[Trottingham] PonyCon (open to all!)

[Imagination]

PonyCon at last!

This fairly new gathering of the arts, entertainment and fashion was fairly new, however they managed to hold it in a different place each time, and this time in Trottingham! Quite the fine choice with it's beaches and hospitality, sure to draw in many ponies and non-ponies to the festivities for the weekend! Two and a half days of auctions, constume contests, skits, shows, games and karaoke! All for the modest price of 10 bits for entry or 15 bits for a weekend pass! Convention guests would have to register at the front, pay for their pass, and the fun was theirs for the taking!

Though many ponies had already arrived, and had taken most of that previous morning to prepare for the Con-goers. Fashion artists put out different unique clothing items or costume pieces, artist had their works on display for all to see, and some things even being auctioned or sold! Several skit artists and actors got performances ready, mostly of a comedic fashion in order to try and get some business for their shows! There were also jewelers, painters, sculptists, writers, and many more, all contained in a large dome-tent erected in the Trottingham park!

Inside this wondrous dome, nestled in the Artist's Stables was Sketch, sitting at his booth, C027 on the map. Of course he ws nervous about the crowds, though he did his best not to show it. His banner read 'Stamp Lee Studios', using his pen name as a sort of brand for the moment. On his table were some examples of his art in the form of pencil sketches, colored drawings, and high detail illustrations, each with different tags for how much they'd cost to be commissioned. He also had two laminated example pages of his pet project 'The Adventures of Rex Stallion', both depicting entertaining, action-y scenes. For merchandise he had several pairs of goggles, painted to look like one of his characters' own pair from his comic, and with the stencil marking 'T.R.O.T.A.C.' on the leather strap. He also had several red berets with a black 'X' badge on them. That way he'd have merch of good-guy and bad-guy stuff. Of course, all of this drank up all of the commission money he made, but he was sure he'd get some good business here. The other artists were quick to assure him that people buy up stuff like candy from the Cons.

So for now, he waited. Sucking a breath for confidence as he watched the first group of ponies finally leave the registration area and unleash themselves upon the convention.

[Conor Colton]

The white coated, blue maned pegasus Colton Cloudkicker had finally arrived at PonyCon. He was accompanied as he always was by his close friend and pet Sparks the brown and white sparrow. The two had been hired by a client in Trottingham to attend this event, they were supposed to record and capture photo's for this client as he had some slight 'complications' and couldn't attend.

Despite the business at hand though, Colton and Sparks were here mostly to take in the sights and enjoy the festivities, Sparks more so than Colton as Sparks was a bit of an 'enthusiast' when it came to events such as these. The bird was so excited that he was darting around Colton's head and fiddling with the pegasus' camera as the two entered, "Sparks would you calm down, I know your excited about this but you've never been this bad." Colton said as he tried to keep eye-contact with the fast moving bird. Sparks only responded with more darting around as the bird was simply to excited.

After the two had gotten in to the convention they looked around for various things of interest and as Colton tried to look around the crowd for any sign of somepony that could direct them Sparks was drifting all over the place lost in his own ecstatic nature. "Well do you see anything Sparks?" Colton said as he observed the bird's fascination with everything around him. Eventually though Colton spotted something familiar to him, it was a booth labelled 'Stamp Lee Studios', "Hey Sparks, isn't that that place that does that comic you like so much?. What was it, uh, Rex something rig-" Colton was cut off as the small bird grabbed Colton's camera and dragged him towards the booth, nearly chocking him in the process.

When the two got closer to the booth Colton managed to calm the bird, "Jeez Sparks calm-down." Colton said in a stern voice. The bird simply didn't respond and hovered over to the stall with Colton shortly after. The bird simply floated in awe, leaving Colton to deal with the social interaction. Colton addressed the unicorn at the stand with a smile and a friendly voice, "Hello there, me and my friend here were wondering if we could bu-" Colton stopped as he realized who he was talking to, "....Wait a second...is that you Sketch?" Colton said as he remembered when he met the unicorn on one of his trips to Canterlot, Colton hoped he didn't make a grievous error in judgement as he didn't want to look the fool.

[Imagination]

At the moment Sketch had been observing the different ponies as they came in, one in particular. He had something buzzing about his head... was it a bug or a bird...? It was moving far too fast for him to be able to tell from that distance. Of course it brought to mind that a kind fellow he had recently met had a pet bird. Interesting. Though as he was lost in his thoughts, he was quite surprised when that very pony approached his booth! The Pegasus had Sketch's full attention as he spoke, though around the same moment the two had realized who the other was.

"Oh! Colton and his faithful friend Sparks! My friends from the Doughnut shop! Yes, it's me" He let out a sigh of relief. What were the odds that his first visitor was going to be someone he knew? "It certainly is... well uplifting just isn't strong enough a term... erm, to see a friendly face." He collected himself, sitting up straight and offering a warm smile. "This is my first time at PonyCon, I swear I've been shaking like a leaf most of this morning... Ah, but I'm sorry, I don't mean to be rude. You were about to ask something...?"

He figured he may as well wait for Colton to finish before speaking up again. He had to eye the camera and the demeanor of his bird and wonder just exactly what was going on, but he had to smile at it all. Of course the unicorn was prepared to do anything for the pegasus at the moment be it draw, talk, or sell! With that, he anxiously awaited his response!

[DantonDamnark]

Morgan slowly strolled into the giant tent, lifting her head up and looking at the eminences of the tent. Morgan had heard PonyCon was coming to town a few days earlier and was eager to see the entertainment and all that was for sale.

"How quaint..." Morgan said in a semi-annoyed fashion to herself. She didn't realize what she had said until she finished. Morgan still had moments where her "Child of the Canterlot Elite" took effect and made her behave as such. Morgan shook her head and cleared her mind of these, mostly unkind, thoughts.

"I mean: 'This is nice'" Morgan corrected herself before continuing to walk around and look at the stalls.

Morgan's intent of coming to PonyCon was to scope out new books for the Library and possibly show a few book drafts to some publishers, at least that's what she would claim. Deep down, she had come for the fashion! The elegant cloths, the gorgeous accessories, and the phenomenal apparel. These things were the only thing Morgan missed when she moved to Trottingham. Though this did not mean she wasn't looking for books; but they would have to wait while she browsed shoes and scarfs that matched the saddlebag she was eying earlier.

[Conor Colton]

Colton breathed a sigh of relief that he didn't make an error in identification, this was indeed the same unicorn Colton had met in the doughnut shop. He smiled as he responded to Sketch's opening statement, "Well it's certainly nice to see a friendly face in the middle of all this madness." Colton said as he turned towards the massive crowd behind him and then to Sparks, who was till absorbed in his own little world.

Colton shook his head slightly at Sparks attitude and listened carefully to what Sketch was saying, less he sound rude. He waited for the unicorn to be done with his last statement before responding, "Oh right sorry um, let's see here. What do you think Sparks?" Colton said as he stared over to his bird, he didn't get a response as Sparks was still enveloped in the atmosphere of PonyCon. Colton decided that he would have to choose, he noticed a few pieces of merchandise on a certain comic series 'The Adventures of Rex Stallion', That what it was called, Colton thought to himself.

Sparks quickly flew into Colton's bag and pulled out a few things and put them on Sketch's booth, in total there were three items, all associated with this particular comic series. All of them bared striking similarities to the objects Sketch had for sale, there was a comic book, a pencil, and a small red beret with a 'X' on it, small enough to fit Sparks. "Uh...Sparks, when did you get all that?" Colton asked as Sparks looked at both Colton and Sketch with assuming looks, "Oh right, uh....I think he wants these signed...I think anyway." Colton said as he scratched the back of his head.

The pegasus lined up his camera to try and get a good view of the convention from his current location, as he did he conversed with Sketch, "So, you seem to be doing pretty well Sketch." Colton said as he looked at a rather eager bird, almost admiring the writer artist behind the comic.

[Imagination]

"I never would've guessed you were a fan of mine when I met you in Canterlot, my friend" he admitted to the sparrow with a smile. But of course, it seemed he even had his own AoRS swag! "Ah, pledged your life to the ArchGeneral, have we?" he chuckled upon seeing a villain's beret. He had never conversed with an animal before, but the fact that he knew Sparks could understand him took any awkwardness away from it all. Of course he also had to wonder where he got the book to begin with. As far as he was aware a few stores in Manehattan carried copies for him as a head start. Maybe he ordered it? Either way, he was pleased to meet a fan either way! Using his horn to lift the pencil and open the book, he signed the inside cover as he responded to Colton. "Every bit I've made over the past three months is sitting in front of you at this booth, my friend"

But then it came to signing the book. He wondered what he should write. Maybe the traditional 'To my fan-' kind of message... or maybe Apostasy's motto: 'Fight, Dominate, Assimilate'. Having come to a decision, the floating pencil wrote:

'To my friend Sparks, Thank you for your support! Stay strong and live well! ~Sketch Troy'

Having signed that, he looked to his adoring fan bird. "That's my first autograph ever, you know. Could be some serious bragging rights if all goes to plan. And if you wish, I have a couple of sneak-peek pages for the next issue here on the table if you wish to look" Knowing that would very likely get the Sparrow's attention, he then looked back to Colton, still a bit giddy that had actually both met a fan of his small-operation comic and signed his first autograph. "But to answer you a bit better I could say I'm doing alright. I'm making money doing what I love, of course. So long as the commissions keep rolling in like they have been, I'll be plenty busy and be able to go to more functions like this!"

[Neoniie]

Neon was literally bouncing up and down excitedly in the growing line of ponies waiting for entry to the convention floor. He had been waiting all month for PonyCon to begin. It had dominated his thoughts and worked a very strong motivator and/or threat for his parents to use. The yellow earth pony's parents had finally decided that he was old enough to attend on his own and had sent him off on the train to Trottingham last night. The colt had slept for most of the trip, being awoken by the train stewardess when the train pulled in at Trottingham Station.

Now that he was here, he could barely contain his excitement for much longer. He nosed through his saddlebags, withdrawing the registration papers he had ordered by Pegasus Mail last month. Holding them firmly between his lips, Neon reached the front of the line.

"Registration papers, please." A slightly tired looking unicorn stood before him, giving a yawn once he finished his highly-rehearsed gretting. Neon placed them carefully upon the table between himself and the unicorn, eyes alight with excitement. The unicorn turned his back, writing down the ticket numbers and checking off several boxes. He levitated a lanyard around Neon's neck. Attached to the fabric was a card displayer the words PonyCon - Attendee. Neon thanked the unicorn and continued his bouncy movement into the convention building itself. Barely holding in a very girly squee of excitement, the earth pony looked at the stalls and booths set up all around him.

Ohmigosh, where should I go first? Should I get some new editions of Spectacular Spiderstallion or check out the rules for the costume contest? Artist's Stables or a Celebrity Panel? With his mention of the costume contest, Neon quickly rooted through his saddlebag again, ensuring that his costume/superhero garb was still inside it. Checking the map and schedule he was given along with the attendance bagde, Neon trotted forward slowly. Well, registration for the costume contest doesn't start until 11:00, so I guess I could check out the Artist's Stables first. This is gonna be so awesome! WIth his destination in mind, Neon bounced off toward the back of the convention hall.