UK PonyCon is now SOLD OUT

That's right: even though the actual convention isn't until late October, UK PonyCon 2016 has completely exhausted its stock of tickets. The last few Sunday passes were sold a few days ago, so we can expect a capacity crowd of pony people at Leeds Royal Armouries in just under three months' time. I'm extremely glad that I snapped up a weekend ticket in the first few hours after they went on sale, as I would have been desperately disappointed to have missed out after having such a good time last year.

It's a tremendous tribute (gosh, the alliteration is strong in me today) to UK PonyCon that its tickets have been in such great demand again this year, and a sign that even in the post-BUCK era British MLP conventions are still something fans want to attend. It's obviously a shame for anyone who couldn't commit this far in advance, but I don't see a way around that without vastly expanding the con's capacity, something that I agree with the organisers would change the atmosphere we all enjoy so much.

Anyway, if you have managed to get a ticket, I look forward to seeing you in Leeds!

Ponyfic Roundup 117: We Hope it's Chips, it's Chips

I'm away for the week as this goes up, so if there are any particularly dreadful errors you'll have to put up with them for a bit. You should be used to that from me by now! This week on PR, I'm bringing you a small selection of fanfics written in the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic universe. I know, it's astounding, isn't it? Rather a mixed bag this week, in terms of my enjoyment of the fics:

A Different Kind of Jealousy by Woolly
Fluttershy Doesn't Know by Julia
Confusion by BleedingEquine
MVP by totallynotabrony
Heat and Hot Water by Astrarian

★: 3 | ★★: 0 | ★★★: 2 | ★★★★: 0 | ★★★★★: 0

Fanfic reading: The Unbearable Lightness of Bucking

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I haven't uploaded a reading of one of my ponyfics since December, so it's time to rectify that. The Unbearable Lightness of Bucking was inspired by a throwaway JohnPerry comment about an "existentialist fruit story". And who better to link fruit and philosophy than Applejack and Twilight Sparkle? This is classed as [Comedy]/[Slice of Life], and the reading lasts just under 12 minutes. You'll note my... unusual approach to AJ's accent. Believe me, this way is a thousand times better than any "Southern drawl" voice I could ever do!

Pony Music Library 19: "My Little Pony - L'amicizia è magica (Italian Opening Theme)"

There's been a (very minor) palaver recently about how much of musicians' sets at pony conventions should be pony music. I might get round to writing a post on that sometime, but in brief: at least some of it. I can get general geeky music in heaps of places, but not pony music. As such, I think fandom musicians shouldn't play sets devoid of MLP-related content. Anyway...

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What? "My Little Pony - L'amicizia è magica (Italian Opening Theme)"

Who? Arianna "Oliriana" Bergamaschi, Graziano Pegoraro, Maurizio Bianchini, Susanna Balbarani and Antonio D’ambrosio. (Phew!)

Which? Official song (Italy)

When? August 2011

Why? While I'm not one of those people who dislikes the opening theme we get here, the Italians provided their own particularly good alternative, sung by Susanna Balbarani. It's really less an intro than a bouncy, vaguely anime-esque PMV. It was only used for the first season, which seems a bit of a shame. There's also this three-and-a-half-minute extended version, which was never used for episodes shown on TV but appeared on a compilation album issued by broadcaster Italia 1.

Legend of Everfree trailer released

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It's been a ridiculously long time coming, but at SDCC has been shown a proper trailer for the fourth Equestria Girls film. The "summer camp" theme is no surprise, and the new guest character has been seen (as a still) already. But this is the first time we've seen any real indication of what the story of the movie will be. It looks decent so far – though I'm less happy that its 1st October release will be on Netflix. I can understand why, but I'd really like some sort of cinema release. Maybe we'll get one here in the UK, as we did for Friendship Games. I'd love to see it on the big screen!

Ponyfic Roundup 116: Pony Stories Again?

It seems to be summer. Won't last, of course. This week on PR, I have five fics to review, so I'm up slightly from last time in terms of number of fics read – if not in total word count. It's been quite some while since I read a five-star story, so will there be one this time? Okay, that attempt to build tension was pretty pathetic given the existence of the star summary below. The answer's no. But hey. Off we go.

Cutie Mark Graduaters by ponylaw
To Try For the Sun by Rune Soldier Dan
Pinkie Busters by Mocha Star
Hell Hath No Fury by Aquaman
Everypony Needs an Angel by Jingle

★: 0 | ★★: 4 | ★★★: 0 | ★★★★: 1 | ★★★★★: 0

Pony Music Library 18: "Cutie Mark Crusaders Go Crusading - Blues Arrangement"

A very nice surprise yesterday: the official Hasbro Studios Shorts YouTube channel added all ten of the tracks from the new Pinkie Pie's Party Playlist album – although for some reason, one of them ("In Our Town") is left off the playlist that HSS also added. Anyway, since there may be less time for this sort of thing once the hiatus ends at the end of the month, I'd better get another PML entry up!

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What? "Cutie Mark Crusaders Go Crusading - Blues Arrangement"

Who? Octavia

Which? Cover version

When? May 2012

Why? Blues is not exactly the most common musical style in the My Little Pony fandom, and that makes the good tracks that do appear that much more valuable. Octavia's take on William Anderson's instrumental from "The Show Stoppers" is an absolutely brilliant one, too. I strongly suspect that Apple Bloom had a hoof in the production, too, since it just has so much sass!