A Festival of Cider · 2:37am Oct 31st, 2018
So yeah, I went to Ciderfest this year! As my first ponecon, I was kinda nervous, but, hey, it all worked out. It was really really fun.
And well worth breaking that 200th blog mark for a recap.
Now, I could only go two days, sadly. Friday and Saturday.
Sooo... Friday
I got up nice and early on Friday (5am!!) and left the house for Milwaukee at 6. Got there around 10, dealt with horrid construction right outside my hotel, and eventually got checked in there. I would have liked to stay at the Hyatt where the convention was held, but the Fairfield 3 blocks away was a good $20/night-or-so cheaper, so I decided on that one.
Anyway, I then hopped on over to the Hyatt round 10:30, waited in line for my badge for 15 minutes, and jumped on into opening ceremonies at 11... where I met Sun Sage. Who, with all honesty, I forgot was coming. He’s a pretty cool guy though. We went our separate ways after the ceremonies and somehow wouldn’t meet up again till the next day.
I wandered the Vendor’s Hall for a bit, found a lotta coolio things just outside my budget, and then went to the Friday Guest of Honor panel. This ended up being a little on the boring side as most of it was people sharing stories about how MLP changed their lives. I went off to lunch after this. Pretty good, and quite large, burgers where I went, but $9 apiece.
Whilst eating lunch, Corejo arrived. I didn’t find out until 10 minutes before the next panel that he did due to the Hyatt’s wifi being overloaded. We met, said hi, and went our separate ways for now.
Here’s where my day gets interesting. I went to a panel called Going from Fan to Pro: How to Make it With Your Art. Really cool panel lead by MidnightPremier (more on her later) and Sophie Scruggs, an artist who recently got to make an IDW thing:
Now, I'm not 100% this is it, but pretty sure...
Actually, I might have met Cor here... idk honestly. But next came a panel called Hip Hop Horses scheduled to last an hour. It was about 5 minutes, then just some youtube. I ended up leaving early to fetch some things from my hotel, most notable a sharpie! (more on this sharpie later).
I then went out with Cor, Sammi (Cor's girlfriend), and Ruirik to an Italian place. Again, pretty good food, but expensive. Cor and I then went off to the Author's meetup, where the real fun began.
At the author's meetup, I met ActivistVictor, Night Scribbler, EpicMuttonChops, Calm Wind, Rillegas08, Moosetasm, CoffeeMinion, Double R Forest, CategoricalGrant, and ireadpony. Oh, and we made CaioCoia feel there in spirit. Hue hue hue.
(If I forgot anyone, I'm sorry!)
Got a couple of signatures here, so that was amazing. Also, this was the purpose of the sharpie... pics at the end.
Then came the Friday Night Concert! It went until 2am, but I left at about 11:30. I did get to see the marvelousness of Crusader!, The Wonderbolts, and one of my favorite artists PegasYs (also known as Proctra).
Somehow I managed to not get any photos of the first two, only vids that I may or may not ever get around to posting here... but have a pic of PegasYs putting down some sick beats:
And with that, I slept.....
Day of Saturn, or better known as Saturday
Man was this a day. Woke up suuuper early, took a nap, went off to the con to do the Saturday Guest of Honor Panel.... where they did a hilarious script reading. Seriously, that was good stuff.
Then I started a game of Honey Heist with Cor, Sammi, and Sun Sage... where Sun and Cor met for, like, the first time or something! We had to cut it off surprisingly early, though. Cor and Sammi went to watch the Cosplay Contest, while Sun and I went to the PMV Expo:
And then... I had a surprise! Turns out Adgerelli, Sam Rose, and Below Depth were at Ciderfest too! Hopped up to their room for signatures with 10 minutes before my next thing.
Which was the Willa Milner concert! Willa is not only a professional singer but the voice of Princess Ember. Somehow didn't get pictures of this either. Right afterward came the Michelle Creber and BlackGryph0n concert, which I did get pictures of, however shoddy:
Now, I just wanna say, holy crap Michelle... she was legit jumping and bouncing and planking and Pushup-ing the entire 1 1/2 hour concert. I mean like, she got off the stage like twice, grand total of 5 minutes or so.
Anyway, food! Accidentally ditched Sun Sage here because I didn't check Discord, and went off to Subway to get something cheap for once. Good food. Had a cookie too.
Went back to the con, got some last minute signatures, and finally left for the 3 hours drive home.
It was during this last minute signature time that I got to meet MidPrem. And idk why this touched me so much, but she gave me a sticker. It was just... one of the more heartfelt times at the con for some reason. So, if you ever end up reading this, thank you so so much:
So, signatures, right? Yeah, I did something a little on the unique side, where I had people sign my badge. (Sorry to those at the author's meetup that didn't, y'all kinda left before I could remember to ask!) Pictures tho:
Below Depth (the scribble), MidnightPremier <3, Adgerelli, and Sam Rose
Corejo, Calm Wind, Round Trip, PegasYs <3, Sophie Scruggs, Sun Sage, Moosetasm, CoffeeMinion, and Sammi
I am glad you had fun at your first ponycon. It was a blast meeting you at the Author's meetup and I hope I will get to see you again next year.
Good times, man. I like to think we'd have gotten that honey with a little more time.
Awesome! Congrats on your first con!
Sounds like you've gotten a taste of what gets so many of us going back year after year. :)
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Yeah! I totally wanna go back next year! Oh, and before I forget, I saw these in the Vendor’s Hall and thought you would appreciate at least one of them...
media.discordapp.net/attachments/506565950779162668/506566109525180421/unknown.png?
Was awesome to meet you and the rest! Glad you had a good time and that my hometown treated you well.
(As for the construction... that never ends 
)
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I have the top two stuck back-to-back on one of my badge lanyards.