UK Ponycon 2019 Part 3

UK Ponycon is fading into distant memory by this point, with regular pony meets and other real-life stuff taking over again. But I started these write ups (perhaps foolishly), so by the law of Unicornia I’m contractually obligated to finish them. I’m typing this on my phone on the train, which isn’t ideal. If only I had a fancy laptop like the chap sitting next to me.

The cosplay competition wrapped up early, so I took the opportunity to pop back to my room again. For those of you keeping count, which is none of you, this was the third time doing so since breakfast. I needed to deposit more merch goodies, and pick up something important for an upcoming event. These frequent visits are also why I have far too many photos of the plushie shelf. I could probably make a whole blog article just tracking it’s evolution over the course of the weekend, but I’ll save you pleasure.

Heading back to the venue, I ventured into the now-legendary ‘LT7’ room. Home of quizzes, karaoke and Rainbow Dash Attack, which was just finishing up. I caught Mike on one of his last runs. I can’t remember how well he did, but I’m sure he did better than anything I can manage. Soon, everyone was piling in for a spot of singing. I didn’t want to go first because I’m not that gung-ho, so I let others take it away while I quietly warmed up . Again, I don't want to give the impression that I actually know what I'm doing.

The MLK setup this time had 3 mics connected. This lead to a few awkward moments where no-one wanted to join the chosen song. Eventually we started getting in proper requests though, and soon enough it was my turn. I’d pre-arranged with Logan for us to duet on ‘Lotta Little Things’. Him doing Celestia, while I took Luna’s parts. For this, I’d made sure to have my ‘Lulu’ plushie with me, because if I’m singing for Princess Luna, wearing a Luna shirt, of course I’m gonna be holding the right plushie! It was great fun. Thank you Logan!

Mission accomplished, I was happy to let others take the mic for the remaining time. There were some very entertaining renditions of songs like ‘Battle for Sugar Belle’ and ‘The Last Saskatchewan Pirate’ (Zen and Ace) . As 5 o’clock approached, we made our exit and headed upstairs in readiness for the MLP Movie showing.

We wondered why it wasn’t being screened in the large ‘LT2’ space. Or as Logan ironically likes to refer to it, the ‘cinema room’. In hindsight, the smaller LT1 worked OK. There was enough space for people without feeling empty, and the sound system was good. The only main downside was the flat seating. I think a fair few people had aching shoulders by the end. Nevertheless, I enjoyed seeing the movie again. You can’t go very wrong with the songs. There were some audience laughs, particularly when Fluttershy contributed the odd “Yay”. And a healthy round of applause at the end.

By this point we were in need of food, to tie us over during the evening festivities. As we left the movie screening, the conversation went something along the line of:
“McDonalds?”
“McDonalds.”

So a herd of us grouped together and wandered out through town (me leading as I had a vague idea which direction to go). Unfortunately we managed to miss Alliminaro on the way out, leaving him to have a liquid dinner from the bar. We did however run into Idris and Rosie at Maccies, and scrambled together tables for everyone. Last year I went off-brand by not having a Big Mac. I made sure to do it properly this time.

By the time we got back, Steely Hooves was coming to the end of his set. I made a beeline for the bar and got myself some Applejack cocktails. They were on offer, so of course I was ‘saving’ money by getting 2 of them. I ended up offloading one on Dodj, who seemed to enjoy it. Then I settled in to watch Re:Make do their thing. It was quite loud, and I don’t know any of their new stuff. The pony song covers were fun though.

After more loud music, more chatting with people and more cocktails, it was finally time for our treasured pub quiz. I bailed on the concert early to save a table, and was a little sad to miss ‘Loyalty’. Team Custard assembled quickly. We’ve grown to the point where fitting all of us round a table is difficult. Also we’d become ‘The Hay Team’ because apparently the custard theme couldn’t be stretched another year.

I didn’t want to be trusted with answering questions, after being told I tried too hard at Griffith Isles. So Hawthorn became our scribe, with Alliminaro appointed chief Batman expert. Normal service was promptly restored.

An unfortunate mishap soon followed however. I put my plushie in the way, which was knocked into a bottle of Peroni, which then gave Logan’s Flutterplush an impromptu lager spa treatment. Thankfully she was easily wiped clean, but I felt bad so went in search of something to mop up the table. I missed most of the first round, but the team continued successfully in my absence with answers like ‘Fireman Sam’.

The rest of the quiz was good fun. I didn’t contribute much beyond my knowledge of budget supermarket chains. We got a nice team photo for Griffin’s wall. And when the scores were tallied, we were amazed to be placed as high as joint-4th! The biggest controversy came when Ace was cruelly robbed of his answer on Sunburst history.

The final event of the night was the customary Cartoon Riff. I don’t think this year quite lived up the heights of the previous Toblerone Crab Rave extravaganza. The funniest clip for me was a very strange Scooby-Doo wrestling crossover, in which Daphne swoons over what looked like John Cena. I only base this off of my limited knowledge of memes.

Eleven o’clock struck as the venue turfed us out. The surrounding roads were filled with partying students. Day one had been a blast, so we were all ready for some shut eye. A whole ‘nother day’s conventioning still to go!