Ohio Bronies - Blog

A couple reminders

2012-02-24T23:57:00.000-05:00

If you want to go to ACen, you've got until March 1 to pay if you want to get a special badge with "Ohio Bronies" written on it. (They're also slightly cheaper than the normal badge price.) If you don't know what this is about, contact Darkly Cute.

We're also looking for more confirmed attendees to the planned Cedar Point trip in May. So far we only have three going; we need at least fifteen in order to get a group discount, and this event won't happen without one since that practically doubles the ticket price. Get in touch with Starshine for this. (You won't need to pay for the ticket for quite some time, but we do need to know you're planning to go.)

"I want to host something!"

2012-02-22T19:34:00.001-05:00

A number of people have brought up the idea of hosting meetups in various locations, and we're completely okay with this. If you do want to host your own event, just ask us and we can work with you to make it the best it can be. All we ask of you is that you check our calendar to make sure your event isn't conflicting with something we've already planned – especially if it's nearby or relatively large-scale – because it's really hard to be in two places at once, and we don't want either to suffer from lack of attendance because of the other. (Asking us before solidifying any plans might also be a very good idea, as we also have a few ... surprises that we aren't quite ready to tell everypony yet. ;)

Dayton Meetup Summary

2012-02-21T01:32:00.000-05:00

Mud.

We discovered that mud muds in muddy places outside in the mud. We tried to unmud the mud, but to our dismay, the mud continued to mud anyway. So, we dealt with it and let the mud mud all over our not-mud.

Sethisto is a squirrel. It's canon.

There were several "story planks" throughout Grant Park, telling the story of an owl on an "epic" adventure. One of them involved a squirrel named Seth assisting our owl friend – thus, Sethisto canonically becomes a squirrel as he helps CereOWL Velocity.

Once we got to the park, we discovered that the area where we'd planned to stay was sort of claimed by some sort of nature photographer with a green bag. We asserted our dominance by scaring him with pink ponies and he left, then we made ourselves comfortable in the not-warm weather, and attempted to light a fire. It took many ages to start (though, not due to mud (it was all the water's fault!!!)), but thanks to some ingenuity, cardboard (Kilt was totally right about the cardboard), and a magical log of fire-starting (Thanks Pandaman for going out and getting that stuff for us!), we were finally able to create a small blaze that several people almost fell into several times. Fire pit rocks are not safe to stand on.

Crazy Doodle Donkey,
the Brony Jackass

While we were meeting with each other and discussing ponies and musics and other things of meaning and non-meaning, Edinpony decided that wearing a tree was not enough for him. It was in his best interest to become the tree, and so, he climbed one. However, that was still not enough and eventually he climbed a broken tree where he then Lion King'd at the pinnacle of its brokenness. It was then that we all realized that Edinpony was in fact a tree wearing a tree on top of a tree. Others attempted to mimic it, although they got bored halfway up (some of us are afraid of heights :|) and just decided to jump off the tree instead.

Spike x Rarity

Several ponies randomly vanished from the festivities at random points in order to obtain snacks and other various munchies in order to satiate the rabid hunger of the others. We eventually had S'mores (chocolate-covered Rarity snacks, arranged just so), deliciously burnt Jiffy Pop, and hot dogs. Meanwhile, everypony huddled around the fire to try to be not cold, and talked to each other. Kilt molested most of them. [Kilt: Giggity]

After our time at the park discussing our ponies and other things, we decided to make our way to Archers, the designated place of eating for the evening. Upon arriving, we pushed through the front door (all 35 of us) and greeted the waitress that was waiting to seat us. It went a little something like this:

Waitress: "How many?"
Glyde: "35."
Waitress: "What, seriously?"

Much to her dismay (or maybe it was surprise), there really were that many of us there. We then marched single-file like towards the opposite end of the restaurant. Luckily, there were just enough open tables and seats to fit everyone in our group comfortably. (One waitress even commented on DashAttack's badass, not-even-close-to-Rarity helmet. :3)

During this time, we ordered our food and shared mare-iment amongst our varied tables. Plentiful discussions, engaging pony trivia, and coloring on children's menu placemats were some of the things that we took part in (you read that right). After the first table had asked for children's menus and crayons, the waitress asked every other table if anyone wanted them. Many people said yes. This kicked off a full night of derp drawing.

There was a strangely nice/forward lady who wanted to understand our little group more. She asked what we were all doing randomly together in Dayton and we explained the so many wonders of bronies, cosplay, and driving from all over the place in order to get together and hang out. She totally felt up Kilt's leg. We gave her one of our many business cards.

Once we got into the hotel room – which took a silly amount of time because most of us either got lost or followed other people so well that our cars tried to merge together [and this is how I learned that Starshine's car is my cutie mark - DA] – we set up the projector, watched the new episode, and listened to Smile Smile Smile again. We then decided that alcohol was needed and so Darkly Cute, DashAttack, and Kilt went on a road trip looking for booze. The actual trip entailed DashAttack continuously doing U-turns on the same road about ten times as we tried to find a liquor store that we didn't even know was closed. So we just went to a grocery store and bought a lot of cheap booze along with soda and juice to mix with it in order to not taste its horrible cheapness.

Discord donated $20 toward prizes for a speedfic contest. Starshine gave the prompt, how the other five ponies met before Twilight Sparkle came to Ponyville, and gave 30 minutes for writing. Pretty much everypony decided to write a trollfic. After time was up, we collected them and each author did a cold reading of a random submission. Hilarity ensued as none of us could read each other's spaghetti/wingdings handwriting. Buffershy made a random cameo, as did Peanut Bucker in her official first fanfiction, where she kicked Fluttershy in the face.

DashAttack clearly won the fanfic contest by inventing several new words ("poneticles" is canon terminology now), and then we kicked back and discussed many subjects such as toilet planking, Deimos took off his pants, and Kilt climbed into the closet AGAIN. This time it was literally OFF DA RAILZ, so much that others joined him.

After discussing for some time about where to go and what to do the next day, we began to watch a cinema classic: Blazing Saddles. (Everyone thought they wanted to watch Blues Brothers but Kilt went executive decision. This was a grand decision in retrospect.) About halfway through the movie Starshine decided that he needed to jump from one bed to another in order to make it to the bathroom. This caused his head to plow directly into the ceiling fan/light where surprisingly NOTHING BROKE. The only plausible explanation is that the glass was not actually glass, but was in fact the same material as the indestructible radios in Portal. (Kilt is also made of this material.)

Just to be clear,
she's sorry.

We got most of the way through the movie when suddenly Insane Butterfly leaped up, flew across the room because apparently she's a pegasus, and dive-bombed the mirrored closet door that had earlier gone off da railz, smashing it into bits and covering the floor with shards of glass. Starshine took action and immediately ran over to the glass in order to rub it all over his feet. Curiously, this did not help at all. After much debate, we decided it would be a great idea to wait until checkout time to notify the hotel and shoved the broken door in the bathtub.

"No one step on the floor over here."
"The floor is hot lava?"
"The floor is BROKEN GLASS."

New story idea: Daring Do and the Broken-Glass Bathroom [I'm on it - DA]

Unfortunately, this little event cut movie time short due to the fact that we spent the next 45 minutes or so cleaning up the glass spill in aisle bedroom sink. By the time we had finished, it was somewhere around 4 AM, which forced a unanimous decision that it was late and we needed sleep. [DashAttack: And, sadly, being my first time watching Blazing Saddles, I never did get to see the end. T-T]

The suite was split into two separate areas by a door. On one side, Darkly Cute, Starshine, Kilt, and DashAttack made their claim on the two beds. Others slept in various places on the floor. Lava, MKanke, Razor, Snails, Ziggy, and Gutter Bones slept in the other room with the fold-out couch, and cuddling and snuggling (and so much shipping) was taking place EVERYWHERE.

After a couple of very short hours of sleep, Razor Cloud woke everypony up at 7:30, because sleeping was evidently prohibited. Starshine fumbled into the other part of the room to turn his volume knob down a little, but that didn't really work so MKanke suggested going to Walmart or something. Not exactly the best plan or even well-executed, but it did make the hotel room a lot more quiet. After they got back, we cleaned up the room, moved out, and talked to the concierge about the broken mirror. She was really impressed that we had actually bothered to tell them, made a couple calls to maintenance staff and determined that it'd be a $90 charge to replace.

After leaving the hotel, we all went to Denny's, which was in hindsight a bad idea because they only had two waiters working there and it took us forever to get any service at all, and also because it was on the other side of town from Toys"R"Us where we had originally planned on going in the morning.

Parallel parking

Fortunately for us, it took so long at Denny's that we didn't have time to go to Toys"R"Us anyway, so we just went straight from there to the University of Dayton for the mini-convention that PaulB had suggested we invade. After yet more directional derping, we found the place we were supposed to be, crowded into the hallway, and scared everyone at the convention simply by being a rather large group of bronies. We all got cutie marks drawn on us, then explored for a little while until it was time for the pony panel. It was a pretty chill place, and the panel was more or less a bunch of us in a room watching episodes for a couple hours, singing at the top of our lungs, and scaring people elsewhere with our boundless volume and swag. There was a bit of a mix-up about when the panel room had to be closed up, so it got cut a little short, but it was great fun. This was how a pony panel is supposed to go.

Unfortunately for us, that was the high point of the day. After the panel, the caravan got separated multiple times, we were dismayed by the lack of pony in all the stores we tried to visit, and eventually the group got completely broken. Darkly Cute and Starshine got stuck in the Lost Mall on the way to Toys"R"Us because their GPS thought that would be funny. Meanwhile, the store got sucked into an extra-dimensional portal before they could get there, so after a couple of very confusing phone calls they gave up and went to eat instead.

Darkly Cute and Starshine decided that Rooster's sounded delicious (or rather, it was the first restaurant they could find) while the rest of the ponies decided pizza was a good idea. Andapanda suggested a quaint little restaurant called Marion's. The first one was completely packed full with every table either occupied or reserved for a party, so they went to another one that was roughly five miles away. Edinpony got lost by going to the next closest one and so we were separated for a while. (There are somewhere around four Marion's.) Then we all gathered back together as we "enjoyed" the rest of our evening. We were all a little more than frustrated at that point and just wanted to go home, so we all went our separate ways as Kilt de-kilted and changed into "normal civilian clothes" right in the middle of the parking lot. The pizza was quite delicious though.

In the end, we all learned a valuable lesson: figure out where you're going in advance, and print maps.

Where fillies come from

2012-02-13T01:48:00.000-05:00

Present Perfect's reading (and explanation!) of The Zebra Manuscript, from the Cleveland meetup last August. As it turns out, there was an actual storyline, and it kind of made sense. Also, qwimp.

Dayton meetup details

2012-02-09T19:15:00.004-05:00

All right, this is what I either know or am guessing. Things might change, and if they do, I'll edit this post accordingly, but this should be sufficient.

Saturday, February 18, at noon, we will meet by Grant Nature Park, behind the elementary school off of Normandy Ridge Road near the east entrance. From there we'll hike across the creek to the western fire pits, where we'll be hanging out for ... a while. You can take a look the park map to see specifically where we'll be; it's marked with buckeyes. Also, here's a Google Maps link if you have any questions about how to get to the general area. (Maybe we can search for that mysterious Guitar Center that seems to be in the middle of the park as well.)

At some point, probably around dinnertime, we will leave from the park to Archers Tavern, and then we'll go from there to (probably) a hotel for the night. Those who live nearby or can't be there for both days are welcome to hang out with us at the hotel anyway – not only because more people make it more fun, but also because with more people pitching in for the cost, it makes the per-person cost a lot cheaper. As usual, we'll be aiming the projector at the biggest wall we can find, watching ponies and other assorted things until everyone is too tired to use their computers.

For Sunday, PaulB from the forums suggested that we visit the Bronies panel at FASFAC's UD Con, so we're doing that. Aside from that, we'll do our usual toy run, stopping by Toys"R"Us, Target, and WalMart to help these stores get rid of all those ponies on their shelves.

Pony Pin Pre-orders

2012-02-05T19:36:00.000-05:00

Pre-orders are now open for the next batch of pins!

Order Form • Current Pin Prices

Pin Designs:

There will also be a new Peanut Bucker pin, but the design is still being worked on. If you would like one, please state so in the comment box on the order form.

Meetup plans

2012-01-30T19:24:00.003-05:00

derpyid by suirobo

We have been sort of slacking in keeping the blog updated with the meetups we've been talking about, so have ~~four~~ five at once. We'll be posting more details about all of these as their times approach; this is just some preliminary information.

First up: there's going to be a Dayton meetup on the weekend of February 18-19. Weather permitting (i.e. not a blizzard) we'll have a big bonfire at Grant Nature Park, eating at Archers Tavern, and of course we'll be doing our usual pony shopping. For those of you just joining us from Ohayocon, if you're within an hour or so (or are, like some of us, crazy enough to drive all the way across the state) we'd love to see you again. Huzzah!

On ~~March 3~~ (nope, March 10), there's a group planning a picnic and Capture the Flag in Columbus, at Fancyburg Park from 11:00 to 4:00. To be honest, I have no idea who these people are yet, but I'm sure we'll find out! Here's the Facebook event for that.

On March 24-25, we will be back in Cleveland. This time we promise to figure everything out before we get there, as much fun as it was herdminding to the wrong park twice last August. This meetup will also serve as Darkly Cute's birthday party, so we'll have cake! (You don't have to bring a gift; being there will be enough.)

We're planning a big brony road trip to Anime Central for April 26-29. The convoy will leave early Thursday morning and we'll be going through Ohio to pick up more bronies all the way up to Chicago. Ohayocon was huge and packed with bronies, and ACen is about twice as big, so this is going to be one massive meetup. Come join as we take over another convention! Who knows, maybe we can hijack one of the panel rooms again. Note that we do have a room reserved that will be $55 per person for the weekend - let us know if you're looking for space to stay; it will disappear quickly. Every suite and double-bed room is already booked, so this is something you'll want to jump on! Keep a watch on the blog; we will have a route plan and further details Soon™.

(On a side note: ACen weekend also covers Pinkie Pie's and Gummy's birthdays, at least according to the original air date for Party of One, so we'll be throwing a party for them as well.)

Last but not least: mark your calendars for May 19-20, when we are arranging a trip to Cedar Point. With a mere 15 people, we can get a great discount, putting tickets at $35 a day. We'll also be getting a hotel room, of course. If you're interested, tell us so that we can make this happen!

Ohayocon Summary

2012-01-30T05:35:00.005-05:00

Your write-up report is buffering, please be patient.

TL;DR VERSION:

SO MANY PONIES
We got interviewed by The Daily Oat. Check it out!
Pillows are eight feet in the air
We won the convention and got our own panel room
Tony Stark is an awesome brony
Cider cider cider cider
The Pony Panel was underwhelming
Browse the photo gallery
Fezzes are cool

Since a lot of people asked where and when they can get Darkly Cute's metal pins: pre-orders for the next batch will be up soon. Keep a watch on this blog, as there will be a post here some time this week. Meanwhile, the pin shop is here.

~~Also: somepony left a coat in the panel room Saturday night. If it's yours, email Starshine with a description of it, and we will make sure you get it back.~~ Update - resolved!

There is just way too much stuff to cram it all into one post here, so keep watching for more. If you have more photos (or even video clips!) send them to us so we can add them to the gallery and possibly feature them in a media post later this week.

Friday:
Once we checked into the hotel, we went down the elevator where we met our first cosplayers: a couple of ninjas and a Stormtrooper being molested by Eureka. We made our way through the walkways and hallways to find the registration line, got our badges, and took a walk around to familiarize ourselves with the floor plan (which had changed from last year's Ohayocon, throwing Darkly Cute off and stressing her out). In a remote part of the convention center we found our first pony cosplayer: a crazy-excited Pinkie Pie with a cupcake, who upon meeting us started jumping up and down yelling about how awesome it was that we could come to her party. As it turns out, this was a sign of the fun times we would have over the weekend, because as everypony knows, Pinkie Pie throws the best parties. Shortly later we learned that another group of people had already organized a pony meetup at 5 PM. We meandered over to the Dealers Room which was a veritable Everfree Forest of congestion as people were arriving at the con and scoping everything out. There were a lot of dealers and plenty of goodies for both fillies and colts but soon time came for the first of many brony photoshoots and we quickly went to the assigned area to see our fellow fines in all their finery.

I really like her mane!

Most of the pony cosplay was squarely focused on the mane six but some of the background ponies got a fair amount of love, especially Vinyl Scratch. Two young girls came dressed as ponies, one as Apple Bloom and the other as a filly Pinkie Pie. THEY WERE THE MOST ADORABLE FILLIES YOU WILL EVER SEE! Everypony started cheering and clapping when Apple Bloom appeared out of NOWHERE at the photo shoot. Of course she was very shy about it. All was not well in the land of Equestria as several Discords and a Nightmare Moon made their appearance felt, only to be contained by the couple of Celestias also in attendance. The epic battle of "da magicks" resulted in some terrible fallout as a Big Mac struggled valiantly to hold on to his precious Smartypants doll before it was (and it was!) ripped from his grasp and then apart by the ravenous mob of enchanted Bronies. Luckily enough there was a seamstress with thread nearby and Smartypants was fully repaired before the Big Mac left for greener pastures.

At the 8 PM meetup we met someone who asked us if we wanted to hang out with their local meetup group... in Springfield. Apparently there is this parallel-world pony house right around here. (Hi, guys!) Of course, we also talked to a ton of people from all over the state, as well as a number of people from Indiana, a good-sized group of Pittsburgh bronies, and a few strays who traveled to the convention from as far away as Washington. We also talked to a couple of Team Fortress 2 engineers and scouts, as well a few Doctor Who and Homestuck cosplayers, GLaDOS, and even a rather freaky-looking Pyramid Head.

Kilt met a willing challenger in the guise of one known as "Pedobear" for a molest-a-thon. It was a heated battle of rubbing, groping, and molestation; but Kilt triumphed and proved that not even Pedobear can stop a man in a kilt... even when he’s not wearing his kilt. We attempted to go to the Hyatt bar for a while but got scared by all the so many much people and noises, and left for the Crowne Plaza bar instead. Hardly anyone was there, which we later found out was because drinks were stupidly expensive (although we would find out the next night that the Hyatt bar was only very slightly cheaper), but we hung out for an hour or so and chatted.

Saturday:
We just barely got up in time to watch the episode, right at 10:00. Initially we were thinking that we wouldn't be able to get it playing in time to catch the intro, but Edinpony got his laptop hooked up just barely in time for the start of The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000. OUR FACES WHEN it outshined last week's episode. From this point on, we were continually chanting "cider, cider, cider." We kept watching through most of the 10:30 rerun of Baby Cakes, until Basil had to shut off the stream, and then we laid there lazily until Kilt barged in demanding a party. Eventually somepony remembered that we were supposed to be holding a meetup at 1:00, and we managed to unlazy and get ourselves to the big stairs. Not a lot of ponies showed up, and all we really did at this one was hang out at the stairs and chat a bunch. Still some good fun just getting to know some of the bronies who had yet to learn about our large and extensive group.

In the early evening we went back to the room for a break, where we experienced many first-world problems, like having free internet that took forever to load even the shortest of YouTube videos. These first-world problems gave birth to the greatest OC to ever be born: Buffershy!

When we came to the stairs for the 8 PM meetup, we found a staffer telling everyone who attempted to sit down or even stand that they had to get off the stairs. We tried to stand off to the side and were shoved into one corner, up the stairs, and then back down again before we finally settled down near the tables at the bottom of the stairs. This might have had something to do with the fact that we had three separate Discords as well as a Kilt (Loki) causing all the chaos they could summon forth. Then began a saga of trying to find all the components needed in order to watch the episode: speakers, a projector, and SEVERAL laptops, one which even saw Photo Finish and an intrepid TF2 Engineer going several blocks into enemy territory. Meanwhile Kilt, Starshine, and eventually Darkly Cute were tracked down by the Daily Oat for interviews.

Thank you, President
Warren G. Harding.

We finally herded everypony all the way across the building, where we had a huge area with a wall we could project the episode onto — until we were told that we were blocking a service elevator (and apparently even lining up single file was too much). Sensing our spirits were sagging, Walking Party began an epic rendition of "Winter Wrap-Up" that soon had everypony joining in! Our reverie only being shattered by word from on high (or the brony convention staff) THAT WE HAD A ROOM! Through the magic of ~~friendship~~ permanent marker, the gaming room was scribbled out of existence and the PONY ROOM was born! Once inside, Brian/lava (a very helpful brony) hooked their laptop to the projector and we were off to the Cider Party! Walking Party was kind enough to supply his speaker vest. Unfortunately, since Derpy's Law was in effect*, they derped out halfway through the episode as he had been running down the battery all day. The laptop speakers took over and successfully got us through the rest of the episode. When it was over, the lesson we learned (sorry, Applejack) was that the best way to watch My Little Pony is with as many bronies as you can possibly cram into a room.

Visible at lower left: Pinkie Pie's
Party Pack and the Pony Projector

Later that night we went to the Hyatt bar, now that we had a day to prepare our bodies for it. We hung out with Darkly Cute's old convention staff friends for a while, danced with a gigantic Master Shake (no seriously, he was about eight feet ~~in the air~~ tall) and got brohoofs from Tony Stark.

The merriment continued LONG into the night until everyone realized they were hungry. This would've been a fairly substantial problem if word hadn't filtered back that Subway was still open for business! It was the lone oasis of meat and bread amidst a veritable ghost town of shuttered restaurants. (Imagine our disappointment when we found that we could not get Authentic Indian Cuisine from the All American restaurant! "Mmmm, Indian burgers.") The line was positively massive but we entertained ourselves by discussing childhood traumas and getting molested by Kilt. ("It's what I do.") Once we made it to the ordering counter we were again touched... but this time by generosity as Starshine remembered he had a Subway gift card that he offered up for all bronies to use until it was exhausted, which happened to be a very awesome 25 dollars later. We retired to a nearby table to replenish our energy and ran into the only person at the convention who had actually read the program to know the theme of Ohayocon 2012 was "Space" and not "Dress As Your Favorite Pony and/or Homestuck Character"). They chose to do this by donning an adult-sized onesie with many space-related patterns, but beggars can't be choosers.

The long walk back to the hotel through the (unheated) skyways made us realize Mr. Space Onesie was likely mocking our lack of foresight as we had to merge into a pony centipede to conserve enough body heat to make it back to our Hotel room. Our intent was to obtain as much sleep as physically possible in anticipation of the Pony Panel that no one knew anything about which would take place the following morning. We instead spent a good hour and a half developing more in-jokes than you can shake a Zap Apple at. Our phones were just as irresponsible as incoming text messages informed us about "can't miss" work-from-home opportunities and mortgage rates at twelve-year lows. This news elated our pillows so much they rose eight feet in the air.

Hotel antics continued as the Kilted one held a party in the closet with an ironing board. (Or on it? The world may never know.) [Kilt says: That was one of the smallest closets I've ever seen but I still managed to lay down in it and still be able to shut the door. Now I know how Fry felt when he shacked up with Bender.] – For those of you that aren't aware, Kilt is 6'3" and is built like a fridge, so the fact that he can fit into such a small space is rather impressive.

Sunday:

Winter Wrap-Up singalong
at the Pony Panel

Fluttershy hacked Starshine’s phone in order to wake us up at the crack of 8:30 so we could get to the panel. Despite talking to hundreds of bronies all weekend, we still had no idea who was running it, and were joking that there was half a chance it was actually a 4chan anti-brony prank to lock us in the room. (Fortunately, we were on top of things and had a contingency plan for this.) We barely got ourselves out of bed after the shenanigans the night before. Trippy Glitters and PartyCrash stayed at the hotel but the rest of us managed to make it to the panel.

The Ohio Bronies decide
what to eat for lunch

We all lined up outside as the panel staff tried to get their presentation in working order. Time was ticking away but the doors finally opened a little after the scheduled start time and we took our seats. We were presented with a large projector screen that was showing a few of the more adult MLP memes and the staff continued to feverishly work on what they wanted to show us. It turned out the panel was mostly Equestria Online Developers and they had a rough pre-alpha build to show us. Technical difficulties continued to arise as passwords weren't working, usernames were not accepted, servers weren't operating, and internets were down. After some small talk, things finally came together enough to give us a fleeting glimpse of Equestria Online before a final cataclysmic crash prompted an audience member to lend his laptop queued up with Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000. Another fan and another laptop later, the audience settled in to watch it before the panel wrapped up with what was probably the sixth or seventh rendition of "Winter Wrap-Up" over the weekend. Everypony moved out of the panel room and mingled in the open area for a long time afterward. We passed out Peanut Bucker pins and yet more Ohio Bronies business cards, and chatted with so many bronies. Then we took another trip into the Dealers Room and Artists Alley, which were both far less crowded and insane than they were at 2 PM on Friday.

Afterward we realized that it was noon, we were hungry, and the only solution was FOOD! We went back to the hotel room, packed everything up, checked out, and went to Polaris to the Mellow Mushroom, where we again claimed the same huge table we had during the November meet. It took about an hour to get everypony there, but when we finally were all in one place and got our food, it was delicious. Next we went to Toys"R"Us in search of ponies. Too bad every other brony at the convention had already done that, leaving nothing but a giant terrifying wall of talking baby Pinkie Pies. We ventured outside the pony aisle, amused ourselves with BATTEN FLAVONED POPCORN and various other items that sort of resembled food. Oh how much fun we had with the McDonald’s "food" toys.

Spike and
Twilight Sparkle

Photo Finish
and Fluttershy

Cool cosplayers:
(In no particular order, of course)

Pinkie Pie with meat cleaver earrings and cupcake-pan necklace
Twilight Sparkle with her very own copy of The Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide
Derpy (complete with muffin!) and Discord (complete with chaos!) – word to your mother
Nightmare Moon in her glorious formal attire being attended by a rather striking Fluttershy
Trippy Glitters as best Flutter/Drunker/Mushroomshy enjoying her times spent with all the ponies.
DashAttack as Vinyl Scratch, complete with red contacts
Another Vinyl Scratch with LED-emblazoned gloves
MrBlud as Photo Finish
A rather rude (in an entertaining/comedic way!) Discord running around with a tablet (which, he was kind enough to point out, was an Android and not an iPad) – making everyone remember an old meme regarding some form of sportsman-like conduct.
Too many cosplays to keep track of! If we forgot you, please understand that there were TONS of you ponies.

Overall, this entire weekend was a blast. We got to meet lots of new people who were great fun to hang out with, and we are looking forward to seeing all of you again at future meetups. Thank you all!

— Starshine, Kilt, and MrBlud

* Derpy's Law is like Murphy's Law, except it has been greatly derped.

Peanut Bucker - Version 2

2012-01-30T01:37:00.000-05:00

Apparently we're famous

2012-01-26T13:31:00.001-05:00

Remember when every newspaper and magazine article about ponies was noteworthy in itself? Then we sort of got used to all the generic media attention about the show, until we started seeing articles that mentioned specific people in the fandom, like when Wired interviewed Sethisto. At first Equestria Daily was making separate posts for media sightings, but then they got shoved into the Nightly Roundups and people stopped caring as much...

Well, the Columbus Dispatch interviewed us, featuring Darkly Cute, PartyCrash, and myself... with a mention of bucked.org. That's interesting, right?

Ohayocon 2012 Meetup Times!

2012-01-23T17:57:00.001-05:00

TaoPiePie by John Joseco

Meetup Times
Friday the 27th - 8pm on the Giant Stairs
Saturday the 28th - 1pm and 8pm on the Giant Stairs
Sunday 29th - Pony Panel at 10am

We will also probably be going to the Hyatt bar both Friday and Saturday night, so you are welcome to join us then as well.

We are really looking forward to meeting a bunch of bronies at Ohayocon.

Ohayocon Info!
The at-the-door badge price for the entire weekend is $55.
The convention will be at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Columbus (350 North High Street, Columbus, OH 43215)

If you would like to get in contact with us over the convention weekend, then send a text or email to Peanut.Bucker@bucked.org.

Facebook Event Page

Peanut Bucker Plushie!

2012-01-11T16:30:00.002-05:00

This adorable plush of best pony was made by Ayashino on DeviantArt. Come see her at Ohayocon!

Ohayocon 2012

2012-01-07T15:53:00.003-05:00

Princess Pie by: tensaioni

The Ohio Bronies group will be invading Ohayocon! We will be having various meetups throughout the weekend of January 27-29th, 2012. As of right now no times are set in stone, as we are waiting to find out what day and time the MLP:FiM panel will be.

Ohayocon Info!
The at-the-door badge price for the entire weekend is $55.
The convention will be at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Columbus (350 North High Street, Columbus, OH 43215)

If you would like to get in contact with us over the convention weekend, then send a text or email to Peanut.Bucker@bucked.org.

Facebook Event Page

Drinks!

2012-01-03T18:17:00.000-05:00

Drunkenly Fierce by bamboodog

Kilt's Berry Punch:

1 gallon Berry Blast Hawaiian Punch
1/2 gallon orange juice
2 pints everclear
3 cups strawberry mead (or to taste)

Pour all ingredients into a giant bowl. Mix with hooves. Drink directly from bowl for maximum effectiveness.

Cirrus's Trollestia:

1 part mmm-banana schnapps
1 part strawberry mead (or strawberry wine)
1 part midori
1 part grape juice
1 part orange juice
5 parts Mountain Dew

Mix ingredients in a party cup. Drink through a Red Vine. Go to the moon.

The Peanut Bucker:

1/2 shot peanut butter vodka
1/2 shot chocolate liqueur

Pour into a shot glass. Get bucked.

My Little Mad Libs

2011-12-31T20:52:00.003-05:00

Once upon a time, in the small land of Steve, there were two explodey sisters who ruled together and created penis for all the land. To do this, the eldest used her unicorn powers to mate the sun at dawn. The younger straightened out the moon to begin the night. Thus, the two sisters erected butts for their kingdom and their sperm: all the different types of plots. But as time went on, the younger sister became bloody. The plots relished and ran in the day her elder sister brought forth, but shunned and pomfed through her unique night. One crunchy day, the younger unicorn refused to thrust the moon to make way for the dawn. The elder sister tried to scoot with her, but the Rainbow Dash in the young one's APPLES had raped her into a wicked apocalypse of darkness: Doctor Hooves. She vowed that she would mutilate the land in eternal berry punch. Swiftly, the elder sister harnessed the most motherbucking magic known to plotdom: The Elements of Penis! Using the magic of The Elements of Penis, she fucked her younger sister and molested her permanently in the moon. The elder sister took on responsibility for both sun and moon, and penis has been maintained in Steve for generations since.

EDIT: This is on YouTube, too!

Happy Hearth's Warming

2011-12-25T09:34:00.000-05:00

Oh gosh.

2011-11-27T00:20:00.001-05:00

So, we just got an awesome domain name...

http://bucked.org/

All the links should redirect. Give a holla here if you find anything broken.

New Year's Pony Party

2011-11-26T18:03:00.001-05:00

art by CrayonKat

Have you ever wondered what it's like to spend two whole years doing nothing but watching cartoons? Wonder no more, this is what you've been waiting your entire life for... this is your chance to party with ponies for two whole years in one single night! Come join the Ohio Bronies at the Pony House this December as we alter the fabric of spacetime and time-warp from 2011 to 2012. It will be futuristic!

Here is the Facebook event, if you like.

ALSO: Pinkie Pie says you don't have to bring a gift, but if you want, go sign up for our holiday gift exchange. We will be passing around presents during the party. It'll be tons of fun. (Don't delay, there's only a couple of days left for signups!)

Peanut Bucker Fashion Style Version

2011-11-17T21:05:00.002-05:00

To those of you attending the meet this weekend, you will get to see her in person!

Columbus Meetup!

2011-11-05T23:06:00.000-04:00

The Ohio Bronies group has grown quite a bit since the first Columbus meetup in July (has it really been that long already?) so we're coming back for more! This time, it will be bigger and ~~eight~~ two days long. On Saturday, November 19, we are meeting at Momo2, where we will set up camp, watch life-sized ponies with the pony projector including the new episode, and hang out for several hours. We're probably going to a hotel for the night, and on Sunday, we are planning on going to Magic Mountain in Polaris. At some point we'll also go pony shopping.

Here's the Facebook page for the event.

Nightmare Night Party Writeup

2011-10-31T23:56:00.003-04:00

Nightmare Night, a time of candy, fear, and hoping that Nightmare Moon won't gobble you up. But in a small house in Springfield OH, Nightmare Moon dare not enter. For in this very house Pinkamena Diane Pie and her young apprentice Scootaloo gathered several unsuspecting Bronies. They hired a member of the New Lunar Republic to aid them in their endeavors. His code name in the NLR is Loki, but the Bronies know him simply as Kilt. He arrived Wednesday morning and from there they planned the demise of several Bronies. The rest of the Bronies arrived on Friday expecting to be enjoying a “party”, but in reality they were going to be poisoned by a slew of alcoholic beverages. Some mixed drinks known as the “Derpy”, “Spike”, and even one known as a “Pinkie Pie” were a part of the menu. Edin Pony and Vinyl Scratch took to these drinks greedily and they were defeated immediately. Vinyl Scratch lay on the ground and slept, Kilt took care to make sure he remained alive... for now. Edin Pony, realizing that this was a trap, began to fight back. He threw various F-bombs and began chanting the call of “Who is best pony”. Discord almost fell victim to the drinks as well, but he grew wise of the other Chaos God's ploys and stopped himself before he lost his wits. Octavia was skeptical at first, but he soon joined in the “fun and games” and became intoxicated as well. In order to remain inconspicuous Scootaloo also accepted a mixed drink from Kilt.

Realizing the trap that was set up, Darkly Cute and Starshine played pony videos for all of the intoxicated Bronies in order to distract them from the sleeping gas that would send them all into a state of slumber so that Kilt and Scootaloo could not place them into their proper bindings. The next day they all played it off by taking the Bronies to Bob Evans for Breakfast and then out to Target and Meijer for Pony related items. The rest of the day revolved around Pony Videos, Video Games, Tokyo Gore Police, and many brain washing implements. That evening Pinkamena left her dungeon to take a few victims. The first to fall was Argembarger, he made the brightest pink cupcakes one could ever see. Many heard him scream, but all were too brain washed to realize what it was not the children outside enjoying their Nightmare Night. As the night went on several other Bronies vanished, the others were informed that they went to sleep and the next morning those that remained were told that those that weren't there had simply left for home. Some of the Bronies were set to work carving the pumpkins to appease the rulers of EQD, some pumpkin carvings included Trixie, Lyra, and even Twilight Sparkle. The rest of the distractions included the movie Hanna, the anime Higurashi, and video games such as Pony Poki Panic, Penumbra, and Left 4 Dead. Those that lasted until the end of Sunday managed to return home safely, all other Bronies made the most delicious batches of cupcakes one could ever imagine. They shall all be sorely missed.

This concludes my report for the NLR, I have collected my initial Data and have determined that Pinkamena and Scootaloo shall make excellent members of the... “research” division of our group. If they can be coerced into joining as well then Starshine and Pin Filly shall also make valuable allies. Their home can also make a good base of operations for lesser missions. Until then this is Loki, also known as Kilt, Signing off.

Ok, in all seriousness, we all had a great time. I arrived on Wednesday cause Darkly Cute (Pin Filly), Trombe (Pinkamena), and Northern Dash (Scootaloo) were nice enough to let me show up early. And when everypony else showed up on Friday we all had a lot of fun just drinking and watching videos. Unfortunately I got half the group way too intoxicated and that lead to the Vinyl Scratch and the Edin Pony fiascoes. This is why all Ohio Brony meet ups shall now have an extra warning involving something along the lines of “Warning: Kilt is not allowed to be in control of the alcohol!
It was all a fun glorious romp of Pony videos, video games, and anything Halloween based that we could think of. Saturday's day time events were all great despite the fact that Vinyl and Octavia did not feel too good, those ponies just can't seem to hold their alcohol. There were many a pony costumes and were all very nice.

Our Costumes consisted of
~Trombe as Pinkamena Diane Pie
~Northern Dash as Scootaloo
~Josh as Vinyl Scratch
~Ken as Octavia
~Jay as Starswirl the Bearded.
~PartyCrash as a Russian Soldier
~Brian as Discord~Steven as Dick Gumshoe from Phoenix Wright
~myself as a General of the New Lunar Republic (As a side note it was discussed and agreed upon that an official uniform of the NLR will involve Kilts. To those that disagree contact me and we may discuss official NLR uniform. I can be reached on skype under the guise Roguestallion)

Some of the silliest moments of the weekend were watching an intoxicated Edin Pony shouting F-bombs every other second while not being able to make up his mind over which pony was best pony and he was drunk enough to not understand whether or not he was in the bathroom. Also hearing PartyCrash compare Argembarger's “Screams of Terror” to that of little girls outside trick or treating. We learned from Trombe's mastery of Penumbra that if you are ever attacked by savage beasts, simply stand on a box.

This was a glorious event and was great fun for all.

Season premiere party writeup

2011-10-21T19:44:00.003-04:00

sweepover by seniorpony

[Argembarger kindly composed this nice writeup for the premiere party. I think it's a fair representation of all of the fun events that transpired during the weekend. Apologies for the delay in posting it!]

tl;dr:
Friday - Youtube Poops; Fanfic Readings; a wild Kilt appeared; Grilling; and TROLL 2
Saturday - New Pony Ep THREE TIMES! (YAY and NOOO when we first started with laggy stream); Olive Garden; Pony Shopping; Singing; Cupcake Vodka!!
Sunday - Steak and Shake; Halloween Store

Heldo al of my hOhios BRONIEs!Q

my name is ARGEMBARGER and I am here to tels you all about the so much pony meeting we had and how gond it was to be ther with so many much pones!

(jsut so you know bbefure I start thes wring-up of nopy party I hasv camed dwon to tehs hosue where we have the meebup on thursday the day before the maetup started so I was there ealier but noting happend on those days excupt friendship!? and also burger Kind with tender crisp bacon chedder runch sandmiches]f

hoa but this is what I remvember and I was on coudh sleeping or was it chair? but I was sledp and ponesi satrted coming in the to house dand woked me up from sleep to be party, and that was vriday morning; we wansed to to do to many theings BUT FIRSTLY we have to buy groceries becaus so all the ponies can have food!
we went adn got that food before the parpy started, maybe. I should remember mention it eardlier.

(authoeru note:: this is all from memroy so if my mosamerly is not so goop. it is, not all of my fualt because this was a whols week ago to remenbly!)!

so we wetn and got chicken and opork chops and drinkls (alchosol and soda (cola_) and also just bread) drivien back to the house) now

so we are at the house and we av boresd and poines party can not have boredom so we put on the tv on the power ot and watch youtube poops videos
they were. thevery funniest I’ve evern seen
‘kuf

[[[po be corntituled)]
[stoped slacking now]

There was a man with a kilt at the metlup and he wore a kilet and he:: liked arrows?? I think his name was kilt; if I have good rememberings.

There was other ponies too but theyt didin’t wear kilts like kilt wore a kilts?

Then Trombe and I took turns reading some of the most engrossing fanfictions ever written. Peter Chimaera’s articulate prose flowed out from our humble larynxes to fill the room with the fresh fragrance of literary mastery. I tried to write some of my own fanfiction, but of course, I could not hope to compete with a true master.

TEHN WE WATCHES TROLL 2 it was the greates movie I ever seen in my lifes!

then we went to bed, and, then we woke up, adn tehn, it was time;, for PONY

POOONOOYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYtime.

it was on bronystate? or some othar internet steresm for which watching pony happened thoruhg

soemteism it was fast and oka but other times it was slow and stoply

.ONes the episcode was over(itw as a good episode it had ponies in it!) it came on again so we watched it again? then we doenwlo;inded it on computer

we were hungary { then so

olive garden

thenw e we bouth ponie stuff at shopstore they had lots

we went home and had sing song tin with drunk on cupcake (vodg)a made from real <cupklace vodko and so to sing more loudly^ with drinking we, had the cupcak fodla and that was the drinkest for singing inhiblotlies destrop

THEN WE WENT BACK ANDE SLEEPED SOME WITH AGAIN ON THE SATURDAY

there were other things we dide and we watched shows like reboot and megas xL and other old shows that were still good seven though they were ageindly octogenerac

Unfortunope I had to gon home after the sunday mroening so I cannot say what happesnd on sunday but I theing there was steaks and a holloween. Maybe someani else can tell you about theat btu my hands are tired baecuaes, writingv eis a ahserd job and it iwsent for everyhpeno beacuse if you cansenio writnei gouned its weinl noves had hapsep thsau soum ofse your weipoasrs wilaply caoseun ouasetn raeily sterangves{:?”

it si pased my besdtime so goop niaghte everypone........,,,,.........................,.

-Argylesweater

Rainbow Factory

2011-10-12T01:02:00.001-04:00

You're invited
to a tour of the world-famous
Rainbow Factory!

Those rumors you've heard...
about the disappearances...
of course they're false.
How could they be real?

Horrors you say?
Nonsense!
This is a place where
your dreams and fantasies come true!

So join us
you may have realized already..
you don't have a choice.
You're already here.

Rainbow Factory / AniRave 2011
Springfield, OH
Oct 28 - Oct 30
You cannot escape.

Akron meetup!

2011-10-11T00:01:00.003-04:00

This isn't really a good plan, it's sort of a half-plan, but in the past this has usually been all we've needed to have an awesome time! At noon on October 22, we'll be meeting at the Summit Mall, right in the middle underneath the giant Celestia sunburst. We will hang around at the mall for a while, then go on an adventure and shop for ponies, eat some delicious food somewhere, and then go to a hotel to watch ponies (and possibly also sleep).

Sunday is still largely undecided. We are also open to suggestions for cool stuff to do from anypony in the Akron area!

Here's the Facebook event page. You can also contact PinFilly or myself if you have questions or comments, or just reply here.

Also, there's apparently a meetup planned for Mid-Ohio Comic Con, so there will be bronies there as well. It's a pony-filled weekend, all across ~~Equestria~~ Ohio!

Stuff happened.

2011-10-03T11:25:00.001-04:00

Until we finally get the writeups for the last two meetups written, I guess this will do.

The season premiere party turned out great, and about 20 people came to it. We watched the first episode a bunch of times, despite many technical challenges of the stream cutting out and being all derpy. We also had a singalong of pretty much every song, and went on a couple of adventures. All in all, it was a great weekend.

The RenFest meetup was also a lot of fun. Peanut Bucker got a ton of attention and comments. Our group also got some notice and after the village closed, we ended up getting our own private show, which was pretty awesome. After that we went to Cincinnati, got free parking because of Obama, watched the second episode (which is the best episode) and tried to meet with Prison the next day which didn't work so great. But it's all good because we walked all the way to Kentucky to hear him read us a story.

After that, we drove to a grocery store and walked around for a couple hours, because grocery stores are cool.

Peanut Bucker Custom Pony - The best pony!

2011-09-27T16:34:00.004-04:00

Peanut Bucker Pin Design!

2011-09-26T22:20:00.001-04:00

The very talented PonyMonster drew the arts for the Peanut Bucker pin design. I was wondering what everypony thought? Personally I think its super cute and will make an awesome pin.

Dear Princess Celestia

2011-09-26T20:59:00.002-04:00

This weekend I learned that Peanut Bucker is the most popular and best pony. I also learned that the Renaissance is awesome, and Cincinnati is near Kentucky.

Your faithful student,

Starshine

RenFest / Cinci Meetup Location Info!

2011-09-22T01:04:00.004-04:00

No, really, this is almost as old as the fandom... I have no idea who to credit.

HEAR YE, HEAR YE! For those of you meeting up with us for the Ohio Renaissance Festival, you've got some options. You can show up to my house Friday night whenever and head down with us, or you can show up at the RenFest before 11:00 AM and meet us hanging around outside the main gates. Look for the ponies, as usual. Prepare for silly medieval mockery, as tends to happen at these things.

After that, we'll be finding a hotel ~~and sleeping~~. The following day will be the Cincinnati meetup! Wherein Prison caresses our inner spirits with his silky smooth voice, or something. There will be much poneh. If you can't make it to the RenFest but want to show up on Sunday for the meetup, comment here to work out logistics ahead of time. To avoid running all over Cincinnati like we did with Cleveland. Although... that was actually really fun. Herdmind!

Cheers.

A silly thing.

2011-09-19T01:31:00.004-04:00

Lil Discord by Briskby

The Story of 1000 Internets
by nightwillow

ONE DAY, DARKLY CUTE WAS HANGING OUT WITH STARSHINE. "STARSHINE, I HAVE TO GO," DARKLY CUTE SAID. "OH NO, WHAT AM I GOING TO DO?" "DON'T WORRY," DARKLY REPLIED, "YOU'LL BE OKAY." AND THEN DARKLY LEFT, AND STARSHINE WEPT AND CREYED AND BAWLED AND STUFF UNTIL HE DIED OF HEARTBREAK. THE. FREAKING. END

1000 Years Ago

2011-09-05T16:20:00.006-04:00

Harmony by Puzzle-of-Life

Have you ever wondered what the world was like before Luna was banished? Before the reign of the tyrannical Celestia was forced upon all of ponydom from her throne of lies and deceipt? Join us, fellow bronies, and travel back in time. To a time where the Sun and the Moon existed in harmony. A simpler time, where ponies would sing songs and tell stories. A time where a glorious castle kept watch over a peaceful land.

Journey with us. To the Ohio Renaissance Festival!
When: September 24th, 11:00 - 6:00
Where: See the site link above. We'll be arranging carpools and the like in the comments per norm.
Why: Because ponies.

Afterward, we'll be finding a hotel and ponying all night. The following day, we'll be ponying all day with Prison and the other Cincinnati-area bronies! That's right everypony, September's meetup is a Cincinnati one! So join up and party like it's 1099! For Luna!

Email PinFilly@gmail.com or RSVP on the Facebook event page to confirm your presence.

Season 2 premiere party!

2011-09-04T03:28:00.001-04:00

I don't suppose anypony was not expecting us to have an awesome party for the start of the new season, so let's just cover all the details, because we're having an awesome party for the start of the new season! Come on down (or up, or over) to Springfield and be a part of what is sure to be the longest and greatest pony party in Ohio yet!

The fun starts at 6:00 PM on Friday, September 16, and will continue until 3:00 PM on Sunday. Of course, we will be watching the episode on the 17th, but there will be fun, games, and plenty of ponies to last the whole weekend. Bring your pillows, blankets, and Pinkie Pie plushes, because there's plenty of room for all to stay. (Twilight let us borrow her fantastic reference guide to sleepovers. You should see the table of contents! We'll have smores, and ghost stories, and a pillow fight, and ... we'll probably skip the makeovers. Also, don't worry; there won't be any trees crashing through the windows.)

Ask PinFilly@gmail.com or check the Facebook event page to confirm your presence and get directions.

August meetup summary

2011-09-03T23:29:00.004-04:00

It was a beautiful day, with the sun shining and the birds singing from the top of the sky as varying bands of wannabe ponies migrated their way towards a shimmering mirage upon a glistening field of dihydrogen monoxide. The temperature was perfect, the air pure, the very fiber of reality itself vibrating with infinite potential. It was in this setting, a very odd setting indeed for a state known for its general depressing character and large quantities of rust, that the Cleveland meetup of the Ohio Bronies group took place.

Poor Starshine. It seems he exists in a different time plane from the rest of us, as he once again arrived way earlier than anypony else. So he chilled outside a smoothie shop in a flamboyant neighborhood feeling awkward for having ponies on his shirt. Yes, there is something wrong with this picture. No, you shouldn't think too hard about it.

Eventually some others, namely the Ponybus of Northern Dash, Trombe, Argembarger (yes, THE Argembarger), and PinFilly (yes, THE PinFilly) driven by PartyCrash showed up to give Starshine some company for he was most certainly lonely by this point. So we all walked into the smoothie shop for some smoothies... and, what? Really?! OATMEAL SMOOTHIES! One cannot easily fathom the craziness that ensued as we all drank breakfast. Suddenly we heard rumors over the internets (we're magic and have access to them at all times) that the meetup location was closed. How does one even close a park? So we had to investigate. As we left the smoothie shop, that song about having the magic in me was playing over the moosac network, and all thoughts were Trixie.

Trombe: Allow me to interject for a moment. You may be referring to the oatmeal smoothies, but you are forgetting the MANLY MEN'S SMOOTHIES. Now with 20% more manliness. With such manly ingredients. Like bee pollen. And now back to your regularly scheduled derp.

So we migrated to the part of Edgewater where the meeting had been planned to have been happening. And confirmed that, in fact, it was closed off. Apparently the pegasi had been naughty and blew over quite a few trees in the vicinity. I glanced at PinFilly, as she is just Derpy Hooves, and she shrugged like she was innocent. I didn't buy it for a second.

A short drive later found us at the lower end of the park (for those who don't know, it's quite long and thin, sprawling across the shore of Lake Erie for quite a few miles between roughly downtown Cleveland and the inner-ring suburb of Lakewood). We waited, and waited some more, and then decided that it would be a good idea to just have the meetup there, as that part wasn't cordoned off by ominous DANGER DO NOT CROSS tape of doom. We set up at a table, making more table space because Starshine had the foresight to also bring a table, and then there was also a third table that was basically the best table ever because it was full of holes. Making it holy. Or just derpy.

Various others showed up as time passed. It was almost certainly the presence of Pinkie Pie. Or at least her socks. Everypony was all like, "Bronies?" And we looked at Pinkie, then back at them, and they were like, "Bronies." And that's how Equestria was made.

Of course, it may have helped that there was a kite that was just Rainbow Dash, marking the spot with dazzling rainbow brilliance. In hindsight, we really should've given that particular kite flier a cookie. It was truly awesome. There was another kite that constantly almost crashed, then pulled up at the last second, then almost crashed again... I suppose we can simply say that kites are more amazing then most people give them credit for.

But then we were hungry.

Starshine: For whatever reason, PinFilly and myself were the ones sent out to buy all the food supplies. In retrospect this was a bad idea, as neither of us are exactly "normal" eaters, and we spent an inordinate amount of time trying to decide reasonably simple things like "which sort of ketchup should we buy?" and "are 24 hamburgers enough?" and "does anyone drink Diet Coke?" (Answers at the end of this writeup.) We also spent a lot of time looking for a specific brand of iced tea, and failing to get ice for the cooler.

While Starshine and Derpy Hooves (PinFilly) flew north to bring back the summer birds, the rest of us babbled, babbled some more, joked, played, talked, sang, noodled around on guitars and ocarinas, discussed, solved every problem the universe has ever given human kind, subsequently forgot all the answers because Pinkie, stared at the lake, joked some more, then began to seriously wonder if Starshine and Derpy hadn't gone all the way back across the state to pick up the foods.

Eventually they returned, not actually having flown north and then south and then around the entire world in search of lost treasures of the ages and/or food. There were frozen meats, and PartyCrash was all "HAHA I'M USING THE GRILLINGS!" and Trombe was all "okay.jpg" and then delicious foods were had by all. Northern Dash was perfectly okay with frozen meat, but everypony else told him that death by food poisoning wasn't fun.

Paper plate fanfiction writing

Northern Dash had wanted one of the "events" to be a speedfic writing contest, because he was into those things. But there were no pens, there was no paper, there was only rocks. He looked around once or twice, saddened by the lack of proper supplies, materials, and planning. And then a glorious, brilliant idea hit him. A handful of paper plates and colored pencils later, a speedfic competition there was. Now all we needed was a theme. And Trombe was right there. "Where do fillies come from?" he asked bemusedly. Everypony's faces lit up, and the furious writing began.

Time wore on. Celestia was slowly bringing down the brilliant sun, and it was time to find a hotel. Because this party would last all night, and Celestia Radio's very own Prison was hosting a Marshmallow in our honor! So we packed up, zipped up the highway to an amazing hotel that Northern Dash has always had trouble convincing people is amazing as it actually is (convinced yet?), and settled in. The internets were fast, the streaming was good, the Prison was psychotic as always. But alas, as I am getting far ahead of myself. Before we all left Edgewater, we had a big group hug because some were parting their separate ways for the weekend. And somehow Pinkie got into the center of it all, and was practically molesting the bronies within. Some choice quotes:

"My nose is penetrating Pinkie!" - Sam
*muffled* "Pinkie, please get your ass out of my face." - Trombe

So anyway, back to Prison and the Marshmallow. We had to be there for it, because he had told us ahead of time that he'd be tossing a special mention out there to us since he couldn't make the meeting. We could never have understood the significance of his words. If Prison ever, ever tells you anything, listen well. He is far more of a genius than his antics would lead one to believe.

Gather around, everypony, it's Prison time.

The broadcast was entertaining to say the least, and increasingly so when Prison began to read Spiderses. This was particularly interesting as we had the story's author, Argembarger, in the room with us [Argembarger: no regrets] and because we were also in a Skype call with Prison, so our whole meetup was live on Celestia Radio. As it turns out, Spiderses is such an incredibly powerful story that the mere act of trying to read it aloud has the capability to bring down a streaming radio server [Almgalmbrrgrr: NO REGRETS] every time Prison started reading, the server would die; and when he stopped to try to fix the connection, it would come back. [Argylesweater: NO REGRETS.]

In addition to the eldritch abomination that is Spiderses, we somehow ended up being on the air as a group with Prison for far longer than we ever anticipated (which wasn't a hard feat to accomplish, as we hadn't anticipated being on the air at all). In the process, we ate marshmallows while listening to the Marshmallow, while being on the Marshmallow. Figure that one out.

Once we got settled in, we started trying to figure out where to point the projector for pony-viewing purposes – casually ignoring the somewhat large HDTV which was inconveniently bolted down to the furniture in what would have been the perfect spot in the middle of the room. [Hambargler: I still don't understand that. WHY DIDN'T WE TRY THE TV.] [Northern Dash: WHY WOULD YOU TRY A TV WHEN YOU HAVE PROJECTOR AND WALL?!] After some experimenting, we finally settled on using a handful of pony pins to hold one of the bedsheets to the wall, which gave about a seven-foot-wide screen. Much better than that TV!

After the Marshmallow broadcast was over, we all gradually came to the realization that we had developed a taste for marshmallows... and fanfiction readings. Therefore, this promised to be an excellent time to read the speedfic contest entries. Out of the five paper plates, four were mostly legible, but the fifth submission by Present Perfect made up for this by being one of the most enigmatic and difficult-to-decipher pieces of fine literature since the Voynich Manuscript. Penned in a tight spiral of tiny text and consuming nearly the entirety of both sides of the plate, it bore a striking resemblance to Zecora's cutie mark. Naturally, we would be saving this one for last. A wise decision it was, for it was clearly the best.

Following are links to the transcriptions, with exception of the Zebra Manuscript for we are still researching the long-term existential effects of making it available to the internet at large. (Suffice it to say, qwimp.)

dashattack (text / video)
Starshine (text / video)
cirruspony (text / video)
Argembarger (text / video)
Present Perfect (text / video - part 2 - part 3)

Reading these took the better part of an hour, most of which was spent deciphering the deeper meaning of Zecora's cutie mark and discussing the subtle nuances of Zeta and Slytherin. We needed a break from this remarkable mental burden, and since we had gone for over five hours without watching any pony-related videos, it was time to fire up the projector and watch some YouTube poop.

After a while, a few of us went down to the bar to hang out. As it turns out, there was a wedding party and they were fairly loud, which was good for us because it meant we were probably not going to get any complaints for being too noisy.

What? It's good!

At 2:30 or so, we walked to the Denny's next door to the hotel for noms. We discussed many important subjects, including the proper method of qwimping, which Final Fantasy game was the best, the merits and flaws of Past Sins, how to die correctly in Minecraft (and where to find Herobrine), and whether or not it is ethically acceptable to eat a sandwich called a "Filly." After returning to the hotel room, we ate hot sauce cupcakes. Consensus was mixed between "not entirely terrible" and "entirely terrible." Shortly thereafter, most of the room crashed, including Argembarger basking in the warm glow of his laptop. Around 5:00 in the morning, we finally ran out of pony videos on Cirrus' laptop, and couldn't brain enough to fathom the YouTubes any longer.

SO MUCH PINK.

Fluttershy woke everypony up at 10:07 exactly, and we had delicious breakfast of cupcakes, marshmallows, and Mountain Dew. We spent about two hours cleaning up, clearing the room, and packing everything back into cars, then set out on a pony hunt. First stop was Toys'R'Us, where we bought every single Pinkie Pie plush, and also got a lot of odd looks and at least two "can we help you find anything" comments from the store employees for being a large group of adults hanging out in the pink aisle. They had a large display of Gyro Bowls near the front of the store, which was an obvious and necessary purchase. Then we went to Target and found Big Mac and Twilight Spiderses (evidently, yes they are making merchandise for fanfiction), and Filly Princesses from the magical land of the Filly Kingdom, which is a magical collective empire of varying kingdoms somewhere east of Equestria. Princess Crystal is currently discussing opening trade routes with Princess Celestia.

Once we had sufficiently ponied, we went to Rockne's for lunch, where they stab their hamburgers with knives. Somepony got a corned beef sandwich, which sparked a discussion about a sign peculiar to the Cleveland area. After eating, we gathered in the parking lot for a group photo.

So after Rockne's we decided to find a place to hang out and discuss future plans. Rockefeller Park seemed like a good idea. So we gave brief instructions on how to get there, and then went. PartyCrash arrived first, and due to move-in weekend at Case Western Reserve University, the main road into the park was closed and blocked off. So we frantically called the others to tell them a rough idea of a new location to meet, and said that we'd call them when we found a decent spot. Trombe navigated us through back alleys and one-way streets in the worst neighborhoods of Cleveland to get to some park that he vaguely remembered, and somehow pulled it off. As we were turning into the parking lot, we were like "WHO ARE ALL THESE PEOPLE TURNING INTO HERE AT THE SAME TIME AS US?!" And then we were floored, as it was the others. Somehow, through some obscure magicks, we all ended up at the exact same place at the exact same time. Herdmind? This is beyond herdmind. Some of us had no prior knowledge of the area whatsoever, and it was on the complete opposite side of the city from anyplace we had previously been that weekend. Only plausible explanation? Critical mass of Pinkie.

Eaglehooves left us once we were at the park, and the rest of us wandered around a bit and played with Pinkie Pie's RC car. Verdict: it has an impressively long range, but is challenging to drive since it only turns in one direction and doesn't go quite straight. Much amusement resulted. Since Present Perfect couldn't be around for the entire meetup, he missed out on the RC car fun, so he got one in the mail as a prize for winning the speedfic contest. He posted a video of it. (Maybe we should send one to Top Gear and see what they think.)

Several hours and a few mosquito bites later, ~~we all went our separate ways~~ nope! We're all still there. ForEVER.

... Need more pony? Check out Present Perfect's writeup of the event.

(Answers to Starshine's questions: whatever, yes, and no.)

Cleveland: Ride-sharing and stuff

2011-08-22T03:00:00.006-04:00

(Professional mailmare on a
closed course. Do not attempt.)

For those in the Columbus area with no way to get to the meetup, you're in luck, because partycrash on RDN has plenty of room. There are probably others who don't have transportation, or who have more seats in their car than they know what to do with, so if you're either willing to offer a ride, or are looking for one, post a comment here! (Remember that we have events planned for both Saturday and Sunday, so if you can only attend for one day, please mention that.)

We also have heard from the Pegasus ponies that we should have some great weather next weekend, so you probably won't need those galoshes. Hopefully they'll stick to their schedule. They really cut it close last time, and we got a doozy of a downpour the night after the meetup.

July meetup summary

2011-08-11T01:30:00.001-04:00

So~! Before we have this meetup in Cleveland, perhaps I ought to take a moment and write a bit about the last meetup we had back in July.

The officially announced meetup time and place was July 23, 3:00 PM, at Momo2 in Columbus. For those who don't know what this place is (probably everyone who wasn't at this meetup), it's mostly a big building with some pool tables, a few rooms for Japanese-style karaoke, and a couple of bowling lanes. They serve food and drinks, including remarkably bubbly bubble tea, there's a couple televisions here and there, and they play chill-out music. It worked out great for us because they have a lot of empty space and can easily handle a big group, and there was a fairly open area toward the back with couches where we could all gather, with a decent-sized blank wall to project onto, and a couple of tables to spread stuff out.

The big plan was that we were going to set up a projector, watch a whole bunch of ponies, do some crafts, and hang out. More or less, that is what happened, but even getting to that point was a bit of a challenge, because as of that morning, none of us had access to a projector Momo2 didn't have one that we could borrow or rent, and on top of that, none of us had a good set of speakers, either. So, we met up for lunch before the meetup, and then went on a projector hunt. We found one with little hassle at Micro Center, and watched part of Wall-E while the guy went on what was undoubtedly a harrowing journey through foreign lands because he was gone for a really long time. Fortunately, he came back mostly unscathed, and with a projector in hand. $500 later, and with some more time to spare, we went to Toys'R'Us to devastate their supply of ponies on the last day of their 2-for-1 deal, and then raced back to Momo2 to get the party going.

After a few false starts, with the purchase of at least two "jump ropes" (apparently buying extension cords is like... really hard), unboxing the projector and figuring out how to use it, we finally got Equestria Girls playing at ... 4:30. Not too far from 3:00, considering that most of the people there were mingling and showing off custom ponies. After a good dose of Pinkie Pie, Kitsula suggested that we start off at the proper beginning - with the G1 pilot, Rescue at Midnight Castle. After that, we moved on to what everypony was there for, Friendship is Magic.

$71.79, and all socks.

Around 6:30, we gathered some of the group together to head out to Target and buy ponies. First we stopped at the dollar section at the front of the store, where they had all sorts of notepads, stickers, and of course, pony socks. Then we went straight for the toy section, played with the talking Celestia, joked about Twilight's balloon, and discussed the accuracy of the toys. At some point we lost about half of the group to the next aisle, where a bunch of adult males played with light sabers, Thor's hammer, and various other toys in the adjacent blue aisle... with their arms full of ponies. Yeah.

Once playing with the toys got boring, we went around the rest of the store, stopping at the school supply section to see if there were any MLP backpacks, binders, or other neat stuff, but no luck there. Then we went to the checkout, where we all assembled in the same checkout lane. I think we were all expecting to get some sort of reaction from the cashier, but he seemed sort of disaffected. This led to what is quite possibly the crowning moment of the trip: The New Gray Mare (the one who does all the custom tote bags) decided to go back to the dollar section, came back with every single pair of pony socks, and dumped them on the conveyor belt. The cashier had managed to get through all the rest of us buying brushable ponies, notepads, and bubble-blowing Pinkie Pie toys, but when he looked at the huge pile of socks, he widened his eyes, twisted his head a little, looked around at all of us, and said, "Okay, I have to ask. What the heck?!" And that's how Equestria was made.

Silly Hasbro. That's Derpy's job!

Meanwhile, those who didn't go to Target were still hanging out and watching MLP. Our corner wasn't too far away from one of the pool tables, and a couple older men came over to play a game. Only, for most of the time they were there, they had their eyes on the ponies instead of the pool table. The Momo2 staff passed by a few times as well, presumably to use the bathroom, check on the karaoke rooms, or fetch some supplies from the back, but every time, they would stop for a second and watch the screen. Really early on, one of the employees had to walk past the projector to get into a corner room. When he came back out, we asked if he wanted to join us and watch. He said, "What movie is that?" We said, "It's a TV show actually... it's My Little Pony, and it's completely worth watching." He put on a slightly confused yet intrigued expression, and paused for a couple seconds to watch Rainbow Dash before going back to work. I would not be surprised if at least one of them looked up My Little Pony on YouTube after leaving work that night.

Once the whole group was back together, we played Winter Wrap-Up, and as is becoming customary for any brony meetup, gathered around to sing along... twice, in fact, and with a bonus interpretive dance by Sam the second time around. Later on, we also sung the manliest rendition ever of So Many Wonders. Trombe and PinFilly gave a presentation on making a custom pony - or at least, the disassembly and preparation steps. The New Gray Mare started cutting and sewing some of her hoard of socks to make cell phone / dice bags, and a handful of drawfriends kicked back on the couches to sketch ponies.

Pony hair removal

It's too bad, a lot of people started leaving around 9:30. (Apparently most Ohio bronies go to sleep at night! This came as a bit of a shock to us, since we're usually awake until two in the morning at least.) Once things had settled down, we talked to the manager briefly to thank him for being so cool about letting us all come in, rearrange all the furniture, set up a projector, and watch cartoons for six hours. In turn, he thanked us for being "the best group [they] ever had." Awesome! I think he was expecting us to start a fight, or bring in a huge sound system and turn it up all the way, or something. He was especially impressed that we put most of the furniture back and even picked up our trash.

By the end of the night, I'd met a whole ton of great and ~~powerful~~ talented bronies, including Prison, who you might recognize from Celestia Radio - and wow, I felt like such a dope for not realizing who he was despite his very prominent and legible name tag... and briefly lost composure when I was properly introduced to him. Derp. When I got home, I had a full set of brushables, an awesome Lyra tote bag, and a brain full of pony. This meetup really was big adventure and tons of fun.

Want more? Here's a YouTube playlist with a bunch of video clips from the meetup!

Cleveland meetup!

2011-08-09T02:49:00.005-04:00

We're organizing a meetup in Cleveland at Edgewater Park on August 27. We will be meeting at about 2:00 PM by the big metal thing. (It's art!) There will be swimming, food, ponies, games, and ponies! We'll be grilling out for dinner, and serving Pinkie Pie's trademark hot sauce cupcakes for dessert.

An artists' table will be set up, so if you have stuff to sell or just to show off, bring it! PinFilly will have the metal pony pins for sale for those interested. At some point, we'll get a group together to go pony-buying. At the last meetup, The New Gray Mare bought more than $70 of pony socks from Target, and we cleaned the shelves at Toys'R'Us, leaving just a handful of talking Pinklestias and sparkling balloons in our wake. (If you're too shy to go buy ponies on your own, this is for you. Carrying around a bunch of ponies in a big group is a lot of fun.)

Once it gets dark, we'll be migrating to a hotel for the night to ~~sleep~~ watch life-sized ponies projected onto a wall for several hours, and will continue ponying on the 28th. (Yes, pony is a verb!) Though we haven't quite decided what exactly we'll be doing, tentative plans include a tour of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame or Cleveland Museum of Art, watching a movie, or maybe just going to the mall and hanging out.

Here's the Facebook event page if you're into that.

Ohio Bronies?!

2011-08-09T02:34:00.009-04:00

Welcome to ~~Team Fortress 2~~ the Ohio Bronies official blog! Here we'll keep you all informed and up to date on how to survive the coming zombie apocalypse as well as the various happenings and occurrences around the state that any and all of you fans of pastel ponies might find interesting and/or amusing.

"Wait just one cotton-pickin' minute," you say, "who are you and why do I care?"

Well, if you have no idea what My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is, then you probably don't care, and you must've come here by some terrible prank or mistake (also, you should go watch it right this second, so then you can care). If you're not from Ohio, then you probably also don't care, unless you really feel like driving or flying (or teleportaling?) all the way here to hang out with us. But if you are from Ohio and are a fan of the show, then you care because we're the ones who organize and plan all the fun meetups and events for bronies like you!

"But who are you, exactly?"

Well, we'll tell you right here.

rpb3000 - I'm Northern Dash. You might know me from... well, you probably don't know me. I lurk more and comment less on various sites, such as Ponychan, FiMchan, Equestria Daily, and Rainbow Dash Network. I suppose my most notable role is as the organizer / leader by default of the Netherlands in the Ponycraft Minecraft server. I also run the FiM gift exchange group on Elfster, the Cupcakes group on RBDN (it's exactly what you think) and am working on an assortment of other fandom-related projects at the moment. I tend to bring a bit of chaos with me wherever I go.

Darkly Cute - My name is Robyn, but I go by Darkly Cute / PinFilly. I love customizing ponies. I also design and sell metal pony pins. I run a custom pony blog called Darkly Cute Customs and do pick up orders for pony toys. I have helped plan many a anime convention in the past along with Northern Dash and others. I got into MLP:FiM this past February and have been completely obsessed to the point of insanity ever since. I live in Springfield, OH with my two best friends (Trombe and Northern Dash). In addition to collecting pony stuff I also collect dolls and pokemon stuff. Also, my favorite pony is Derpy!!

zapowa - My name is Nick, AKA Trombe. I like Pinkie Pie. I like to trot. I love to roam. I came to pony rock. Everypony it's on. *flashes brony gang sign*

Starshine - I'm Starshine. My life has been consumed by pony. Help.