Roundup 415

Read it Later story count: 93 (+2)

That RiL list count has crept up slightly over the last couple of weeks, perhaps unsurprisingly given that up until today I've only reviewed one fic since before UK PonyCon. I should be making a little more of a dent in it now, though, as right up until 20th December when my Hearth's Warming break begins I hope to be reviewing four stories each and every week. Here are today's fics:

Imaginary by TheSlorg
Only Memories by Super_Sonic_Rainboom
Fluttershy's a Carnivore by Silver-Brony
The Origin of a Species by MasterThief

★: 1 | ★★: 1 | ★★★: 1 | ★★★★: 1 | ★★★★★: 0
Note: I use a skewed rating system. A fic I enjoy an average amount scores two stars.

A year on from the return to conventions, are we back to normal now?

This one gets the "musing" tag as I'm not making any attempt to write a serious piece full of references and evidence. It's just a case of a few thoughts. Anyway: UK PonyCon 2021 was the first in-person Pony convention in this country for two years, and I think (I stand to be corrected!) the first in Europe as a whole since Hearth's Warming Con in the Netherlands closed on 1st March 2020. Certainly we weren't at all sure what it was going to be like. Fortunately the answer was: really very good indeed!

However, it still wasn't like UKPC had been up until 2019. There were vaccine status checks at the door, for a start. Masks, while not required, were fairly common on the first day especially. There was no music concert. Some stuff was rearranged to allow for social distancing. And so on and so forth. I remember wondering whether mass singing would be allowed – fortunately it was, since that allowed us a memorable singalong of "Danger, Danger". (It was also the first European con of the G5 era!)

For UK PonyCon 2022, much of the extra stuff wasn't there. Masks weren't absent entirely, but at a guess I'd say use was down below 5% of attendees. There were no vaccine or test mandates, merely a note on the con's website telling people not to attend if they had Covid, and a reminder in the con book to "wash your hooves with water and soap". (Good advice anyway!) Live music was back on Saturday evening, as was the bar selling pony-themed cocktails. Attendance was back to not that far off 2019 levels.

Did people still do a test before attending? Yeah, at least some of us did. But I think we've largely reached the point at which Covid has become just another one of the lovely collection of grottiness that goes into the bucket marked "con crud". (In any case, there's some reason to believe it'll be good bad old flu that's the bigger deal in Europe this winter.) When I attended UKPC in 2021 there was still quite a discernible jumpiness about Covid specifically. At UKPC 2022 that feeling was pretty much absent.

It's interesting that this change doesn't seem to have taken place in North America. Looking up a few of the major US MLP cons' websites recently, they showed various combinations of masks, vaccines and testing still mandated. One convention's Covid policy (for 2022) ran to more than 3,000 words. That would be unheard of in Europe now. I'm not here to be judgemental on this. But it's maybe worth noting that anyone crossing the Atlantic (in either direction) for a Pony con may find the attitude and setup regarding Covid quite different from what they're used to at home.

So... I supposethe answer to my subject line question is probably: in Europe, yes, or pretty close to. In America, not just yet.

Coming soon: reviews!

Now that the UK PonyCon fun is over for another year, it's high time I got back to the meat and drink of Louder Yay, which is to say episode reviews. I will be resuming the FiM rewatches, with "The Saddle Row Review" being the next ep in the queue. I will also be writing (probably fairly short) reviews of the eight episodes in Chapter 2 of Make Your Mark. Whether I get those done before the Christmas special appears in November is, let's be honest, pretty doubtful. But it's happening!

Ponyfic Roundup 414: Spotlight on Essenza di Amore

Read it Later story count: 91 (+3)

You'll doubtless already have noticed that this is the trailed Spotlight of Cerulean Voice's Essenza di Amore. That's because Real Life™ has ceased to get in the way quite so much over the past week, and I've therefore had time to finish writing this blog post. As such, let's have a bit less waffle than sometimes and let's get on with the job!

Essenza di Amore by Cerulean Voice
Cadance and Other [and a bunch of OCs]
G4 AU; Adventure/Drama; 54k words; Nov 2014–Jan 2015; Teen

Like Princess Twilight Sparkle, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza was not born into her royal title. Follow a younger Cadance along the path to ascension, and her discovery of the true essence of love.

This RCL-inducted fic takes the fragments of Cadance's backstory we were given in Twilight Sparkle and the Crystal Heart Spell, and expands them into something much more detailed. It's certainly an impressive achievement to make this work, and for the most part it does. The adopted filly Cadance protagonist, not known by that name yet, lives a region unknown to mainstream Equestria. After some secene-setting and a dramatic event from the past early on, the fic settles down and I found it fairly slow for a while, albeit not boring. However, a twist about a third of the way through (one which readers of the aforementioned book may see coming) also sees the story pick up the pace considerably. From then on it's an exciting adventure in which a very familiar face turns out to be the enemy. (I can see why this character is not tagged!) Storytelling is central to the fic, fittingly enough for a story inspired by a book. I'm not a big fan of the OC names (especially having a Stamska and a Samanka, which is occasionally confusing) but once the likes of "Kaviyayu" cease to grate they do their job. Apparently the author also loosely based this on a Nightwish album, but that's of no interest to me. The story is, and as long as you have patience during that early slow section, I think you'll find this rewarding. ★★★★

Come past the page break for more, spoiler-filled, discussion of this story.

UK PonyCon, Monday: Throng, numbers make you strong

The Legend of Hash Magnus

And there, sadly, it was. The end of UK PonyCon 2022. It had been a really great convention, which I'd agree with a friend was a "solid 9/10" event. Not everything was perfect, and I may end up doing a little "what worked for me, what didn't work so well" post in due course. But my memories are overwhelmingly happy ones. Last year's con was great as well, but in a different way owing to it being the first UKPC for two years and my more hurried schedule in 2021. This felt like a normal UK PonyCon again, for the first time since 2019. That's a good thing.

There was still a little part of con weekend to go before we were done, however. First up, Hawthorn had arranged an informal morning coffee get-together at a Starbucks near Nottingham station. The information he'd been given was that this place was "huge", which didn't actually turn out to be entirely accurate but it did the job. But first I had to get there! That meant packing up all my stuff, checking out of the hotel, walking to the station (fortunately the overnight rain had cleared by dawn) and then actually finding the blasted Starbucks. I can get lost easily!

But before even that, there was something important to be sorted. Breakfast. I hadn't booked this with the hotel as I hadn't been sure whether I'd want it, so I made my way there and (when someone finally appeared at the bar) paid up. It was the usual British hotel buffet thing, fully back to self-service these days after the Covid-recovery-period "table service only" interlude. Bacon, sausages (excellent), scrambled eggs (dull), hash browns, tomatoes, you get the idea. Since it was included, after the fry-up I also had a croissant. Untoasted – sticking a croissant in a conveyor toaster will make you the enemy of hoteliers forever. With marmalade, at least.

EvilShyBat, controller of the 1% unethically sourced coffee

The hotel restaurant was fairly empty at 7:30 on a Monday and moderately comfortable, though I would personally have preferred the sound to be off on the telly. It was covering a lot of unhappy stuff going on in various places and, important as such reporting is, I could have done with the real world staying away from me for just a few hours longer. Anyway, having finished up I slogged upstairs to get my bags,¹ checked out with no problems, then headed for the station. Fortunately the train I wanted was actually on time, since this day the only rail strikes were in Scotland!
¹The lifts were fine, actually very nice and fast, but I tend to use the stairs when I can for health reasons

As I had confidently expected, I got briefly lost between the station and the coffee shop, despite it being about two minutes' walk away. Nice to see Logan living up to his ideals right to the end! Anyway, I found Hawthorn and a few others there, so we commandeered a big wooden table. This was cunningly situated so that the sun glared in everyone's faces, and the "power under table" sign appeared to apply only to one socket right at the end – which someone was already using. Ah well, not a big deal. There was some kind of youth sports team or similar in the place, so it was a bit crowded until they went a little later.

This being a coffee shop, I of course ordered tea. This being Starbucks, I got it in a takeaway cup despite drinking in. This is a small irritation of mine about Starbucks and one reason I don't usually go there. Still, the tea was fine and, much more importantly, the company was good. One or two people I didn't know asked if they could join our table, and of course we were happy to make room. I'm hopeless at making small talk with new people in these circumstances, so I'm grateful to Stu for coming over and striking up a conversation about one person's Spitfire plushie so that they didn't feel too left out.

On my way home: Henry VIII fitting in with the con T-shirt theme

It was lunchtime now, but after my large breakfast I wasn't hungry. Besides, Mike needed to get going to ensure he had plenty of time for his plane back to Ireland at Birmingham Airport. So we travelled from Nottingham to Birmingham together, just as we had done in 2019. It was a generally fairly quiet trip, albeit a pleasant one; I think we were both pretty tired. However, Mike did treat me to a fairly lengthy in-development snippet from a forthcoming fanfic. I of course will not give anything away, but suffice to say I'll be very interested to read this story when it does eventually reach publication.

We parted at New Street station, and that was that in terms of being with other Pony people for the weekend. As such, this is how a unicorn ends this song.

UK PonyCon, Sunday part 2: Are you scared about tomorrow?

Andrea Libman meets the Headless Horse

After meeting Andrea Libman, I sat in a kind of mezzanine lobby area with Dodj and Fluffles, not really saying much beyond "Eeeeeeee" for a while. I mean, how do you top that? Well, you don't. But there was plenty of the convention still to go! I skipped out on Rainbow Dash Attack (yes, the Flash game; apparently they now use a determinedly offline-only laptop) and looked in on the Cosplay Contest once again. A group of half a dozen or so dressed as early-EqG era Pinkies, billed as the "Too Many Pinkie Pies", were probably my favourite cosplay entry of the entire weekend. Will I ever cosplay myself? Probably not. I know it's a lot of fun for some, but it's not really my scene.

I'm slightly regretful that I didn't go to "Kindness Games", which consisted of a series of light-hearted tasks which depended on co-operation. Culdee came back from that with his face painted with cutie marks. :P Still, I did have time for the near-compulsory muffin at the actual con café this year. Sadly "tulip muffin" just referred to the shape of the wrapper; it wasn't a horse-food-themed flowery flavour. The café is cashless, which I think is just how it is in its normal life as a student café. This wasn't a problem as such, but it felt a bit weird given that actual folding and clinking money was very useful for many of the stalls, even now in 2022.

The Charity Auction cometh, behold, behold! This was actually the first time all weekend I'd been into the big cinema room! No film showing this year, and I'd missed the Great Britannia Bake Off yesterday because of PrinceWhateverer. We got told off during the first exciting bid battle for drumming our hands on the desks; apparently the venue doesn't like that. Fortunately I'd refrained from joining in! The auction went as it usually does, though there were no four-figure bids for roller banners this year; I suppose in 2021 some people had their unused UKPC 2020 funds to call on. Still, of the more than 100 lots quite a few went for several hundred pounds. I bid a few times but failed on each occasion. :P

This GBA cart (one of a kind) apparently did work!

Last year, I'd finally achieved one of my silly little aims and played Chase the Ace at an actual convention. I wasn't really expecting this to happen again, but I did have a slightly battered pack of Pony-themed cards in my bag just in case. Fortunately, since it was brought up as something people would like to do. Yay! The Crafts Area upstairs was very quiet and had plenty of free tables, so we commandeered one of those. I think we had about eight people playing in the end. I can exclusively report that Dodj won this high-profile (ish) exhibition match, with Bridle and Juniper taking the other podium spots. I got nul points. :D

The end was neigh, indeed creeping up on us at quite a rate of knots. A final quick zoom around the stalls followed, but I wasn't particularly interested in Pony Theories and so I headed off to the karaoke room. This also had a whole bunch of charging points, useful for ancient phones like mine whose batteries find it tough nowadays. I didn't sing this time, except when everyone did from the audience, but it was agreeable just to soak up the Sunday afternoon atmosphere with the usual plushies on the tables and general air of conviviality. But, all too soon, it was time for the closing ceremony.

For a change, I watched this from one of the Mane Stage room's side balconies, along with several friends. There were more of us on the other side. As things were running slightly late (at a convention? No!) the actual closing ceremony was a pretty brisk affair, just running through the usual thank yous and prize announcements. For me, the highlight was a special certificate awarded to Zen for his outstanding work in helping people navigate the various rail strikes and make it to UKPC on time (or at all). He worked incredibly hard at this on the con Discord and elsewhere, and it was a hugely well-deserved accolade.

My Little Pony, My Little Pony, Now comes the time to say goodbye

And that, sadly, was that. We filed out for the last time, some of us picking up a few freebies of the sticker'n'badge type on the way, and hung around on the steps of the venue. By the time our little group was all assembled, we were up near the tram stop and not really that little any more. A few people peeled off to drop off things at nearby hotels and would catch up later. The rest of us headed to The Gooseberry Bush, the traditional venue for our post-UKPC meal. We'd feared it might be very crowded, but for whatever reason there weren't many people there so we got a long table to ourselves. Even if it was next to an open door for a while!

Although there's a little bit of sadness on these occasions, expressed by comments along the lines of "I don't like this 'real world' thing. Let's go back", these pub meals themselves are always hugely enjoyable. I had my first macaroni cheese in years, though I hadn't realised it came with chips so left them on the side until they were nearly lukewarm and someone finally took pity on me and asked if they were mine. :P In 2021 I'd had to dash fairly early to get a train home, but with a Monday departure this year I stayed for maybe three hours. A ten-minute walk to the bus station and a much quieter Red Arrow than last night later, I was back at the hotel and finally taking off my con badge.

It's there because I'd thought it was mayonnaise. Absolutely true story

Next time: Throng, numbers make you strong

UK PonyCon 2022, Sunday part 1: Better get nervous, better get tense

Fluttershy stickers naturally need some serious security

Sunday morning dawned pleasantly enough, and in a highly agreeable turn up for the books, I'd had another excellent night's sleep. This whole "sleep in Derby, con it up in Nottingham" arrangement was proving to be right on the money for me. I suspect that at least one reader of this blog will be very happy to know that these few days have considerably improved how I feel about Nottingham itself. I think I now feel that it's a pretty nice city in the daytime, at least, although I still don't have all that much time for it late at night.

As I tend to do, I put my con badge on before I left my hotel room, to make absolutely sure I wouldn't lose it. You know what I'm like sometimes! The walk to the bus station was uneventful and dry, and the Red Arrow coach was once again comfortable and once again somewhat lacking in working USB ports. As with Saturday, I'd left plenty of time for a little bit of breakfast before getting going, although this time no unexpected friends appeared. Can't win 'em all! Off to the venue, without quite so much pressure of time this time around, though I still felt it worthwhile being near the front of the queue.

For the one and only time all weekend, there was a very minor issue with going in: I was mildly upbraided by a member of venue staff (not the one who'd cheked my bag on Saturday) for having a Fluttershy sticker on the back of my con badge holder. Apparently the fact that it covered a "2022" was a bad thing. There were two other mentions of the year on the badge – one on the same side as the sticker – so it seemed a rather footling complaint, but hay ho. I later discovered a couple of other people had had minor badge issues along the same lines. Oh well.

That's the posh ponies' queue on the left. Us plebs on the right

I was inside in loads of time, so it was good to see folks again. Everybody needs somebody, I'm somebody too. Hey there hello, the friends I make, the friends I know. And so on. With a little time to go before official events began, I had a brief turn around the stalls. I can't remember whether it was now or later on that day, but it was nice to have a quick chat with the ever-affable Jowy and pick up a couple of A4 prints: one for Make Your Mark and a title card for "Sounds of Silence". Jowy used to be really well known for doing these, but he'd shifted away from them for a while and had only recently returned to the idea. I'm glad he has.

First up today was "Britannia's Best of British", which I think was originally planned to be the con staffers confusing our Canadian and Swedish GoHs with a range of very British things. What actually happened was that Andrea Libman and Anneli Heed spent about three-quarters of an hour being fed British food and drink. Andrea suggested this was the best panel she'd ever done! Marmite, sadly, did not make the grade for either VIP, though I kind of share their bemusement at toast and jam flavour tea. Yes, it's a thing. They were generally happy with British chocolate (I'd always thought Canadian Cadbury's was much the same as ours, but oh well) but the highlight for me was that Andrea Libman loved custard creams! :D

After a very brief bit of "let's confuse the foreigners with Briticisms", which didn't work quite so well as so many of them were regional, not national terms, it was over. Great fun overall, though, and a perfect way to start a UK PonyCon Sunday. After this, though, things got very serious for some of us. So much so that I missed karaoke, the "Total Chaos" game and even the mighty "Ponies in Boxes" (a room full of cardboard boxes to play around in, put plushies in, etc). Along with a couple of friends, I had a hugely important appointment for which I could not possibly be late: it was signing session time! Nervouscited? You bet I was.

The Best of British panel. The girl on the right is Anneli Heed's daughter

A friend who I suspect would like to remain anonymous¹ who'd bought a higher-level ticket had very kindly given me their freebie signing session tokens, since they weren't going to use them. We weren't sure whether this was allowed, but Big Boss Con Chair Maz gave it the go-ahead, so yay to him as well. The queue when I joined it wasn't all that long, so I was fairly confident I'd make it well inside the end of the signing session. I felt a little bit sorry for Anneli Heed actually, whose queue was much shorter than Andrea Libman's. If the latter had been anyone else, I might have switched. But not when it was Actual Fluttershy.
¹If not and you're reading this, let me know and I'll happily credit you :)

I almost never bother with autograph sessions, since I'm not much of a collector of such things and they tend to be, if not expensive as such, about the price of two nice prints or pub meals. Most of the time I value those more. I hadn't brought anything for Andrea to sign; originally I'd considered taking my copy of Fluttershy and the Fine Furry Friends Fair, but it completely slipped my mind until it was too late. Fortunately the A4 print on offer was very nice. As was Actual Fluttershy – her little message was Pinkie-ish, but I felt that was actually appropriate for a party like this!

That wasn't all, however. You could also have a little voice message recorded, but I skipped that partly because it would have been quite expensive (my gifted tokens didn't cover that) but mostly because I was more interested in the other option:  the photo! To say I was nervous standing up there in front of the UK PonyCon sponsor board with Actual Fluttershy was the understatement of the century. Let's face it, though, she's done a million Pony conventions and knows exactly what she's doing. She was kind, cheerful and helpful, and although my little old phone doesn't take the greatest photos in the world I will treasure this one for a very long time.

The mighty roller banners, a UKPC institution

Next time: Are you scared about tomorrow?

UK PonyCon charity total

This news is a few days old now, but I wanted to give it a mention here before I post the con report from the Sunday that contained the charity auction! Anyway, the total sum raised from said auction and other things for long-running and excellent UKPC beneficiary the RDA was...

£11,000

Here on the UK PonyCon site, you can see what each auction item went for. And yes, there were a lot of embroidered towel sets! (They were colour-coded, each with various ponies' cutie marks.) I believe this equals the best ever charity total in the 18 years of UKPC, so very much yay!

Ponyfic Roundup 413

Read it Later story count: 88 (+2)

You'll doubtless already have noticed that this is not the trailed Spotlight of Cerulean Voice's Essenza di Amore. That's because due to various annoying bits of Real Life™ getting in the way over the last few days, combined with my need to post the UK PonyCon write-ups, I haven't got the fic's review finished quite yet. It'll be along next Wednesday instead, all things being well. Fortunately I do have a backup plan, since during UK PonyCon weekend I had enough time on buses and trains to read a few very short fics I chose randomly from Fimfiction. Four, in fact! And those are what I've got for you today.

But a Day by Comrade Bagel Muffin
The Tough Tavern by Polaris Silvermoon
The EEA are taught a harsh lesson by Lord Zarcon
The Dressmare and the Breezies by Snowy Flakes

★: 2 | ★★: 2 | ★★★: 0 | ★★★★: 0 | ★★★★★: 0
Note: I use a skewed rating system. A fic I enjoy an average amount scores two stars.

UK PonyCon 2022, Saturday 2: Especially when they're screaming loudly

Not visible: yours truly shaking like a leaf in the Q&A queue

Half past three brought a must-see event: the VA script reading and Q&A panel. UK PonyCon had reacted to Kelly Sheridan having to pull out by playing an absolute blinder: not only was the very popular Anneli Heed still on the bill, but Andrea Libman too! This was a huge deal: the first time ever that a Mane Six VA had appeared at a British Pony convention in the flesh. As such, it was unsurprising that this panel was moved from the already large cinema room to the Mane Stage itself to allow as many people as possible to join in the fun. Suffice to say there were plenty of us!

UKPC's very own Bexi had written the script for the reading, a very cute and sensibly fairly short affair involving Britannia playing host to certain ponies – which oddly enough had great relevance to the Guests of Honours' characters – for her birthday party. It was silly and fun and perfect, and I won't forget in a hurry Fluttershy's meltingly adorable reaction to the dogs she found at the Britannia residence. I'd only ever once seen one of these panels even on video, as back when FiM was a live series there were contractual issues that meant recording and posting official VAs doing them was banned.

Then it was Q&A time. This was done in a straightforward fashion: you cleared your question with a member of staff while you stood in the queue, then asked the VIPs out loud when you reached the front. There were a lot of questions, and I was impressed by how much thought had gone into some of them. Somewhat against my expectations, I'd taken the plunge to ask a question myself, although mine was rather less interesting: not being able to think of anything clever, I just asked them how it felt when they heard their own characters' parts in other languages. ("So much fun!" was the summary.)

Probably wise not to let Sprout near the booze...

After a while it became clear that time would be a little tight, so questioners were asked to go to "quickfire" mode. In all honesty, I'm not sure that this made much practical difference; certainly several questioners still asked one or more follow-ups or clarifications. Happily the GOHs were kind enough to keep going until everyone queuing up had spoken to them. I was still in a kind of reverie: I had spoken to Actual Fluttershy! This isn't at all to diminish Anneli Heed, I really must stress that... but Andrea Libman would have been my absolute number one choice for a con guest.

How do you top something like that? Well, you don't, really. So it was a bit of a quieter session after that. Having decided against the Ultimate MLP Collectors' Quiz on the grounds there was another quiz later on, a small group of us decided to head for the Spider Toss. This was described as being inspired by the "HOW MANY POINTS DO I RECEIVE?" game in "Luna Eclipsed", but I guess we'll never know as either it wasn't where we thought it was or it wasn't happening at all. At any rate, we couldn't find it. A small disappointment, but never mind.

At about six o'clock the vendor hall was blocked off as usual for the Saturday evening. This had the unfortunate side-effect of blocking access to the one toilet with a drinking fountain; the big water cooler that had been provided in 2021 was absent this year, an absence several of my friends also remarked upon with disappointment – especially as the still-accessible vending machine charged prices high even by event standards. (These would not have been set by the convention, of course. Nevertheless, £2.30 for a 500mL bottle of water is not an attractive price, to say the least.)

"Or will you still be here screaming every word?" "...PARDON?"

Slightly to my surprise, after a "dry" UKPC last year, this time the pop-up bar was back for the evening, serving a range of (often extremely sweet) cocktails, cider and a few snacks. Why were so many people still around? Because the evening concert was about to start! Lock the door, turn up the beat, it's alright to party. This had also been absent from last year's still-Covid-affected convention, so it was great to see it back. Blackened Blue started things off, with an extremely energetic set. A heavy style for a seven o'clock opener, though, and it was maybe no surprise that virtually no families stuck around once daytime events were over. Still, he did give us a rocked-out version of "Danger, Danger"!

Next up was PrinceWhateverer, who as usual threw himself right into things. You do wonder what any new venue staff thought when they realised the kind of music these My Little Pony fans enjoyed of a Saturday night! Even I decided to experience just a bit of it from the fringes of the... well, "mosh pit" makes it sound like there was lots of aggressive body contact, which there really wasn't – I wouldn't have gone near it otherwise. But certainly right up close by the stage. It was... loud. But honestly, I am so glad I did it, just for a little while. "Elemental" and Prince's crowd-pleasing set-closer "Solidarity" were highlights.

And then there was a little treat: a short set by not only Anneli Heed but her daughter too! This was very cute and provided a little breather from the really loud stuff. We had official music, we had a capella, we even had a little opera! After this came another newcomer to the UK PonyCon concerts: Koa! A very popular choice indeed, whose set definitely went down very well, with a nice mixture of new songs and classics. She was perhaps unsurprisingly part of a double bill in the programme with her real-life husband General Mumble. Now there's another guy who, like Prince, has been doing this Pony music game for a great many years now.

'Cause we're running out of options and we're desperate to begin end

The concert was running slightly behind schedule, so I actually missed the end of Koa's set plus all of Mumble's and closing act BassPon3. Why? Pub Quiz, that's why! The inimitable Archer was back with this, and with a slightly longer timeslot to fill it was a little less rushed than in previous years. Our team did not have a custard-related name this year. (Pause for readers to recover from fainting.) This time we couldn't resist "Where's the cake?" and I have to underline that it is a dreadful lie that we answered "Otto von Bismarck" to the questions about G2 accessories we had no clue about. Well, not to all of them.

I was able to stay for all the questions and answers, but had to dash just before most people left as I had an 11:10 bus to catch! I mentioned earlier in this series that Nottingham Victoria Bus Station isn't that appealing. Well, its tired old glass and concrete is even less so late on a Saturday night. Not threatening, but certainly not somewhere I wanted to linger. As the Goose Fair was on, 473 people joined my bus in the city centre. (Yes, of course I counted them. :P ) Still, though packed the bus wasn't actually unpleasant and I ended up back in my hotel room at almost exactly midnight. After a great day, I was asleep in minutes.

Next time: Better get nervous, better get tense