Bookmark's Galacon 2016 Adventure

        The next day of Galacon started more leisurely than my little adventure the day before. I once more visited the vendor stalls scattered throughout the hallway. Once again I marvelled at the beautiful plushies, the accurate embroidery, the colourful comic books, the vinyl figures, and of course, the busy drawing artists. I learned you can pay them commission and then they will draw your OC, your friends OC, a custom pony or—in my case—a self-portrait. Isn’t there anything more beautiful than making a few bits while doing what you love most? Opening your creative mind and making the character of your fans really come to life! Beautiful! I saw a man, strong and muscled, selling all kinds of gorgeous embroideries he had made himself. I saw a girl use a vague sketch of a pony to draw a Friendship-is-Magic-style copy in an entirely different, dynamic pose. I saw a girl making a beautiful sketch of Discord with a pen. A pen! Imagine if she would misdirect a line, or misplace a patch of shadow—she would have to start all over again. Upon asking her about it, she leisurely told me she ‘knew how to draw Discord well enough.’ She must have made thousands of sketches of that twisted maniac. No matter how often I would walk past their stands, I simply couldn’t stop looking in awe at all of the artists.

        While I was wandering through the hallways, I met up with some old friends from the day before and talked a little about their adventures. However soon I found that I still couldn’t get the artists out of my mind, so I decided to go to an artistic panel: Painting by Lmalou it was. I remember Lmalou had a marvellous accent. It strongly reminded me of some of the upper-class Canterlot citizens. Upon informing, I was told she was French. Anyway, she could make beautiful digital art and she explained to the audience exactly how she made it. She went over software, brushes, technique, anatomies, composition, shadow and—most importantly—sharing your art through different digital platforms. She even showed us how she had made a beautiful artwork of Canni Soda lying in the grass, relaxing. She had fast-forwarded it, because it had taken her eight hours to make it. Very impressive indeed.

        After all this serious inspiration and knowledge—and with the Pony Jeopardy memory still in mind—I was really in for a game again. This time it was Family Feud. It looked a little bit like Pony Jeopardy, as it was once again a test of knowledge. I’ll  explain it to you, dear reader. Two teams had to score as many points as possible by giving answers and naming ponies or objects in a certain category. The more original the answer, the higher the chance of getting more points. There where categories like: ‘things you can find in the Everfree forest,’ ‘background ponies,’ or ‘objects in Pinkie Pie’s bedroom.’ As you can read, some categories were hilarious and I had a great laugh; the best moment for me was when they called Applejack a background pony. That is totally ridiculous! I mean, she is the element of honesty. If Applejack would have been there, she wouldn’t have appreciated it, don’t you agree?

        Unfortunately—or maybe for the best—I didn’t play along this time, but I had a great time guessing the different answers together with a guy sitting next to me. I didn’t know him, he didn’t know me, but from a distance it must have looked like we were best friends. Again that spontaneous openness… I was beginning to think everypony was everypony’s friend here, even if you didn’t know each other.

        One thing I also remembered was the amazing game host. He was funny, charismatic, spontaneous—everything you would expect from a game host of a prime time television program or a Canterlot comedy show. After the game, I had a quick word with him, just to be a gentlecolt and compliment him on his excellent skills. He told me he had no training whatsoever; he just liked doing things like that. I am certain his cutie mark would look like a microphone, or perhaps a smiling ponies’ nose. Presenting shows truly was his special talent; one could see that outright.

                                                * *

        Oh my goodness! How could I forget? The most important occurrence leading to my Galacon adventures. How in Equestria could I forget it? Or her, actually… But I won’t get ahead of myself here. I will tell everything in chronological order. That would make the most sense, of course.

        So after I deciphered the poster, I decided to go to the location right there and then. I mean, it was the only thing I could do. Even though I was awfully tired, I galloped as fast as I could. Fear still enveloped me, so I kept clear of the main roads and streets, to encounter as few people as possible. I galloped and galloped and galloped, rushing through Ludwigsburg, slowing down only to try and read the street signs, but never stopping.

        After hoofing what seemed like the way to Yakyakistan and back, I reached a large square with an odd, but graceful building composed  of stone and glass: the Forum am Schlosspark. After I caught my breath, I took a moment to look at the strange construction. Graceful and curved as it was, with its long windows, it looked like a palace of its own. But more importantly, lights were burning inside.

        I walked up to the door, but hesitated. Was I allowed to step inside this palace? At this hour of day? Maybe I would get kicked out by an angry person once more… But I had to be resolute. I had to find these Bronies, I had to find that pony. Maybe she would know how to return to Equestria again, or maybe she could at least tell me something about this world. I opened the door, and there she was…

        A dark-red mane, a crème coloured hide, and big, green eyes flashing in every direction, filled with stress and worry. She was standing on a ladder, probably to oversee the people scattered about the hall, each of them performing different tasks.

        I really couldn’t take my eyes off her, but she didn’t notice me straight away. The red-headed pony seemed to be completely in charge of everyone’s doings. Sometimes she gave instructions to all of them, and sometimes one of them went to her and asked her a question, to which she always seemed to know the answer.

        Suddenly she saw me, standing in the doorway. Her eyes grew twice as big. She jumped, almost bumped her head, and then looked at me again. She was quite surprised—or perhaps shocked—,and to be honest, she had startled me as well.

        “Um… Hallo, wie geht es dir?” She said to me.

        And then my mind collapsed. This pony. This one pony. My only hope to get some answers, my only hope to get out of this unnatural world… And she didn’t even speak the Equestrian language!

        I gave up. That’s what I did. I simply gave up. I didn’t know what to do or where to go. I just wanted to get out of this awkward situation.

        “I-I um… I am terribly sorry for wasting your time. I will be off… Goodnight!” I managed to cram out of my stupid mouth. I started walking through the door again, into the cold, merciless night.

        “Wait! Don’t go!”

        I froze.

        “I mean… please stay, I want to talk to you.”

        I turned around, stupefied; my heart once again glowing with embers of hope.

        “Where are you from, pony?” She asked me.

        She had such a beautiful voice.

        “What is your name?”

        And three little freckles on her face.

        “My name is Canni Soda.”

        And such an exotic name.

        “Um… You can speak English, right?”

        I snapped out of my thoughts and answered, “Well, I can understand you, if that’s what you mean.”

        She walked down the ladder and shook my hoof. “Canni Soda, official mascot and chief organizer of Galacon 2016. And you are…?”

        “Bookmark,” I said, still a little absent.

        “A pleasure to meet you, Bookmark.” She said officially. But I saw her hiding her astonishment. “We don’t see that many ponies here. Why don’t you tell me where you’re from over a nice pint of cider; I needed a break anyway.”

        And so we sat down for a long while, talking and informing, laughing and worrying, and enjoying each other’s company. I told her everything about myself, the incident with the meteorite, and my struggles with this world and its unusual inhabitants. Canni Soda herself told me about her job as an organizer, the people which would be attending this convention, and the show ‘My Little Pony Friendship is Magic.’ Yes, I know it sounds silly, but apparently the people in this world have made a show out of Twilight Sparkle and her friends. Who would have thought!

        As the evening became deeper and darker, so did our conversation. I learned a lot about the this world; its rulers, its people, its inventions and culture. Let me tell you something: this world certainly is complicated. I had a lot of questions, and Canni had all the answers. All the answers, except one.

        “Canni,” I asked her finally, “do you know a way to get back to Equestria, perhaps?”

        To that question, I could hear hesitation in her voice for the first time. “I-I am afraid not, Bookmark, I’m so sorry.”

        “But… but are you not from Equestria as well?” I stuttered.

        “Nein, I am not. I came into this world from the mind of an artist. I’m afraid I can’t help you.”

        I was devastated at this bad news. I can remember myself sobbing quietly for a time. Never would I see beautiful Equestria again. Not the books, not the castle, not the princesses. Never, ever, ever.

        But then Canni Soda tried her best to cheer me up. She told me many great things I could do in this world, which I would never be able to do in Equestria. But I only stopped sobbing when she made me a very odd proposal.

        “Why don’t you come to Galacon tomorrow?” she asked. “It’s going to be a great party. It’s my fifth anniversary, you know?”

        “Well… I’m not so sure about that,” I answered, while wiping away the last tears. “Parties or crowds were never my thing, Canni.”

        “Come on, Bookmark. You’ll enjoy yourself—just try it. I’m sure you will find your Bizaam again at the con.”

        “My bizaam?”

        “Just go! You won’t regret it.”

        I didn’t know why, but something in her voice gave me confidence. “Alright,” I said after a while, “I think I’ll be here tomorrow.”

        And to my surprise, Canni jumped up in the air once more, “Wunderbar!”

        And that is the end of my endeavours before Galacon. I am certainly glad that I remembered all of it, even though it took me a while. Next is the conclusion of Galacon 2016 and after that, I will probably write down a small conclusion of my diary as well. But first, Galacon once more.

                                                * *

        After the funny Family Feud, I walked out of the game hall with a smile on my face but an empty stomach, so I sought out the Kubus restaurant once more. I got something light and familiar: a pretzel, and as I walked out on the terrace in search for a spot, I found them again; the two Norwegian girls Pinkie Pie and Maud Pie. Although they looked quite different, because they had

changed costume and were actually Sunset Shimmer and Twilight Sparkle now—what a combination!

        Together we went to the charity auction, hosted by Dustykatt. At first I thought it would just be an ordinary auction with some comics and rare pony toys or so, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. I sat down and let the extraordinary and overly-expensive items slide by before my eyes. The most amazing items to me where Amy Keating Rogers’ ukulele, an enormous Canni Soda plush, the convention flag which had been fluttering in the wind only minutes ago, an Applejack painting made entirely out of bottle caps, and a beautiful quilt with characters and scenes from the show. But the one item that really blew me away was a paper bag. Not that it was very extraordinary—quite the contrary. It was just an ordinary paper bag with a pony picture on it from Japan Ponycon 2015. What really blew me away was the price; it brought up eighty Bits—or actually Euro’s. I thought it to be a steep price for such an expendable item, but the buyer was happy, the crowd had a good laugh and of course, the house was probably more than satisfied with the contribution to the charity. Dustykatt did an amazing job selling item after item. He really made the bidders’ war ignite its hungry flames in some persons, and made them outbid each other furiously.

        After the auction was over, which ended with the selling of Dusty’s headwear, it was time for the closing ceremony. Everypony who had made Galacon 2016 possible were heartily thanked and all the volunteers even came on stage. I couldn’t believe my eyes at how many of them were there—standing in orderly lines and receiving the love and thanks from the audience. I tried to count them, but my eyes soon became lost in the sea of yellow t-shirts. You will have to take my word for it; they all occupied almost every inch of the stage together.

        And that was it. Galacon 2016 was now officially over—or so I thought. Because after the closing ceremony, instead of leaving, many Bronies started gathering outside for a group photo. I can tell you one thing, dear reader, Bronies certainly love to show off their cosplay costumes. Everyone had an opportunity to take a photograph. First of the cosplayers, and then of the rows of plushies and flags they quickly assembled in front of the terrace. I talked a bit more with a couple of people and, to my regret, said goodbye to all of the friends I had made during the con. Darn, how I hate goodbyes! But then again, I might see them once more at Galacon next year, for there is no doubt in Equestria—or the world—that I will attend.

                                                * *

        Galacon 2016 had ended. I had a great time enjoying many new experiences I never could have dreamed of. I met many people, some of whom even became my friends. I will never forget this, especially because I wrote it down, of course. Right now I am living together with Canni Soda in Ludwigsburg. She has learned me the tools of the trade on how to organize a convention; and I must say that I really quite enjoy the work as well. Together we have organized many Galacons, every year. It must be about… well I don’t remember how many of them, but quite a lot, I assure you. Maybe we will be able to organize a Galacon this year. I would definitely come, but you won’t see me on the posters, of course. Because, as I said, I like to stay in the background.

        Even though I was scared at first popping up in this world like that, I think I have overcome that fear by now. Sometimes it’s great to leave your own comfort zone behind and learn to love a new experience—or in my case, a whole new world. You never know what you’ll get out of it.

        And thank you, dear reader, for taking the time to read a rant from an old, misplaced pony, who lost his home, but found new friends.

Bookmark, 1-8-2033