Entry for the Dixie Stables summer 2013 costume contest.

Have I mentioned lately what an excellent costume horse Joey is? This is, by far, the most elaborate costume I’ve ever done, and with so many flappy and potentially horse-startling elements to it, he was really the only one I could trust to pull it off (and do so flawlessly at that).

In the premiere episodes of the G4 My Little Pony cartoon “Friendship is Magic”, Princess Luna is the guardian of the night, who raises the moon and watches over dreams. After being taken over by darkness and becoming Nightmare Moon, she was exiled and imprisoned, but eventually escaped to wreak havoc once more. With the help of Twilight Sparkle and the magic of friendship, Luna was able to cast off her dark side and return to Equestria. While she’s seen less often after that, during her next appearance on Nightmare Night (basically Pony Halloween), she arrives in an airborne chariot pulled by bat-winged pegasi.

She’s one of my favourite characters, and as I’ve role-played her from time to time, it seemed only right that I should cosplay her, too – and since it’s been a while since I did anything other than a repurposed costume, it was about time for a proper make session, too!

My costume is constructed wholly from satin – blue costume satin for the main body of both corset and skirt, black costume satin for the ruffles and corset straps, and thicker black and white satins for the cutie mark embellishments. The corset continues to use my eight-panel “duct tape” pattern, but rather than being boned with the plastic-coated wire, I’ve upgraded to cable ties – still not as supportive or shaping as steel, but far superior to both the wire and rigilene. With six panels and ruffle, this skirt repeats the pattern first seen in “Christmas Vixen,” but went much more smoothly – until the time came for the actual ruffling, at which point I again made the mistake of asking my mother to help, and my mother again put it off until the last minute.

Luna’s cutie mark, the moon, is seen on both my neckpiece and at my hips (the usual location for a cutie mark being the pony’s flank). Both are satin strips that close with snaps in the back, with the lower riding over the skirt like a belt (so that the costume can be worn with or without them). My pony ears and unicorn horn were purchased from Yayahan’s cosplay accessories shop. The little silver tiara is something I’ve had rolling around for a while – I popped the comb off and used black elastic to attach it to the horn, even though it doesn’t at all match the crown Luna wears in the show. But a princess has to have something to show off!

Because I was running short on time and money, Joey’s costume is far simpler – black and purple posterboard form the basis for all pieces, with gold brads both serving as ornamentation and securing each section of armour to the next. Scrap fabric in purple, blue, and gold accents his breastcollar, and the purple saddlepad is one I actually use for everyday riding. His wings are borrowed from a dragon costume belonging to his owner. Because she’d somehow mixed up dates and not realized the fun show was this weekend, she wasn’t there when I arrived and wasn’t answering her phone, and in a panic, I found white posterboard in the barn’s supplies, cut out a batwing shape, and hastily coloured it in with a Sharpie just in case! But she got the message just in time and the day was saved.

And while for the past several years, we’ve done an “Everyone’s a winner!” sort of thing with our costume classes, this year…

Damn right I came home with the only blue ribbon that was given out. (And doesn’t it go so well with my dress? ^.^)