This week, we have been on the trip of a lifetime. We went to Bronycon in Baltimore. What’s so important about this? Let me tell you about the weekend: After the cartoon My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic first aired on 2010, it grew extremely popular because of its relatable characters, brilliant writing, and positive messages. The first BroNY Con in New York was a fairly small fan meetup but quickly grew once the venue moved to Baltimore Convention Center. Peak attendance reached 10,011 in 2015 and had since declined every year. At the closing Ceremonies in 2018, convention staff revealed attendence number at a mere half of the peak. They also revealed that 2019 would be the final Bronycon ever because of dwindling numbers. As an attendee to that moment I can testify that we were all saddened, surprised, and even a bit fearful. But as I had my last dinner with friends and began to say goodbyes, everyone pledged to each other that we would all return for the final Bronycon, come hell or high water. Bronycon 2019 was NOT optional. Fast forward to early 2019: Hotels and flights are being booked and plans set into motion. Many of my friends took art or video commissions to raise money and others put on livestreams to raise money. I donated to multiple friends and personally went way beyond the call of duty. Others did the same. The prevailing notion was that BC 2019 would be a massive party, celebration of the fandom, and final farewell to Bronycon. Our sights were set on breaking attendance records. This whole time I took to Twitter and Discord, encouraging my friends to attend and offering advice and support. Then, Bronycon’s official Twitter account tweeted that they were capping badge sales at 11,000; which implied that pre-registration numbers were already extremely high. My friend group “The Collaboratory” puts on a video editing contest every year. We got more entries this year than previous years. Bronycon had also announced that Lauren Faust, yes THE Lauren Faust, would be a VIP guest. The creator of MLP and legendary animation genius herself was going to witness the peak of her legacy. The hype was real . On Wednesday, the crowds were unprecedented as thousands lined up to pick up badges. Nearly every panel and event was capped because there wasn’t enough room for everyone. It was hard to even walk through the crowds. Could we have broken the record? But for me, the best part was seeing my friends again. I saw friends for the first time in a year, some of them for the first time ever in real life! I met some amazing friends of my buddy and have some awesome new unexpected friendships. Most of The Collaboratory was there including the creators that inspired me to take up video editing. We had lots of long meals in restaurants, meetups in hotel rooms, and even did an escape room (The Collaboratory escaped with 4:15 left!). Just talking and making memories was incredible. Then on Sunday, after a long and event-packed weekend, we filed in for closing Ceremonies. It was incredibly emotional. Everyone was simultaneously celebrating and wishing each other farewell. This was the last event of Bronycon ever. After hearing stories from VIP guests and community icons, Bronycon staff announced that attendance reached 10,215; breaking the record!! We were happy, but the best part wasn’t the number of attendees; it was the friends we made along the way.