Day 28 – 8/12/11 : Last log entry.

Hello readers and internet wanderers.
This is the final entry of this log, which relates the story of a handful of students trying to spread the word of My Little Pony : Friendship Is Magic in their school.

If you haven't read the other posts, I advise to do so, starting with the first one. You can also skip right to the ending, of course :) .
(if anyone know how to make blogger show the posts in reverse chronological order, that would be great, but as far as i've looked on google, it's not possible)

This log is meant to share our experience and help the ones that plan similar actions, as well as entertain the ones just wanting to read our adventure. Feel free to comment on our successes and errors, so it can profit everyone.

And without further delay, the last day, after the break.

Day 27 – 7/12/11

This last campaign day was a classic day.

We weren't supposed to do anything, but I was called in emergency for a meeting with all the lists' leaders. Apparently, all those parties are making a lot of noise and neighbours are complaining. So we were asked to tone down everything so the school's administration wouldn't forbid parties altogether.

Of course, me and my friends aren't the loudest of the lot, and the meeting wasn't directed at us at all. My presence there mostly shown I was concerned by our school's problems, barely more.

After the reunion, one of the two serious lists was making a food give-away. Since we still had some leftovers from Monday, I negotiated that we made a give-away at the same time. We shared a set of tables they had installed, and even if our food disappeared quite quickly, the flyers stayed, netting us some easy visibility right before the vote. Food well spent.

I met Rarity during the evening. She made all the calculations about our funds, and we have 100 Euros left. Not sure what we'll do with it, since the campaign is finished. Maybe a private party with the members of the list, as a celebration for a completed task. Maybe something else. I'll ask them, they earned it as much as I did. More than I did, probably.

Now, nothing I can do will change anything.

Time for the moment of truth.

Celestia, out.

Day 26 – 6/12/11

It's not that we aren't willing...

...but everyone else is too. We had our moments, so it's only fair that they have theirs now. Today and tomorrow are two days completely booked by each of the serious lists. Both have a lot of things to offer to the students, and their campaign is more important, as the choice between those two will impact our school's daily life for a year.

Of course, silly ponies don't really have a say in this matter, and we wouldn't want to interrupt anyway. And their campaigns is on a whole higher level than our. The fact their had much more money to do it might have something to do with it, but I know they also worked on the side to bring the extra funds they needed.

That's where the line between fun and dedication is drawn, maybe ?

All this thinking and frustration is making it hard to sleep. Tomorrow, it'll be stress.

Not sure if it's better.

Celestia, out.

Day 25 – 5/12/11

Today was quite a rush.

Woke up by a phone call, I learned that Luna snapped after too much stress and not enough sleep. He was shouting at people and giving us a bad image. Quickly glancing at my watch, 11:50am. Right, I was supposed to be at school two hours ago. Not wonders Luna was stressed. I urged there and took control of things, asking him to sit for a minute and take a breath.

I'd like to take the credit of defusing the situation, but it really goes to Luna who accepted the remark and understood he couldn't do anything more for the time being. In his position, I'm not sure I would have agreed that easily.

Nothing is utterly essential and irreplaceable, I guess.

Once that was done, I managed the members and myself during the lunch, and we served many sandwiches, as well as drinks and pie slices. The pies were appreciated, but I knew it would be successful, for having tasted the food of the person who helped us yesterday.

And so our last event ended, in a haze of sweets and cakes, hastily decorated with colourful sparkles and sugary hearts. The rest of the day was uneventful, list-wise. Went to classes, made a presentation about economics and then when to dine in town with a handful of my friends. I 'spontaneously' offered our helper to pay for the food, as a way to say 'thanks' for yesterday. Good deeds shouldn't go unrewarded.

Nothing left but to wait now, or is it ?

The vote will be in a few days, but we still have time. We still have leftovers in terms of gitfs, and food. Or course all lunches and evenings are booked by the other lists, but if we could manage something...

Oh, as a side note, one of my non-brony friends told me he would vote for us, not because he ike mlp, but because our campaign was the best in his opinion. That, dear readers, is a small victory for harmony and friendship, but a victory nonetheless !

Now, if only everyone could think that...

Celestia, out.

Day 24 – 4/12/11

Average day.

Woke up at 1pm. A bit rested, I gathered people and we started to speak about what was needed for baking. Interestingly enough, no one is skilled in baking in our group. For fans of MLP, that was surprising.

I asked a friend of mine, who isn't into the show, to help us with recipes and advice. She agreed and armed with the power of friendship, we went to the store to buy everything.

A few hours later, I have in my custody 7 pies (two lemon, two chocolate, two pear and one apple). They haven't been decorated, so maybe I'll do that just before going to sleep.

Bah. I'm too tired. I can't risk messing things up; I'll do it tomorrow.

Only 4 days remain.

Celestia, out.

Day 23 – 03/12/11

Close, but no meeting.

Apparently, my school had something planned today. A rough translation would be 'open doors day', which means a day where visitors can come and see what the school is like. That's one of the downfall of being a state school. Since everything is supposed to be perfect, students were asked to come and help with greeting the visitors, making tours of the buildings and things like that.

Of course, it lasted for the whole day, we couldn't meet each other and before I knew it, it was night already.

Thinking of it, I haven't even had the time to look at today's episode, too. I read on EqD that it have a song in it. Well, I'll have to hear that later. I think I should be able to see a few people tomorrow, but I have better plans than just being in front of a screen, or brainstorming.

Since Monday will be our last official event, we will take the time to bake as many things as we can on Sunday, and serve them freely the next day. That will finish what's left of our money, and might help tip the scales in our favour.

Not sure what to go with. Cupcakes ? The obvious answer but too expensive, and too hard for me. Pies ? Too common. I was supposed to decide that today with everyone. I guess it will be on the spur of the moment. Maybe some funny and random thing, like pink food colouring. At any rate, it will once again be rushed and hastily.

What wasn't, anyway ?

Celestia, out.

Day 22 – 02/12/11

And today, nothing happened.

To be honest, I didn't have any class today, so I even did not go to school.

Obviously, not many pony-related things have been achieved. A day out to take my breath, play some skyrim, and just getting up to date with my paperwork was needed.

New episode tomorrow. Maybe I can use the occasion to make a meeting with everyone and brainstorm a bit. A few events for next week could make the difference in 7 days. One week. It seems close now

I'll tell you if anything happens.

Vote by vote, day by day, and that's the art of politics.

Celestia, out.

Day 20 and 21 – 30/11/11 to 01/12/11

I kind of missed a day, didn't I ?

Both yesterday and today were big days.

Yesterday was the day we presented our videos to the school (you can see them on our website, http://poniie.iiens.net/accueil.html ).

A little technical problem aside (we had to re-encode everything at the last minute because they couldn't read mp4s), things went well, but the other lists made a pretty good job too, so we didn't stand out as much as we wanted to. Everyone enjoyed them, which is a good point.

We had two things planned for today. First a lunch, then an evening party.

The lunch was difficult. Our first 3 clients each paid with a big bill for a small quantity of food and it forced us to be out of change for a long time. We had trouble to serve people quickly, and that didn't help. The stress made us angry at each other, but we could sort it out quickly when the rush ended.

About the evening, it's a special case. It was a shared event between different lists. We were supposed to take care of a few animations and that's about it. But early afternoon, I had to go fetch the food for another list, and before I knew it, everyone at ponIIE was helping the others lists. We ended up serving the evening food, and a few others things too, but heh, showing us for free is always a good thing.

Besides, we could get a hold of the big tv screen a show a few more episodes during the evening. Ponies everywhere indeed.

Another thing : when there was only one serious list, a big fake one, and many small fake ones (including ponIIE), the big fake list announced they became serious about their intentions and wanted to be considered a real list. It makes us 'probably the best fake list around', which is very nice. My objective is secured with this, theoretically. We just have to keep up the pace.

Only one event remains for now. A lunch on Monday. After that, no event, only being social, agreeable, and hope for the best.

If only I knew how to be social...

Celestia, out.