It Started with a Gay Construction Pony - A Whinny City '17 Con Report · 9:07pm Apr 8th, 2017
This is going to get long, so here are the highlights:
--Flying First Class!
--Meeting tons of new people (including those I'd only met online) and hanging out with great friends
--Playing Hoof Work online, in costume, and in voice
--Getting in touch with other fanfiction authors both around the con and at panels
--And THE BIG ONE: No way I'm spoiling this. Head down to "The Highest Honor" to check it out!
I'll stick some pictures throughout, but most of them are linked to keep this report from being too insanely long. Let's get to it below the break!
This horse right here:
After working closely with Cowboy Dave and Charlie Worthley at Ponyville Ciderfest last year, it may have been a given that I would work at Whinny City Pony Con, but for a while, I was on the fence. I'd never been to the convention before, so did I really want to spend the vacation time and expense to go volunteer? When I saw that Hoof Work is gay, though, I was nearly overwhelmed: a convention in a fandom I love was not only acknowledging but celebrating a piece of me in one of the most public ways they could, and I nearly cried.
And within days, Charlie had invited me to play Hoof Work on Twitter. There was no going back. (And thanks Note Worthy for telling Charlie to pick me!)
I tend to passionately pursue things I love, and soon, I was also head of Mane Events for the convention. I have no idea how may hours I poured into the convention in the months leading up to it, but the numbers is easily in the hundreds (and I can't thank my wonderful husband Donovan Elk for all his support during this craziness). The more I did for the con, though, the more I wanted to do, including helping coordinate an overarching story with the mascots on Twitter, writing an original story for Hearts and Hooves Day, and scheduling a wide array of events for all of our attendees (including hosting two-and-a-half panels myself). All the staff behind the scenes (including and especially my own staff, Amber and Lauren) were fantastic to work with, and unlike almost every convention I've ever worked at, I actually felt prepared for this one with a few days to spare.
Thursday Night: Yes That Charlie
The Brony fandom has introduced me to scores of amazing people, and one of those at the top is my very good friend Charlie (but Not That Charlie). I met him last year during MLP-MSP (RIP), and things just kind of... clicked. I call it Earth Pony Magic, but whatever it is, I'm lucky to have him. We were rooming together again, and he was kind enough to take care of the flight arrangements. Not only that: he surprised me with an upgrade to first class! In his words, "You're doing so much for the con, and I want you to be able to relax." He's a great friend, and I was truly touched not only because of his generosity, but that he would think of me and what I needed. I'm still floored by his immense kindness.
I got to meet my friend, the ever-silly Brian for the first time at the airport, and he was kind enough to take us to the hotel, where we promptly went to bed, since I'd been at work that day. Sleep is always a good choice.
Friday: New Friends, Old Friends, and that Sinking Feeling
Friday morning, I got to attend Opening Ceremonies as Hoof Work with a cosplay I'd put together. I was paired with the incredibly talented, wonderfully kind Lochlan O'Neil, one of our community guests, who was in a DeeDee cosplay. We make a pretty good team, and I hope I can work with her again soon!
After making sure the first panels were running, I got to grabbed lunch with Friend Charlie, and then my first big event was the Author Meetup at 3:30. After some confusion with the location, I got to meet the fantastic team of Moonlit Sparkle and The Silly Duck. It was their first convention, and from the sounds of it, it was a great one. I also got to hang out with Calm Wind and Note Worthy (and a couple people whose names I can't recall - sorry!). We talked horse words for a while, and since Coffee Minion had to skip the con due to a sick child, we collectively decided to help him with his Saturday panel. One of my favorite things about conventions is meeting up with other authors, and this meetup was a huge success!
Word to your Horse Word Horses
After some more work, I got to attend the Solemn Oath Beer Tasting event. It was fun, but three of the beers were a lot paler than I generally go for, and there was nothing truly dark. We got a nifty tasting glass out of it, though.
The biggest event of the night for me, though, was finally meeting Vocal Score Pony in person. We've been friends online for over two years now, and he was kind enough to let my husband and I use one of his songs at our wedding. I had a great time with him, and I am so thankful that the stars aligned for us to finally meet. He's every bit as talented and personable as you've heard (more so, even), and I wish him nothing but the best during his stay in the US. We got to share a dinner with a couple other con patrons (including the most passionate Chandra Nalaar cosplayer I've ever met), and after dinner, we parted for the evening.
I spent some time hanging with Brian, Charlie, my friend Britt (who you may remember from MLP-MSP (RIP) last year), Silly Duck, Moonlit Sparkle, and a few others on and off. I stopped by a staff room to chat with Con Chair Charlie and a few others (and grab some leftover pizza), which was a wonderful way to cap off the evening. Of course, then we had to go and have this exchange:
Con Chair Charlie: "How do you feel the convention is going so far?"
Me: "Honestly, there haven't been any major problems. I'm suspicious of how well things are going, so yeah, it's going suspiciously well."
Charlie: "I agree. That's exactly how I'd put it: suspiciously well."
It's like we're freaking prescient. 
Saturday (Daytime): The Highest Honor
Saturday started with a quick breakfast and some last-minute preparations for the Saturday GoH panel, and then I got into my Fashion Plate cosplay for my second performance with Lochlan: "Let's Dish! With DeeDee and Fashion Plate." In-fiction, the mascot DeeDee has a radio show, and Lochlan was kind enough to do a panel with me in which we performed it live. It was tons of fun, especially when Guest of Honor CLAIRE FREAKING CORLETT showed up!!! She wanted to come talk about food with us, and she was an awesome sport and stayed around to help us with the rest of the show. We were so lucky to have her on the panel with us. Thanks again, Claire!
And as cool as that was, something even more amazing happened at the Saturday GoH Panel. A few weeks prior to the convention, Con Chair Charlie told me he was impressed with my Hearts and Hooves story, and he asked me to do the thing every fanfic author dreams of: writing an original script for the GoHs to read! I was absolutely floored when I realized what was happening, and I put everything I had into making it the best possible experience it could be. The story itself centered on the convention and starred our mascots, with each of the VAs playing various characters. Larscis also did an amazing job adding sound and lights to the background on the fly as well, and it really helped set the atmosphere.
Pictured: A Packed House - AAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!! 
And I'm super happy to say it was a success. I got TONS of positive feedback from people at the convention, including the GoHs themselves. That night, I even bumped into Rebecca Shoichet on the elevator, and she complimented both my use of character details and how much fun it was to read. Hearing that both the audience and the performers enjoyed what I've written continues to blow me away days later. I expect this feeling will never completely fade.
One of my favorite things from seeing it happen in the flesh was watching the expressions on the performers' faces. Whenever I knew a joke or particularly good line was coming up, I could see the performer react to it just before they read it, and that's how I knew they were really having a good time (and in case Rebecca's reading this: "I do a great Twilight Sparkle impression" was my favorite moment of all 
).
The ironic tragedy, of course, is that this is the most amazing thing that will ever happen to me in this fandom, and I can't share it with the world. There's too much liability for the convention itself, and I wouldn't ever want to jeopardize such a fantastic organization. That said, I did manage to win a copy of the script signed by each of the GoHs in the charity auction, and I'm going to treasure it forever.
In my mind, getting to write a script for the VAs to read is the highest honor a fanfic author can receive. I can't thank Charlie enough for the opportunity, and it's something I'm going to be proud of for the rest of my life.
Saturday (Evening): Thriving
As promised, the WCPC authors were able to make everything work for Coffee Minion's panel. We were even able to get him to Skype in, and we had an excellent round-table discussion about the basics (and some not-so-basics) of horse words. Several people complimented me on my script, and I'm truly grateful that they said something. Everypony needs that ego boost every once in a while. 
I also got to meet my new friend Zinnabar! We talked a little bit online before the convention, and I'm super happy he decided to hit me up and say hello. He was tons of fun to hang out with at the different panels and around the convention, and I look forward to seeing him again.
I grabbed some quick Portillo's with the gang, I headed back for Vocal Score's section of the Bass Ball. I'm not huge into the pony music scene, but he did a fantastic job, and I was very happy to get to see him live. After that, I kind of floated around until Cowboy Dave told me he'd take care of anything that came up (thanks, Dave!), and I got to chill with most of the friends that I'd made at the convention (thanks for the drinks to everyone who bought me one!), plus finally getting to just sit and chill with the one and only Manehattan Mare for a little while. We'll get to have a one-on-one conversation one of these days. 
Anyway, then the cops showed up.
Dave filled me in about everything later, but for those that haven't heard: yes, there was a threat against the convention late Saturday night, but it was quickly resolved. The real story, in my mind, was how smoothly the convention handled everything and how much the Brony community showed that we aren't scared of some jerk online. The police quickly gave us the go-ahead that everything was fine, and it hardly fazed us. I'm super proud of my fellow convention staff for keeping things cool, and as difficult as it was to pull the concert a bit early, I think Charlie did the right thing (plus, the musician that got cut off got to perform at closing ceremonies - all is well!).
Saturday had been an unforgettable experience, and that left us with...
Sunday: Good to the Last Drop
Sunday morning, it hit me that it was the last day, and I spent a couple hours in the pre-post-con depression funk. Luckily, though, we had a great time at the Sunday GoH panel. In case you haven't been to one of the midwest cons, we love to do a Rifftrax-style viewing of something MLP-related with the GoHs. They did a fantastic job making something fun out of a pretty unfortunate movie, and afterwards, Lee Tockar even gave us the skinny on a very exciting project he has coming up!
My last big event for the day was my "Epic Feel Time! Fanfiction with Heart." This is an update to a panel I did at Nightmare Nights a couple years ago, and rather than being discussion-based, it focuses more on specific tips and techniques authors can use to elicit specific reactions in readers. It was well attended as far as these things go, I got to talk with my friends some more, and we had a great time. Hopefully everyone that attended found it worthwhile, and of course, I was sure to plug "Sensation," "Not In Bluff nor Bravado nor Loneliness," and several other of my stories (have you read them? You should read them. ). Plus, Zinn gave me this awesome fanart of my OC! Thanks again, man. I really love it.
After that, a group of us attended the Charity Auction, which was led by DustyKatt, Foal Papers, and Lochlan. They did an excellent job, and I was able to win my script in the auction (in retrospect, I maybe should have taken a copy to the signature room myself, but I'm fine with giving some extra money to charity).
Immediately following the auction was closing ceremonies, and I got to be Hoof Work one more time: Everfree Artist put together an amazing slideshow of a bunch of cool stuff over the weekend. I got to voice both Mustard Mark and Hoof Work, and I'm super grateful he chose me (honestly, I think I should have gone lower with Hoof Work - maybe next time). Check it out!
We had our staff picture, and after tear-down (in which I got to keep a banner from Panel Room B - volunteer, kids!), I got to have one more dinner with Britt, Brian, Charlie, Vocal, and BluNoseReindeer, who I'm really looking forward to seeing again. We said some goodbyes, and then several of us went back to the hotel, where we met with Silly Duck and Moonlit Sparkle for a game of Cards Against Humanity. It was tons of fun, and I wish I could have stayed longer (I'll see you guys next year! ), but I was eventually whisked away to the staff party. After chatting with some people (and being too deliriously tired to think of anything to say to Tony Fleecs ), I said some goodbyes to the wonderful staff (how have I not mentioned Michelle Worthley or Dexanth yet??? You're both amazing people, and I want to see you more next time!), and I went back to frantically pack. I got to bed well after midnight, just to get up by 5:20 the next day. 
Monday: Moar Poni
Friend Charlie and I made it through security really quickly, and the flight back home was short and sweet. After that, we went back to my place to watch the last 5 or so episodes of season 6 and just chill and reflect on the weekend. It was a great way to cap things off, and I was happy to spend my Monday with a friend.
Final Thoughts
I never really hit post-con depression this past week, and I think I know why: I accomplished everything I set out to do, from having a big impact on the convention to celebrating the parts of the fandom that I treasure most, meeting old and new friends (and actually getting to sit down and hang out with them), and experiencing things that I never thought possible. Of course I'm sad that it's over, but honestly, I'm more satisfied than anything else. The staff and attendees put on a hell of a show, and I can't wait to see how we'll top it next year.
Whinny City Pony Con '17 is always going to hold a special place in my heart, not just because of what I accomplished, but what I felt while I was there. I'm still baffled about how this all came from me latching onto a single factoid about one of the mascots, but then again, where would this whole fandom be if we didn't embrace the not-so-typical?
For me, this convention will always represent how much we can build when we aren't afraid to try, when we put everything we have into a unifying ideal. I'm incredibly grateful to all of you for making Whinny City what it is, whether we interacted at the convention for hours or for mere moments (or even if you're just reading about this now). I hope I'll see you at Ponyville Ciderfest, and if not, then maybe at Whinny City next year.
This ride goes on for as long as we want, and I'm not stopping anytime soon.
Lots of love,
Vivid
Looks like you had a great time
glade to hear you had fun over there.
Looks like you had a lot of fun there! Nice!
...am I the only one who's noticed that Syntax never did do a con report for last year's ciderfest?
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Thanks, all!
...and sorry about no PCF report. Time just kept passing, and WCPC17 eventually swallowed up my life.
I think I saw you walking past the kids room at one point.
Then again I'm bad at facial recognition
Best. Con. Ever! It was super awesome to talk horse words with you and hit up the panels! Seriously though, Saturday's panel was the absolute best!!! Hopefully I can make it to Cider Fest, and Moonlit already wants to come back for next year's Whinny City!
Although I'm rather worried about that given how thoroughly she stomped us all at Cards Against Humanity 
*proceeds to bawl eyes out* I already miss hanging out with you.
Sounds like you had a great time. I'm still in the broke and no time stage of my life so no cons for me in the immediate future.
It was awesome to see you again and at my very first out of state con, Vivid! Hope to see you at the Amonkhet prerelease!
Once again, I can't thank you enough for bailing me out on Saturday.
I didn't realize you'd been at PCF16 though!
I was there too!
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We'll have to get better (worse?) at Cards Against Humanity by the time next year rolls around.
I hope I'll see you at PCF! I'm working that one again, but it would be great to hang out again! I'd love to see you!
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Very possible! I was walking around a lot as part of my duties as head of Mane Events. I apologize if I didn't say hi, and if you see me again, feel free to stop me and say hello! I'm never too busy to greet a fellow FIM Fiction user.
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I hope I'll get to see you at Whinny City again next year. Maybe even at Ciderfest, too?
Aw... I miss you, too.
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I definitely did, and I absolutely understand the position you're in. I hope you'll get to go to one once school lets up a bit, and there are ways of going cheaply. If you want any advice, I'd be happy to share it!
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Whinny City was awesome this year
4495714 well, schools not going to let up until I graduate (that's what I get for doing a minor and doing the degree faster than average). The money situation should ease up a bit over/after the summer but it's really tight right now.