BronyCon Recap (Extended Remix) · 2:04pm Aug 15th, 2017
Last year, our decision to go to BronyCon '16 was somewhat spur-of-the-moment in that we made few plans and had just as few social "obligations" for lack of a better word. There were some friends that wanted to meet up with us and that was about it. We had a great time, of course!
I just didn't know then what an absolutely amazing and thoroughly wonderful time it could have been… and was this year.
I will forewarn y'all to say that, below the Read More break, is a lot of blubbering emotional sentiment and probably a light novel's worth of content. So much happened and I want to try to express my gratitude and appreciation for it all by not leaving things out. This ended up being about 7,000 words long... so, uh, yeah.
As a strong note, if we met up and I don't mention you, please please PLEASE don't take this as an offense. This weekend had so much activity that to expect my horrible memory to hold on to it all long enough for me to write it down on the train ride home is quite a high expectation.
Friday — Travel
The first day was of little but a non-zero quantity of note. We decided to take a train, which on the whole I have no regrets about. It was nice and relaxing. We booked a roomette so we could lounge about and (at some points) sleep to be fully rested for the con. Unfortunately, my job as a contractor means my benefits are not great—which includes vacation days. I have five. Total. For the whole year. Hopefully, in 2018, I'll be a salaried employee with more vacation days.
So this meant that we travelled up on Friday and back down on Monday. We were originally supposed to get in around 5, so we figured we could pick up our badges and do some casual hanging out with our friends.
Ha ha ha.
We got repeatedly stuck behind a cargo freighter, and at one point the switch that controls the tracks broke. Our poor train conductor was so apologetic because the whole time he kept having to deliver bad news. I just wanted to give him a hug by the time we were done.
We ended up getting to the convention center at about 8pm. Exhausted from an 11 hour travel day, too hungry to think straight (all we had for lunch was a couple pieces of cheese and crackers), and just ready to pass out in our hotel room, we decided to not really announce that we had arrived. There were a large amount of people that wanted to hang out and although we love y'all, we felt gross and sweaty and kind of crabby. We would pick up our badges, grab food, and hide in our room. Foolproof plan!
Ha ha ha.
As our badges print out, the very friendly gentleman behind the counter looks up with a grin and says, "Anzel and Crystal." That's us! He makes a gesture to present himself and announces that he is Alabaster, one of our buddies. Laughter is exchanged, and then the mood grows deathly serious as we explain that he is, presently, the only person who knows we've arrived and that it is super secret and we will kill his favorite Q&B character if he spills the beans.
Alabaster ain't no fool. He kept his pretty mouth shut.
After getting horribly lost in the Light Pavilion looking for the Five Guys, which turns out to be in the Pratt Pavilion, we take our food back to our room. We stuff our faces. And we pass out.
Saturday — Casual Lunch
There was the Q&B lunch. OH MY GOD, GUYS. So many people showed up that we actually ran out of seating and folks ended up on the floor!! Though, regarding the food itself, I do apologize. Jimmy John's majorly dropped the ball on the quality. Congratulations to everyone who got food elsewhere because that was a super disappointing sandwich.
As far as company and companionship goes, however, I was thrilled. Wing did a fantastic job going around and introducing everyone to the group. There was laughter, and though I can't speak for everyone, I believe it was fun. Since it wasn't a sit-down restaurant, there (hopefully) wasn't any pressure on anyone, and I really hope nobody's meal broke the bank.
Folks chatted, folks laughed, and folks seemed to have a good time. It was great!!
Saturday — COSPLAY
Heeeehehe. So, this year, I decided to engage in some cosplay. I dressed up as Star Butterfly from Star vs. the Forces of Evil. Iryerris was going to be my Marco, but unfortunately his travel had been atrocious and he was so exhausted that he spent most of the time I was doing cosplay in his room resting up.
Lots of people stopped me for pictures, which is really flattering because I am just a nervous ninny, yanno?
The most fun part was when people would know the character. "STAR!" I would hear from a random person walking by. I'd whip around, aim the wand at them, and yell "NARWHAL BLAST!" I interrogated people about their connection to Ludo. There was one gorgeous Fluttershy who got to be my (Adorable) Warnicorn Stampede. A good few people wanted pictures where they were getting Narwhal Blasted. It was so much fun!!
The best part was one woman stopped me to ask for a picture. She explained that she was working behind a booth and I had walked by, yelled "narwhal blast" at some random person, and she thought that I had just done an all-around perfect job. I've never cosplayed before, not really, not like this, so it meant a lot to me.
The, uh, most interesting part? A mother and her two young daughters came toward me. "Oh," I thought, "they're fans of the show!! How cute!! Oh my gosh I am totally going to do my best to make this fun for them and really get into the role."
As they approached, I said in my best Star cadence, "Greetings, tiny citizens of Earth!"
One of the little girls walked up to me, and before I could even think to say something, she yanked my wand out of my hand and started spinning around and posing with it and waving it in the air.
"Ha ha," I force out, "stealing my wand! You must be an ally of Ludo's!"
I glance at the mother.
She smiles at her adorable daughter's adorable antics.
I look back at the daughter.
"Princess of friendship," she exclaims, completely ignoring my presence. Or the fact that I spent $50 on that wand. And I kind of didn't want her to break it.
Trying to do my best, I attempt to engage the child. "Oh, my mistake! You're clearly a princess of Earth. Do you know how to do a cupcake rainbow beam?"
The girl could care less about my existence and continues spinning with my wand. "Princess of friendship," she exclaims again.
I glance at the mother.
She is still amused by her daughter.
Eventually, I did get my wand back—and in once piece, thankfully.
Saturday - Live Event
BIG SHOUT OUT TO LARSCIS. Buddy, we can't thank you enough! He got us access to the BronyCon Press Room, hooked us up with his sound system and fancy microphones and everything. THANK YOU!
We chatted about stuff. And things. But that wasn't what made the Live Event so much fun. Rossby, Timaeus, and folks took pictures as Anzel and I were just being silly, expressive, gesticulating, so on and so forth.
Lots of pictures.
Oh my god, the amount of pictures.
And, as a result, Rossby and Timaeus and I think Star Origin have new cellphone backgrounds.
I hate them all. (jk ilyasm)
But then at the end of it, folks came up to the stage to ask us to sign some things—a coupe badges and a signature book. Like we were important or something. Guys, I can't handle that sort of thing!!
On the plus side, though, I have a photographic record of Anzel's first attempt ever at a dab.
Thank you to the 169 people that came out for the Live Event! 
Saturday — Writing Together Panel
This… This is what has literally had a profound impact on my life that I will never forget. Y'all… Y'all. Y'ALL. I might start crying as I try to sum up this truly magical experience.
Okay, so, you folks may or may not know that I am pretty shy. But what may not be super well known is just how shy I used to be. When Anzel and I met, I literally could not order at restaurants. I couldn't get my voice above a whisper because I was so terrified of, for some reason, being judged for my order.
When I graduated high school, because there were literally 18 people in the entire graduating grade, we all had to give speeches. I barely avoided fainting on stage. Eyes fluttered, head went dizzy, knees started to buckle. My parents rushed the stage to catch me and stood on either side of me to hold me up as I fumbled through my speech, trembling and on the verge of hyperventilating.
Although I am, today, a lot better… that doesn't mean I was super duper excited and totally confident about going on a stage in front of an audience of what I hoped would be at least more than one person. I was nervous. I was shaking. I was trembling.
I walked into the room just shy of late and there were so many more people than I expected. How do I say this without sounding some mix of humble and/or egotistical?
I wouldn't call us "horse famous". We are, in my opinion, at best "horse notable". There is a larger-than-small amount of people in the FiMFiction community that recognize our names, sure. But "horse famous" is a stretch for me to truly believe.
And yet, there were rows of people. Rows! At a 10pm event! On Saturday! During the Grand Galloping Gala!
Embarrassed at my almost-late arrival, I hurried onto the stage, shaking from my fingertips all the way to the core of my bones. Our panel concierge (because I don't remember what he called himself and that's the best term I've got for the gentleman who was assigned to assist us) had a perfect cadence with which he spoke that set me at ease, but the moment I sat down and looked out at the crowd, I wanted to faint.
People were looking up at us. Us. Anzel and Crystal. Adam and Kristen. A dorky married couple who John Cena one another (one with success, the other without, you guess which) and go out to play board games with friends and watch TV over dinner and work normal jobs and pay a mortgage and have bills and are just normal people overall.
There were a lot of faces I recognized, and a lot I didn't. They had made a conscious decision to, instead of doing virtually anything else, to come sit in a room with us and listen to us talk. Do you realize how mind-boggling that is?
But here's the thing. Here's the thing that made it all okay.
I was with my husband.
Anzel is my everything. He is my best friend, my life partner, my writing companion, my husband, my heart. We are unhealthily co-dependent, honestly. But that dependency means that in times of strife, when one of us is struggling, all we need is the other to hold onto and everything will be okay.
So despite my fear, despite the babbling, despite the stammering, despite the voice in my head that told me all sorts of things—that I am annoying to listen to, that I was saying things no more useful than a magic 8 ball, that I shouldn't have agreed to this, that I was wasting everyone's time—despite all of that… I got through it because Anzel was by my side.
Then it was time for questions. And, oh my god. I'm so, so glad that the questions were written on cards that our panel concierge gave us, because they were great questions, y'all. Some really difficult ones, some really thoughtful ones, some really sweet ones. I was trembling as I held the cards and read the questions, desperate to answer them in a meaningful or helpful way, praying that the person asking wouldn't roll their eyes at what we had to say.
But… then… our time was up. And everyone clapped. Goddamnit no, everyone applauded?? I started to cry right then and there, especially when people started to flood the area in front of the tables to—to I don't know, talk to us more, I don't know. Majin was at the very front and asked if I was okay. I don't remember what I said but he was so wonderful to tell people to give me some breathing space, I really needed that moment to get my composure so I didn't break down crying.
Saturday — The After-Panel Panel
Oh, yes, you read that right. There was an after-panel panel. We didn't even remotely get through all the question cards, and Anzel made an offhand comment that if people wanted answers to their questions we'd do so outside the panel room so it could get turned over for the next event.
And somehow that turned into a literal after-panel panel, with a whole crowd of people, who stayed and gave up even MORE of their time to… to listen to us talk more. I… it was so touching. And baffling. I'm told that this isn't abnormal, that this happens, but… not to me??? It was so wonderful and mind-boggling all at the same time.
So we finished all the questions and answered some more there, then thanked everyone for staying after. And then we spoke to a beautiful woman who I won't name since I don't want to "out" her, but I specifically asked for a picture with her because she made me cry. Why?
Because she told us that she had been battling cancer and the only thing that kept her going was our stories. That she had to make it through the treatments so she could read the next chapters.
God, guys. I almost lost it. I tried to hold it together because people were all around us. She is a fighter, a survivor and without us even being aware of it we were a part of that. There aren't words for how that feels.
Beautiful woman in the blue dress, if you read this, know how much you sharing your story means to us. You are beautiful inside and out and I am truly honored, humbled, and brought wordless by your strength and that we could help you.
Just as I was trying to reel from the emotional whirlpool I was in, my friends from the Barcast formed a circle to congratulate us on our successful panel. If you're familiar with Flutterpriest and anonpencil-hime-sama-senpai, then you know that these are two people, more than anyone, who don't mince words. They are not going to bullshit you. They are not going to serve platitudes. They tell it like it is and only like it is.
And to have them look at me and tell me how good our panel was. To say that it was truly informative and interesting and entertaining. That they were proud of me, of Anzel, of us.
It was too much.
I started to cry. Flutterpriest hugged me and tried to tell me it was okay, but it wasn't. It wasn't okay.
It was amazing.
Finally, after the crowd started to dwindle, as the adrenaline turned into trembling exhaustion, Anzel and I retired to our room… where I wept. I sat in bed and just cried freely.
I am not someone who likes to share my personal "stuff", but let me say this: not the reality, not the concept, but the faintest spark of an idea that I am someone who has value and worth is a wholly shattering experience. It broke me down and rebuilt me in the span of hours and I am not the same as I was for it.
Thank you. Truly. Thank you to everyone who came to the panel, who laughed at our silly couple jokes, who listened to our opinions, who thought we were interesting enough to take the time to sit in a panel for. You have directly influenced my core being this weekend.
Gratitude Interlude
It is on this emotional high as I'm crying into my keyboard that I would like to take the moment to mention individuals. If I met with you this weekend, I'm sure this is what you were looking for. I hope I don't disappoint you.
I have been thoroughly lucky to get to know some key individuals who have such "reputations" that cause people to think of and interact with them in certain ways that they may or may not enjoy.
Flutterpriest and anonpencil-hime-sama-senpai are two of these individuals that come to the forefront of my mind in this circumstance, but I'm sad that they are not the only ones.
Through the Barcast, I've gotten to know them as unabashed but sincere people with endless amounts of fierce caring to those who penetrate (kekek) their inner circle. Yes, they write things I won't read. But I am so glad that the "reputation" that was whispered to me when I was about to first interact with them did not deter me, because my life would be less without them in it.
Flutterpriest is someone who cares like a rabid animal. It is strong and wild and probably a bit not good but it will infect you. He would rather cut off his own leg than disappoint someone. Okay, maybe that's extreme. But he would rather be extremely put down himself than possibly maybe slightly cause someone the illusion of inconvenience. I don't know if everyone understands just how deeply he invests himself into everything he does. I hope he was able to spend the weekend having FUN, for HIMSELF, with the people who care about him.
One of those people would be anonpencil. I frequently call her my hime-sama-senpai. There is a reason for this. She is a woman who does not give a fuck. I think that may possibly be the first time I've used that word on this website, but there is no censorship when talking about pencil. She is a truly gorgeous woman who lives according to her rules and would tear someone limb from limb if they dared to harm someone she cares about. I adore her. I kind of idolize her a bit.
Getting to spend time with them in person bloomed the friendship I've grown with them over Discord for the past several months. These two are truly amazing people. If you look askew at them because of what they write, then I can say nothing but it is your loss.
And this goes for the other folks within the Barcast crew they surround themselves with. My time with them also brought time with Flammenwerfer, Milk, and Snu.
I gotta be honest. Flamm, I did NOT expect you to be Flamm when I met you and glanced down at your name tag. I don't know what I imagined. I guess the soldiers you use in your avatars a lot. You are one handsome dude, though! And you look sharp in a suit. But you were also even more fun to talk to in person than online. I feel like I didn't spend enough time with you and I'm sorry for that but I sincerely enjoyed what time we did spend together.
Milk and Snu. Oh my god, these two absolute treasures. Snu does not value himself highly enough. I'm sad about that, but I got him to agree at dinner one night that if I'm "cute", then so is he. We fist-bumped over this. Milk will back me up in a heartbeat, because Milk is…
Jesus Christ. So, Iryerris had a shit trip to America. He landed in Philly only to discover that his flight to Baltimore had been cancelled, and he had to route all the way down to Miami to catch a flight up to Baltimore. That meant he basically didn't arrive until midnight, harried and exhausted and miserable. And you know what Milk did?
This sweet motherfudger drove and picked him up. Drove out in the literal middle of the night for someone he had never met in person to pick them up from the airport and bring them back.
Milk, my left kidney is yours if you ever need it. You are good people. I know you don't think it's a big deal, what you did, but I've professed to my entire readership that you are a golden saint among us mere mortals. Thank you for taking care of Iry. He needed that after the day he had and I am eternally grateful to you.
So… I guess I'll use that as a segue to Iryerris. We have been really close friends online. Bro jokes aside, he's my bro. We've spent countless hours over the past… year?? Has it only been a year? Jesus. We've chatted over text, over voice, played games together, discussed just about everything from personal stuff to writing stuff to stupid stuff. I have made many friends through FiMFiction, and Iryerris is one of my closest.
And he just had to destroy me with a gift that he'd apparently been planning behind Anzel and my's backs since freaking October, conspiring with my sister Marmes and my soulbae Nalu. Anzel and I now have gorgeous necklaces (Anzel is converting his to a keychain), pure silver, handcrafted with our OC's cutie marks on one side and Crystal/Anzel on the backs. They are gorgeous. They're simple in the way that they're not over-the-top and I am wholly comfortable wearing it every day. They're beautiful in the way that I look in passing mirrors and beam at the sight of them.
God, and another gift I received. So, there's this guy… Ephemeral. A long while back he sent me a message on FiMfiction about how much he enjoyed Crystal's Wishes. He's, over time, become someone I care about so much that I bought and wore lipstick for the sole purpose of kissing him on the cheek and leaving a smooch mark. I'm what some people call "super married" and I don't smooch lightly. That is a testament to how deeply I care about Eph. I smooch-cheated on my husband. And it was totally worth it.
Anzel totally upped the ante by now having the single most romantic kiss pic of all time, so much so that I can now never be photographed kissing him because it'll never compare and goddamnit Eph I hate you for taking that away from me. It's a truly gorgeous pic. Screw you. (ily)
But, you see, some time back, I was trying to explain to Eph a concept called "1-2-3 Dragon". It's a sort-of meme thing where it goes like this: "Step 1: Draw circles. Step 2: Connect the circles. 3: Add details." And boom dragon! Well, he thought my dragon looked okay.
(It didn't.)
So, as a joke, I drew his pony and the dragon, whom I added sparkles to as well as sunglasses and a tie and a cigarette. They shared a beer and a cow (respectively). And I added "BROS" to it. Then I sent it to him.
Well, apparently, he thought it'd be a good idea to commission someone to draw an actual piece of art version of it, frame it, and give it to me.
(It was.)
I cried. I hugged him and he held me as I sobbed. It was… a good cry, it was just overwhelming. Gifts for me. This kind of kindness is just difficult for me to accept.
But I'm not the only one who suffers from this inability to comprehend kindness of this caliber.
Yeah, buddy… you knew this was coming. Sorry, Majin, but this was a big part of my weekend, so it's going in the post.
Last year at BronyCon, I briefly met with Majin, because I recognized his name on his name tag. Somehow, we ended up being pals on Twitter. We've been tweeting at each other for a year now and a few months back, he posted a pic of a piece of cake with the caption that he got birthday cake… a week after his birthday. So, I replied that I was going to get him a birthday present and give it to him at BronyCon.
I found this, which if you know him, you know he used to have an Adagio Dazzle avatar. It was perfect!! I was so excited to give it to him. A friend saw it in our house and commented on it, and Anzel said, "Yeah, it's a gift." The friend smiled. "Cool!" they said. Deadpan, Anzel added, "For another man." Ohh, that was hilarious.
And then the little twerp changed his avatar like not even a full month before BronyCon. I scrambled to find the quickest shipping item I could that featured Starlight Glimmer. I found a sticker. It was kind of lame but that's what you get when you change your avatar on such short notice, okay!!
I teased Majin about how he had gifts—plural—now. He said he didn't deserve such kindness and really didn't know what to do with it… and that made me really sad, so I went out and found a singing My Little Pony birthday card. I mean, that's the logical reaction, right?
So, at the Q&B luncheon, I went to the hotel room and retrieved his gift. Excitedly, I watched as he took out the card and read it. He hugged me for what I wrote in it, then went to look for the gifts inside the bag still… and, I don't really know. I'm not him, I can't say what went through his mind. All I know is he got back up and hugged me so tight it literally hurt (ha ha broken rib joke no really it's okay I'm not mad). I wanted to cry because… it wasn't… it was just some little stuff. I was originally just trying to be silly. I just wanted to get a laugh out of him originally, you know? A silly thing based on a Twitter post.
But after a lot of talking, Majin and I… we're a lot alike, and we've grown a lot closer. He is kind of misunderstood by a lot of people, I think. It's easy to look at a person's online image and assume that is who they are, but… that's not the case. People are complex. We have so much behind whatever little glimpse you get of us online.
Majin, I am honored and delighted to know you now as well as I do. Happy birthday, buddy. I'm sorry you had to wait until BronyCon but I hope it was worth it.
Phew. Okay. I'm probably maybe almost done, guys. I need to be because I've been crying for like… a lot of this.
Quiggles! I feel less indebted to you because, like, we see you a lot, yanno? But here's the thing. Every time we've met up, you left us SICK. SUPER SICK. LIKE YOU ARE WORSE THAN MILEY THE PLAGUEBRINGER, BUDDY. But... without trying to jinx things... I am so far not sick. So, thanks for breaking the thus-far 100% trend of getting us sick when we meet up.
Star Origin. Star, I know you may think that you're… I dunno. That you're "not a close friend". But gosh you are. Yes we have had some time apart because of real life but don't think for one second that I enjoyed your company this weekend any less than anyone else's. I'm so glad you were able to make the drive down because it was phenomenally fun getting to make fun of you for being French Canadian. I mean, getting to spend time with you. Hopefully you now know that you ARE a friend of mine and Anzel's, that you ARE someone we enjoy being around, and you ARE someone we can't wait to hang out with again next year.
Speaking of amazing people… TAMMY. TAMMY TAMMY TAMMY. Here is someone that I can't get enough of. The Amazing Me. He used to be Average Amazing Me, and came to the wonderful and awe-inspiring realization that he's not average. He is The Amazing Me and he should make no apologies to anyone. And, you know what? He doesn't. Tammy is the guy who will go there. Don't joke about it if you don't want it done. He is the guy who takes the sketchy plush at the naughty panel. Tammy is the guy who gave Anzel a full-service butt grope. Tammy is the guy who I absolutely adore and respect because as much as we tease him about being the sexual deviant, he… he's such a great guy.
Like any of us, he has his self-doubts. Like any of us, he questions his self-worth. But like few of us, he makes efforts to work to spite those self-negative things and be The Amazing Me. He has fun, unabashedly so. He doesn't let doubts and questions and worries stop him from living to the fullest at the convention and, I hope, in the rest of his life.
Tammy, you are truly amazing, and I hope you tell yourself that every day.
And even more speaking of amazing?!? LARSCIS. Jesus this guy. He played it off like he was happy to do it, but we beyond appreciate what he did for us with the BronyCon Press Room for the Live Event. But there's more than that.
If you know Lars from our Discord server, you know he is a bit of a random guy. He comes up with the most left-field stuff sometimes. It always makes me snicker or chuckle or sometimes even laugh. I love when he is able to come onto voice chat because he puts together the best voices for fake GPS, silly commercials, so on and so forth…
And, you know what? I was crying with laughter from chatting with him late Sunday night, just him and me and Anzel, talking about stories when we or people around us had gotten unabashedly drunk. Yeah. Nothing bonds people better than talking about how they expelled bodily fluids due to too much alcohol consumption.
This guy is brilliant, though. Lars is probably one of the smartest people I know. Talking with him makes me feel vastly unprepared to engage him on an intellectual level… and yet he rounds it all off with an overwhelmingly fun and funny personality that makes it hard to really feel stupid.
You know… I called this an interlude, but I think by the time I get done with it, no one will still be reading, so really, this interlude has become the final piece of this post. I still have lots of people to talk about.
Including Monochromatic.
The good lord Shmookiebottom (+5 points if you get that) wept the day Monochromatic was born. She is such a sweet person. I have kind of creepily watched her from the virtual bushes, reading her RariTwi works of art, hearing people talk about how nice she was and telling myself that I was not worthy to try to talk to her.
Through various circumstances that involved me getting angry and defending her, we… started talking. And… she… didn't think I was an annoying fangirl, because apparently she had been nervous to talk to me?? And then we were, like, excited to meet at BronyCon??
But then things kept coming up and we kept not being able to meet up. And I got more and more nervous, because people kept talking to me about how wonderful it was to meet her and how great she was and adorable and sweet and kind and I wanted to hide because there was no way I could meet her and not have her realize what a mistake she had made for thinking I was anyone cool and then we met and she seemed to still like me and yeah this long sentence is kind of how I felt meeting her
I have to parrot everyone else. She is wonderful and great and adorable and sweet and kind and she kept telling me really nice things. She hugged me and told me that she was legit happy to meet me and let me kiss her cheek during the Writer's Group Photo like we were friends or something?!?
It was like really nervousmazing to meet her and I wish we could have hung out so much more!!
I also wish I had gotten to spend more time with Shachza. Also known as Schanoodlebutt. Also known as "that guy who really likes one of my characters". Also known as "that guy with the fabulous curls in his hair that I hate him for".
Shachza is precious to me. He wrote this fic, Insecurities, that I painfully empathize with. So getting to be with him in person, it's really important to me that I get to hug him and talk to him and let him know that I adore him and everything in the world is okay and that he's special in a good way. He is so funny and clever. Like… good god. This pic was his idea, prefaced with "Just go with it."
"I'll be dead at your feet, and you just cry over my dead body." He's just that kind of funny guy. I will forever weep over his death. (tbh if he actually did die it would not look like that, I would be dead, too, because his wellbeing is super important to me and being dead is kind of the opposite of wellbeing so yeah)
Oh my god, I've been working on this for six hours. I'm kind of motion sick from writing for six hours on a train. I'm drained from all the emotion. But I don't want to leave people out. I'll put the laptop down and continue this in the morning.
IT'S THE MORNING NOW! (isn't it crazy how that works?)
I'd really like to give a shout out to Midnight Premiere, an artist whom we commissioned last year at BronyCon and did such a wonderful job that we sought her out specifically again this year. She is absolutely fantastic to work with; we give her just a general idea, and she puts her own flair on it which surpasses anything we could have dreamed up if we had asked for a specific commission.
This year, her booth was PHENOMENAL. We walked into the vendor hall. "Where is Midnight Premiere" was the first question from our lips, our gazes saw the blinking movie lights, and we found her immediately.
And the costumes. Oh my gosh, she as well as her wonderful mother and aunt were dressed up in ritzy glitzy theatre outfits! It was memorable and adorable.
So, okay, let's see. Yes! Lord Legion! Buddy, it was so good to see you again this year. We haven't been in as much touch as we used to because of your new life situation, but does that mean I was any less excited to see you? Нет!
Your sister was a delight to meet and you were as fun to be around as you always are. Your Russian accent during the photo shoot was pure awesome, but more than that, I just love your little penguin buddy Waddle to bits and pieces.
Said little penguin buddy was a great companion to our friend, Carapace. Carapace was unable to come in his corporeal form this year, but he did manage to find a way to make it: as Carapuffin! His insightful questions during the Live Event and adorable antics during the Panel were greatly appreciated. And he was just so soft!!
Wing, just as he always is, was in full form of entertainment and enthusiasm. He bewildered several folks with his magic card trick, but more than that he bewildered me with just his unbridled zest for life and all it has to offer. He was never without a big ol' smile on his face, which is just so darn infectious!! Whenever Wing walks onto the scene, he is sure to bring all the colors of excitement with him.
Now, of course, I only had so much time available in the weekend. That means some folks didn't get as much of my attention as others, but I absolutely don't want anyone to feel like they are "less important" to me, so here goes a quick shout out barrage for folks that I don't want to feel forgotten.
Alabaster: Thanks for keeping our secret arrival on the down low until we were ready to announce we got there. It was a really funny happenstance that you were the one to give us our badges!
Fistfire: So good to see you again this year!! I'm glad your wife had a gal pal to pal around with, and I hope for the best with your son's kinda-sorta-secret endeavors!
Kuairu: Thank you for, uh… for not dying?!? Next time be more careful with the drinks, and with your pants!! 
But, in seriousness, it was great to meet you. Even if I was, briefly, worried for your safety.
Stormcaller: Oh my gosh, thank you for being at the live event. It was SO funny to have you right there when we announced you won a badge! I promise I'll PM you the details soon.
BikerDash: We only got to see you briefly but that doesn't make me any less happy to see you. I hope all is well with you, sincerely!!
Professor Plum: Buddy, your handshake! It may be a strange thing to find memorable—after all, you are like, a friggin' giant who's so tall my neck hurt from looking up at you—but a lot can be said by a person about their handshake. Yours told me you were a warm and genuine person. It was firm and heartfelt but not aggressive. I appreciate that kind of handshake a lot.
Shakespearicles: Your Shining Armor cosplay was on point… even if I don't want to think too much about the story behind it! (I'm teasing!!) It was great to meet you, and I hope your naughty panel went well!!
Wanderer D: FINALLY! We didn't get to be introduced last year, but it happened this year and I'm glad it did! Sorry it was a bit of a handshake-and-dash but it was a pleasure nonetheless to finally get to meet up.
Aerus, Dash, and Cobbie: I'm glad you were in Wing's entourage on Monday so I could at least give you guys hugs goodbye, because we didn't get to hang much. But I'm so glad y'all made it out!! It was super fun!
Mitch: Thank you for making it out and saying hello! It was great to finally put a face behind the zebra!
sixkiller5: I'm so glad you were able to make it out! I hope you enjoyed yourself, thank you for taking the time to make it to our panel!! >3<
Floof: "Signed, THE FLOOF!" There, happy? It was brief but glad to see you again this year!!
Eagle and Dorei: Thank you both so much for letting Josi get to, in some way, be involved in the Q&B Lunch. I know he was really looking forward to it and you guys made it easy. Thanks sooo much!!
PonyJosiah: You were there in spirit, and it's the thought that counts! 
phillypu: You happened to come by as we were doing group shots and helped us out... by making us laugh. A lot. Then we happened to run into you again at the vendor hall, where we could thank you properly. I hope you see this so you can know that you brought a lot of amusement to us!! Also, you helped Anzel do a better dab. Yay!
Guy At The Train Station: So, just as we were about to board our train, we ran into someone who had attended our panel. Do you know how exciting-embarrassing it is to be… like… remembered? Recognized? I don't know how to put it but that was a great send-off from a great weekend!!
And I would like to end this blog post with a round of applause for the absolute saints of the convention: Rossby and Timaeus. Seriously, gold stars, you two. When Iryerris was feeling unwell, Timaeus trotted about with me trying to find ginger ale to settle his stomach—and valiantly drank the large soda I accidentally purchased. (Pro tip: when you march into a restaurant seeking a specific drink, maybe take a look at the beverage options before slapping down the money for a large soda) In case it ever comes up for anyone, the Subway across the street from the convention center has ginger ale.
Then, on Saturday, I was unable to eat lunch and dinner because of my nerves for the live event and panel. These two took me aside after it was all said and done and refused to let me dissuade them from going out at 1am to get me some dinner. They trudged, bravely, through the nearby streets of Baltimore to find a place still open and came back to our hotel room to deliver it.
On Sunday, when we were unable to make it to lunch with folks, they brought it to us without a second thought… and at my meek request for some feel-good chocolates, they bought a whole smorgasbord of sweets.
These two souls are so kind that they dedicated themselves to ensuring Anzel and I were fed and cared for, and we felt that generosity deep in our hearts with unyielding warmth. They really went above and beyond for us, and on top of all that, Timaeus took marvelous photos—most of the ones included in this blog post are by him, in fact.
Everyone, please, give your appreciation to Rossby and Timaeus. Without them, I personally would have been an absolute wreck. They supported us emotionally by being there for us without any questions asked, and they supported us nutritionally by ensuring we had food when we needed it most.
Now, I'll sign off with saying: thank you. Whether you came or not, the fact that you've read seven thousand words of me rambling means a lot to me. This weekend was phenomenal and I wish I could do it proper justice, but this blog post will have to suffice instead.
Stormcaller, Lord Legion, sixkiller5, TheAmazingMe, Shachza, Ephemeral, Rossby Waves
Lord Legion's sister Naomi, Aerus, Crystal
Wing, Star Origin, Anzel / Timaeus, Majin Syeekoh, Iryerris
>insightful questions and adorable antics
Wat?
:|
Also, this was fun to read and catch up on. Glad you had a great time with everyone and survived your panel, smolbirb!
:D I'm happy you had such a good time!
Thank you for being who you are.
D'awwww. Your recap blogs are delicious, Crystal. It was fun! The Universe aligned. Good shtuff happened. There is much content. :3
Sounds like it was an excellent time.
As jealous as I was that entire weekend, it was nice to be able to follow along with the various antics of people at BC from Discord. I'm glad y'all had so much fun and I'm glad I got to read this touching summary of the events we only got to see glimpses of from the outside. Thank you so much for writing this, Crystal, you've shown a new side to several people that I wish I'd known about before. I hope I can make BC next year, and if I do, I'd be honored to hang out with all of you and create memories that will last a lifetime.
It was really a blast meeting all of you guys at the QnB lunch! Sorry I wasn't at the panels or the dinners, as I have like 27 servers and I really wanted to go to a lot of meetups! Hopefully next year I can plan a better schedule so that I can maximize the most of all of my meetups.
And don't worry, I'll remember to stay away from hard drinks next time so I won't accidentally almost die again!
Thank you, Crystal and Anzel, I don't think that without you two, Bronycon would be half as amazing as it was.
And it was so amazing. Meeting everyone was a crazy and incredibly fun experience, and I'm glad I've gone there.
Speaking of things I'm glad for: Milk for picking me up from the airport (seriously, you're a lifesaver), Star for giving me wifi when I needed it, and Tim and Rossby for being the best <3
But enough stealing this blog. Crystal, Anzel, you two are amazing people whom I'm infinitely grateful for to have met. The live live event was hilarious, the panel was incredible, and everything else was a blast.
I'm happy I went, and thank you.
Gosh. I'm not sure how to put this in words but...
This post it sucked me in, it had me enthralled instantly. Six hours, you said? You spent six hours writing this and I say it paid off. It was almost as if I was reminiscing even though I had never been there to experience it first hand. And just as quickly I was ejected out of the world that was constructed feeling somewhat dazed and little fuzzy inside by the end. You really captured the essence of Bronycon in these here words.
That was wonderful! I'm glad you had such a great time Crystal! And that one part about the girl overcoming cancer, truly something for you to be proud of! Спасибо за упоминание!
Screams forever
*LE GASP!* Wait, I think I may have seen you guys! I was also at BronyCon during the weekend! Man, I wished I could've met you guys
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Screams more
I'm honestly glad that your BronyCon experience was amazing this year and that everything went well and above your expectations. I certainly don't think I'm the only one to think that you two deserve all of this, whether you believe it or not.
Thanks for making me cry. Now I want to hug you and I can't. WHY?!?I mean... I hope your next BronyCon experience is as awesome as this year.
It was wonderful seeing you again and meeting new people. Thank you for the memories
GYAH why are you making me have these FEELINGS!? I thought I buried those in the backyard long ago!!!
Seriously though, your panel and after-panel were both insightful and awesome. There was a good reason so many people stayed around. It was really good to meet you in person finally, and, if it helps, you didn't come across as shy to me. Just sweet. Also I got to hear you make a swears, so I was content. I also hope you enjoyed the vomit pic. Because obviously, had to make ya one.
And yes, of COURSE you have value. A million billion times, YES, you have great value. And I'm glad to call you a friend.
...l-loser. I-it's not like I like you o-or anything...
Snu is just glad to meet everyone! Crystal and Anzel were super duper nice and open and cuddly yay! I'm glad Milk lead me to so many wonderful friends, and I hope I can call them my own now
It's great to hear the both of you had such a fun time at Bronycon this year! Cons are always best when you get to be with people you love and care about, so I'm glad you were able to attend with Anzel, and see so many friends!
And again, panel was really great and informative, you two were so silly and cute together, I loved it! Funnily enough, the Q&B photo op was starting right as I was checking out, I thought about going over and asking for a photo, but I had to get going ;-;. Still, enough of that, I'm really glad you both had so much fun together.
I Still need to thank Anzel for giving me 21 points at the panel.
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And don't forget that Rossby's art is amazing and adorable and cute....
And Tim is an amazing writer! ;)
Well, at least I'm not the only one getting feels from this! And, good thing for me I wasn't busy at work when I did!
This was definitely Conversation Convention for me. Aside from the QnB stuff and the Marketplace, BronyCon for me meant hanging and talking with some truly AMAZING people, many of whom overlap with those mentioned above. And picking up a bad-boy reputation (mostly through sheer dumb luck) is just icing on the cake for me.
Definitely going to have to write my own post. But let me cap this off with a great big thank you I'll interwebs hug for all the positivity you two bring to the fandom at large and to us QnBers in particular. That you got to see the fruits of your labors is a reward well-earned.
Much Luv,
TAM
Well... I just don't know what to say. It was wonderful meeting everyone, y'all made it a blast and a half of fun and I'm still kinda riding the high from it all. Just... wow. Thank you, Crystal, thank you everybody. And I actually did cause Wing to not-smile once... by saying something about his Wing badge that I'm actually afraid to repeat for fear of aggravating him again.
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ARGHHH
It was great fun following on the Discord channel, it sounded/looked like you had fun, hopefully I will see you next year when you go to BronyCon
-ComradeSoviet
Thank you Crystal and Anzel, for showing me that I am usually my worst fearmonger, you have no idea how terrified I was when I went towards the luncheon. A million thoughts passed my mind's eye, of all the things that could happen if I showed up. I can say that I have never been happier to be wrong.
Thanks for an amazing time, I wish I could have made it to the live event. But I will treasure the time we did spend together.
Forever grateful,
Sixkiller5
It was an honour to meet you and I hope to get to know you and learn from your skills in the future.
I'll buy a sub next con!
What an unusually heartwarming comment.
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Awwww... Sorry I caused you so much pain. Don't worry though; I was only slightly dead, so I got better.
Are you going to be doing another collab panel next year? After I got home from the con, I remembered the perfect question to ask, but I can't just do it here. It, um, just wouldn't be the same.