Posted Feb. 26

Is everyone hyped for BlipCon? I sure am! So much so that I arrived in New Oreins early! know the con’s not until the weekend after next, but there’s this peculiar regional holiday going on, and my friends from Duskgem kind of sort of dragged me and @the_chaotic_kisol into it, basically.

From what I’ve gathered, the “lore” of this holiday is that they focus more on celebrating the arrival of Spring here, since they don’t need to “wrap up” Winter due to the climate. But at the same time, the “bringers of Winter” try to “migrate” south when they’ve been ceremonially pushed out of the North, and apparently they hate it when everypony dresses up and puts on formal balls and parades. It culminates on something called “Renaissance Day”, which happens on the Tuesday right before the con.

In practice, they seem to either reuse their Nightmare Night costumes, or otherwise dress up like they’re some sort of royal/medieval figure, or they’re going to a masquerade ball. I’ve found it pretty easy to fit in among this crowd: for all I know, a comic con and a medieval fair spilling out into the streets all at once is considered a normal occurrence around here!

All of these festivities are played either straight or tongue-and-cheek, depending on how serious the “guild” who runs them are. Some really do adhere to the “royal traditions” of the city, some err, not so much. And then you have Kisol, who’s on a quest to collect these coin things that you can redeem to become an unofficial official royal or something like that.

I’m not really aiming to get too into it, I’m just here to loosen up and have some fun before I focus on preparing for the Hooves of Fury tournament at BlipCon. Expect me to spam my Ponyhoof scroll with highlights of our antics over the next few weeks or so, and especially during BlipCon. I got a new Otoha cosplay to go with Kisol’s Captain Wretch, and it’s gonna be wicked. Very wicked.

My time in New Oreins has been quite cultured so far. I’ve seen bits and pieces of this “Spring Renaissance” thing on TV before, but actually being there is a very different story. I’ve always kind of had a soft spot for medieval stuff, so it actually works out pretty well. Wave Rider even helped me come up with a new persona to help me blend in here — the Night Owl! Train Spot thought the top hat and cloak made me look “actually kinda cute”. I’ve been soaking of the sights and sounds (and parties of course) with Eight Track, and I’m sure we’ll eventually reach the “time of our lives” tier at some point in the next few days. Just have to keep your head up and be cautious of partygoers with a lack of stability, and everything will be très bien!

Getting gigs here at this time of year is tricky, apparently. However, I did get a few big ones: me and Diamond Diablo agreed to a b2b set tonight on the Confluence tour, while Train and Wave are letting me be a “special guest” during their big show on Saturday after the Hrimfaxi parade. Their duo, The Third Rail, has been carving out a style more akin to turn-of-the-century “dance anthems” lately, and some of their remixes are literally making me tear up in sheer nostalgia.

We all joined Apollo — a guild I met members of at the Gathering last year — and managed to get the last of the tickets for their semi-formal ball on Renaissance Day. However, their leader is really testing my patience. I think her name was “DJ Courier of Beats” or something like that, but she’s this magenta-colored Earth pony with a bronze helmet and visor. She’s a club promoter and has a strong position in the electronic music scene here — she’s got a residence, a radio show, and so on. However, she only really deals in the mainstream stuff. Diablo pointed out to me that she has a “hot jams” playlist on a music streaming site, which is sourced almost entirely from this big label called Manticore.

I played some of my songs for her at one point: she seemed indifferent, but did acknowledge the reception I got from her colleagues at the Gathering. Not every Apollo member agrees with Courier’s apparent bias towards EDM, and squabbles with her are supposedly common. Diablo told me that she just packed her saddlebags and left for their rival, Hephaestus, after she kept trying to “encourage” her to do more progressive house. She seems to be taking a liking to The Third Rail, however, and I was told she was going to be in attendance at their show. Perhaps my massive new track with Wave Rider could be the thing that changes her mind…

I wasn’t really aiming to get a hundred different gigs, though, because

• A. Sometimes, you just need to loosen up and be the pony in front of the speakers instead of behind them.
• B. It’s better to do a few great shows rather than many good shows.

And, more importantly

• C. This is just a pit stop on our way to Mareami, and the first major festival of the year. There’s a slew of club shows in the week leading up to it, which could be a chance to truly make a name for ourselves!

A major pastime associated with the Spring Renaissance, is collecting up the various loot that almost every guild literally throws around during parties and parades. Candy, necklaces, light sticks, and the like are the most frequent, but another notable variety of trinket are “guild coins” — which feature annual designs representing specific guilds, and have varying levels of rarity and quality.

However, the most dedicated of revelers are not just looking for any old guild coins. “Runic” guild coins — a rarer variety that is made from actual metal — are the most uncommon. Every year, the runic coins of six, specific guilds are sought after by revelers. Why, you ask? They are the first step on a journey, that could potentially lead to (informal) nobility!

It’s more about the tradition itself rather than actual royal status. But it’s still a nice achievement to flaunt on your Ponyhoof!

In case it wasn’t obvious, yes TrotMania 46 was an April Fool’s joke.

But as we tend to do around here, there’s something within the joke that is real (thanks to the newest member of our stepchart team, KexMiX!), and you won’t need a gold-plated cabinet to play it.