Equestria Daily

This is part two of the Impact event! For the first set of submissions, check out the post over here.

It's still overwhelming how many of these we got and how much people wrote. I was expecting small blurbs from everyone, not gigantic multi-page essays! You all sure are crazy sometimes.

Part 3 is coming since we got bombarded with another 80 of these after the last post. Expect that once it's all collected!

The event is now closed to submissions. We will probably have similiar writing things in the future though.

We've got your next set of stories, simple shoutouts, and general good feels from the various people around the fandom that were impacted by My Little Pony. Head on down below the break to check them out!

I recently watched the finale and got kind of emotional since this is a show I have been watching for a long time. This show has meant so much to me over the years and has changed my world and so many other peoples. Whenever I am having a bad day or I am feeling sad, I can always rely on My Little Pony to cheer me up. I, and I know so many other people, feel a connection to the show, and to other fans that watch it as well. I have also learnt some great lessons from it, and as a person with asperger’s syndrome socialising hasn’t always come easy, but now I have made some good friends. I had the opportunity to attend a My Little Pony Friendship is Magic convention in August, and I made some people with the same love of ponies as me. I also met Nicole Oliver which was amazing. I can’t even explain how much this show has benefited me positively and made an impact to my life. Its just so special to me.

Emily

How MLP impacted me

I became a fan of the show back in late 2017 but I was introduced even earlier than that but I didn't become a brony until the later episodes of Season 7 so I haven't been in the fandom as long as others have but I have seen almost every single episode of the show. Just like most others who've watched MLP I've been taught life lessons just like everyone else has but what has really impacted me the most is the community no matter where you are in the world we're all connected by our love of the show and it's provided us with something that we can go to we can sit down and watch episodes and just talk about what we thought or what lesson we took from the show there's so many wonderful things the people who think of theories that make others think and invent their own theories there's the artists who can make a living doing what they love there's the people who write Fanfics based on the show's characters and it allows them to improve their writing there's chat rooms where you can talk to so many other Bronies from around the world there's people who go to conventions and sell their artwork and the merchandise they've spent time making there's the Brony Analysts who've built their own communities there's people who support them every day there's people who watch the show religiously no matter how many times they've seen an episode whether it's just airing or it's an older episode that they've already watched it there's people who make up OCs and create backstories for the character and give them life and a personality there's people who make plushes of people's OCs what I'm trying to say is that the thing that's impacted me the most is the community because you can find something to be apart of in the fandom you can find something to be apart of we as a fandom have built that up over the nine years the show was around and while the show has already ended the community will never end as long as we stick together forever like we're one family because of the love I've felt from this community because this is where the magic happens because this is where the magic lives our friendships weave together stronger our bonds grow deeper lasting longer and just like in the final ballad of the song the greatest spell we'll know is that the magic of friendship grows

Dear Lauren Faust, Jim Miller and the MLP staff, I would like to take this moment to thank all of you for creating the most inspirational shows that I’ve come to know and love so much!

You have no idea how much this show has meant to me and as I am typing this, I am fighting back tears because it’s sad to see this go after watching this show from my senior year in high school to now in my years at college!

I started watching this show because some animation classmates were raving on and on about it. It was on the hub network and it was in that moment, I became a full fledged Brony!

Being one has been a delight for me, and it’s because of your show that I discovered my love for writing and voice acting!

I’ve written MANY fan fictions just centering around the MLP and Equestria Girls universe crossing over with the Super Mario franchise and many more, and for voice acting, I’ve been dabbling in it for a while and I’ve just recently gotten a role in a few animated projects!

I wanted to be a voice actor on the show and have my OC appear on it but I was still too young and a rookie, but who knows? Maybe I’ll make an appearance in G5 or G6!

Next, I want to take this moment to thank Tara Strong, Ashleigh Ball, Andrea Libman, Tabitha St. Germain, and Cathy Wesluck for voicing the 6 ponies and small dragon who will always have a special place in my heart!

Rainbow Dash, Twilight, and Fluttershy may be my favorites but all of you are just amazing and no one else could portray your characters better than you!

I even wanna thank Rebecca Shoichet for voicing my top favorite character in the EQG franchise, I’ll miss you, your character and your amazing voice!

Of course I can’t leave out ALL of the voice actors on this show, all of you deserve a round of applause!

And next, I wanna give Daniel Ingram, music, animation and writing crew big hugs for all your hard work on this show, you deserve as much praise as everyone else!

Daniel, you’re music is highlight for me, I have so much music from both MLP and EQG on my phone that I’m running out of room!

Lastly, we need to thank the Brony and Pegasister community for helping this show grow and for helping us grow and show that this show isn’t intended for little children, it’s loved by all ages and no one should bring you down for it!

And so, with tears in my eyes, I wanna say that I love each and everyone of you guys, this generation will always be my favorite generation of ponies and even though I will watch G5, this one will be closer to my heart!

Thank you...thank you all of you and for teaching us the magic of friendship!

Sincerely, Edward Bryan Saba-Castillo

“A fan who’s life was turned for the better because of your show”

There was a time when I was a pretty lonely boy who didn't have much in the way of friends and suffered with a omnipresence sense of depression. School was fun but it never filled a void I felt inside me, and it was then I ran across The Return of Harmony. I watched it more out of random curiosity, Bronies had been a thing for a small while but I had only heard of them and not given it much notice.
I watched those episodes and I loved it, and then I watched more, and then I watched the fan content and listened to the fan music. I had so many issues to face, but My Little Pony gave me something to comfort myself with. I even showed my one real friend, and he supported me and we watched stuff together; and it was amazing.
During this time, I won't lie in saying I went Pony Mad, but I was the fan who read the fanficion and was voiceless- and not going to Bronycon will always be a small disappointment.

As time went on, and the show grew, I stepped back as new things came and took my attention- including a new group of friends! and I can feel the lessons that the Mane Six taught me guiding me.
It never left my mind, and I returned now and then to enjoy the show that I will always love. I watched the finale and it hurt but I know that the girls will always be with me, and will always be voices of comfort and support when I need them- and I will never forget them.

The problems of life aren't over, but I know I can face it because I know that they would cheer me on.

So, I grew up during the age of g3, didn’t watch it because I had two older brothers, ignored the girly side of myself, believing we could get along better if I was more boyish…Fast forward to when I was 18-19ish, finished high school, my mother and I moved out of state. I’m autistic, high functioning but still. During a brief stay with my grandmother, who was a travel nurse at the time, my brothe rmoved into my mother’s house, we didn’t have room for him and me so a friend of mom’s volunteered her house. Sounds wonderful, right?...Wrong. Not even a week in and I began to experience physical, mental and emotional abuse. This went on for months and months…during these months I joined in on watching my little pony friendship is magic with her daughter, a way to connect and to be truthful, escape…I fell in love with the show, it became everything to me, I made art, thought up stories, etc. But even with that, I still had to come back to the reality that I was in an abusive household, the man of the house couldn’t help, anytime he did, I was punished worse, the daughter was trapped too, but since she was the only child, she got some repreve, and to be honest, was pampered when she did exceedingly well, which she often did. She and I were terrified of…well let’s call her Brokenheart for now. Now Brokenheart was abused herself, even sold off (Her words), to her older sister by her mother, instead of breaking the chain and striving to be a better person, she abused what most would see as a mentally challenged girl.

I suffered from depression during that time, the only solice I got was through my little pony. I found comfort in how pinkie pie also seemed to suffer from depression…but still showed a smile and chose to make others smile herself. I saw how fluttershy, who was meant to be shy but to me she was also autistic, go through growth and not let her shyness/autism be the only thing people saw of her. I saw how Applejack cherished her family, and was loved (And I was a little jealous I admit.) I saw how Rainbowdash strived for her dreams and even took under her wing a pupil. I watched as my least favorite character, Rarity, showed more sides of herself to me, and showed that she was not just a girly pony. (First impression was she wanted to get in with a canterlot pony to further her goals, not something I liked.) I watched as Twilight grew and learned, going from a lonely bookworm (Me,) to a princess. I saw my relationship with my second oldest brother with her and Shining armor. (Brother’s in the military, and he cares for his little sister.) All this time, my family was fighting tooth and nail to get me out, but I didn’t see it. When my mother came over, I was sent off to do things around the house, not allowed to sit and talk with her, I was isolated from everyone. Christmas? I had to be at her house on Christmas day, no exceptsions, when that didn’t happen one year, she banned me from going to any other Christmas party, much to my grandfather’s ire. After that, something amazing happened. I was taking out of that horrid home, by…Well I’ll refer to him as Greyguard…aka Dad. I never knew my biological father, turns out my brother’s dad, could possibly be mine, and that he ignored me for years. (Mother’s devorsed) So I was given a father to teach me things, and a little brother who actually enjoyed the show. But the biggest thing I realized during my time there is that MLP: FIM kept me alive.

By alive I mean, during the whole time, during every thought of just getting a knife, or the old riffle the man of the house had, or finding someway of ending it all, for some reason, the thoughts that burst through those dark clouds were simply moments in the show, pinkie pie, singing. Applejack having someones back, Twilight helping her friends...And I realized ending my life would solve nothing, and that someday I would no longer be in that house, or something would change in her (Less hopeful idea), and she would stop being abusive. I’m alive today because MLP:FIM kept me from committing suicide, from ending my life so that I wouldn’t have to suffer under Brokenheart’s abuse anymore. That is how MLPFIM impacted my life. By saving it.

was inspired to write to appeal to both male and female demographics rather than for a single demographic, allowing for a bigger audience.

- Stardust Blaze

Hello my name if Clyde and like to talk about how My Little Pony changed my life. At first I wasn't interested but after watch the first Equestria Girls movie, it change my opinion. I watched the first three seasons then I just followed with season 4-9 along with the specials and movies. My favorite characters that got me into the fandom are Twilight Sparkle and Flash Sentry who I ship all the way. When I get stressed out, I would watch the show on YouTube, read fanfiction (fimfiction) stories, and play with my blind bag and plush collection. My favorite fanfiction (fimfiction) stories are A Flash of Romance, Twilight's Love, The Young Prince, and Dusk Travel by Bluecatcinema. I'm a blacksmith that makes roses and sells them from a art gallery at Grapevine Historic District. At the Grapevine Historic District, there is an alicorn sculpture on top of the Grapevine Convention and Visitors Bureau’s north tower and seeing it remains me of the show. To show my appreciation of the show, I plan is to take classes of making Damascus Steel and then have cut outs of the Mane 6 cutie marks as necklaces and others on request. Even though the show is over, the comics will still go on and hopefully Twilight and Flash can get together with many adventures and romance along the road especially when they face the real Grogar. Hope hear soon, may friendship live forever.

This show's fandom led me to pick my major.
After discovering some of the amazing stories written by fan fiction authors, I tried writing stories myself, and loved it! That led me to realize that I had a talent with writing, whether it be through stories or essays. It was this series of events that made me pursue a Bachelor's Degree in English, which I'll be finishing by the end of this year!

- Alex

While I was pointed to the very first episode of MLP:FiM in October 2010, it did not light a fire in my heart at that time. Four months later, thanks in part to MAST3RLINKX on YouTube, a spark was ignited and that was fed by the Know Your Meme write-up about the awesome pony takeover of 4chan, which lead me to Equestria Daily where I discovered music, artworks, community and more. My mind was blown. I got the shakes with every episode. I started taking pony-themed cakes to work to further share the joy. When pony swag got easier to find, I brought cake and gave away swag eight times a year, starting with the 2011 Gift Set and Twilight's Balloon. I still bring the cakes and the swag, and now that the final curtain has fallen on the TV series, and as I write this, I still have butterflies in my belly. This is how pony has shaped a decade of my life. The journey does not end here. Last week I finished Stardust (Arad) and this week I start Anthropology (JasontheHuman). Brony-made music is the soundtrack to my life now and I'm still fishing out more awesome tracks from those recommended on Equestria Daily. There is Legends of Equestria to play, amazing artwork to see, comics to read and a community that gives me joy. So, in a word, butterflies. I'm choking on butterflies.

Your Faithful Fan,

Frith

When MLP:FiM first came around and people talked about it, I denied ever wanting to see it. I was denying that I loved small things, cute things, that I was more interested in the feminine side of life anf of who I was. I was always raised to believe that guys were supposed to be strong, never show weakness, that if you have a problem you should figure it out and all this from an abusive parent... I was afraid to show my fear or emotions at all. But when I finally gave the show a shot, around when Season 2 started, I began to learn that it's foolish to deny myself. Stupid to put myself down for feeling. These characters, as ridiculous and goofy as their adventures were, inspired me to be me. To get out there more and be the change I want to be for myself and others.
Pinkie showing me how to smile through pain and how to bring joy to others, Fluttershy showing that even if you feel the fear you can power through, Applejack showing the dependability that it takes to be a good person and friend to those around you, Rainbow Dash showing that no matter what, you can always find someone that will have loyalty to you and be there for you no matter what.
Rarity, though she's a bit of a drama queen, always finds it in her heart to give even if it may be something that means nothing to you it could everything for others. And finally, Princess Twilight Sparkle, showing that no matter what comes your way, no matter how hard life gets, there is good in the world and with great friends by your side you can do anything.
Bottom line? Thank you MLP... You not only changed my life, but saved me from myself and the negativity around me. Thank you.

- Sincerely, Gamer Script

f you had told me 9 years ago that I would fall in love with a show featuring multi-colored ponies, I would have laughed and thought you were crazy. Yet here I am 9 years later crying about the show ending.

This show has made a tremendous impact on me that will stick with me for the rest of my life and leave me memories that I will carry with me.

When it first started, I was a year into my current job, just started solo travelling, and still living at home. Now here I am 9 years later, in a successful career, having travelled the world, and am now living on my own.

MLP has given me the opportunity to meet new people whom I've become great friends with. It has helped gotten me through a sudden passing of a close friend of mine and getting out of a very toxic friendship. I've learned so much from i and it has gotten me through the best and worst of times.

Even though the show itself may be over, I'm not saying goodbye, but instead "see you soon!".

Finally, instead of being sad that it's over, I'm happy that it happened.

Thank you, MLP.

-Kevin

I mentioned this in my letter to the staff, but I feel the need to reiterate that without this show, I have no idea where my life would have ended up - nor do I like to speculate on where it could have gone. That may sound like an upsetting thought, but I assure you that I am fine, and moreover, that I am eternally grateful for having stumbled across this show back in 2013. Regarding the profound impact this little show has had on my life, I find it difficult to even begin. This show and community have done so much to improve my life and I know they will continue to do so for the rest of it. First and foremost, it goes without question that MLP has made me a much better friend. Looking at the show as a whole, I have nothing but limitless respect for what it stands for. The staff’s conviction and earnestness in spreading the magic of friendship is borderline tangible in every episode, every song, every moment of character development, and every line of dialogue. This, in turn, spilled over quite tremendously into my own life. The morals focusing on assertiveness, anxiety, self-forgiveness, and actively seeking to understand others are the ones that affected me the most in particular (I sure would like to list them all individually, but there are simply too many). Now I find myself stopping and thinking things like “What would Twilight/Fluttershy/Applejack do in this situation?” When faced with any kind of friendship stress, I always think about what the Mane Six would say about it, and I apply their wisdom to my situation. And it always works. This would of course be impossible without the infinitely talented writers, as well as the VAs and animators who work so hard to give everypony a loveable personality complete with endless charm. Not to mention the ingenious work of Daniel Ingram, whose compositions will forever be stuck in my head, bringing a smile to my face no matter how dark the day. But his is not the only music that will keep me smiling. Ever since joining the fanbase, my strongest connection to it (aside from the show itself of course) has been the exquisite fanmade music. From 4EverFreeBrony to Aviators, from Ponyphonic to Mandopony, from Neighsayer to Jeff Burgess, and so many more, MLP fan music has dominated my playlists since my first days in the fandom. The sheer amount of talented and passionate musicians in this community is astounding, and I am so glad that we are fortunate enough to hear such spectacular artists add that much more to the magic of ponies. So many wonderful memories of mine are soundtracked by the music of fans, be it long rides to fun adventures or peaceful summer nights by the lake, I’ve always had their music playing everywhere I go. It’s helped me through so much, but even more importantly, it’s made all the good times in my life even better than I could have imagined. Just as present as the fan music has been in my life, so too has the endless supply of fan art, animations, comics and comic dubs, and fan fiction. Projects like the Vinyl Scratch Tapes, the PonyASMR project, Snowdrop, and Lullaby for a Princess have done so much to expand on the universe of this show and really make the community impact that much more noticeable. It’s almost as if the show and the fanmade content have merged together into one vast network of positivity and creativity, and it really is a beautiful thing. The knowledge that the fandom will continue to carry the torch and spread the lessons of these ponies has brought me so much comfort, not only over these past few months, but during my entire time as a fan thus far. I have nothing but gratitude for everyone involved in its creation and continued development, and am confident when I say that I will never forget these ponies. Everyone did such a phenomenal job with this show that the girls honestly feel like actual friends to me, and I am so happy to have been introduced to them. Their radiance and loving nature has never failed to motivate me beyond what I think I’m capable of, and I know for a fact that they will continue to do just that for the rest of my life. Truly, without this show and beautiful community, I would never have known the full value of loyalty, laughter, generosity, honesty, and kindness, or that friendships sustained on such values are absolutely magical. Thank you everybody, and everypony. -Tom P., a fan for life

I started watching the show late into the first season, and it couldn't have come at a better time. The show premiered shortly after I had graduated from college, a time when the job market had tanked after the recession. For the past 10 years, I've been struggling just to get by. I moved around a lot, trying out new jobs and living situations, but to this day, I'm still living on poverty wages and feeling like I'm fighting a hopeless battle just to get a full time job.

Through all my struggles, MLP:FiM has been a consistent source of comfort and joy for me. Watching the latest episode every week and seeing the artwork that followed has made me feel so happy, and has kept me pushing forward inspite of my fears of the future, my lingering doubts, and the times when I had to sacrifice my grocery budget just to pay rent. As news of a recession hits the news, I still push on regardless. I'm living in California now, which is already showing far better job prospects than I've ever had in the past. Hopefully, I'll finally achieve a livable wage. Until then, I will still have MLP: FiM and its fans to put a smile on my face.

My journey with this show began on February 17th 2011, when I was a wee child at age 9. I officially became a fan that day, albeit somewhat of a fake one. I don’t think I started religiously watching until sometime in November, but I knew of the characters and the general plot of the show. (side note: I actually had no idea who Rarity was at one point in time) MLP had become yet another side interest that was nothing compared to my main obsession at the time: Sonic the Hedgehog. Eventually sometime after Sonic Generations came out, I ditched that franchise for MLP. No rhyme or reason really, just kind of shifted gears.

My younger brother is my little clone, everything I get into, he gets into as well. He copies everything I do and that’s been somewhat of a blessing and a curse. Hand me down birthday and Christmas gifts are common in our house because of this very reason, and I’m extremely close with him because of how we bond over our shared interests, though sometimes he gets into stuff right as I dump it. When I grew out of Power Rangers at age 12 he became enthralled with it, but the one thing that’s never faded is our shared love for MLP. His very first episode was Sonic Rainboom, and as soon as Rainbow performed her namesake trick he was hooked. To this day he sleeps with a Rainbow Dash Build a Bear plushie, even though it’s 7 old and her hair is an absolute nightmare. I’ve tried to get him to swap it out with the 4DE Dash we have but he won’t budge, saying that the BaB version brings back memories.

Somehow I roped the rest of my immediate family into this mess, with many serious arguments going down in our house over characters. My mom is a Pinkie fan and my grandma is a Rarity fan, so we all kind of clash with each other. Originally my mom made fun of us for watching the show but she came around and watches it with us occasionally, and it’s become tradition that my grandma, my brother and I all watch premieres and finales together in our living room.

I have a lot of memories with this show, like the multiple times I’ve met fellow fans in public while wearing merchandise, the time I won best costume in 7th grade for wearing a Rainbow Dash hoodie on Halloween, and the mini Fighting is Magic tourney I set up in line waiting for a concert 2 years ago. But I feel as though the reason I’ve had such a deep connection with this show is it being the light in my life while going through the unimaginable.

When I was 11, I heard 3 words that changed my life forever: “You have cancer.”

Kind of a bombshell I know. I had osteosarcoma, which is a bone cancer that can spread to your lungs. It’s in most cases fatal, but we were able to catch it at a point where it hadn’t gotten to a stage, and as long as we surgically replaced the bone (my right knee) I’d survive and recover within about 5 years. A lot of people probably think it was a nightmare to go through, but to be honest, without MLP it most likely would have been. I was a regular visitor to my local hospitals pediatric inpatient ward, quickly becoming known as the boy who likes the pony show. Every time I would go in for chemo, I would have my room decorated in MLP memorabilia. Some of the nurses would get pony merch from Walmart to give for me while I went through these tough times which I very much appreciated. I remember one time I got a MLP trading card tin that was really cute and I used it as a lunchbox when I eventually went back to school, but within the first 4 hours of owning it I threw up on it. What a warm welcome.

I recall being able to be discharged for a weekend SPECIFICALLY so I could see Magical Mystery Cure live in my bedroom, because to 11 year old me that was probably the most important event that had happened in my lifetime up to that point, and probably the first and only political inauguration I will ever sit the whole way through. I also remember being discharged a few days before Twilight’s Kingdom aired so I could watch that since the hospital didn’t get the Hub (rip) and I also remember seeing Rainbow Rocks in theaters which was amazing and the last piece MLP media I can truly call a 10/10. MLP changed my life, and we could be here for days talking about all the positive things MLP has done for me, but this is already long as hell so I’m gonna wrap it up here because I’m rambling.

Without MLP, I don’t know where I would be right now. I’ve become a better person entirely from applying friendship lessons into my every day life, I’ve met literally my closest friends in the world from simply being a fan, I’ve met the love of my life through said friends, and without this show, I probably would have gone through the whole cancer ordeal bitter and cynical, but I’d say I was pretty optimistic and upbeat throughout the whole thing. This is getting really sappy but I’m gonna miss these girls. I’m gonna miss my other girls on the other side of the portal, and I’m gonna miss the people who made it great. And even though I’ve sidelined MLP for other franchises as of late (*coughcough*Love Live*cough*) it’s always been on my radar. There’s a good chunk of seasons 8 and 9 I haven’t seen but out of all my friends, I’m the one who still kept up with MLP. Because it’s done so much for me, and I don’t know how I’ll ever make up for it.

This might be my last post on EqD for good, so I just wanna give a thank you for the people who put up with my shit for damn near 5 years. I haven’t been active as much I know but I’m gonna miss starting drama with people in comments over stupid shit like the canonicity of Equestria Girls (you know who you are) and Twilight being an alicorn and how much I hate Starlight and blah blah blah my point is Friendship is Magic and I love you all uwu

Sincerely,

-Shimmersparkles :)

I can be honest here that this show caught me off guard with how quickly I liked it. Was bored one day and was going to watch one of the older generations of MLP then the first two episodes popped up in the search list. Watched them and quickly became a fan, thankfully not to many episodes in to season 1.
When I found the show I was going through very bad bouts of depression. This show, I can legitimately saved my life.
But thanks to this show I met many great friends and had so much fun at conventions.
Thank you MLP FiM! For the epic run and for all the friends I made.

My Little Pony has impacted me in a few ways. The first was in mood and attitude. When I first started watching the show, I was nearing the end of my time in Community college and I was a bit stressed about finding the university I would go to. MLP became my escape as I watched the first three seasons starting in late summer 2013 and finishing out in early winter 2013-14. Next, it inspired me to continue to be a content creator. I had been a fanfic writer in the other fandoms that I am in. The show inspired me to continue writing, mainly with assistance from a couple of friends. Lastly, it has given me nothing but joy and happiness since it entered my life. I love this show and I love this great fandom that we all call home.

Well, I never would have imagined that I would be sitting here typing this, and I haven’t even gotten all the way through the series. In fact, I’m only about to finish the 6th season with the friend who urged me to watch the show. I guess I’ll start from the beginning of it all. It was late May, and my junior year of high school was just about to finish. Summer was on its way, so naturally the discord vc’s were getting more and more lively. One friend, whom was a brony, had somehow managed to get me to watch the first season of MLP. My friend group had clowned on him for years at this point, and I was honestly pretty skeptical of the whole thing. Yet, I decided to give it a shot, I mean what did I have to lose. I went into the first season not expecting much. I mean, it was a little girl show, surely, I would never enjoy it. I would just have to power through the first season and then break it to him that I did not enjoy the show. And so, it started, and for the first few episodes; I was correct. It just seemed like a kid cartoon with juvenile humor. Until, a fateful episode hit. The 19th episode, A Dog and Pony show. We were nearing the end of the season and I had enjoyed some of the episodes, but nothing too spectacular. Yet, for some reason this episode latched onto me. I just found myself enjoying it, maybe too much. “Oh no”, I thought to myself, “I’m actually enjoying this”. We ended up finishing the first season, and I just thought that the second season couldn’t hurt too bad, my friend kept telling me it only got better. So, I watched the second season. Then, I found myself enjoying most of the episodes. It had caught me; I was now fully intrigued in this show. Pretty soon we finished season two, and I had managed to avoid all spoilers, which I had no idea that there were any. Then all the sudden, the season 3 finale rolled around. And oh boy, was I thrown for a loop. I actually physically went over to my friend’s house to go and watch these episodes, which I hadn’t done previously. It was pretty crazy, I don’t know when I became so fond of these animated horses, but that episode really hit me. I was truly enjoying the show, and I wanted to continue to watch more and more. Season 4 was phenomenal, I absolutely adored this season, every bit of it; from beginning to end. All the songs were great, and the episodes in general were just solid. The show was just ray of sunshine per say. It just made me happy to watch, and I was also great to be able to watch it with someone who was so fond of it. I’m pretty disappointed that I didn’t get into it sooner, but I’m still glad that I was able to get into it at all. The end of the show has come upon us, and it has hit my friend pretty hard, which I can find easy to understand. 9 years of involvement was now finished, he no longer was able to wake up on Saturday mornings to watch something that he loved oh so dear. I can’t help but say that I hope to feel just a sliver of that, but I know that I will never be able to relish the sheer magnitude of time and investment into the show. I am thankful of My Little Pony, it had definitely strengthened a friendship of mine, and it is just something that I plainly enjoy. I have no plans to stop watching the show, and am totally excited, yet scared to finish it. Again, thank you My Little Pony for doing so much for so many people, it is truly a blessing on this earth to achieve what you have. For a show to do so much, I once again, and finally, thank you.

How My Little Pony Impacted Me! It has had a very huge impact on me and if it wasn't for me getting into My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic I could very likely either be in jail or dead because of how I was before getting into the show. Beginning in 2002 right before I graduated elementry school I physically attacked and tried to murder my mom after multiple delays by kids in my neighborhood who were raised religiously and were ganging up on me in other words taking the law into their own hands. After that I began to attack my mom mentally after seeing that my being physical only brought attention. But by either the Spring or Summer of 2013 my mom had a appointment for a Colonoscopy which it didn't find anything cancerous but it did find that my mom had diverticulitis and some of it went into her bloodstream which flatlined her and they had to use the electric paddles to revive her. They did some quick investigation about her and besides her acid reflux she was a relatively healthy for a 66 year old person so they checked my record and they found out what I've been doing and to make a long story short if I made the wrong choice I wouldn't be here right now. And after seeing my mom practically unconscious what little good that was still in me regained control and for the first time in over a decade felt guilty for my actions. But at the same time all of that was happening I was watching my favorite internet critic The Nostalgia Critic and I saw his Son of the Mask review which had a reference to My Little Pony which brought back bad memories for me. As a toddler I had cable and I watched Nickelodeon and The Disney Channel along with The Disney Afternoon and one of the show's I saw was My Little Pony Tales which some of the voices from Friendship is Magic appeared in it like Kelly Sheridan and Cathy Wesluck was a music director for it but I thought it was way too girly and stereotypical. In the midst of my evil doings during between 2002 and 2013 i saw G3 My Little Pony and I don't think I have to say how I feel about it lol. So I was pretty upset that my favorite internet critic was referencing a franchise that I didn't like and at one point I considered to be a internet bully to bronies who watched the show but I decided against it. In the summer of the following year I saw Death Battle Starscream vs Rainbow Dash and after awhile I realized that Rainbow Dash was from the show but I only rooted for her because it's Starscream it's like rooting for Team Rocket Trio lol. But in on November 22nd 2014 on the day of The Magnificent Mile Lights Festival I saw the same Death Battle again and this time I was curious about why there were males my age watching My Little Pony it most be good for grown man to watch and enjoy it. So I watched it after learning who were involved in it which I learned that most of the people used to work on The Powerpuff Girls one of my favorite Hanna Barbara Cartoons from my childhood and I found out that I actually liked the show and eventually I became a brony. But How My Little Pony Impacted Me? Well being I got into the show during the longest hiatus the show had I was able to watch all of the episodes before Season 5 began and during that the show's positive morals and not being forced down my throat were having a positive impact on how I was as a person and eventually most of the darkness in my heart went away and I became more respectful towards my mom. Even my mom later on noticed that I had a personality turn 180 and even I noticed it because at the same time I got into the show I felt my evil side trying to regain control and I was fighting it because I wanted peace but at that point of time I felt inside myself and didn't feel any darkness in my heart and I eventually figured out that me getting into My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic helped me change my ways from bad to good just from watching a show that was made for kids. So if it wasn't for me getting into My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic who knows where I would be now. It might be in jail or dead but all I know is if it wasn't for the show I might not be here. So to all of the staff and voice actors and actresses I want to say thank you for making one of the best cartoons of recent years and for your involvement of creating the cartoon that helped change my life for the better.

Brian.

I'm not OK.

But this is also not a cry for help or comfort.

Dang it, I want to feel heartbroken! When good things come to an end, I think it's right to mourn their passing.

And I am. And I do.

If you know me at all, you are probably aware that I'm a big fan of the children's television show "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic." Well, after an astounding and unexpectedly successful 9 seasons, the show just aired its final episodes last night.

For the past few days, and especially the last 24 hours, I've been watching my social media feeds exploding with friends and fandom favorites telling stories about how much the show means to them, and how it changed and in some instances saved their lives. The overall message is one of gratitude toward the show's many talented creators and fans, and bittersweet optimism: Sadness that the show is officially over and the canonical stories of the characters are at an end, yet optimism that the fan community around this show will live on and perhaps even thrive in years to come (especially if this successful show is able to spawn successful spin-off series, which seems likely).

But right now... it's over. And by that I mean we won't see the same group of talented artists, animators, writers, editors, voice actors, composers, singers, musicians, directors or producers ever creating new adventures for Twilight Sparkle and her friends to go on; stories which have become the locus around which this entire community of fans has come together, over which they swoon, speculate and argue, and from which many of us have drawn lessons to refine our moral compasses, discover empathy and kindness, and in general become better humans. Friendship is Magic was never only just a show for kids. And yes, the things we learned and friendships we've made will endure. In a way, a good story is immortal...

Yet in another way... it really is over. And I feel sad.

I know this probably seems somewhat embarrassing and pathetic that I should mourn the ending of a children's TV show to some of you. And you're right: In today's world, where so much seems irredeemably wrong, where the lunatics are running the asylum and are likely to cause suffering for generations to come (if any of us even survive that long), where a cursory glance at the news screams about each day bringing new and ever worse horrors... THIS? This is what I'm sad about?

Well, yes. Part of the reason I have loved this show so much was because it was a place I could count on the good guys always winning in the end, and that no matter how bad things seemed, nothing truly terrible would prevail in the long run. Where most villians were simply hurt people that needed empathy and help, and that even if they passed up opportunities for reform, were at least never dehumanized or treated cruelly. And where the moral lessons weren't dumbed down, but refined to their essence and made clear... In a world that seems to have trouble deciding that Nazis are bad and that you shouldn't be one, Friendship is Magic is a refreshing breath of fresh air.

But it's also more than that: I've also had my life changed by this show. I discovered it at a time in my life where I was extremely burned out from being a non-stop work-a-holic as a coping mechanism for a divorce I had been trying to recover from for 5 years. I found renewed meaning in the messages of the show and wanted to do all I could to encourage others who also found meaning in it to come together and thrive.

And then doors began to open for me in ways I never could have predicted: I reconnected with friends I hadn't had contact with in over a decade who had independently discovered the show. I got to meet people like Teri Shikasho, Lauren Faust, M.A. Larsen, Michelle and Monique Creber and John de Lancie. And through John, I ended up meeting Michael Weisberg and going to the Galapagos with him and his crew, where I then met Ernesto and Fausto. And through this I discovered I loved to travel to new places and meet new people... which then led to friendships with Matt Harding, Matthew Inman, Michelle Lynn, ... and on and on.

And this doesn't even begin to cover all the people I've met in the local brony community, which make up the majority of the friends I now associate with regularly. Even my roommates Brian, Ethan, and Dustin I met through the fandom.

Heck, even my love of sailing and all the friends I've made through it stems from meeting John de Lancie. I heard his stories about his sailing adventures, and decided to give it a try myself. Since then I've sailed over a thousand miles, made dozens of new friends, and I'm now seriously contemplating a second career that involves sailing...

Perhaps most meaningfully, I got to meet several people in need and act the part of a savior of sorts. There are people alive today because I was able to do something to save them.

And this--all of this--never would have happened, were it not for this little show full of pastel-colored ponies with silly names and big hearts.

I have a debt of gratitude toward the show and its creators that I can only barely begin to express, and of which they will never even know the full extent.

So please forgive me if you think it's pathetic to be mourning the passing of a cartoon. I hope at least with this explanation, maybe you understand a little better why I am, and why I don't think it's pathetic.

I'll be OK tomorrow. Or maybe next week. But right now, I'm sad. And I guess that's OK.

SR Foxley

It all started in the spring of 2014. I remember asking God for help me make a better person. At the time, from a very early age, I wasn't a nice guy, I had aggression issue's that would cause me the people I cared for. When I asked for help, I believe that God answered me by introducing me to My Little Pony. One of me friends, who was a pegasister, was drawing characters from the show. My curiosity had peaked my interested and I started to ask who they were and other questions that came along with wanting to know. As time progressed, I decided to watch the Equestria Girls Movie. It took me three weeks to finish the movie, mainly because of the songs. When I finished the movie, I realized that I had enjoyed it, then I realized that I was a Brony. Over the years, I noticed that I started to act the ways the characters acted in the show, being more kind, generous, being more loyal to my friends and so forth. As I continued to watch the show, my life became better, as I opened my heart to the Magic of Friendship. I never really got into the community, simply because I don't really know where or who to talk to. I mainly just follow people in Instagram and like the photos they post, I would like to know, I just don't know where to go. My life has changed so much thanks to six fictional characters, but with out them, I don't know how thankful for My Little Pony for making my life so much better. Thank you everyone who has worked on the show, all the people who make thank the community what it is. Thank you everyone. Have a great day, and let the rainbow remind us, that together well will always shine.

I discovered My Little Pony in 2012 when I was nine. This was shortly parents went through a nasty divorce and I was all caught up in the crossfire. I'm not going into detail, but my dad was physically abusive to my mom, my sister, and I. It became an escape for my sister and I, though more so me. I could forget about all the bad things that were happening and just indulge in the bright colorful ponies presented before me. It became an obsession for me. I collected everything I could as long as it had the logo slapped across it, and I still have all my action figures, coloring books, and plushies! I made a lot of friends through the fandom and am still in touch with four of them. I met one of my absolute best friends on Wattpad when I was eleven, and he was by my side through thick and thin. He introduced me to two other people who I came to treasure dearly. When we lost him to suicide, we were at a loss. He was in some pretty dreary circumstances himself, and My Little Pony served as his escape too. I mourned his death with my friends online and we grew closer than ever, while also still bonding over the show. My real life best friend and I also bonded over My Little Pony, both of us having grown up in rougher households. I believe I learned a lot from my technicolor heros, from staying loyal when the going gets tough to standing up for myself and my friends no matter what. It's made me more confident in my abilities and has given me a creative outlet to express myself. The community has never been anything but positive for me, and I don't know where I'd be without it. Thank you, My Little Pony, for being here for me for so many years.

How a Simple Cartoon Show was a Bright Light in the Darkness

This is probably gonna be quite long. I like writing, and I feel good about sharing the long history I have had with this show. On some level, I feel like I owe it to this show for how important it was in my life, as I've come to realize when looking back on it.

I was 16 at the time, and it was sometime around June of 2011, shortly after school was out for summer. I had around 3 months until classes started again on September. My parents had been in a pretty severe car accident 4 years before, and while my dad had recovered after a couple of weeks with no lasting issues, my mom was affected much more severely: she had been in a coma for months after the accident, took years of rehabilitation to be able to do stuff on her own again, and had her personality change pretty drastically because of brain trauma. At that time, she had recovered enough to be mostly independent, but by then it was pretty much a daily routine for my parents to argue pretty loudly about something (anything) because of how easily my mom could lose her cool about the smallest things. Naturally, this constant volatility of emotions made everyone who was living there also become irritable themselves, which made it a constant pain to live in that home.

At school, I had lost many of the people I used to consider friends in my earlier years of middle school, and could no longer say I had anyone I got along with at all there. All that wasn't a mess about school is I still managed to have good grades. My sister still lived at home, but she was already pretty serious in her relationship and I didn't get to interact much with her as we had when we were younger. My cousin, who I consider one of my best friends and who I had used to hang out with daily, especially during vacations, was pretty busy now that he had started college last year, and so he was pretty absent from my life too. In other words, it was a time of feeling completely alone and like I had no one to be with at all. In fact, in retrospect, I was living in a constant state of depression I wasn't even aware of because of how slowly it had settled in and how used to it I had become. It's kinda funny how easily you can get used to it, how easily you can forget that you are capable of feeling emotions at all, and to think your state of being is just how life has always been. Everything, even your memories of better times, are dulled and made gray.

So, one night in that month of June 2011, while I'm browsing the internet, I once again come by someone talking about those ponies everyone seems to be losing their minds about (I say once again because the internet was going so crazy over this show one way or another that it was impossible to avoid seeing people talking about it every once in a while, even in communities not made for it). At the time, I still had a really hard time understanding how people could like a show like My Little Pony, and how it had managed to explode so noticeably in popularity. But hey, I had nothing else to do at that moment more than ever, and I had the idea that it couldn't hurt to give it a try, if nothing else so I could criticize it and say why I disliked it with some basis behind my opinions. I find a website (YouTube? It's faded from my memory now) where I can watch the first episode of the only season at the time (Season 1). I go in with mixed expectations from the very start. By then, I've seen some fan content about MLP around the internet that looked really good and made me think there had to be something special about the show, but at the same time I couldn't shake the feeling that it was a big temporary fad that people were pretending to like or would die off in no longer than a month or two.

Immediately as the episode starts, there's something about Twilight choosing her studies over hanging out with friends that clicks with me. Back then, I rationalized my lack of friends by telling myself that I did not want friends, so there's obviously something relatable to be found in her for me. The very light-hearted tone and pastel colors of the show also reminds me a lot of the cartoons I used to watch when I was a kid, so I'm hooked quite quickly into the episode and keep watching. When Twilight starts meeting the rest of the Mane 6, I can also appreciate how very well developed and different each of their personalities are, something I did not expect from a show like MLP at all. I find even the smallest thing to like about every one of them one way or another, which further helps me realize why everyone likes this show so much. So on I go, watching the rest of the first episode, and immediately as it ends, I am craving for the second episode. I start watching that one too, and by the time Twilight finds the element of Magic against Nightmare Moon, I'm experiencing some serious joy and happiness. The rest of that second episode is, of course, just more heartwarming moments, like Twilight asking to live in Ponyville to stay around her friends, which only helps me rediscover those emotions even further.

Finally, the episode ends, and I know I'm completely hooked. I decide not to watch the third episode that night in order to give myself a bit of time to process the emotions I hadn't felt in a long while, and also to make that experience last as long as possible over the upcoming weeks where I'd have a lot of free time. I mean, if the first two episodes did all that for me, surely the rest of the season would allow me to keep rediscovering my emotions and hang on to them in the process? Fortunately, that's just how it went. Over the next weeks, I'm watching the episodes as often as possible to get back that high of emotions that makes things feel better temporarily, but also as sparingly as I can help it so I don't go through it too quickly. I wanted that high to last.

During that time, I also realize what I had been missing on with the fandom, and use the time I am not investing into watching episodes to interact with other bronies or just surf content about the show, all while trying to spoil myself as little as possible the episodes I haven't watched yet. My god, the whole thing felt like I had discovered a whole universe separate from ours. 26 episodes overall, so much fan content to sort through, so many people to talk to about this, so many people to tell about this great show and get them interested into as well. The whole thing was a great way to escape away from my reality, which I slowly started realizing was actually really awful. The sharp contrast between this candy-colored world that's full of positivity and good feelings, just like the bronies who are into this show and who by then I've talked to many times, compared to what I was going through in my life being akin to a black and white movie with a raining cloud on top of it, made me realize just how different things could be, and that there was more to the life I had become used to.

I would still go on for a year living with all those feelings of loneliness and hopelessness that would come back to me whenever I wasn't distracted by anything related to MLP. During that whole year, with me now being able to follow Season 2 week after week every Saturday, this show and its fandom, together with its massive amount of content, was the sole thin thread that was managing to keep me tied to any positive feelings at all. I was pretty emotionally unstable still - if for some reason I couldn't get my fix of ponies on a given day, I'd find myself going back to the void of depression where everything about my life was a mess barely worth going through, if at all.

In August 2012, my dad realized just how much the whole situation at home was affecting me, and found a way to move out and take me with him. My mom got to stay where we lived previously, with professional care hired so they could take care of the few things she still needed others to help her with. My dad was still willing to take care of her despite the situation he had to put up with daily, but he also knew I couldn't move out to live alone yet, nor could he keep me there longer and risk my mental state becoming even worse, and my sister wasn't able to take care of my mom too well on her own either, so he decided it was better that we move away.

Living only with my dad now, with the atmosphere of constant conflict and arguing gone, I would, very slowly, go on to recover mentally and psychologically, while still having the show and its fandom to help me through the moments where I was at risk of falling back into instability. During my last year of high school now, I'd go on to make some new friends. I'd go on to discover that I could be open about my liking of MLP and that these friends were real friends, who wouldn't abandon me just because I liked a cartoon show about ponies, discovering that having the confidence to be honest about who you are and what you like allows you to find much more honest relationships than just trying to fit in with others. I'd go on to slowly open myself up as a person to both my family and friends and become much more emotionally stable, and interact with them in much more healthy ways. I'd manage to go study college for one year in another country because I was now able to handle myself on my own. All of this by 2013, I had also made online friends, and got to participate for the first time in a competitive team for an online game with these great people I met thanks to the show providing the means for me to do it, and who helped me further realize how many things I could enjoy about life and how capable I was of making friends wherever I went because I was much more psychologically well than I had been for a long time before.

It would still be many years after that until I could finally say, with confidence, that I was a human being living a relatively normal life, going through healthy life experiences, experiencing emotions as I always should have, having now a much more healthy relationship with my mom (who actually got better over time too and stopped needing help from others), and someone who could handle the daily, small problems that come up in life without breaking apart easily. I had my highs and lows still by 2014 and 2015, but I always had this show to fall back on when needed, and to progressively prop myself up with further and further. And it was all thanks to this show and everything that came together with it that I managed to reach this state of relative happiness. Would I have been able to achieve the same feat if I had never found this show? Perhaps so, but I'm convinced it would have been a much slower process. Perhaps never finding it and still living in that state of constant depression would have eventually made me take my own life, in fact. One way or another, it's impossible for me to deny just how influential it was that this show came to my life at a time I needed something like it the most.

I am 24 now, and I watched the finale on October 12th. At the time, I felt a bit sad that it was over, but I wasn't anywhere as sad as I expected to be. It was on Monday, October 14th, when it really hit me how much I've been through with this show, how much I relied on it through the worst, and how well it made me feel happy through the best. When that happened, I suddenly had the need to cry it all out. I cried both of sadness for the show ending, but also of happiness for feeling like I had finally gotten closure for all the stuff I had to live through back in the day when I first found this show. Finally, I had a clearly-cut moment where I was able to let go of the me that had lived through the worst time of my whole life, the me who I hated for living through constant suffering without even realizing it, and it was all thanks to the show's ending giving me that moment of realization. It's amazing that after so much time, the finale of this show still managed to give me one last thing to help me improve, especially with making my past experiences I talked about here much less painful to look back on than it was before.

Anyway, that's my story of just how much this show impacted my life. It's amazing looking back on the whole thing. The show itself may now be gone, but I can still rewatch its episodes any time I may want or feel like I need to, and the fandom is still here, all of who also helped a lot during those rough times, sometimes willingly whenever I opened myself up to someone, but often times just by the fact that they were there to be someone to talk to in a kind, friendly environment. I'm sure I will stay with it for the many, many years to come, just as sure as I am that the fandom will still keep helping me grow even further.

I love this show, and I love its fans. Thank you to Lauren Faust and everyone who worked on it, and thank you to everyone who liked it enough to create content about it or just talk about it to others over the internet. Without any of you, my life would be much different, and I'd bet it'd be in a much worse state, than how it is now. I hope anyone who is going through their own rough moments in life gets to find something like this that helps them overcome those moments, so they can come out on the other side a better, happier person, like My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic made me.

I discovered MLP through /co/ when I moved away from home to start college at age 22 (2010).

Back then I honestly was alot like Twilight at the start of Season 1. I didn´t have many friends and was really unhappy with myself and the world.

In the following years I met a circle of wonderful friends and grew as a person and through all these changes the show was always there, through hardships, bouts of depression and triumph. I could always take a short break from real life in Equestria.

The show and community made me laugh, made me cry and made me reflect on myself as a person. It shaped me.

Now it´s 2019:

I´m 31 and living with my wonderful girlfriend, that I met indirectly through MLP since it inspired me to get into tabletop RPGs. I even got her into the series and she has begun making pony plushies.

When we attended Galacon this year (my first con) I finally realized how important MLP and the fandom are to me. I was so happy to meet the VAs and to sing songs with strangers, it was truly magical. It was like coming home after a long time.

Afterwards I felt like I could do anything!

So Thank you!

Thanks you to Lauren Faust, all the writers, the animators, Daniel Ingram (love your work!), Thanks(!) M.A. Larson and all the others who helped make the show possible.

Thank you to EQD, all the Con-staff at Galacon, to the talented musicians and animators, the fan artists and cosplayers. You make this fandom so wonderful!

And finally thanks to all of you reading this: The bronies who won´t quit, the anons of /mlp/ who were on the ride till the end, all you people!

It wouldn´t have been half as fun without you!

"My little pony" helped me during the difficult time of my depression.
Twilight taught me how to be confident. Pinkie Pie taught me how to respond to certain situations with positive emotions, and not negative ones. And Fluttershy helped me remember my forgotten skill - be able to find a common language with some "difficult persons".
I always been honest, generous and loyal. And I'm grateful to "My little pony" for being able to return my magic, kindness, and laughter back to me.

My Little Pony in My Little Life

My Little Pony was the first time I was heavily invested in a fandom.

I had been in many fandoms before, still in some now, but the real draw for the brony community was the community itself.

When I was in high school, having little siblings was a great excuse to continue watching all the cartoons I wanted. Not that I wanted to “be cool” or anything for not watching cartoons for myself, but I really didn’t want to stand out to anybody for any reason. My personality was a Fluttershy mixed with a Twilight Sparkle while I was in school.

And My Little Pony didn’t change that. I’m still more those two in public and a mix of Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Rarity at home and with close friends.

The brony community, however, helped me expand my horizons when it came to my hobbies. It gives me an outlet, encourages me to pursue art and writing and song. It means I know there is an active and vocal group out there with the same interest and even greater passion for their own pursuits.

The first two seasons for me was a Netflix binge with my siblings in the first weeks of summer. The same could be said of many a show. If it was just the show alone, we wouldn’t be here today. The fandom brings so much variety for everyone. I’ve seen testimonies of people who were hooked by the memes or YTP; I was hooked in by the fan made computer games, like Gem Hunt, Minty Fresh Adventure, Story of the Blanks, and Daring Do The Game. Some were hooked by the animation and cute art style of the show; I was hooked by the music from the show and then the amazing music and animation from the many individuals that have come and gone on YouTube. If it wasn’t for the incredible world built in and out of the canon, I still wouldn’t have finished writing any work beyond a few thousand words, just adding to my box of scrap writings, but now I have a few novella fanfictions and more on the way. If it hadn’t been for the community and fan base and encouragement for the staff to continue, I wouldn’t have had My Little Pony as a way to help break the ice with my now significant other

The show lasted me through the hard years of transitioning to adulthood through high school and college, where having something steady and constant can make all the difference. I can only imagine what it was like for all these preteens and high schoolers now who say it was there for their entire childhood, another critical time in our lives.

The show as we knew it may have died (almost) but as long as the community lives I know that there will always be an online place I can call home.

Because no matter how much fandom drama goes on and no matter where our lives take us, down at our roots is the same country town of Ponyville, which no Canterlot can ever make us forget.

-ManyNamesMare24

Dear Princess Celestia,
My name is Sprite. I'm a young adult who started watching the Friendship is Magic series during the 2011 hiatus, post season 1. Watching ponies has had quite the influence on my life, lending to learning a lot about myself, and meeting many new people.
Back in 2011, I had a lot of issues I was dealing with. Parental, family, friend, and peer issues. I was at the end of my rope near exam time with constant fighting against my family. I was forced to move out of my mother's home, and back into my father's for the summer due to how intense the fights were getting. My best friend at the time knew how deep I was into depression. I wasn't able the handle the problems I was facing, and was considering suicide.
Instead of letting me go through with it, my friend instead asked me to watch Friendship is Magic with him to test the waters and take my mind off of everything. I wasn't opposed to it, as I had enjoyed other feminine shows in the past (Mew Mew Power, Atomic Betty, and a few others.) That night we watched the first few episodes and we got hooked. Over the course of a few weeks, I'd quickly be introduced to all of Season 1, watch a bit of the first generation, and start to socialize with other fans.
This led me to discover massive websites like Equestria Daily and Celestia Radio. During my down times, I often frequented these sites to look at art and musical content. As time rolled by, I expanded further and further, out to the likes of Flankbook and Ponysquare/Bronysquare. It was on Flankbook that I found another best friend of mine, Dark. Dark and I sort of had a tug and pull relationship to one another, where we would often support one another. This support was something I was massively lacking within my own life, and he's stuck by me ever since.
During this time of watching Season 1 re-runs, I also began designing my OC and picking a favorite pony. At first, I had picked Applejack as my favorite, and Trixie was undoubtedly my least favorite. However, after re-watching Boast Busters, my brain began to churn. Thoughts and theories began circulating as it dissected Trixie's character until it made the realization that she wasn't so much different than me. During times that I had to be stuck around my peers, none of them ever actually got to know me. I always carried an alternate persona to protect me from what the others have proven able to do to hurt me. Trixie's boastful stage persona was actually what she used to hide the fact that she was alone and afraid/upset. Figuring this out led to me clinging onto her as a character, and holding her close as my all time favorite pony.
During the summer of 2011, I had taken my chances with some merchandise. I first got a brushable Applejack and a pony puzzle. Looking around online I found two keychains -- A Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie. I felt that they were rare, so I grabbed them before anyone else could. To this day, I still have them and wear them around my neck. They hold all of my memories from my time during the Friendship is Magic era, and I would never sell them off for even the world's biggest riches.
The next year I was stabbed in the back by a good friend of mine. They had opened up to a bunch of others about some secrets of mine. As a result, they had caused a mob to swarm after me online and proceed to harass me for a few days. This was the first time that I had learned that I had no place within any sort of community. It was a very depressing time for me. With the support of my friends, I soldiered on.
In 2013 was a few different significant times during the era of ponies. The first was my first long-term distance relationship. My previous long-term relationship didn't end very smoothly and left some scars on me, making me cautious and hesitant to engage with someone else again. We shared many interests, ponies included, and would spend a lot of time talking or playing together. The second major event was the end of Season 3, the crowning of Twilight. Watching this felt like the end of the series and internally made me feel like I was about to lose everything I had built up. All of my friends, all of my gaming partners, my current distance partner... I was in a panic. It took a few days for me to calm down from all of the crying, but I eventually leveled out thanks to the support of the friends I had made through ponies.
2014 was the year I decided to become an artist. I'm still not that good by any stretch of means, but I try. I was bored with life in general, and needed something to stimulate myself. At this point, I had given up on my dreams of becoming a professional eSports player. (I had been trying in Starcraft II and DotA 2 for many years.) Because I was in such a rut, I decided to just give art a try. Of course, I was terrible, but over time I get better. I even had another artist host a commission stream to earn funds to buy me a tablet to use. To this day, I'm still an artist, and I still have (and use) the original tablet that was gifted to me.
2015 was the first year I got to attend a convention. It was also the year that I first traveled on my own to anywhere a long distance away. My partner and I were ready to meet one another, or so we thought, and we planned around sharing a hotel room for the convention. Crystal Mountain Pony Con was.. Quite something. I struggled a bit during the event due to anxiety and medications (which I thought was just side effects of a medication I was taking, but later on in life I realized they were actually a mix.) When possible, I roamed the areas, attending some panels, talking with people, and having a general good time. I even invested into a Trixie cosplay to wear! I attended my first rave and had such a good time in my life that I made myself sick from pure exhaustion.
However, not everything was good. My partner didn't show up, and blamed their parents. It was quite the blow to me, having to spend so much money when I'm so poor, just to not have the highlight of the trip show up. After this devastating blow, I had to hang my head in shame and return home with the bad news. A month later, my partner confessed to not wanting to meet me, and that they didn't really care how I felt. We broke up that day.
Time went on and I recovered. Through my art I met more and more people. People came and people went, most of them didn't matter. Through my art, however, I met another best friend of mine, and my current partner. Late 2016 saw the emergence of my current partner. We lightly spoke back and forth with one another for a few months. Eventually we decided to give dating a shot. Though we've had our share of issues, we're still together today. We have even met once in person for a short time.
Now, we come to this day. Season 9 has finished, and Friendship is Magic is over. Finito. Done. I had always been dreading this day, deep down. I knew that once the series was over, I would be very upset. As the final song of the series start, the liquid pride began rolling. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't stop it. The end of a series that I followed faithfully for eight years was now over. The show that saved my life and gave me so much is gone. It was painful. My heart ached and my brain pounded. Even to this day, I still feel the depressive emotions gnawing at the back of my mind over this. Eight years of ponies, eight years of friends coming and going, with a few remaining faithful to me. Eight years of having something to wake up to the in the morning and reminding me that the next bit of ponies was just around the corner. Numerous hiatuses putting all of us on edge as we anticipated the next episode... And I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.
Friendship is Magic isn't "just a show" to me. It was the show that saved my life numerous times, gave me the close friends that I couldn't be without today, and gave me the will to keep living and keep creating for others. It may not have cured me of my issues, and it may not have solved all the problems in my life, but it gave me the love and support that I feed on from a day to day basis to continue living, and taught me that giving kindness and affection to make someone close to you smile is better than being a closed in, angsty grump that no one would enjoy being around.

Your faithful student,
Sprite

P.S. Trixie is still best pony.

First of all, the media. Thanks to the daily flood of art, music, animations, books, crafts, and other creations, I discovered many amazing people that make them. I started caring for art, started reading more books, even finally discovered what poetry is. I found out that I really love music. And not in a healthy way. You know how some people collect plushies, comics, and other things...? Of course you know. Well I collect music. Right now I'm pretty proud of my offline music library containing around 450 hours of music (140 of which is fandom music). I started buying music online - first only fandom music, then just music in general. Sometimes I even paid for albums that were free to download, just to support artists. This is something I would've never done before.

I learned countless "friendship lessons", which often changed my attitude towards life, or made me think about some things differently. For example I became more open to trying new stuff. Big example is music. Once i wouldn't even consider checking out artists who had 50 subscribers on youtube. But thanks to music posts on EQD, I did that, and some of my favorite tunes and artists were discovered that way.

I learned how to do vector graphics during Artist Tranining Grounds 2016, which then led me to join EAST Corp as a background artist. I ended up doing many drawings for Confessions of a Wasteland Pony and other projects (in fact I'm working on one right now).

I became a part of the Wiki community. One day I was just playing some Fallout Equestria: Remains and made a small change to one page on its wiki. That particular wiki needed some serious work, so I became a regular editor there. Then an admin. I also joined few more wikis and contributed there (not as much as at Remains though). One of them was Fallout Equestria wiki, where I started the grand job of writing a detailed Project Horizons summary. Side effect of all that writing is that my written English has improved a lot.

I joined Folding@Home project (now position 214 in Brony@Home team ranking).

I know most people in this fandom made a ton of friends along the way, but it wasn't the case for me. I'm just not a very social person; I rarely engage in conversations online. The only person I semi-regurailly chatted with was SkyBolt. But it's still progress, before joining fandom i never talked to "strangers" online, period. I'm still working on it. In fact I finally decided to make a disqus account a few days ago. But I participated in events like Artist Training Grounds, Ponies Around the World, made art and posted it for everyone to see, contributed to wiki... This is stuff I neved did before joining the fandom.

This was the first big community I was a part of. I'm happy I contributed a bit, even if very little. And even though the show ended, I don't plan to leave anytime soon.

sancho

MLP came in the right time for me.
I was really uninspired in life in general, being unemployed and having recently started to write a novel, I needed a reason to go on; enter MLP with "The Stare Master", and it was something special.
Since then, I have watched every episode, movie, special and short at least twice, but I watched them like no other TV show before. It inspired me to know more about everything: the fan songs introduced me to more music genres, fanfics presented me a whole world of books and plays, fanarts so awesome that I had to create Pinterest so I can build my own gallery with that beautiful art.
However, I think the most amazing thing about discovering MLP is that it helped to make my dream come true, by being the main subject of an essay I wrote in 2017, then getting published. It felt so satisfying, and to this day, it's what keeps me going.
MLP just feels right, like it's what I'm meant to do, like it was waiting for me, it was worth every day.

AKA Sweet Tooth

Prior to watching MLP I had often suffered through periodic episodes of depression to the point that it was a recurrent theme in my life. The first year that I began watching the show (2012) was one of the happiest of my life. Even today, seven years later, there is no equal to it. When 2012 started a stressful situation that had lasted for two years had finally come to an end. Having a peaceful year made going through all of that stress worth it, not as a reward, but more like the opening of a new chapter in my life.

The other part of how this show has impacted my life would be socialization. I first began attending meetups in 2014, prior to this I had not interacted with other people that much. Although I was initially shy at my first meetup and didn’t really talk to anyone eventually I grew out of my shell. The meetup that I used to attend has since fallen apart (I moved out of state looking for work) although I do still socialize with other people, both inside and outside of the brony fandom.

I remember it so well: it was the spring 2017 semester and the first day of a video art class I had signed up for. I arrived early as was my usual practice. There was a guy already there and we got to talking. From the start, we hit it off so well. Just one semester earlier, I had discovered My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and instantly became a fan. Thinking of how Twilight had found friends in Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie, I knew that I had my friendship to offer to my fellow classmate. By the end of the semester, we were the best of friends and have been friends since. As I watched Friendship is Magic, it didn’t take me long to learn something from the friendship lessons. These are lessons we learn when we’re young, but oftentimes forget as we grow up. We need these reminders every now and then no matter how old we are. My Little Pony has helped me to see the world in a new light and in a deeper, more meaningful way, and to recognize the Elements of Harmony in my own friends both old and new. A lot of this we maybe take for granted at times, but My Little Pony has helped me to take a second look around and has shown me aspects in life to which I was blind before. I see my friends in a whole new light: recognizing and embracing the love they give me and bring out within me, how we’ve stuck together through the good times and the bad times. They’ve always had my back whether I’m Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde and I’ll always have their backs, too. There’s just so much I could write about! In short, My Little Pony has helped me to open my eyes and my heart. With that said, here’s to friendship! I would like to offer a big thank you to all of my friends and family. We got this together!

To my friends, to my family, and to My Little Pony, thank you and may Harmony abound!

JMH “The Cosmic Cowpony”

Although my personal journey with My Little Pony started back in 2013, you could say that my story goes back to as far as the middle of 2012. It was less than a year after I had graduated from College and I had no means of getting in contact with the friends I knew growing up. At the time, I was pretty much on my own that year since my old friends had gone their separate ways after high school and I never really had any personal friendships with anyone during my time in College. Also during that year, I started hearing bits and pieces about MLP having a cult following online and the term known as "bronies" was spreading around like a wildfire. Back then, I basically found it to be rather weird and just shrugged it off and kept going with my life.

Fast forward to about a year later during the Summer of 2013. It was during the hiatus between Seasons 3 and 4 and the first Equestria Girls movie already had its limited theatrical run. During that same Summer, I started to become genuinely curious about the show and the fandom it had, so I began researching about it online. It wasn't long afterwards that I discovered a YouTube video from PaleoSteno (To Paleo: On the off-chance that you somehow come across this post, I just wanna say thank you) about why the show was so good and why I should give it a chance. After I finished watching said video, it wasn't long afterwards that I started watching some fan-made pony content before finally taking the plunge into watching the show itself. The first episode that I managed to catch on TV was "A Dog and Pony Show" and I remember actually enjoying myself as I watched it. Ergo, shortly after, I went back and started watching the series from the very beginning and little did I know that I would officially be in it for the long haul and that becoming a member of the herd would change my life forever.

The way that My Little Pony has impacted me in the six years that I've been both a fan of the series and as a member of the brony fandom is that even in troubled times, there's still good people out there in the world that want to make a positive difference in other people's lives and that it's never truly too late to make friends that are both near and far. If it weren't for the show, I wouldn't be here today having made this many friends, my faith in humanity wouldn't have been restored, and I wouldn't have been as social as I am now. Even though the show is officially over, the last episode taught myself and everyone else that even though the fandom will continue to live on for years to come, it's up to each of us to maintain the friendships that we've made over the years thanks to this show. I still am thankful that the lessons that our favorite characters have learned over the past nine years have been taken to heart both by myself and many fans around the world and were put to use in order to better ourselves in real life. With all of that said, no matter the size of the part I have played, I will always be forever grateful to have been a part of all of this and I wouldn't trade it away for anything else in the world. Thank you, My Little Pony. Friendship is and always will be magic.

Ever since i became a brony between the hiatus from the 1st season towards the 2nd. I immersed myself into a world i would never have expected to be this big and amazing, i remember the when the first pony images i saw caught my attention on some meme websites, where some screenshots from the show were captioned to some funny situations, though i barely remember those now, there are many things that i remembered from the show.

When strangely (and like many people) i decided to watch the first episode, i was quite doubting myself if i should go into a girl's show, where colored cartoon horses and rainbows were the main focus with sprinkled colored cakes and songs about friendship, definitely not a scene i expected myself getting into, and as soon as the 1st episode ended, i was left with only one thought: i wanted more.

My little pony was just another brand for me, i remember back in my childhood where there were 2 competing brands (at least on my head). Mattel and Hasbro, and since Hot wheels belonged to Mattel, i didn't cared at all about what hasbro released, i was not into transformers or whatever other toys they were releasing, however i remember (in blurry memories) about the my little pony commercials, some of my female partners in school had them and i just didn't cared, it was just a brand that never crossed my mind and i barely gave any attention towards it.

Besides the documentaries about bronies and some other history i learned more about later; i remember ponies being quite unappealing, some sort of fat horses with small eyes and covered in typical cliches about everything being awesome and good. Of course i cannot bash the previous generations for if it weren't for them, there would be no friendship is magic, however when i started looking at the newest generation created by Lauren Faust, ponies were appealing, i was engaged in the show, i was looking forward every saturado for a new episode, i was rewatching the songs and singing-along (despite me hating musicals), and most importantly, i was getting involved into somewhere i could be accepted.

When i finished season 1, i was in awe, ponies were no longer this girly thing i used to frown upon, nor it was the typical "girly" show where tea parties and dresses were the peak point. There was emotional development, each character had defining traits that made them stand out from each other, i was feeling identified with many aspects of them, overcoming many fears and anxieties from scenes of my past, loving these ponies made me overcome many aspects of myself.

Around a year before Friendship is magic came out, i was on my last year of high school, i was going through some major depressive moments of my life and i even attempted to kill myself at some point, wondering if life even had a meaning, through some psychologists and some psychiatrists, i managed to overcome my problems and move along, however, there was still a feeling of a meaningless void inside me, i was at a point where i wanted to carry on, but i had no idea where, and that's where i was diagnosed with Aspergers.

For those that have no idea, Asperger is a syndrome where an individual has trouble communicating with others, has deep interests in a single topic and has very few friends, is quite introverted, and spends most of his time in a "solitary shell". I had many of these aspects in my life, i was bullied almost to death in my previous years and my social skills were really really low, and then, my little pony came out.

As many people know, every episode (specially the first ones) dealt with how to behave and act with many friendship problems throughout many distinct situations, really deepening into many complex dialogue, friendship problems, dealing with distinct reactions and each pony having its own problems, ideas, thoughts and motivations.

Friendship is magic has helped me learn how to react in social situations, how to deal with some problems and how to overcome minor and major difficulties in life. You may have no idea how many times i sang-along the Smile song from Pinkie Pie to ease my anxieties and calm down my nerves, always knowing that no matter the problem, i would always be able to carry on.

As the episodes moved on, i got in touch with the community, talked to people in forums, joined discords, role-played as my favorite ponies, i had my ups and downs with the series. I went to the cinemas to watch all the equestria girls movies so excited to see if my favorite pony would appear in it.

When i told my family that i liked my little pony, i was really worried that they would react in the same way as if i were coming out as gay (which i'm not). However they didn't seemed to be bothered with it and actually enjoyed seeing me this happy with the series. When the news reached beyond my nuclear family i was surprised to see the entire support i got from liking something that is seen as "girly". My sister and mother gave me some good pony figurines for my birthday and christmas. My aunt gave me a build-a-bear Rainbow Dash with her gala gown and i absolutely love it! She also gave me a pillow and some play-doh figurines among other stuff. My father, was raised as a very conservative person, and despite him not agreeing with many of today's ideology, brings me comics every week! By Celestia i love how my family has supported me with my love for ponies.

Comics are amazing, i gotta thank every person behind the comics, for the excellent style and amazing stories, i love reading those great pages filled with thrilling emotions, exciting finales and epic climaxes.

Show had its ups and downs, i remember the chaos alicorn Twilight Sparkle created, i remember the problems with Equestria Girls, many left the show with Starlight Glimmer too! but it didn't mattered to me, i wanted to keep on going with the show and i'm still standing with it until the very end...

Ever since saw her, and just like many people like to do, i chose my Waifu. I really really like Octavia and pretty much in many communities i have entered, they have supported me in pairing me with her. I know it's quite pathetic in liking (and loving) a fictional character, but i gotta thank everyone for accepting her as my Waifu.

And now the tears are about to come. When i read that season 9 was gonna be the end, my brain just denied it… i didn't wanted it to end, not the show that helped me grow! not the show that made me realize how many good things in life are out there! i just didn't wanted to… and here i am, waiting for the ending over morrow.

I haven't seen the last episode of course, but my mind pictured it like every single pony saying goodbye and thanks for all the memories… Every single one gazing into the camera and saying a big thank you, before they all faded into obscurity while the book from the very beginning closed and the final credits started rolling.

Of course i'm pretty sure the ending will be quite different, however i cannot bear myself staring at the final credits, just by thinking about it, tears start rolling down my cheeks, i don't want it to end, however, and as many people have told me, all good things must come to an end, and we don't want the series to roll into a bad series if these continue.

I will cry like never before, and i wanna make sure that if you also cry, that if you're desolate, you're not alone, i will be there along for the ride and if you even wanna talk, i'll be there for you.

I never was somebody that could have helped the community, i see every day so many posts about drawings, comics, fanfics, music, dubs, etc. And here i am, a nobody who never managed to give anything back to this amazing community. i always lurked, casually talked to other bronies but never went to any convention nor ever knew another brony IRL. This are just a big thanks and hug from a Brony that never did anything but just enjoy the show.

I wanna thank the staff behind the show, i managed to talk to them a few times via Twitter, even had Megan Mc Carthy as a friend in the game loft app! (before i was banned) They sure did an amazing work with everybody, trying to please all the community while making a good show is no easy task and definitely something to be proud of.

I wanna thank the staff behind the comics, for their amazing stories, their crazy plots and just incredible lessons about life and friendship.

I wanna thank all the amazing community for all the support, all the fan made content, the music, the images, the inspiration, just about everything…

But i wanna thank a special person above them all… YOU!

But you already thanked the community you might be saying

I wanna thank you, for reading this, for helping this amazing show grow no matter what, if you watched the show, you helped it, you helped the bronies and you helped yourself becoming a better person. So i definitely wanna thank you for all this time, for all the laughs, the tears, the hugs, the lessons in friendship and everything that is yet to come…

Remember, after all, we got this together...

In addition to being a great show with an incredible fandom, Friendship is Magic introduced me to a wonderful group of friends and one of the loves of my life.

I got into watching FiM early on in season 1. Way back in 2010 I was browsing 4chan's cartoon message board. After seeing a few forum threads I watched the first four episodes on YouTube and was immediately hooked. I hopped on board the pony train for the premiere of episode five and have been riding it ever since.

Partway through season 2 I heard about Equestria Daily. I started keeping up with it religiously. One day I was looking through the Nightly Roundup and saw there was a brony group in my city looking for members. I could not ignore such serendipity, so I joined their Facebook Group and pretty soon I was heading for a meetup to talk, paint and watch the premiere of season 2 episode 20, It's About Time.

I spent some time talking with the woman who organized the event and found we had a lot in common. We met at more meetups and started to hang out together. That summer in 2012 we took a road trip up to New York City with some other group members and went to BronyCon. (It was nice to get to meet you, Sethisto.)

Long story short, both I and my fiancée ended up falling in love with her. Now nearly eight years later we just bought a house together and are enjoying our shared life.

-Eric

When I discovered this show, I was in a very bad state of my life. Meaning I was about to end my life, I've got bullied and humiliated so much, and I had enough. But out of nowhere, this show came. I kinda felt weird because of watching such things, but I couldn't help it, it was so amazing. First the nice animation, the lovely characters and it's overall feeling was the main reason I started watching it. But later, as I carried on with the show, it started to mean something more. And it turned out to be my savior, because this show literally saved my life. Gave me direction, showed me a new path to follow, and now here I am. Five or six years later, learned so much of a show made for kids, being a 22 year old guy who wants to share this magic with the world. And I'm following my new way of life, to be the change, I want to see in the world. This is my goal, and I wouldn't have found it without MLP. Thank you my little ponies, for everything you've done for me. I might be sad because it ended, but I'm also happy, because it happened.

Back when Friendship is Magic first premiered nine years ago, I wasn't very aware of its existence, other than being something a friend ridiculed his brother for liking. Little did I know just how much of an impact some colorful little horses would have on my life much further down the road.

For most of my life, I was completely oblivious of the My Little Pony franchise. It would pop up occasionally and remind me of its existence, but I wasn't interested, and so ignored it as "something for girls." But a fateful coincidence in March of 2018, when I was trying to keep up with college, would introduce me to the land of Equestria and its inhabitants. I had happened to remember the name "Celestia" while listing fictional monarchs, and an internet search led me to the MLP wiki. I kept reading and reading, quickly becoming enthralled with the rich lore of this fantasy world that I had never witnessed before.
I was dumbstruck that I was beginning to like MLP... but also excited. I dove wholeheartedly into this world, trying to learn as much as I could. When Season Eight premiered a couple of months later, I began watching it--and I was hooked.

The bright, happy world taught me to look at things from a more positive perspective, and to always find the best in people. It was slow to uptake at first, but Friendship is Magic legitimately removed a lot of cynicism from me and helped me to treat myself and other better. I became more in-touch with my own emotions, which allowed me to become a kinder, gentler person, and to deal with my personal issues better.

But most of all, My Little Pony inspired me creatively. In the past, I had loved to draw and write and create entire worlds and stories for them, but for many years, I had felt drained of that ability. I couldn't create anything I liked anymore. But when the ponies of Equestria entered my life, I started writing about them, and now, I feel more creative than ever. Even though I don't always find time to sit down and write, I'm always churning up ideas for fanfiction I'd like to share with others.

In summary, I'm proud to be a brony, and I don't know what my life would be like if I'd never found the show, but it probably wouldn't feel nearly as happy or positive. Thank you to all who gave their time and effort to make FiM a nine-year success. I, along with so many others, appreciate you.

-The Mountaineer Brony

"My little Pony" series appeared in a time when I couldn't find any future for myself. While searching information about the series I found the fandom. Its creations and its openness changed the way I approach life. I will never forget the joy from reading (my first) fanfic "CRISIS Equestria" or how enchanted I was watching "Children of the Night" animation. That is the moment I decided to create art myself. Sometimes it's better, sometimes worse, but it's something that brings me happiness, despite all the turmoil of life.

- AssertiveShyPony

I originally wrote this on October 15th and sent it to me closest friends. When I saw that EQD was wanting to put all of our stories together I decided to send this in as well. This will probably get lost in the sea of stories and that is okay. To those who read this all the way through I thank you.

Eight years. That’s how long my journey with My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic has been. I first heard about the show in the summer between the first and second season. Much like all overbearing fanbases, the love of ponies spread across the ‘net like wildfire. I have a distinct memory of seeing pictures of ponies on the Pokemon meme image site I frequented. The one that caught my eye was the Eevee evolutions as the Mane Six from MLP with a note from the site’s editor that he couldn’t figure out if people loved or hated ponies and Pokemon mixed together since the comments on the site swung wildly in both directions. Yup, that sounds like internet comments to me.

I’m don’t entirely remember when I started watching the show. It was early in season two. I remember having watched the first few episodes of season one by the time Kori, my wife, had mentioned hearing about the show. I told her that I liked the show. We watched a few episodes together. She seemed to enjoy it, but thought it was childish to enjoy a show made for eight year old girls. I, however, was hooked. I’ve never been one to care what people thought of me. I was never embarrassed to be known as a brony. I shared my love of the show with everybody I knew: friends, family, coworkers. I received ridicule from all of them. It never bothered me. Being weird is kind of my schtick, so this was just another aspect of that.

Those who knew me back in 2007 remember the worst time of my life. My dog died the day before Thanksgiving, my mother died the following Sunday, and my fiancé, Susan, left me six days later. To be fair, she had good reason to leave. I was a wreck and posed a potential danger. I wouldn’t have hurt anybody, but my darker emotions were running wild during my grief and she removed herself and her daughter out of caution. Two years of deep depression followed. Dark thoughts, dark actions. I had my brother and closest friends to help me through. They saved me. The point I am trying to make is that I have never dealt with loss in an healthy manner.

That brings me back to the ponies. During season three my relationship with my wife was on the rocks. I have never been good at expressing my feelings and worse at understanding the feelings of others. I didn’t have any clue that my marriage was having problems until Kori told me flat out that it was. Our marriage had been having problems for years. The news blindsided me. I tried to make amends, but by January 2014 it was over. I moved in with my grandparents until I was financially stable enough to move back into my old bachelor apartment with my friends who still lived there. I was sad, upset, and despondent for a while. A natural grieving period for my marriage. This time, however, I made it through relatively unscathed. The main difference this time was that I had My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic as a way of keeping me happy. I understand that it is escapism to turn to a kids’ show for emotional support. What’s important is that it worked. No matter how down in the dumps I am, that wonderful show can always brighten my mood. I would have been the same miserable sod I had been back when Susan left without it. “It’s true some days are dark and lonely and maybe you feel sad, but Pinkie will be there to show you that it isn’t that bad.”

I’m not entirely sure who all I will be letting read this. Those who are closest to me know about the constant loss that seems to follow me. Everybody else really hasn’t a clue. I don’t talk about my personal life at work. My coworkers all know me as the weird, reserved guy who is a bit cocky about how smart he is. That’s it. These names will not mean anything to most, but to my friends and family they mean everything. Denise, Jasmine, Susan, Kori, Sierra, Ian, JayDee, Ken. I love you all.

My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic has made me a better man. Over the past years, the lessons I have learned have been immeasurable. The show often has lessons built in for children and adults alike, but those aren’t the lessons that I needed to learn. I learned from the characters and how they treat each other. Unlike most kids’ shows where each character has one or two defining traits, the Mane Six all have well-rounded personalities and quirks. Rainbow Dash might be a cocky tomboy who loves competition, but she also appreciates a good book and a relaxing day at the spa.

Pinkie Pie is by far my favorite pony. She is so vivacious and can always make me smile. She sees the world through a lens of optimism and fun. She fills the archetype of the kooky friend, like Ed from Ed, Edd, and Eddy or Pinky (go figure) from Pinky and the Brain. Unlike the usual trope, she’s not a moron (most of the time). Her distinct way of looking at the world leads her to insights that others miss. “It was under E.” In the official comics it is said of her “sometimes I think she’s the smartest one of us all.” I have kept her optimism with me wherever I go. I always expect the best intentions from people. Life is easier that way. I don’t think people secretly have dark desires to do me wrong. In fact, I don’t think people think of me much at all. I like it that way. Like I said before, I never cared what people think of me. Neither does Pinkie. She will be herself no matter what.

Rarity has helped me understand my brother. I know the first thing that people who know both David and Rarity will think I am crazy for comparing them. They are NOTHING alike. Perhaps Rainbow Dash would be a better fit, but hear me out. I am a pacifist, through and through. I can’t even bring myself to get rid of pests in my own home. David joined the armed forces. Generosity. That is Rarity’s Element of Harmony. I couldn’t stand her at the start of the show. She was a stuck up, prissy jerk who looked down on others who didn’t agree with her. Her journey to adopt the values of generosity through the years gave me a respect for her I would not have expected. She has grown more humble and kind. She has shown selflessness that others in the show could never achieve. She truly gives of herself to help others. That’s what I see in my brother. I understand the importance of military. I’m an idealist, not an idiot. While I would never be able to do so, my brother has proven that protecting others is more valuable to him than his own safety. He is retiring from the military soon. I’d be lying if I said that doesn’t give me an hint of relief. I can appreciate his career choice now even if I can’t fully understand it.

Most people closest to me keep telling me that my best trait is kindness. I appreciate that. I don’t agree with their assessment, but I appreciate it. Honesty is just about the most important value in my life. I haven’t knowingly lied since I was a teenager. I turned thirty-five today. Honesty is more than just not lying. It is about being true to yourself, who you are. Applejack has had her trials where the truth wasn’t easy, but she always comes around in the end. I really don’t have that problem. I’ve mentioned before about life being easier when you avoid complications. Nothing is more complicated than maintaining a lie. I just don’t lie. I own up to my mistakes. I am forthright about my flaws. I am a digital pirate and an hacker. I will openly admit to that. Applejack’s lesson for me never was honesty. “I didn’t learn anything.” Her lesson for me was family. Dom from The Fast and The Furious would be proud. She is an orphan. While my father is alive and well, our relationship is not. Basically I see him at Christmas out of a sense of responsibility. I won’t go into details here, but we have fundamentally different views of the world that are unreconcilable. Not politics or religion or anything easy to deal with like that, but a deep seeded understanding of how the world works. Anyhow, I know what it is like to lose a parent. After all the years without them I cried like a baby through the entire “The Perfect Pear” episode. Family means more to Applejack than anything in the world. Her friends are her family as well. I’ve never stopped loving Kori, even through we are divorced. I know that we can never repair what we had, but that won’t change how I feel. The same goes for Susan. My brother, his family, my closest friends. They all mean the world to me. Daniel, Rob, and Ian are all my brothers and are as close to me as David even though they have different parents than me.

Back to kindness. Fluttershy is every brony’s little sister that must be protected at all costs. She is by far the most adorable character on the show and you can get diabetes by just looking at her. She has shown the most growth on the show. That’s saying something when Twilight has literally undergone apotheosis. My reserved attitude when dealing with those I am unfamiliar with has been mistaken in the past as being shy and timid. That’s not the case. I was more like Twilight at the start of the show than Fluttershy. I am not shy. I’ll get into that more when with Twilight. Watching Fluttershy grow into the mare she is now has given me true pride. The kind of pride you feel watching a child grow up into the person you always knew they could become. Her kindness has been there from the start. The final episode focused around her fully represents everything we all love about her. It is truly profound how far a little kindness can go. Much like Mr. Rogers, Fluttershy is the best of us and we can only strive to be as good and pure as her.

Rainbow Dash is the pony I have the least in common with. I am not athletic. I don’t have grand aspirations that I am working toward. I enjoy living my quiet life and will have no problems with making no noticeable mark on history. I see her traits in others I love. She joined the military and is a master procrastinator like my brother. She is dependable like my friend Rob. I can’t say that her traits have rubbed off on me. Perhaps I have more to learn from our rainbow maned friend in ways I just haven’t seen yet. She is a valued member of the team, just one that I can’t really relate to.

The pony I relate most to is Twilight Sparkle. I saw so much of myself in season one Twilight. She was unconcerned about the world around her. If a subject didn’t interest her it wasn’t worth her time. She wasn’t shy, she just wasn’t interested in other people. I have never been able to empathize with others well. While I don’t think I have a developmental disorder, it is a trait common among those with Asperger’s Syndrome. People with Asperger’s are some of the few people I feel I can relate to. I saw that same trait with Twilight Sparkle in the first season. I have always been a very logical person. My emotions have little control over my actions. When other people act on their emotions it confuses me. Since my emotions are so subtle, even to myself, the emotions of others are a mystery to me. A direct result of this is a lack of interest in other people’s emotions. Think of Dr. Brennan from Bones. Much like Twilight over the years, all of my social graces have been learned slowly and by a conscious effort to be more friendly. Even though I still don’t have much interest in hearing other people talk about their lives, at least now I will listen. Baby steps.

I knew the end of the show was coming and thought I was ready for it. I am glad that the show was able to go out on it’s own terms instead of just stopping. I have seen to many shows live longer than they should. I’m looking at you, X-Files. I don’t think that MLP ever suffered from running too long. It is good that it ended before then. I wasn’t ready. I put off watching the last three episodes for days, knowing that once it was over, it was actually over. I feel a loss with the ending of this show the same as a loss of a loved one. I have grown to truly love these colorful ponies. They are as close to my heart as family. Yes, I know that they are just cartoon characters. That doesn’t change anything. I love them. I will miss them. Like everybody I have ever loved, my feelings for them will not change or fade with time. Ponies helped me through my darkest times over the last eight years. I think to myself “What will help me through the loss of my ponies?” If I didn’t already have the answer to that, then I really didn’t pay attention to the show in the first place. Of course my friends and family will be there for me. They never understood my love for the show. Hopefully reading this will help them understand. At least it will let them know how much I need them now.

To all the people and ponies in my life, thank you and I love you all.

-Christopher

My whole life, I’ve been very focused on and driven to do either sports or academics. As for creative works/subjects like music, art, theater, etc. I was never that driven or focused on it. In fact, back when I did all those subjects in middle school and lower school, I pretty much treated those subjects as fun activities. It’s not to say though that I didn’t give it my all in those classes, and only wanted just to pass. I worked hard to make sure that I get the best grade in each assignment as possible throughout those fine art classes. However, the only difference between that and being driven to do those classes is that if you are driven to do something, then you want to pursue it as a career in your life. When it came to fine arts and creative works, I was never like that. At least that was until I saw a certain cartoon for the first time in spring of 2013.

Back when I was a kid, I was one of those kids where TV was my life. I either watched sports or cartoons. That was until when it came down to my pre-teen and early teenage years. That was the point where I was starting to grow out of cartoons. Well, at least the kids kind that is. However, all of that change when I saw “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic”. It was spring of 2013 when I first saw the cartoon that would change my life completely. I was 14 years old at the time that happened.

How I got into the show was both normal and strange at the same time. I was flipping through channels, trying to find something that would interest me. Then, something not only caught my eye, but also sparked interest in my mind. So like any person with a sense of curiosity, I checked out what it was. After the first moment of watching what it was, I immediately was glued to my TV screen because of how interesting both the episode and the cartoon looked.

The first episode I saw was called, “Wonderbolt Academy”, and when I first saw it I felt somewhat of a connection to it for some reason. After a few moments later, that’s when it hit me. The episode reminded me of one of my most memorable moments that I had as a child. The episode reminded me of the time when I was at my baseball school that I used to go to in the summer time. However, it wasn’t only the setting that was so relatable, but it was also the main character of the episode as well. The main character of the episode, “Wonderbolt Academy”, was a pegasus named Rainbow Dash. She’s known in the show as a character with great athletic ability, and is determined to go in the right direction and live her ultimate dream of being the best flyer ever! When I first saw her, it felt like I was looking at myself in the mirror. Well at least personality wise that is. Furthermore, watching that first episode was the starting point to where I sparked a personal growth and a new understanding in myself and others.

A few months after becoming a fan of MLP, I started to developed a sense of creativity. It all started when I was in 8th grade. During ceramics class, I did that were partially based off of the show. Also for English class, whenever I did a writing assignment, I was able to come up with ideas sooner and more efficiently than I used to. Well, at least only for assignments that involve topics that I not only can relate to, but also can understand. No matter though, this sense of creativity I started to develop became a benefit in my life. However, it wasn’t until later on where I not only grew more creative inspiration, but also started to see true creative works.

In 2014-2015, it was not only the time where I became more active on social media, but it was also the time where I checked out creative fan projects of the My Little Pony fandom, or in this case “Bronies”. These people are known not only of being fans of the show, but also people

who have made all different types of fan projects based off of MLP. These fan projects made in the come in all different varieties such as: music, art, stories, animations, dramatic readings, reactions, analysis/reviews, etc. In fact, the amount of fan projects aren’t the only things large in numbers, but also the fandom itself as well. The fandom has grown so much, that it even has its own conventions all around the world for fans to go to. However, out of all the Brony conventions in the world, the biggest one (which has been taken place in Baltimore, Maryland) is BronyCon.

When I first heard about these conventions, it was mid-late 2013 when I was more of just a fan of the show and not a complete “Brony”. Even though, I did have the creative influence of one to which I didn’t know about until so recently. When I first heard about it I was like, “I’m not that type of fan”, because back then I was so skeptical about the term “Brony”. I didn’t want people to think that I’m weird, girly, or gay because of the fact that I liked the new generation of My Little Pony. I was stuck with this phase for 1.5 years. However, it wasn’t until late 2014 to early 2015 that I realized that brony conventions were real fun attractions to be at, and when I started to see “the light” in brony conventions. I was then like, “I hope to go to one someday”.

In 2015-2016, I was full on fan of MLP. I checked out/became a fan of almost every type of MLP fan content on the internet, and even grew more close to the show. Also, it was during that point in time where I started to lookup to people from both the show and the fandom as my role models in creative works. Those people that I looked up to then are still my role models in creative works to this day.

Out of all those people, there are two I look up to most. One of them is a young voice actor of “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic” named Michelle Creber. To the show, she’s prominently known to being the voice of Applebloom. However, to the fandom, she’s known to being one of the most dedicated VA’s in the show. She has gone to more Brony conventions than any other show staff, has been meeting/greeting fans all over the world, and has performed in front of crowds at concerts in the conventions either with her own music or the fandom’s. To add on she’s also my age; and for someone who’s my age doing all these things, that’s very inspiring to me. The other person I look up to most is a person named Gabriel Brown. You may prominently know him on the internet as “Black Gryph0n”. He’s known to being one of the fandom’s most popular musicians. For years, he’s been making original songs for the fandom that are so amazing that in my eyes/ears they are better than most popular Pop songs. Also, just like Michelle Creber, he’s been traveling around the world meeting fans at Brony conventions, and has been performing at concerts in the conventions as well. However, besides his music making/singing he’s also a well rounded voice actor. His most notable role was the voice of Becky from Disney Pixar’s “Finding Dory”. To add all things up, the thing that I love the most about Gabriel Brown is his partnership and collaboration work with Michelle Creber. Not only have they performed songs and travelled to conventions together, but they even made a whole album together called “Getting Stronger”. Furthermore, with these two talents together I couldn’t have looked up to anyone else.

Now getting back to the topic of BronyCon. It was in 2016 when I first went to BronyCon. In fact, not only was it my first BronyCon, but it was also my first ever brony convention I went to, and to this day it remains to be one of the best moments of my life. I got the chance to meet a lot of Bronies, I got to see my idols perform live in concert and meet them

afterwards, I got the chance to meet the voice actor of my childhood (Tara Strong), and to top all things off I even made a couple of friends. The best part was all of that took place on BronyCon’s 5th Year Anniversary. It was a whole weekend of fun I’ll never forget. To this day I’ve been attending BronyCon in the summertime ever since then.

Speaking of meeting and making new friends, after BronyCon 2016, I started to know about people in the fandom I’ve never heard of before. People who actually have some things in common with me than just liking the show of “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic”. For example, we both have the same role models (Michelle Creber and Gabriel Brown), and we both live in the same state of Florida. So after hearing about these fans, I followed them online as well as some of their friends, and when the time was right we officially met with each other in real life at BronyCon 2017. Soon after, I became friends with them ever since and I even chat with them on a daily basis. You can might as well as say that in reality “Friendship is Magic”.

Now I know what your might be wondering, “Everything in that last paragraph doesn’t make any sense. What are you trying to prove?”, let me be the one to explain. Back when I was I kid, I was very and antisocial. I did have friends, but I didn’t hang out with them or have long chats with them. Instead, I was more the “alone type” if you will. When my mother realized this she signed me up for social classes. In the end, it worked out well. However, even though my communication skills improved, it was the show that helped me realized the true values of having a close friendship with your friends. In conclusion, the point that I’m trying to prove in the last paragraph is that the time I became a fan of the show as well as a part of the show’s fandom, it was the time where I started to spark up a growth and new understanding in both communication and most especially, friendship.

Now, I already have proven that the show has helped me spark a growth and new understanding when it comes to creativity, communication, and friendship. However, there’s one other important trait that the show and the fandom has helped made me see in not only myself, but in others as well, and that’s true acceptance. What I mean by true acceptance is accepting people for who they are, which is their true selves. For example, as long as you are a person with great personality, and are known to doing good and not bad; I will support, love, respect, and accept you for who you are. That most especially goes to people who are a part of the LGBTQ+ community. Back then however, I wasn’t always like that, I was actually a homophobe, who was more against the idea of both same-sex marriage or even being gay in general. In fact, kids back in my old school used to tease and irritate me by “acting” gay, and what I mean by “acting” is boys would pretend that they have a crush on me and would want to hook up with me. They do this by saying my name and sticking their tongue in a perverted manner, and saying “that they love me” when I know they actually don’t. Back then, it made me feel uncomfortable. However, to this day looking back on those events, I realized what those boys did to me was far from a joke. To this day, I feel what those boys did was wrong/offensive.

The reason why I say that is because during my time in the fandom, I started to become fans of content creators who I later realized were a part of the LGBTQ+ community. When I first realized this I was surprised, but did it change or affect my liking to them and the work that their known for? No it did not! In fact, then and to this day, them being a part of LGBTQ+ community makes me love them more as a fan of their work because they people who are not only show their true creativity, but also are people who are being their true selves as well.

Now even though I already mentioned before how I started to developed a growth and new understanding in creativity, and how it became a big influence in my life; what I didn’t mention before was how I started to use my new influence in creativity as a way to pursue a career. Throughout my time in the Brony fandom, I started to develop the dream of one day being professional voice actor (just in case my athletics didn’t work out as well). In the end, after seeing so much voice acting work in both the show and the fandom, and after a few voice lessons with my current voice coach, Ingrid, I got my first job. On June 14, 2018, I got to be the voice of a character on a cartoon that was actually based off of a multi-award winning children’s book series that was written by one of my mom’s best friends, Lee Ann Mancini. The session went absolutely well, it only took me around 30 minutes to do all my lines, which I was not expecting. I give so much credit to my voice coach Ingrid for all the lessons she has given me; to my parents who have been by my side helping me get to where I am as a voice actor; and most important of all to all the voice actors in both the Brony fandom and the show of “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic” for giving me the love, desire, dedication, and inspiration of being a voice actor.

The bottom line is this, if it wasn’t for both the show of “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic” and the Brony fandom, then I would have never had this growth and new understanding in creativity, communication/friendship, and acceptance to both myself and to others. First, when it comes to creativity, it can serve as a vital role in your life. Whether it be coming up with ideas for an assignment/project, making a career out of acting, singing, dancing, etc., or just using it to best personify yourself; creativity really is the key role in your life. Second, when it comes to both communication and friendship, you should always communicate with your friends as well and as often as possible, that way you can maintain a stronger friendship with your friends. Last, when it comes to acceptance, you should always accept people for who they truly are in their lives. As long as you are person who shows great personality and brings great influence to others, then I will always love, respect, support, and accept you and the work that you have been known for, no matter what. Furthermore, these four traits have now served a big role in my life. All because of the Brony fandom and “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic”.

When I first found MLP, I was in a rough spot. I was 9 at the time, and I was on a camping trip through Boy Scouts. That trip, I along with two other kids, found the body of a man who had committed suicide though a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. I developed PTSD and had to see a psychologist and everything. The summer of that year, my sister pestered next into watching the show with her, and before I knew it, I was hooked. It helped be escape and cope with my PTSD and find some joy in the world. And I can guarantee I wouldn’t be where I am today without it. Pony is what inspired me to take up drawing and writing, and gain an appreciation for good character development. It helped me through a period of near-suicidal depression. It helped me see the good in others. MLP changed my life forever, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I love this show from the bottom of my heart, and I will carry that love with me for the rest of my life.

- Kevin F.

I have never really been one to take the time to put out my own thoughts and feelings for something I am passionate about unless it is for school or otherwise, unrelated. Yet, I love this fandom a lot and want to be a part of its culture. So with that in mind, I want to show how MLP has opened my mind to new things and altered my perspective on life. Before fully immersing my self in the show, it was in my mind, like other bronies, another line of toy items supported by a television show that was mostly geared towards little kids. So I never really gave much thought to it. Around 2016, I got full access internet in my house for once and while browsing Netflix, I decided to see what all the fuss was about little pastel coloured horses. After that time, things went from there. I started reading more fanfictions on FanFiction.com and FimFiction.com. Eventually found my way to Equestria Daily and immersed myself in all the creativity and openness that people of the community. I even caved in and finally bought myself a handmade Luna plushie after waiting for a few years for the right moment to jump on the chance. All in all, My Little Pony showed me that not all you watch is made for just one type of person, it can be for all kinds of people. Plus, the immense creativity of the brony community with fanart, fanfictions, original music, video games, and so much more has jumpstarted my passion to excel in art and try to let loose all things from my imagination that I have kept hidden for much of my life. Sadly, I have made some progress but it is very little compared to my expectations but that is my inner perfectionist at hand. I hope and intend to become a very skilled artist in multiple mediums in the far future. As I work towards that goal, I am trying to be more sociable and achieve more friends who I can be open with and enjoy life with. In the end, My Little Pony has shown me that I am missing out on making some grand memories, but I can still achieve it all if I continue to believe in the Magic of Friendship.

P.S. I am not very good at writing or putting my inner thoughts and feeling together in an eloquent way. I just wanted to try my hand at putting my mind together for fun and social activity. I hope that some people might find my words entertaining and joyous.

Sincerely,

A forever brony-Shaun

How My Little Pony Impacted Me!

How this show effected me? Well, I was convinced to give it a chance by my friend who first showed me a few parody video’s, including one that used the audio from transformers 3. Eventually I shrugged and gave it a try and found myself chuckling along to the jokes and enjoying the animation.

It didn’t stick with me at first so I let it go. A few months later my pet dog died, and the constant bad news in the News on the telly began to give me terrible depression so as I usually did I tried to find amusing cartoons to watch. Seeing there was more episodes, I went back and put my feet up to watch some. I found it began to help me along and I kept URL’s to the youtube eps (at the time the show was not available anywhere in my country on any channel) for if I ever felt bad again.

I then started watching them for fun and even met some likeminded people on a sadly now defunct forum called Global Equestria. I watched youtube eps for laughs, espetially Silver Quill who even never fails to get a smile out of me with his humour.

Without the show, its comics and its community, I have no doubt I would be dead and gone now. To think the show has now ended, at least in its TV version is a little sad, but to know the comic ‘season 10 is safely in IDW’s capable hands makes me realise that the show will always be around in some aspect. Thanks to this show and its kind community I was able to get through a dark portion of my life with only minor dents...so yeah...this show definitely impacted my life...it made it a better one.

Where do I even start?

I first noticed the show like how this fandom started: the memes. I didn't care much of it at that time, and I did join the bandwagon of trashing it (not as hard as the others would go). I still remember how I would usually talk trash of how some teen or even an adult male so low could sit and watch colorful girly stuff and be proud of it. I still remember watching two MAD parodies of it, back when MAD was in Cartoon Network (one was as anger management of some sort and the other was mixed with Steven Speilberg's War Horse), laughing over its mediocre humor. Heck, I still remember how the popularity (or so it seemed in my case) died off and, as I said, I didn't care that much. Like every bandwagon, I just shrug it off the next time I would see one. Until my sis saw it on Netflix one fateful day.

I did my best to avoid her anytime she was watching that show. I knew the stereotypes and the discrimination bas(feast)s would get for watching a girly show. I was already getting negative attention for being "special" and a "lapdog", so I really didn't need another harmful sting at me, especially one that was true. Yet, I can't explain how my boredom one day drew me to watch an episode, Season 1, Episode 19's "A Dog and Pony Show". I think it was because I primarily wanted to hang out with my sister (as my sister doesn't want to as much anymore today), just me and her, eating and watching some episodes in front of Samsung tablet. And like I said, I didn't care that much before I realized I was sitting next to my sister for those good happy times like that continuously. Eventually, she stopped, but I kept on going, all the way through Season 4 back in 2014 on Netflix. And because I binged-watched the whole thing, I stopped too, trashing yet again the show.

At that time, I couldn't explain why I was trashing it though. Why was I trashing a show that I seemingly enjoyed? Was it really fun to pick fun off some nerd who loved books and all of a sudden, she became the nation's top defense system and teacher? Fun to rip apart how a dragon and a pony won't work? How about a background apple pony? I really didn't get it for the longest time as I drifted further away from it all.

Then in 2016, when I was once close to a very dear friend of mine, I headed back. I went back into the herd of he(cc) because that friend knew the show and watched the show, along with her sister, and I thought that I suppose I can give it another go. Just for her. And from there, one thing led to another, as I went through a lot of change. I enjoyed the characters, their developments (most of the time anyway), the settings, the colors, and quite especially, the fandom (at times, anyhow, or anyhoof, whatever). I remember, thanks to her, I made my first attempt to draw again for the first time, then stumbling upon EStories' "Seeds of Darkness", finding out Equestria Daily, then DWK, and then, well, me now posting my art through here. All that and still show that I don't care. I mean, I still got a lot to show, especially today. I got plans to this day still, music, stories and all, big plans, that, well, with the show gone and all, will it be relevant? Will it really care? For anyone? Anypony?

Well, even so, I do care. Even if I critic the show and the fandom in my own head, laughing how on earth they could ship one and another or how they lose their crap over one episode criticizing us or vice versa, my heart still cared. If I honestly didn't care at all, well, I wouldn't be here at all (take that sentence however far you want).

Yeah, I felt empty after the show ended. Yeah, I still feel empty now. But, honestly, even though it seems like the end of times, the end of the 2010s, I will always be thankful for the show, its staff, creators and the voice actors/actresses, will always be thankful for its lessons, its color, its stories, will always be thankful to the fanbase. Without it, I wouldn't learn and be the person that I am today. I know, it sounds repetitive and about redundant from the hundred or so similar responses here, but goes to show how the heck do 6 different, individual ponies have over us, the weirdos, the wackos, the specials. From drawing to music and from learning to adapting, I have to give it to this... this wonderfully, stupid yet magnificent, yet weird, yet spectacular show for its actual good lessons, its characters, and that one beautiful idea of telling stories of friendship through colorful ponies and rainbows.

So yeah, it ain't good-bye. Well, not yet anyhow until something p(eeve)s me off in the comics or G5 hurls me a curve-ball or something. I'll still be posting pons (abbreviated of ponies, not the brain stems) here. Everything's gonna be fine. Everything is going to be okay. Wanna know how? Cause this fandom's strong as the show is strong. For anyone new and old. That, and, well... who cares? We all move on and forward. We all remember. We all embrace. We all have our ways of caring. I get I don't just don't like to show that admiration that often, but when I do, I guess that's where I really care. And I cared ever since I watched that episode back in 2014, believe or not.

Thanks again, Lauren. The fans, thank you. Everyone at DHX (or WildBrain), thanks a lot. I know you hear this every time, but really, thank you. This has been one hell of a ride. Till next time, you best friends... till the end.

-er 10/20/2019

How My Little Pony Impacted Me.

I started watching all the way back in 2011. I thought I’d check out a few episodes just to see what all the fuss was about but I fell in love so fast and so completely it took me by surprise. FIM has seen me through some rough times in the last 9 years. It’s been a constant little source of happiness and warmth in the background of my life, making me smile even when nothing else could. It’s more than just the show too, it inspired loads of people to make some genuinely awesome things, a lot of amazing music, art, videos, animations and stories that wouldn’t even exist without this cute little cartoon about a bunch of colourful horse-women. There'll never be anything quite like Friendship is Magic in my opinion and never any group of fans quite like the bronies. I am so glad this wonderful cartoon and all the amazing people it inspired have been a part of my life for so long.

It’s been a strange, wonderful journey. Thank you MLP:FIM and thank you to everyone who came along for the ride.

How My Little Pony Impacted Me
By: Freelancer (Paolo S.)
Oct. 18, 12,019
Fri., 10:35p.m.
It has been over three years and seven months since I entered this fandom and discovered the wonderful beauty that My Little Pony had to offer. I’ve been counting the days: it is day 1,292 ever since this all started for me; day 1,200 since I revealed my love for MLP; day 182 since I went to my first Brony convention… and now day six since I stood until the show’s very end.
As a student of geology, I deal with timescales up to over four and a half billion years, but these last few years—although seen as mere moments in Earth’s history—was one of the most profound times of my life. I may have joined the fandom pretty late, but nonetheless I’ve poured in just enough of my life for MLP’s ending to hit me hard. If my past self from four years ago saw me, he’d most likely pity the beautiful mess I’ve become. I mean, I could’ve spent all this time and energy on anything else, but out of all things, MLP was my decision to go…and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Looking back to what made me become a Brony in the first place, I would first blame two things: my curiosity and a drab excuse for a spring break. Surprisingly, the first thing that got me hooked wasn’t really the characters, but it was the setting, the beautiful world of Equestria that our beloved characters live in. I ran into MLP when I first saw the view of a bright, clean Ponyville during Pinkie’s lament. Of course, the animation was (relatively) graphically simple and the grand valleys and mountaintops of Equestria were honestly copy-paste two-dimensional backdrops, but despite all this I felt that Equestria was a land of the infinite, to say the least. It was a place of purity and charm, a place of endless possibilities and countless opportunities. Soon enough, I started to get into the characters. I became familiar with Pinkie and Rarity at first, but when I caught up with the show’s plot, I grew a close affinity to Twilight Sparkle.
I bet many Bronies can relate as to how a certain character or two from the show reflects him/her, though many a time have we seen these reflections as something extraordinary, something brighter than what we sometimes picture ourselves to be. We may see them as greater versions of ourselves that we aspire to, and as a unforgettable consequence we develop a profound connection to what would otherwise seem absurd or funny. As with me, I did develop that strong bond with Twilight, and as an unexpected result I realized that there was really was hope in the world, that there was something good to look forward to. Twilight, and the rest of MLP, stood as a motivation for me to continue. Yes, I often questioned myself for getting into something so strange and so unforeseen, but by then I have already let MLP become a lifeblood for me.
Many changes happened in my life since then. Along with many Bronies, I was struck with the sudden twists and turns that the road of life has thrown at me: four birthdays, two funerals of close friends, three family weddings, the suicide of my favorite teacher, and my eventual transition to becoming a college student and the young man I am today. Throughout all that time, however, MLP has stood by my side. I’ve invested meaning into MLP, and as a consequence, many of my actions, thoughts and decisions have been influenced by it.
Out of all things, My Little Pony has opened up countless doors of epiphanies to me. I learned and relearned new morals and virtues that I once ignored; I realized the strength in admitting weaknesses, I found out that there can be a beauty in everything. Most of all, however, I’ve come to acknowledge and embrace a fact of absurdism—that a man like me adoring something as peculiar as pastel ponies makes no less sense than learning about partial differential equations, or driving a car, or anything else for that matter. In other words, being a Brony has snapped everything into perspective for me, that it didn’t matter if it was seen as weird. Instead, what mattered was that My Little Pony meant something big to me, and over time I realized that it has become an integral part of my life, whether I liked it or not.
Like I said, I’ve put in just enough energy, time and effort into MLP for the show’s end to hit me hard. Even after saying all this, words still cannot describe how much MLP has influenced me, for I feel that my descriptions lack something…A nostalgia, a meaning, a proclivity, a strength to bring a grown man down to his knees and pick him up again. There was tears, yes (and darn it all, my tear ducts are still sore from last week), but I know something good happened. I gave me hope. It changed my life, and I loved it. Quite frankly, the word “love” does not even cut it, to say the least. MLP has wrought me to my core and will haunt me forever, but man has it been wonderful…
Nevertheless, I’ve come to terms with MLP, and I’ve embraced it fully, discovering not only the beautiful world of Equestria, but also a wonderful community that loved it as well. I’ve found people of compassion, who had the true strength of being who they are, yet who also had the courage and heart to stand for and with others, even when if is all because of a children’s show.
Now that the show’s over, many of us are left feeling rather empty but satisfied, melancholy but proud, or simply “crying on the inside”, to quote Pinkie Pie. It’s like watching one of those nostalgic tearful sunsets after a long, exhilarating day. It has really been a wonderful ride for all of us, a wonderful experience that most—if not all—of us will never forget. Nevertheless, time ticks on, and I guess—even though it’s still difficult for me and many others to move on—we should expect a good future, and there will be.
It’s true: even when the show is over, MLP:FIM has created a community strong and passionate enough to continue and look forward to the coming years. Friendship truly is Magic…So, with that in mind, I say, with the utmost sincerity: I’M PROUD TO BE A BRONY.
Thank you everypony. thank you all. —P.S.

Dear EQD,

"How has My Little Pony impacted your life?"

A really good question, that.

As I sit here and try to formulate my answer, I'm shuffling through my (still growing) MLP-themed YouTube playlist, and marveling at the amount of time that's passed. Songs and early animations and SFMs from way back in 2011-12, all the way to brand new songs that went up mere hours after the finale aired.

Nine years is a long time by any measure. Even fans who joined the herd halfway through the show have been here long enough to start and finish high school or college. Some who were there on day one could have very well started and finished both in the time this show has been on. That's simply incredible to think about.

Nine years is a lot of time for a show to make an impact on its viewers, and I'm no exception.

I first joined the herd somewhere between season 1-2. I had seen pony memes popping up everywhere, and when they didn't fade away after a week in the internet spotlight, I knew something was up. I found the first episode on YouTube and gave it a go. A day later, my then 28 year-old self had binged all of S1, and was wearing a giddy smile that I hadn't put on since Saturday morning cartoons were the highlight of my week.

A few weeks into S2, I convinced my wife - a huge G1 fan - to put aside the old school for a minute and give this a try. Last weekend she cried right along with me as we soaked in every second of the finale.

But besides the laughs, cheers, and tears, what has Twilight and her friends done for me? Far more than I can really recount here.

For starters, the show helped me find a creative streak that I never thought I could exercise. I have always wanted to try my hand at writing, but was too afraid to give it a go. An EQD post about something called "Twilight's List" brought me not to some kind of official merch, but to FimFiction, and into a world of amazing stories written by people much like myself. The friends I've made through that site, chief among them an amazing writer named Loyal (Celestia rest his soul), taught me so much about writing, editing, and embracing my creative streak.

Second, the countless lessons that Twilight and her friends learned, I learned along the way too. Through their adventures I gained a new and better understanding of what Loyalty, Honesty, Kindness, Generosity, Laughter, really are, and yes, how magic they can be together. It truly has changed the way I approach life in many aspects, and I'm better off for it.

But the biggest impact are the friends. So so many of them. Online, offline. Across town and across the world. Some I've had the honor to meet in person at conventions and meetups, so many more I know only as avatars and pen names. But every one of them have enriched my life in immeasurable ways. Applejack honest, I can say that I've met some of the best friends I've ever had through this fandom.

As the show literally closes the book on itself and puts the next adventures into our hooves, I know I'll be doing everything I can to keep and grow those friendships forever, and to spread the magic of friendship as far and wide as I (and this fandom) can.

But come what may, this show, this fandom... these wonderful, wonderful ponies, will forever hold a cherished place in my heart.

Brohoofs for everyone,

-Grand Moff Pony

I have always been a lurker in this community. I never comment on videos or EQD posts, I never tweet or reply to tweets. This is the first time I’ve ever truly participated in any way in the community. I have browsed EQD on and off and followed the show to varying degrees of closeness over the past 7 years, but it wasn’t until mid-season 7 that I started to discover some of the fan content I had been missing out on. This is mostly because of the fact that I was 10 years old (June-ish 2012 if I remember correctly) when I started this blessed journey. I remember my then 19-year-old brother suspiciously closing his laptop monitor and tabbing out of things to prevent me from seeing his pone wallpapers and the like. The only thing I remember actually seeing was a zebra. I didn’t think much of it, but then June 2012 rolled around. My brother was subscribing to Netflix and, after he made his account, FiM was on the home page. He made an entirely sarcastic joke about me watching it, but me being 10-year-old me took him up on it. I retreated to my room and began watching the first episodes on my Wii, expecting to make fun of it constantly. I guess I must have enjoyed it enough to stick around for part 2 of the series premiere because during, and I remember this vividly, the scene with Fluttershy and the Manticore, my brother walked in and asked what I was doing. I paused on the manticore’s splinter spinning on the ground and he asked something along the lines of “Oh did they just tame the manticore?” I was beyond confused. Why on earth did he know what was going on in this stupid horse show? I soon came to realize his love for the show and binged the two seasons that were released. One could ask me essentially anything else about that period in my life and I would not be able to recall any specific memories—except that one. It is truly incredible that it had that large of an impact. And that’s just the first day. The following school year was FIFTH GRADE (fifth!!!) and I remember putting FiM screenshots all over my binder and talking to everyone about it. I even got one or two people to hop on the MLP train, though I don’t know the extent of their interest or if they have thought about it at all in the past 7 years. At this point I was waiting for season 3 desperately. When the premiere rolled around, I had absolutely no idea anyone was streaming it or anything (I was 11 years old and probably shouldn’t have been on the Internet too much anyway), so I eventually found a YouTube upload of it and couldn’t stop replaying and freaking out about it. Nothing could have prepared me, however, for the season 3 finale. I now understand the controversy and whatever that came out of that episode, but it was nothing but pure enjoyment for me. I knew of EQD but apparently didn’t check it too often because I remained completely unaware of the impending wing acquirement by our beloved purple book horse. I watched the episode live (on OtakuAscended’s stream, shoutouts to them) with my brother and even with the Hub’s constant promos and spoilers during the episode’s airing I managed to somehow stay spoiler free (I must have been like mad stupid or something the Hug logo literally had a crown on it). I have to be one of the only people on earth that can say they watched the season 3 premiere live and didn’t have it ruined by leaks or the Hub. Anyway, that episode took a huge toll on me. I, for some reason, could not even believe the whole princess thing. I watched the episode some 20+ times over the following weeks and couldn’t get enough of it. I legitimately can’t explain how I felt or how I ever made it through that infernal season 3 to 4 hiatus alive. While it may not be the most solidly written episode story wise, I still confidently call it my favorite episode. Needless to say, the season 4 premiere was of unreal importance to me. I even used its airdate (11/23) to form my social media alias. From that point on, I don’t remember a whole lot about when I followed it closely and when I didn’t, but I never drifted too far away from it. I always kept finale and premiere dates in mind and tried to keep up to an extent.

Jumping to mid-season 7 in 2017, I began to catch up on the first half of the season when I found the Perfect Pear episode. I had to see how others felt about it and developed a huge interest in the reaction community and the fandom in general. I ended up finding some of ACRaceBest’s content and the rest is kind of just history. I started to learn about people in the community, big events, old-school lore that I was too young to have been a part of, conventions (shoutouts to everyone who records con vlogs), animations, artists, music, and everything else. Since then, my life has been saturated with horse content—most of the music I listen to comes from the show or the community, many of my YouTube subscriptions are horse related, nearly all my desktop and phone wallpapers have had some sort of horse affiliation. I was lucky enough to stay almost completely spoiler free for the series finale and watch it on its U.S. air date with my brother, nearly 7 years after we had done the same for the season 3 finale. The past few days have been filled with some sort of indescribable happy depression that has made it difficult to focus on anything besides crying. Sorry for making such a huge wall of text and basically writing out my life story, but I needed some way to get all this out of me. After 7+ years of horses taking over every aspect of my life, and 1000+ words of stuff that may or may not fall under the scope of this prompt, I can officially say that My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic has truly been the best part of my life and I wouldn’t give up the experiences I’ve had along the way for anything. Thank you to everyone who contributed, and will continue to contribute, to the community and the show in any way, whether it be through art, music, animations, making the show itself, or anything else. You have archived the story of this incredible decade that many will look back on and appreciate for years to come. I know I’ll never forget it.

Thank you. Everyone. /)

isen1123
'

How My Little Pony Impacted Me!

Well, it is difficult to say how the show impacted me. When I discovered the show around 2011 I was around 23 years old. So I already had a couple of years to understand myself, the world and to find a place in all of that. I was in the midst of a training to become a video game developer with no indication to do anything else in live. Everything seemed fine so far. So what exactly was it, that hooked me late 2011 to not only watch the show but let it consume my entire life and soul?

Something about the ponies must have resonated strongly with me. I know that Rainbow Dash was my favorite pony back then. Her journey to become a Wonderbolt is basically the same story as me becoming a game developer. Nine years later we both achieved our goals and I am about to start my business with video games. What definitely changed is that I find a lot of joy creating any kind of art that features ponies. Not only our Equestrian Ponies but colorful, small equines in general. Where I had about two, maybe three games I wanted to make in 2011, the number went up to fill a whole, fictional universe. It will be difficult to get a business running with such games but it's never wrong doing what you love, right?

But where I know what to do in my life, I have... troubles/difficulties to embrace the Magic of Friendship. I keep contact to only a very few people around me, not more than two. I try to initiate chats, talks and go to meet-ups. But at the end things freeze until our paths divide so much that we know each other only by name. I might be wrong or a wicked kind of introvert but for me fading friendships are as normal as talking to people at Bronycon and exchanging discord tags. I even cut any connections to people, which are bad for my life, no matter the kind of relationship I have to them. It seems I actually fail friendship. Maybe I have difficulties forming them in the first place. Maybe one day I will truly understand it. Maybe we are already friends by sharing these stories. Without the show I wouldn't be aware of this issue at all.

However... if I learned something than it's the Elements of Harmony. Our world is crazy and filled with insanity. Compared to other places on this world I had only luck with my spawn point. It is difficult to look out the window and remember that horrible things are happening right now. It is difficult to stay a good person in such a world. But the ponies thought me to stay good. Littlepip from Fallout Equestria the most. Ponies are better people and embracing the show helps us to become better people too. Where spirituality thought me harmony as a cosmic force, ponies thought me that harmony is something you can live, embrace and share by heart. My video games will be full of conflict, battles and tragedies. But I will try to keep the spirit of the show alive in my games and maybe teach some people the many ways we can grow as persons. Sometimes, growing is all we can do on this world and if our favorite ponies managed to do this over the past nine years, we should at least try. Right?

Your Faithful Student (still)
Binary Blitz

So this is my story.

Soon after 2015 began, I was introduced to the Pony fandom through a minecraft parody that crossovered with pony.

Little did I know it would turn into a journey lasting almost 5 years. And I loved every bit of it.

Pony had reopened my eyes to the world of animated cartoons and broke my stereotypical mindset by showing me how magical this thought-to-be girly show was. It was a big deal for my development from child to teen. It had given me hope and joy in my saddest and most stressful times.

It was more than just that. It would soon dominate all my existing interests and create new ones- Singing and writing fan fiction. It made me new friendships both online and offline. It even found its way into my schoolwork time to time. Never have I paid so much love and respect for something to this degree.

Now 16, I’m here witnessing the end of a series that had changed my life forever. It’s saddening to see something I kinda grew up with disappearing into the sunset. But I’m glad that I came along for the ride long enough for it to give me an impression that I wish I carry till the end. Without pony, I might’ve never found all the joy I have today, never had the open mind to watch my new favourite show, Pretty Cure (That I see as the successor of the anti-stereotype show that is Pony for myself), and honestly, never knew how great life could be with so much strife knocking me harder every day.

But despite the end of this generation, I look forward to the next. Until then and even from then on, the burning love I had for Twilight and her people and friends will forever live in me, and truthfully, everyone else.

May our beloved characters live on in Equestria and our hearts, now and forever.

~Nathan

MLP FIM is a wonderful program to watch with my kids. Without much thought doodling I sketched Crystal Frost. Looking over the creature i started to write random mini stories about Crystal and her dragon father. Then I started to write about her mothers parents. The struggles they been through to have a foal or their own. Crystal Frost mother. After that wrote how her mother met Crystal's Dragon father. The tragedy of her mothers deaths leaving her dragon love to care for their hybrid on his own. Wrote the interaction between hybrid foal and dragon father. She got older and had a love interested with Knight Wing. Planned to pitch the story to Hasbro . Spoke my plans on the MLP Arena. Was told Hasbro gets spin off pitches of MLP all the time. Was advised. Write my own world and put my character in my own story.

https://www.deviantart.com/landoftheclyony/art/Clydra-Species-Crystal-Frost-782046448

And so the ship had set sail to a whole new journey. Granted many bumps, stormy seas. And odd Shark attack along with a shipwreck. However the fans in the MLP Franchise have been most helpful. One warning don’t you dare reference pony throughout your book or you will be crying in court. “This inspired me to create new species names. “The Clyonies.

Others warned me about design.” Stop being so Dam lazy and get creative.” They even gave me tips and Advice. Re design the eye’s designs. Granted the re design went through many phases. Until I finally settled to a more pleasing look… I love the Furry Equine Style.

https://www.deviantart.com/landoftheclyony/art/Native-Clyony-Feather-Paints-782005450

Decided too create more species….You can see more here..

https://www.deviantart.com/landoftheclyony/gallery/66013828/charectes-in-ny-novel-series

Got an Amazing Partner on board Alex Blue Bird. https://www.deviantart.com/alexbluebird/

Her ability to Sketch action Scenes of my characters is amazing not to mention her fine Ability to bring them to life in beautiful illustrations… of course I'm no slacker and love to be a part of the process too.

Alex Blue bird sketch

I do Line edits clean job.

Alex Blue Bird Color and highlights effects and more.

I finish off with tinker Touch ups

https://www.deviantart.com/landoftheclyony/art/Battle-between-Amos-and-Dragon-over-Blossom-803540611

We need a novel series. Way ahead of you there.. First book in the Series… Cover of Book done…

https://www.deviantart.com/landoftheclyony/art/Blossom-and-the-Dragon-811747349

. What about chapter. Yes already done…

https://www.deviantart.com/landoftheclyony/art/Sneak-Peek-to-My-Novel-Series-Progress-795355585

The story follows a Family Time Line Starting with a foal less couple Forest and Juliette. Spanning 22 books in the Series. The age limit is 16 and Up (Warning not for those far to sensitive to the harsh realities of life. )

Here is the sneak peek inside the Book “Blossom and the Dragon.”

Prologue

Earth, once a warm and tropical planet teeming with a variety of creatures, was struck by a large mystic space rock that shattered into blue dust on impact. The strange powder spread across the land and sea, blanketing the planet in darkness. The temperature of Earth began to drop. Food became scarce, devastating most of the creatures to extention.

Clydesdales, one of the lucky surviving species. Were the first to experience the side effects of the strange dust. Their mares giving birth to furrier foals. The newborn's developmental stages spanning out taking much longer to grow from foal to adult. Their bodies sender, coats thicker. Manes and tails growing much longer. Severing from their ancestors, evolving into a new breed called the clyonies.

The new species quickly advanced from their primitive state. Developing the ability to speak and think. Forming tribes and setting rules. Yet the effects continued further down their gene pool. Some of the clyony mares, giving birth to foals with strange deformities. A single horn sticking out of their head, ( Unidale ), or bird-like wings a little below the shoulder ( Clyasus )

Fearing the deformed foals to be an omen of bad luck. They were abandoned into the wild. Some chose to conceal their foal's birth defects. A few years later, some discovered their offspring to wield magical powers. Fearing their foals tainted with evil witchcraft. Luring them into the woods, only to put an end to their lives.

Some clyonies grew curious. Wondering, what became of the outcast. Eager for answers, leaving their tribes. Never to be heard of, or seen again. It was unknown if any other creatures began to evolve into a more advanced species. However, one thing is for sure. Life on the planet will always find a way to adapt and survive.

Registered my Trademark name and logo in Canada. In the process of Registering in USA too.

https://www.ic.gc.ca/app/opic-cipo/trdmrks/srch/home

Of Course we have Lion Cub Creations With Plush Designing. For Blossom Skyler and Crystal Frost. Plus Future plushes of all Creations from my Designs.

Blossom…

https://www.deviantart.com/landoftheclyony/art/Blossom-817285232Prototype.

Skyler….

https://www.deviantart.com/landoftheclyony/art/Another-Beautiful-update-from-Lion-Cub-Creations-817283570

Im still improving Character Designs too…what do you think of the upgrade..?

https://www.deviantart.com/landoftheclyony/art/How-do-you-like-the-improvement-817283111

Just commissioned Holivi on an Exclusive Promotional Poster for the Franchise.

https://www.deviantart.com/holivi

Her progress so far.

https://www.deviantart.com/landoftheclyony/art/Blossom-and-the-Dragon-817284908

Not to worry already got my Interlectual Property Lawyer to do a Copyright Non Infringment Opinion. Comparing my creation with Hasbros Content…

https://www.deviantart.com/landoftheclyony/art/Exciting-News-802523009

Hey I'm cool if Hasbro wants to challenge me in Court. I even planned in Advance for the day.

This is the Start of one Crazy wild Exciting Adventure.

Crazy how the journey first started out as a Dream pitch to Hasbro and ended up becoming its very own Interlectual Property. Its Fun Exciting and Cool.

However I feel there are many Brilliant Creative Talented gifted artist in the MLP Fandom. Writers, Illustrators, painters, plush designers, Animators, Musicians, and way more.

You and a very unique Crazy Wild Imagination. Why not channel it. And do what I done, sever your own works from the fandom , claiming and owning your very own Interlectual Property.

Im not saying Abandoning the Fandoms you love and adore. Heavens no. What I'm saying there is plenty of room in this world to Enjoy the fandoms you love. And for you to be inspired by the fandom to come up with your very own creations and earn a living off doing what you love to do.

True I got my own project going, however I'm still going to Follow MLP, I loved the series from childhood. And still adore it to this day. Im excited to see what G5 will be. And yeah I'm sticking around for the comics.

Well there is much to do.

Just thought I share my journey how MLP changed My Life Forever. They inspired me to Totally think outside the box and get more creative.

PS yes my book will be professionally Edited by an Editor.

You are all Epic Keep up the creative works and wild crazy cool imagination's. Keep up the creative genius thinking outside the box and who knows perhaps some day your content of creativity will end up on the big Screen

And as a super Extra Special bonus. To all you creative minds here is part of chapter one The Note…

1. The Note

Nestled deep within a thick, dense forest, surrounded by A cluster of trees. Hidden within the confines of a faraway Earth kingdom of Evergrass, lies a small lumber village called Oakwood Grove. The suburb bustles with furry equine’s called clyonies –the creatures cultivated the lands. Supplying lumber to all the kingdoms within the countryside of Long Heart Stone.

One bright warm summer morning. A furry clyony mare, with the rarest of rare, red curly hair. Juliette a sweet yet loving soul. Heading out to deliver her absent-minded husband his lunch. “Now... where is that Path into the woods again?” she mumbled. Walking through the village. Her baby blue eyes capturing a glimpse of the grocery sign, dangling above the doorway. The letter’s painted in Bold Black ink. Little Tree Merchant. “I better pick up a few things while I’m passing through,” she thought.

Ethan, a tall, slender stallion, his short, trimmed light brown mane and tail neat and tidy, furry coat well-groomed. His apron tied snug around his waist. Stacking the shelves full of dry good. His short furry ears perking up to the sound of the chiming doorbell. Glancing through his large round Spectacles, over the shelf spotting the mare stepping inside. “Good Morning, Juliette.”

“Morning, Ethan,” she replied. Walking through the grocery aisles. Picking a few items off the shelf. Ella, A young furry mare, quite the chatty type who loved to engage in gossip, having quite the reputation for spreading rumors like wildfire. Her raven black mane up in a tight bun. Dressed in a casual baby blue dress, an apron covering the front of her gown. Standing behind the counter. Her big yellow eyes fixed on Juliette. Taking sudden notice of the lunch bag dangling from the mare’s neck. “I see Forest forgot his lunch again.”

Placing the celery and a jar of jam on the counter. “My husband was in a hurry to get to work.”

The nosy mare, putting her front hooves on the wooden surface, leaning forward, and whispered, “where would our stallions be without us mares to keep them in proper order. When it comes to the Clyony Species, our mares are the most Intelligent.” The two gigged.

Juliette paying for her orders, bidding the couple a farewell. Heading back onto the trail.

Dustin, A furry stallion. Thin to the legs from years of vigorous walking, yet much stronger build to the upper of his body, due to constant lifting. His mane and tail a sloppy, untidy mess. Mailbag slung over his shoulder. Spotting the mare on the pathway up ahead. Racing over to her side. “Good morning, Juliette.”

“Morning, Dustan. How is everything At Oakwood Express?”

“It’s been a busy week.” Rummaging through his Mailbag, pulling out a delivery slip. “Your husband parcel arrived early this morning, Please remind him to come in and pick it up.”

“I will thank you.”

“Well, I better hurry if I want time for my break,” Dustin said as he dashed away.

Juliette turning back to the path. Up ahead, once a tarter old rickety Bridge, worn out from years of use. Replaced with a solid oak fancy curved wooden bridge. Stepping onto the fine sturdy wooden structure.

Hearing the quick, loud, noisy sound of shutters, coming from below. Curiously gazing over the side of the bridge. The mare spotting Harry, a skinny yet stubby build furry stallion. His shot pale brown mane and tail an unruly mess. Standing hight on his back hooves. Stretching outward, struggling to hold his balance. An old-timey camera clutched in his hoof. Worn out from years of use on the field. His stitched up duffle bag, nestled close to a large stone, ten hooves away from its owner. Inside a stash of fresh film. “Anything new in the news today, Harry?”

“You will find about it in tomorrow’s paper, Juliette!”

“Fair enough.” Going back to the trail, steady on course, hearing a commotion off in the distance. Curious wandering off the path. The mare coming into view of a large wooden wagon full of furniture. Ecstatic, to see such fancy wares. Watching the stallion moving crew unloading the finery of exquisite goods into the cottage. Juliette's eyes spotting A young mare, wearing a silky light summer dress and large flowery bonnet. Her curly orange golden locks trailing down to her knees, standing beside the entranceway of the cottage. Ushering close to her side, introducing herself. “Hi, my name is Juliette. Welcome to Oakwood Grove.”

“Thank you. I’m Ellen, the new school teacher.” She replied. Glancing over at the two stallions unloading the wagon. “Took all morning for the movers to find Oakwood Grove. They were lucky another traveler was headed straight to the village. I take it your little ones are excited to meet their new teacher?”

“Actually... my husband and I are foal less.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to-.”

“-It’s okay, besides at least I still have my husband. That reminds me. I better give him his lunch.” Dashing away back onto the trail, waving to the mare as she fades out of sight. Treading onward, spotting the reverend, dressed in his usual black suit. Complete with white collar and Bowler black hat. His face lit up with joy, marveling at a Tall old oak tree. “Good morning Father Ross.”

The reverends big brown eyes fixed on the Tree. “Good morning Juliette,” the stallion drifting off in verse.

*****

God wonders of the lands, spread far and wide.

Each moment to see, a unique treasure to embrace.

A beautiful masterpiece, crafted carefully, with loving care,

Telling us we are all loved, and he is always there.

Disaster sometimes spread the lands, stripping away the beauty from the ground.

Nothing left but dust and ash, not a heard of a single sound.

Yet under the ashes and flooded woods, he guides nature to find her ways.

To come back and restore her natural grace

A wonder of beauty for all to embrace.

*****

Glancing over at the mare. “Do you think you can help keep your husband awake during my Sunday Seminars?”

Juliette quickly drifting off to last Sunday’s mishap... The couple, home from church. Noticing her husband, more worn out than usual. “Forest, I know you don’t like to say no when asked to lend a hoof. However, you need to stop. You’re going to overwork yourself.”

“It’s no big deal.” Brushing off his wife’s concerns. “Besides, I can handle it.”

“No, Forest, you need rest.” Placing her cloak on the coat rack. Hearing the loud rumble of snores coming from the family room. Taking a quick peek, finding her husband passed out on the sofa, straw hat resting, on his head. Snapping back to the present, giggling to herself. “Sometimes, my husband can be quite stubborn.” Noticing the reverend raising his eyebrow in concern. “Not to worry, Reverend. From now on, I will make sure my husband is well-rested before attending church.”

“Thank you.” The two parting ways. Up ahead, finding the cleared pathway. Juliette dashing off the main road. Following the cut path through the lush treed forest.

In an open valley, stumps surrounding the lumber yard. Timber stacked in piles. The Clyony Stallion woodcutting crew, tired from cutting trees all morning, sitting down to a much-deserved lunch break, chatting up a storm. Timber, A scruffy, bulky build furry stallion. Short cut chestnut brown Mane and tail, Sitting on a stump, indulging into his tasty dinner. “Any of you stallions going to the Oakwood Family Picnic this weekend?” he asked curiously.

Matthew's greasy spikey purple mane. Standing up on end. His tail swaying side to side flicking the flies away from his furry messed up body. His blue eyes, staring nervously down at his wind-up watch. “I Can’t, my mother in law is coming over to see the twins.” Fidgeting with the trinket. “My wife is expecting me to be at the station when her mother arrives.”

Hudson, A husky furry stallion with a scruffy beard, having a bad habit of talking and eating at the same. Biting into his apple, “Not this time, I promised the kids I would help them build a tree-house, on the big oak, in our back yard.”

Tyler, a slender stallion, bits of fur missing from his body, his short dark blue mane, and tail dry full of split ends. Looking like something, the dog dragged out of the woods. Taking a drink from his canteen. “Can’t make it. My wife is due to have our fifth foal. She’s been cranky the last few weeks, craving all kinds of weird foods. Last night she sent me off to the shop. Wanting me to pick up apple pickle pie and bean bread yogurt. They never even heard of the stuff. Why can’t she crave something normal?”

Ivan, A stalky stallion. Combing his thick blond mane and Tail, obsessing over, keeping it well-groomed at all times. Having the horrid habit of his devilish good looks, getting the best of ego. “My wife has been nagging me to take her to the city of Cherratoba again."

" I thought you loved going to the city." Timber replied.

"Yeah, I especially love the view. But my wife is quite the nag.” Putting his comb back in his saddlebag. “What's her problem, anyway? I let her window shop for fashion. And I get to view all those young mares in their tight hot fancy wares. If you ask me. Its a win, win. Besides, she got nothing to worry about. True, my eyes wander. However, she is the only mare I hold in my hooves."

The stallions conversations Quickly interrupted by the thunderous loud snores Darting their sharp, annoyed eyes at Drew. A chunky furry stallion. His mane and tail black as tar. Upper body dark brown, underbelly, and furry hooves a pale shade of yellow. Stretched out like a starfish, asleep on the ground, half of the stallions face dipped into a bowl of oatmeal.

Timber getting off his stump, walking closer to the tired stallion. Kneeling, lowering his head. Speaking softly. “Drew.”

Stretching out his chunky furry body. Letting out a loud annoying snore.

“Drew...”

Bellowing out a loud snort, as if his head were stuck in a trunk of a tree, scrambling free from its barky prison, trailing back to his long yawny snores.

“Drew!” Timber shouted impatiently.

The Young stallion quickly scrambling to his hooves. Freaking out. Oatmeal dripping from the side of his face. Yawning loudly as he struggled to speak, “Don’t cry daddy’s here.” Rubbing his eyes, his blurred vision coming clear. “Oh, it’s you guys.”

“You got oatmeal on your face again.” Timber replied

“That’s nice.” Wiping the tasty oats off, licking his hoof.

“So, are you going to the family picnic this weekend?”

“I'm lucky if I can get out of bed. Shawn had us up all night crying.” letting out a sleepy yawn, taking another lick of oatmeal. “we tried everything. Giving him his milk, changing his diaper, a bath, and he still kept crying.”

Timber Glancing over at a tall skinny furry stallion, his Mossy green mane, and tail, with white streak between its colors, Blowing in the breeze. His furry top coat light brown, underbelly, and hairy hooves colored white as snow. Sitting on a stump, looking over the valley. Hooves clutched to his stomach, growling in hunger. “How about you, Forest?” The Clyonies quickly stopped eating their lunch. Juliette appearing out of the path, The cool breeze trailing through the air, her nose capturing the scent of fresh-cut trees. Glancing over the lumber site. Spotting her husband sitting alone on a stump. Scurrying close to his side.

“Hello, dear.” Taking the strap off her neck. “You forgot your lunch again.”

“Sorry about that.” grabbing the bag, giving his wife a kiss on the cheek. “I will try to remember next time.”

“I met Dustin on the trail.” Rummaging through her saddlebag, “You have a package at the Post office.”

Talking the slip Shoving in his lunch bag. “No problem, I’ll pick it up on my way home tonight.”

“Don’t you think you have enough tools. The poor garden shed can’t hold anymore. It’s like a zoo in that place.”

“I will make sure to clear out the clutter on my next day off.” Teasing his wife. “what makes you think the package is for me.”

“Oh, please do tell my Forest.”

Kissing his wife on the hoof. “You will find out when I return home, my fair Juliette.”

The couple Nuzzling each other. Juliette, dashing back to the trail. Quickly glancing back at her husband, “Now, don’t spoil your dinner.”

“Not to worry, my Juliette, I shall savor the treat for last. Enjoying every little morsel crumb!” His leafy green eyes watching as his wife fades out of sight. "Finally.” Quickly digging into his bag.“I hope Juliette made her special oat honey cookies again.” He muttered, feeling thirsty, reaching for his canteen, noticing a note stuck to the bottom. Grabbing the piece of paper. Reading the inscription.

*****

My dear Forest, I have something to tell you.

Hugs everyone.

Laurie

“How Has My Little Pony Impacted Your Life?” So much things to say, but I will definitely try to keep the whole thing short even though I can't promise anything. In advance sorry for the oversized story of mine.

First, who was I? French about my nationality, shy about my personality but also rather lonely and asocial. In case you aren't aware of the average 'english level' french people have, let's say it is quite aweful. I won't detail how bad our pedagogy for teaching English is here because it would be too long. The only thing to remember is that after more than a decade, two or three hours a week, I don't even reached the B1 level (search on the internet for what it means). I guess I was kinda close to the language of a 8 year old native english speaker or so (minus the idiomatic expression, oral fluency and so on). That why I'm asking you not to utterly hate me for any mistakes that I could possibly do.

Now about me, I never consider myself to have had a good childhood and so it is for a part of the brony community I guess. Beside chronic bashfulness there was one thing I had to deal with while growing up, fears, fears of drawing attention to me, fear to be humiliated and hurt as it has been the case in my early years at school. Growing up with those problems and other more personal ones affected me in a way I still can't describe with precision today, the easiest to say it in one word is “insensitivity”. Insensitivity about my and others' feelings as well as anything that would happen to me or to the world around me. There always have been the sort of fearness of others and unknown in my life, but the unmitigated lack of feelings and emotions that I was suffering from was considered a psychological issues, closer to sociopathy than anything else. I never had friends or at least never considered the few people around me this way. I successfully lost every people around me every time I was growing up and going to higher grade levels and schools.

I have learned how to take care of myself and nothing else, talking and behaving the ''normal way'' with others always felt strange and insincere to me. I have been an only child unwanted by my biological parents, adopted by others. I know it sounds depressing, it eventually happens later in my life.

To sum it up, I reach my teenage years without nothing being bright white or deep black. Everything way grey, a dull, bland and dreary grey. Not much joy, same for sadness and every possible feelings. I so much wanted to hide me and what I was from others to prevent any danger or damage that could be done to me that it lead to those psychological issues I have been previously mentioning.

And one day surfing on the internet, pushed by the weirdness of people seemingly knowing way too much things about a, at first sight, second-hand cartoon show for little girls. My curiosity had been piqued and I had to know what it was all about. Who are those guys talking about characters from what could be described as a silly show? Why were they knowing so much about every one of them? Am I missing something? This is at least what I thought and I wanted to give it a try.

Understanding almost nothing about English at this time I had to wait for the french subtitles. French voice actors sounded super bad to me, so I just started to listen and watch the very first episodes in the original version with french subtitles when they were released. As the time were passing I started to discover some weird sensations. Over time, I surprise myself grinning and even laughing while doing some research to understand puns done in some artworks made by the community. The whole cartoon, from its references, its original and quite unusual aspect, its overload of happiness and joy-filling sensations affects me in a way I could hardly describe. It was like I started to have a new vision on the world around me and how bad and useless I have been as a human on this earth. Noticing every little details in every episodes made me thought of how great and powerful this show was. I was no longer curious to know what this show was about, but rather eager to see the latest episode released.

As the years go on the magic operates and my English improved drastically. I have learned in every episodes since then principles and life lessons that sounded so basic at first, but so unknown from the majority of people, especially me. The song were gleeful, morals were so stunningly right that I had to at least try to learn them and apply them in my daily life in order to become a better self, and so I do. My personality greatly improved, it improved so much actually that I don't think there is a word in either my or this language to describe it. I went from nothing to outstanding to the people around me. Where I used to be sitting in a couch playing video games I started doing sports like running, swimming and much other, my body was changing as much as my mind. Where I used to eat junk food I now cook myself, even pastries that people usually like. Where I spent my weeks alone in my house I now often receive text messages from friends eager to hang out with me. Where I was shy, unwilling to talk and show myself I now sing along with my friends and dance on my favorite music I have discovered now I'm listening to music, which wasn't the case before I started to watch the show.

My life hasn't been impacted with this show. To be honest it actually started with it, is shows me the way to go, leads me to depression when I realized how much of a useless guy I had been, but it also helps me becoming someone better and awesome in the same time. At every new episodes released I was taking notes of everything I could use to become a better friend until I finally find my own. A bunch of awesome people always here to help each other, to describe them I could say there is a Pinkie Pie, a Rarity, a Starlight and I would probably take the role of Twilight if we consider the evolution of my own personality.

The show might be ended now and I feared depression as I thought there would be nothing for me after it, but I was wrong, now I have friends and I will do my best to be the good and bestest friend they can have. My little pony have been the key releasing the emotions and feelings I never had in my life. Now I can fully accept myself and the things I like in my life, do what I want to do without fearing being judge and hated, but even though I'm not one hundred percent confident with those I don't care because I know every day i'm doing my best to be who I want to be. My childhood started a decade too late but now I regret nothing of what is happening since I first gave a chance to what sounded like the most ludicrous and kids-and-girls-oriented show ever.

I still have one big fear that impact me every day, a fear that became a phobia, probably the most unlikely one for a guy, this one thing guys are constently mentioning and talking about since they reach puberty. So yeah, it is quite laughable, I know, and having a girlfriend isn't something that will happen soon, but I don't really care because I have friends I can care for and that care for me. Life will still goes on and what will happen to me now only depends on me. No matter how much people can mock me about that one subject, I don't have to fear my friends' reactions, they know about it and always are helping me and giving good advices.

That's weird how life can change just thanks to a TV show obviously meant for little girls, right? I'm glad it happens and I thank from the bottom of my heart the awesome community we become and the whole MLP staff for what they did throughout the years. Thanks everyone, and good luck for what will be the next step of your life!

Now fellow bronies, I just have one thing to say, love and tolerance! *brohoof*

PS: I have been writing a fiction for a long time now, it is in progress and will still be for the years coming, but if anywho is willing to see it one day, follow or just come by and say hi, my nickname is “FrenchyJerry” on fimfiction.net.

My story will probably be far more boring than most and the writing probably not all that convincing (I've been mulling over for half a week on exactly how to phrase all this...and, even as I type this, I'm no closer to an answer). Still, FiM really taught me some important lessons. Many are also lessons that, while are important, when observed in retrospect, seem like they should have been obvious. Lessons like to not only be confident about whatever it is that one enjoys, but to also mind the tone and context of how it's presented to those that are either inquiring or attempting to take the piss. In such situations, something as minor as answering a question with the attitude of enjoying the show (or, whatever else) is the most normal thing in the world tends to not only diffuse a lot of potential issues, but also can help raise interest in the subject in question. I'm not someone that enjoys or even feels particularly comfortable dealing with people...but, despite that, I've had people develop interest in the show after a brief conversation with me. So, I suppose, the TL;DR on that would be that presentation matters to a significant amount...and, since then, that's assisted me in real life...be it discussing interests (shows, games, music, etc.) and introducing them to friends or acquaintances or helping me with things related to my job.

Also, to bring this back around to a more personal level, as I said earlier, I'm not someone that feels particularly comfortable dealing with people....especially, when those people are in large groups. Me on my own or me and a couple of friends is probably my most ideal scenario. Maybe, an occasional exception where I end up talking with a stranger on a subject we're both enthusiastic about. Yet, despite all of that, I've actually grown comfortable with and even interested in meeting up with people from my local meetup group and even had gone as far as attending the 2019 Bronycon....and, genuinely enjoyed my time there. And, while Bronycon isn't the first convention I've had interest in attending, it's the first one that I had actually gone to and it made me genuinely want to give other conventions a bash.

And, FiM through its cheerful demeanor, deep writing, and fun characters has really helped me through some tough times. Be it helping me through times when my brain would go haywire a bit because of ailments like depression and anxiety...or, helping cope with the aftermath of unpredictable actions of an alcoholic family member. I won't dwell on hypotheticals on what may have been, but I'm glad that the show and some of the people that I've met and gotten to know thanks to FiM were there for me. Doubly so during the dark times. And, I hope that what I've learned can persist to help me deal with potential issues in the future.

-Midnight Surf

So its been a couple of years now since I joined the pony fandom. A LOT has changed for me, good as well as bad, but mostly for the better. When I found out about Fallout: Equestria I used to be bad with English, it‘s not my native language. After listening to an audio book of the brutal horse Fallout fic I started understanding English a lot better, it permanently changed my view on the language and I have been fluent in it ever since. I also found out about the Overmare Studios, which tries to turn the fic into an actual, open world, 3D game. Since they do everything completely for free I wanted to join in, video game development always interested me so I learned programming. This got me into the IT FE-college I'm in right now, but I couldn't make games with only code so I learned 3D modelling too.

A year after I started I had more fun doing 3D art then programming, so I applied as a 3D artist. I ended up being declined but the 3D lead helped me improve further. Another year later and I apply again, this time with success. At Overmare I got to know some of the best people I have ever had the pleasure to be around. I wasn't compeltly satisfied with how much I learned so far tho and so I also spent time doing 2D art. In the meantime I go to my first conventions, meet more people, bought the first bits of pony stuff and shared some adventures with my new and old friends. I could say that the time when I got to first enjoy the positivity of the community was probably the happiest time of my life so far.

Fast forward a couple of years, I replaced my favorite 3D modeller, my inspiration and my boss at Overmare and get to be the new 3D lead for the team, its and honor that I didn't imagine possible. I get the chance to travel from Germany to America for the last Bronycon at the age of 18 and get invited to hold a panel at Czequestria to talk about my work, getting treated like I'm famous.

But I did get hit my a big case of ‘real life‘. I got terribly sick, someone took someone else away from me and broke my heart, school and work got as tough as never before and I felt like there‘d be no way out for me. If it wouldn't have been for the people I met, then I wouldn't be here, still trying to better my situation. When I suddenly disappeared, people asked where I went, and tried to support me where they could. When I was being unreasonably mad at my friends, they were understanding. When I needed help then I could be sure to get it from them. I don't know where I would be now, if it wasn't for someone to go on an 8 hour road trip to Prague with me since I missed my plane because I needed to see a doctor.

The cartoon series didn't help me too much, but I couldn't go through tough times if it wasn't for the people I got to meet because of it. There are one or two people that I would have liked to never meet, but they're overshadowed by the support of those who I feel lucky to meet.

Thanks pony people !

Robert

How My Little Pony Impacted Me!

It was in late 2011-early 2012 when I first heard of guys liking anything associated with “My Little Pony,” I told myself that I wanted absolutely nothing to do with it. However, I knew that, deep down, everything happens for a reason, I grew more and more curious.

During the summer of 2012, my first real exposure to MLP was in an AMV search with the Coldplay song “Viva La Vida,” and I came across a video titled “Viva La Luna,” and it was about Princess Luna and Nightmare Moon. Later, I was watching TV and I was scrolling through the guide and saw “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic” listed under “The Hub.” My first thought was “no way,” but when I couldn’t find anything else to watch that was of interest to me, I decided to flip on MLP, praying that I didn’t regret what I was about to do. The episode that was airing was “Hearts and Hooves Day.” I thought it was very funny what they did with Big Mac and Cheerilee. Then, another episode aired immediately following, and it was “A Friend in Deed.” Yes, the episode with the Smile song. I thought the song was very upbeat. After watching those episodes, I thought, “There is absolutely no way that I should be enjoying this.” But I did; and a few weeks later I decide to watch the series from the very beginning. After watching the series pilot and seeing the scene with the Elements of Harmony, I thought, “This reminds me of Sailor Moon. This is cool!”

Not long afterward, I discovered that this show had gotten the attention of other guys around the same age as me, if not, older; there was an entire fanbase dedicated to this show, and conventions dedicated to this fandom. Then I saw videos about the fire at BronyCon in Secaucus, courtesy of Joe Stevens and TechRat for Equestria Inquirer. I thought that there was absolutely no way that I would be able to go to events such as these, because I didn’t have the money to do so, nor would my parents allow me to go.

At one point, my parents caught me watching an episode of My Little Pony, and their reaction was a subdued form of shock and disbelief. So, I had to explain to them that it wasn’t what they were thinking, that it wasn’t like previous versions of MLP. I also explained to them that there was a fandom dedicated to this show. I told them that liking a show targeted towards the young female demographic doesn’t define me as a person, that it was just TV show and that there was nothing wrong with liking a girl’s TV show. It took a bit of convincing, but they took it with reluctant resignation and said that they’d support me and still love me regardless.

Season 3 of the show started shortly after I began my senior year of High School. Not entirely aware of the broadcast schedule, I didn’t follow along as consistently as I wanted to. But I got to see a few of the new episodes that aired that season. In the beginning of 2013, I saw that the Hub was promoting the heck out of, what they were calling, “The Pony Princess Spectacular,” the Season 3 finale. When I watched the season 3 finale and saw Twilight get her wings, I knew what I wanted to do with this. I wanted to make a PMV dedicated to Twilight Sparkle, and I drew inspiration from a tribute done for the late Desmond Llewelyn, who played Q in 17 James Bond films. The song I used was “Nobody Does it Better,” performed by Carly Simon. That was my first real foray into video editing. I made more PMV’s with other songs during that year.

In Summer 2013, I saw that BronyCon, the biggest Brony event of the year, was being held in Baltimore. I decided that I wanted to go, but I had to ask my parents. I was excited when they said, “yes.” But when arrived in Baltimore, I was unprepared for the magnitude this event would have regarding size and the enthusiasm from the attendees. I got to meet several famous personalities in the fandom, such as DustyKatt and Final Draft from Everfree Network. While in the vendors hall, I ran into Final Draft and asked him for a fandom name suggestion. I told him that I refereed soccer (for real). For anyone unfamiliar with the sport of soccer (or football in most countries), there is nothing that a referee is better known for than displaying a red card to send a player off from a game. So, Draft suggested the name “Red Card,” and eventually I began implementing that name for myself in the Spring of 2014; and that year was when I took a cue from ACRacebest and started vlogging the conventions that I went to.

Beginning at BronyCon in 2014, there was a Grand Galloping Gala held every year through the last in 2019, and at BronyCon 2015, the Gala fell on the same date as my 21st birthday. The Gala cosplay cast invited on stage for everyone to sing “Happy Birthday” to me, and it gave me the best group of friends I could ever have.

I have been proud to call myself a Brony for 7 years, and during that time I’ve seen a lot of ups and downs. This fandom has gone through a lot of unnecessary drama, and I have voiced my opinion on such issues. But this fandom has also changed me as a person. It has allowed me to be more open and more accepting to things that I wasn’t prior to becoming a brony. I have been able to attend various conventions from BronyCon to Everfree Northwest. I have been to every BronyCon since 2013 through its 2019 conclusion, and, because of that, I have been able to meet some amazing people that I would never have met otherwise. Just because the show has ended, it doesn’t mean those friendship have to end, and it doesn’t mean the fandom is dying. We, as a community, are stronger because the show has taught us many valuable lessons. I want to see the people of this fandom implement the lessons this show taught us and do good in the world. I want to see people in this fandom treat others with respect, decency, and kindness. Giving this show a chance was a life-changing experience for me, and I have no regrets.

I am very thankful for what this show has given me. I have stood by this fandom since 2013 and I won’t stop until my dying days. When the time comes, I will introduce this show as a lesson in friendship to my children and my grandchildren.

Thank you to MLP for all the friendship, and I look forward to Generation 5 and beyond.

Red Card

This has been a piece I have been wanting to write quite some time now but decided to wait until the finale officially aired. Unlike many fans of the series, I did not get into it until later, much later in fact. How late? October 2018. Season 8 was just about to wrap up when I decided to sit down and watch the series. I fell in love with it, almost instantly.

As a result, I was able to do the something I have not been able to do in nearly 7 years: Make new friends. Back in early July of 2013, I had a bit of a falling out with someone I thought was a close friend and it stuck with me for all of those years. What ended up happening is that I became far more reclusive, only sticking with the two friends I've known prior, my cousin that I practically grew up with and no one else. The series allowed me to open up, once again, and try to find like minded individuals (this case being fellow fans of the series). Now I have a small group of online friends that I have grown close to and it's because of this series why that came to be. I wouldn't trade any of this away and I hope we remain friends for a long long time. The series has also made me feel better in general.

So... what happens now that the series is over (at least from the animated side of things)? For one, I'm not going anywhere. I may have come in rather late, but I have no intentions on leaving this fandom. I'm gonna continue enjoying the content this fandom produces, whether it's art, music or whatever. I'm hoping to contribute to the fandom with my own characters and stories too. I'm also gonna remain "cautiously optimistic" for the future of MLP but that's a wait and see what happens game at the moment.

My only regret in all of this was not checking out the series sooner. I was well aware of it since roughly 2012 and was considering giving it a go back in 2014. I just never got around to it. I honestly don't know why. There were moments when I could have used this series to help pick me up and help me feel better.

I guess what I'm trying to say in all of this is that because of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, I am a happier and better person and I am forever thankful for it.

On a final note, I want to thank this fandom for producing some of the best online content out there and thank each and every one who has ever worked on the series. Without any of them, this fandom would not exist and who knows where I, and many others, would be in life now without it.

-Onyx

STORYTELLING IS MAGIC

Once upon a time there was a show. And I... well, no, I wasn't there to watch it. I was busy with my master year (obtaining all the knowledge that I would shamefully neglect to live up to outside academics until a couple years later) and my first part-time job. I was mostly interested in Japanese animation and parts of what was still going on among Hollywood juggernauts of animated feature films at that point, sorely missing the "2D musical and/or action" age I had grown up with in that field but thankful for rare comebacks like The Princess and the Frog or the CGI but still nostalgia-inducing Tangled.

I had never been averse to works supposedly made "for kids" or "for little girls" in particular - quite the opposite, really. But at the time my whimsical attention had long drifted away from western animated shows, and My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic flew below my radar.

Not for long, though. Fast forward to the late spring of 2012, in the wake of season 2, and I stumbled across This Day Aria and was stunned. I honestly thought I had missed out on some kind of Alan Menken project, so I googled onward. A bunch of thankfully out-of-context spoilers later (including an entire S2 episode, 'Read It and Weep' - you know this awkward moment when you want to get a glimpse and then realize you're staring at the end credits 20 minutes later?), I was down for the binge. In the summer of 2012, I came out of that binge... lotta little things richer as an audience member.

Back then and for much of season 3 hence, MLPFiM was already something I had sorely missed. It felt like a loud and proud and vivid successor to the so-called 'Disney Renaissance' - from the expressive animation and detailed visuals I had never thought Flash capable of to the growing music and song library of enticing melodies, elaborate arrangements, imaginative lyrics and, in the case of songs, the many vocals that helped weave said songs into the story. There was plenty of clever humour with a penchant for verbal and situational irony (the latter of which has arguably grown stronger through the years in itself). There were diverse characters whose quirks, strengths and weaknesses, designs and voicework blended together left impressions that stayed with you for a long time after the episodes. There were stories juggling these characters in all kinds of situations - pitching them against external crises and inner demons alike, making them learn valuable lessons and then how to stick to those lessons in the face of new challenges and temptations, teaming them up with (or against) the growing number of supporting and background cast who had lives and personalities and visual charmsqaqaaq of their own - the growing number of different lives and destinies you gradually learned about.

The diversity of these characters, their interactions and stories made sure that friendship wasn't even the only star of the messages conveyed. The matters of family, legacy, responsibility, creativity, staying true to oneself and those dear to you, loyalty, trust, bravery, the importance of an open mind towards hobbies and the detriment of prejudice against others and their needs - you name it! Alongside and through all these stories also grew the world itself - a motley, authentic, increasingly eclectic fantasy fictionverse that combined more and more cultures and traditions and lore details and reimagined influences (including some terms and concepts of our world's mythology I first heard about after coming across their MLPverse incarnations). Even back then, this world had such a lot to it, and it lived and developed and gained new facets with every premiere week, and eventually with every new satellite like a comic or chapter book as well.

And yet there would be more where that came from. Uniting the expanding lore, the character development trends to date and the key themes of the show itself. Indeed, there was a lot happening around the ideas of kindness, loyalty, generosity, honesty and laughter - their power and the idea of their influence on others generally dates back to the pilot itself. And back then, I already couldn't but notice how this show combined the literal and figurative sense of its subtitle in a true fantasy way. It was exploring the power of bonds with others as a most potent catalyst for changing one's ways and overcoming one's flaws and fears. It was establishing the magic of said bonds as an arcane force that manifested in chaos-binding stone spells and cleansing rainbow lasers - you know, the kind that could break through to a corrupted individual's better self and drag it back to the surface, so that this salvaged self could look back in horror, wince in tears, bite its lip, get up and defy the darkness that once ruled them, aided by the very same kind of bonds discussed above. It was already epic in itself. It was already topical for our world in more ways than one.

And somehow it was going to get even better.

FRIENDSHIP IS MAGIC

In a way, it started escalating from the start of Season 3, with Mane Six all doing their parts in an attempt to help restore the spirits (and safety) of a once enslaved and deeply traumatized nation. Then came the triumph of the Element of Kindness, historical enough in its own right. And then... came February 16, 2013, the date I would come to celebrate each year since. The ascension of Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship.

Reportedly conceived as a series finale at one point, 'Magical Mystery Cure' was quite a milestone for the path of a pony who went from years of dismissing friendships outside her family circle to hungrily studying, processing everything about friendship, imbibing even the things her technically more social newfound friends had taken for granted. Now, she found herself fighting for the others' brainwashed minds and progressively ruined lives in a battle that had no villain to shoot lasers at - just the ancient, glitched and inadvertently malevolent magic that had never been meant for what it did and thus never meant to be undone by conventional means known to ponykind.

That was when the pony who once "used to wonder what friendship could be" went and embraced friendship in its entirety as a magical domain. She banked on the bonds between her friends to serve as a catalyst for resisting and fighting not just some personal drawbacks and problems as usual, but an externally imposed influence of tremendous power. A magical mystery cure indeed - and it was no longer a mystery in this sense. It all happened. Friendship was officially, ontologically cemented as magic in all senses, both in-universe and on the thematic level. And the consequences? For all the show's already amassed prior merits, the consequences were what made MLPFiM stand out for real.

I mean, I had been fascinated by my share of princess characters in Fiction before. But never in my life had I thought of princesshood as a meritocratic concept. I had never encountered the thought of a princess as a title one could officially earn, let alone be effectively bestowed by the in-universe powers-that-be, all while getting reborn physically to reflect and facilitate the new stage and status. All on the basis of something as meaningful as the power of bonds to have wholeheartedly embraced as a philosophy and continue to champion henceforth to help and guide others around. I had never perceived a princess as someone with enough authority to apply to political matters but far EXCEEDING them in terms of what they could do and how they could impact the society and the world.

Frankly, I had never thought any of that about royalty at all. No fiction work experienced to date had ever given me all the aforesaid in a single unified concept. Until a TV cartoon about magical pastel ponies came by and did.

And went to town with it.

Besides the new personal, social, administrative experiences and challenges Twilight's princesshood brought her next season (and the plot point it became in shaping other characters' stories and lessons), her very first animated royal adventure in the same year's 'Equestria Girls' movie landed her in an environment particularly sensitive to social issues and friendship problems - the environment heavily damaged by the time of the princess's arrival yet restored through her resolute, progressively aided and supported endeavours. This was the environment where she changed one life in particular, where her future returns would help further guide this life onward to full redemption and full acceptance, where MLPFiM came one of its many full circles as we heard the words starting a report: "Dear Princess Twilight..." - and where the unofficial but worthy student in question proceeded to pay it all forward on many fateful occasions including one marked by most heartwarming irony.

And the others, whose friendships have led Twilight to where she is now? They kept catching up in hops, skips and jumps. A whole arc of Season 4 - arguably one of the show's most definitive ones to date - was dedicated to the other Element Five being tested in their respective Elements and coming out of these tests with somecreature else's lives, views, values and destinies changed for better. Twilight faced her own Key test as well. That year saw them all outgrowing the need to rely on any artefact gemstones for harnessing their mutual powers (although they wouldn't quite get used to the notion until the show's end), making a game-changing impact on the ancient source of those gemstones, earning themselves a kind of HQ and magical aid in responding to and addressing even more problems and crises across the land. It didn't stop with the girls either - soon three more longtime characters, three brave little fillies, cutie mark crusaded themselves into a philosophy that granted them some of the most special cutie marks in the world and led them to help and counsel a multitude of lives and destinies not unlike their biological/sworn sisters did. Spike, Twilight's #1 assistant and little brother in all but name, soon followed suit in his own fashion. And you know who else followed suit?

Many, SO MANY folks on the receiving end of all the aforesaid characters' light. Including but not remotely limited to Princess Twilight's first official student and the wide array of students Mane Six would welcome into their School of Friendship later on. The arcs and seasons and satellite works chronicling all of that didn't just present the mane and long featured cast with new challenges and things to stand for, they didn't just feature some of the franchise's strongest covered topics from community revival to antiwar messages, they saw more and more seeds of change and hope and unity sown around this grand fictional world which, let's not forget, kept growing bigger, grander and more detailed with each year in itself. The stories became more complex, including the kinds where each side could be possibly right and wrong at the same time. The characters became more multifaceted, their interactions and involvements with other characters became more diverse, more and more folks became protagonists of their own or shared stories in and beyond the show. The animation, music, humour and lore became more ambitious.

And throughout it all, the magic of friendship was spreading like wildfire in the most complimenting sense. Through individuals, families, communities. Through kingdoms, nations, species. All the way up to the grand climax we witnessed in Season 9 final episodes, including the transfer of Equestria's entire future fully into the hooves of those who have been guarding, guiding and shaping it for moons and years prior. All the way up to the final timeskip that outlined and cemented their continuing deeds and legacy hence.

All in a massive fantasy universe where history was made literally before our eyes. Where a little pony once jinxed "having friends won't help me save Equestria" in the most epic and far-reaching way imaginable. Where the magic of friendship grows.

FICTION IS MAGIC

Now, with a curtain lowered on the show at the core of the aforesaid universe, looking back moistens my eyes again and again. Like I said elsewhere this week, even Dr Seuss's oft-quoted "prescription" isn't much help here because it's not about parting ways with the world and its characters - they're forever a page turn or a "play" click/tap away. But tears can come from the very realization that it has all happened, that a majestic, rich, evolving, practically Narnia tier fictionverse has been crafted before us for almost a decade. And we audiences have been treated to all of its most formative years, to its most potent messages and truths and lessons, to the mystery and beauty and sadness and mirth of its numerous components. There is so much that it couldn't have possibly avoided spilling over into our world and impacting us audiences - the way the magic of Fiction generally does.

I alone have got more out of it than I ever bargained for. As a lyricist, I was treated to many of the songtexts I still look up to. As a teacher, I was treated to some of the most valuable things to account for in the field. As a human long enamored with animation, horses in animation, eclectic music, unapologetically kitchen-sink yet harmoniously combined fantasy worlds and unique lore... well, you can probably guess. And there's no counting all the precious stories and wise points I've found here - points made, backed up and reaffirmed. It's a treasure trove of most varied wisdom to turn to.

And I'm not alone who did. And not being alone means a lot to me in most polarizing ways. MLPFiM has already reached and resonated with an audience of epic proportions, but with great resonance come great side effects. We all find ourselves among said side effects in regards to multiple fiction works we come to follow, on and off depending on what prevails in us at any given moment... or a long period. And my own track record features long periods - of words, deeds and attitudes I currently dread even looking back at, not to mention still living with the risk of relapsing into at any possible moment in the future. This very franchise has had enough of the consequences of such a relapse - including the days which particularly kicked myself awake to realize I was staring at others in their obsessed aggression... and looking in a mirror.

Yet while a lot could be said about MLPFiM's history with its fandom, it's ultimately not the point here. Because through all these years this show's influence has kept manifesting in its audiences, too. There has always been hopefully more to being an MLP audience than being an MLP fan. It's the fact that has helped me through the years, it's the fact I continue to cling to, it's the fact established by the numerous memories I also look back at. Every time an attack was answered with an outburst of support. Every time the uproar against the umpteenth twicorn of the year/month/week/day was interrupted by our human selves stirring up to help out with some kind of laspegassist (a long story behind the word, but one worth looking up). Every time people disconnected themselves from the entitled jealousy over what they were not (or no longer) given and focused on cultivating what they had already got. Gathering to celebrate it at conventions, with plenty of hard work but also fun and experience in the process. Making a certain fashionista proud with the deeds of charity - from millions of dollars racked up in finances to simply being there for someone else during a hard time. Channeling the inspiration they received from this fictionverse into an OCEAN of fantasies and depictions and emotions expressed in most diverse media. Even allowing yours truly to live his childhood dream at one point - and that's quite a bit to owe. And of course - logically for an audience of such a franchise - making new friends. Even beyond, if all the documented convention proposals are any indication.

All of it has happened, too. All of it is a testament to what Princess Twilight Sparkle, her Council of Friendship and the many others by their side have caused to come true in our world on top of everything they have caused to come true in theirs. And when all is said and done, MLPFiM will be remembered not for what the MLP fandom has committed but for what the MLP audience has achieved.

And, as social media, Deviantart and Equestria Daily posts are my witnesses, doesn't plan to stop achieving anytime soon. Neither the audience already here. Nor the ones who will come after us. Nor the ones who will come after them. Even not counting the fact that its chronicles aren't quite bowing out yet for at least another year, MLPFiM itself is a fictional world that's happened. It's here to stay. For everyone to come across, discover and journey through.

So my hat goes off once again to everyone we owe MLPFiM to. To Lauren Faust, Rob Renzetti and everyone else who conceived this world. To Meghan McCarthy, M.A. Larson, Amy Keating Rogers, Dave Polsky, Cindy Morrow and Chris Savino, to Josh Haber, Mike Vogel and Nicole Dubuc, Joanna Lewis and Kristine Songco, and the multitude of others who have come to build it.

To Jayson Thiessen, James Wootton, Jim Miller, Tim Stuby, Denni Lu, Mike Myhre, Ishi Rudell and Katrina Hadley who have steered the crafting of this world over the years.

To Daniel Ingram, William K. Anderson, Steffan Andrews and everyone else proving yet again that soundtrack music is true magic in its own right, one MLPverse would be incomplete without.

To Tara Strong, Andrea Libman, Tabitha St Germain, Ashleigh Ball, Kazumi Evans, Rebecca Shoichet and Shannon Chan-Kent, to Cathy Weseluck and Michelle Creber, Claire Corlett and Maddy Peters, to Nicole Oliver and Kelly Sheridan, to John de Lancie, Britt McKillip, Weird Al Yankovic and William Shattner, to Vincent Tong, Lauren Jackson, Gavin Langelo, Katrina Salisbury and Devyn Dalton... man, to THE CROWD TO FILL A GOOD STADIUM WITH whose voices and vocals I continue to hear every time I see their characters on a comic/book page or even in a fanart.

And to an even larger crowd of storyboarders, animators, layout and effects artists, producers, coordinators and many other people the extent and amount of whose work we may take for granted - but whose work is still why this whole crafted world exists.

And, again, will continue to exist. Which is kind of magical in itself.

Thank you for your existence, Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy & Co.

Thank you for your existence, MLPFiM.

How has the show impacted me?

It's made me more creative, and maybe even a bit more open minded. I've written dozens of little stories and written dozens of thousands of words and it even pushed me to draw more. It brought me closer to the person I care most about. (Who may or may not read this) I got to share it with, somehow, my entire family at some point or another, in small and large quantities.

I got into the show after a friend forced me to watch the first episode, near the end of Season 1, and I've never really looked back. A show has never had such a big effect on me than FiM I think. All the Batmans, Justice Leagues, and Clone Wars were big parts of my life, but they never drove me to creativity. To create and write, to draw. My friend and I have crafted worlds and characters that were heavily inspired or based within the show's world and that has created something else entirely magical for us.

It's fueled 9 years of our creativity, my creativity, and I don't think it'll stop fueling that. I hope it doesn't.

It's hard to see it go for sure, but I'm glad that it went as great as it did. I'm not sure I could ask for a better ending, or to witness it with anyone else but her.

Thanks FiM, there probably won't be another like you, but, that's okay. It's been a fairly amazing ride and I look forward to seeing what happens next with, well, everything.

~Rob

Before I tell you how much impact MLP FIM has on me. First let start off with a bit about what I was going through before I seen the show. I was going through depression, social anxiety, and a lot of stress from the late years of 2013. Over the years I got help from seeing therapist and going outside for fresh air to help calm my head. This lasted until on the beginning of 2017 that I started to slowly recover from it. So, at that point I was little bit pessimistic toward many things. I remained social avoidant, only have few friends that I rarely spoke to. It was hard for me to feel happy during that time. Then on that same year in October 21 or 22 was a day that changed. I was at home late afternoon going through YouTube on my iPod thinking about random stuff until a thought came to my mind an that was My little pony. Curious about it because I remember watching one episode of the show when I was younger and there was a video I seen on Facebook that was MLP FIM the MANILIST brony in the world by Dustykatt which I thought was a funny video. Went to search up the first episode and first season on YouTube. Found a video of a person reacting to that show. I watch the 8 minutes of the video then stop. Because I want to watch the show fully without the person talking over it in the video and at that time the batteries of my iPod will ran out of power fast no matter how long it charges. My thought was to check on Netflix. So, I decide to watch the show on smart TV in my living room. My parents and my siblings were in the house, but I know they won’t really care if they noticed me watching MLP. Yes, I was bit nervous but that did not stop me from watching the show. Went to check on Netflix and it was there. Started watching it. After that I got into MLP FIM a lot. The year that I started watching the show was in 2017. Yes, I was late on the show and the fandom. Moving fast forward to today. Back to the question of how MLP impacted me. This show helped me changed a lot of my point for better. I’ve been happier and more positive after watching MLP. This show motivated me to be confident and to try make new friends which I’m currently trying to. When I first begin to watched the show my first thought was that it a good show, but when I watch it more I started to notice there was something about the show that stand out from the rest of the animated and cartoon shows I watched previously, then I realized that it was helping me cope with the negativity I was dealing with. I am grateful that I watched MLP because if I haven’t, I would still be pessimistic and negative. I will always think back to MLP FIM for that it brings me positivity.

I first got exposed to Friendship is Magic in 2011. I just finished doing the embarrassing task of moving back in with my folks and I was feeling pretty glum about life and things in general. It was then that one of my friends told me that I should watch My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. Now this guy was someone who I know was a bit of a troll so at first, I thought he was just screwing with me. I mean it seemed a bit preposterous. Ain't no way someone is into that legitimately.

But then I was told by yet another friend of mine from High School that I should give the show a shot. Well, with two recommendations and suddenly having a lot of free time on my hands, I decided to give it a go. Thus, I took the time to binge watch the first season and that moment defined the next 8 years of my life.

I've met so many wonderful people,did things that I never thought I would and let myself open up in a way that I simply hadn't done before. While I'm sad the show is done with at least in this incarnation, I'm grateful for all its done and I'm certainly not going anywhere.

So long, and thanks for all the horse.

Equalizer (EQ)

Sorry in advance, because this will be long. Simply put, this show saved me.

It was around 2012 and I was finishing Middle School. I am shy, and I didn’t have many friends at the time. School was nice, I liked it for the most part but with years, friends moved away or changed school so I was left alone and even after some weeks I could not make any new friends.

Then it all started about a month after the school began that year. A guy thought it was funny to bully me and soon his « crew » did the same. I was too young at the time and thought I could handle it myself (spoiler alert, it was NOT a good idea).

For almost a year I « handled » that myself and in the end, I started to have dark thoughts. I even went as far as planning to hang myself in class, to show them how bad they made me feel. When I realized what I was about to do I tried to find a way out, something to cheer me up. And you guess what I found: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.

For weeks I started to see more and more arts about ponies, and I was like « How can someone like this kind of girly stupid show? », but after these dark moments I said « why not? I have nothing more to lose ». Starting with the gala episode (the first I found), I still thought it was too girly for me but kept watching.

And episodes after episodes I understood why there was such a huge community and why people were fans of those ponies, they were awesome! At the time, those happy pastel ponies cheered me up so much that they were the reason I kept those dark thoughts at bay. And one morning it hit me. Asking help is nothing to be ashamed of. This led me to talk with my parents and then my teachers about my problems. After that, everything started making sense again. I found back my will to live and I kept watching the show because I grew attached to the colorful characters.

Afterwards I started a YouTube channel because I was enjoying creating videos and such. There were not many people watching, but I didn’t care. As long as I was enjoying what I did, nothing mattered. The few people watching were nice to me and some even became good friends. And I kept going until I couldn’t make more videos, so I stopped for the most part, but kept the friends I’ve made.

Now, 7 years later, here we all are sharing our story and our love about this wonderful show that helped many of us and brought some together.

I will never be able to thank everyone involved in the show and the community enough. But if anybody of the staff reads this one day, from the bottom of my heart, thank you so much for your work, even the tiniest. And whatever happens in the next generations of MLP, I will be there no matter what.

For my whole life, I will always remember how My Little Pony impacted me, because it saved me.

Once again, thank you MLP for everything you gave me,

(oh man this is long, but it’s as short as I could possibly make it without leaving the most important things out!)

It all started in a Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 pre-game lobby back in 2014 after scrolling over a guy with an amazing custom made Rainbow Dash emblem. From there it escalated to me not only making my own and try the show out, but also get caught up within a month on both the show and (for some part) the fandom side.

When pony happened, my general views like girl stuff being for girls and vice versa (and just other typical early teen boy things) were completely changed. I was taken completely by surprise by not only how good and different the show was, but how i found my self actually liking it!

Through characters like Rainbow Dash who I related with the most and Twilight Sparkle who I looked up to, but also the amazingly kind and generous creators within the fandom, I have been able to find a lot of happiness and motivation to keep on pushing, especially in the things I loved like sports (soccer and long distance running mainly), competitive gaming and my artistic interests.

I was also fortunate enough to never have to go through what many others in this fandom alone have, and that is depression. Yes I’d have my spells here and there, but they never would last more than a week max, and maybe I have or am going through it, but I know for sure that it could be a lot worst, and I have to give a big part of that credit to pony. Because of pony and the amazing friends I’ve met, I believe it was an integral part in my life growing from 14yrs old to today in keeping me happy and fending off any intense form of depression I could have possibly gone through, and I can’t be any more grateful for that alone.

And finally, my little pony overall not only made me a better person, but much more confident and driven to be who I truly am. Because of this I’ve been able to move past a lot of the negative people and things in my life, make new amazing and super talented friends, and much more. I am proud to say that, although not being the best player on my new soccer team, that because of my “team first” attitude, positivity and quirky energy I’ve been able to bring along with the confidence to dress my rainbow dash plush in our team kit and sit her on the bench with us and just dress my self up the craziest things when showing up to games, yes got laughs, but also lifted the spirit of my team, made us happy and overall helped us perform better overall especially near the end of the season where we had to win our last 7 games to take 1st place, which we did!

Looking back, it still seems crazy that the fact I was at my fathers house, online, playing call of duty, looked for a game at that exact moment, the game putting me into that exact lobby, decided to look through everyone’s emblems instead of at my class set-ups and happened to fall onto this one player with the Rainbow Dash emblem who also happened to be in that exact lobby, is what completely changed my life. To that one guy I never even sent a message to, if you happen to be reading this, I can’t find the right words to thank you, your emblem, a small square space that you created for fun, changed someone’s life for the better, and I can’t thank you enough /)

And to the fans, the content creators, the show staff, and everyone part of the fandom, thank you for being there, even if I don’t know you, thank you so so much for being part of the huge impact you’ve had in my life. I actually can’t imagine how my life would be without pony today. Love you all /)

I wanted to tell you how My little Pony Friendship is Magic has made my life so much better.

6 years ago I was looking on tv, and I saw that it stood My little Pony on one of the channels, and I had watched it with my big sister when we where small. And so I Decided to look at it since I had seen it when I was younger, and as I look at it I saw that this was not the same thing that I had seen when I was younger. But I gave it a chance, and continuing looking at it and found out that this was the show that I had look for, for a very long time back then.

This show has done so much for me in making me a better person, I have done more things in this last 4 years, than I did the 10 years before that. I have meet so many new people at several convention, traveled to places I never would have imagine that I would go to, founding a community with so much love and respect. All the friendship lesson in this show, as well as all the songs, has given me such a wonderful time this last 6 years. And I will miss it now that it has ended. But I do look forward to the s10 comic to Friendship is Magic, and all other amazing and wonderful things we will all do and experience this coming years. And also thank you for everything you at Equastria Daily has done for us all in the fandom all these years :).

And as a final note: The show maybe is over, but we are still here and we have much more stuff to do and give, and soon in the distant future G5 will come and we will all give it a chance. see you around some time. And always remember, that Friendship is Magic, now and always :).

Hi everypony,
Thought I'd put in my two cents on this subject. It's probably not as dramatic as the other stories you'll read, but it feels significant to me, which is all that matters.
When I joined the fandom I was a freshman in college (early 2014). I'd just moved away from home, I didn't fit in as well with these new college people as I had with my high school friends, and I was on my own - both responsibility-wise and socially - for the first real time (that is, for far longer than I'd been before). I came across the show mostly by accident, and I watched several seasons without knowing anything about the fandom. It was a cheerful distraction at first, evolving into a genuine interest.
I knew the fandom existed, but it took a fellow student recognizing ponies on my computer to show me how widespread it had become. I sought out and then went to some meetups. After the first few awkward ones, I eased into the group.I felt not so much that I fit in, but rather that I didn't have to bother. I've always been shy, and a large part of that has been my discomfort at expressing myself around others. I'm often more worried about what people think of me than I really should, despite thinking on an intellectual level that I shouldn't mind so much. With these friends of mine, I could be myself, and so I learned both to fear others' gaze less and how better to face that fear. I went to conventions, where I felt that same welcoming atmosphere, on a new order of magnitude. I felt like the whole world was accepting me, at those cons. Despite finding the show on my own, and seeking out the meetups without prompting, I felt that whereas I had joined other fandoms, with MLP, I was invited in.
But MLP isn't just a show to watch, and the fandom isn't just a place to exist. They both, in combination, taught me things and made me a better person. I learned to approach situations and people with kindness, even (especially!) if they don't seem to deserve it. I learned to think of "how can I help?" rather than "why should I help?". I dabbled in both writing and drawing MLP stuff, and while I'm no master at either, I had some mild success at both. That has been enough to keep me doing both activities to this day, as I'm happy to say.
I will admit that I let myself fall behind on the show for a while. I'd settled in to school and grown more comfortable with myself, and I shifted my focus to other interests. I've recently moved again, and with the return of some of the old stresses and problems, I turned again to MLP. It was a great comfort knowing it was still there for me even though I'd turned away from it for a while. The show and the fandom both welcomed me back with open arms, of course. I came back and caught up just in time to experience the finale together with all of you. It was a great send-off, and I am happy to have come back in time to see it wrap up so nicely.
I will conclude with a quote of myself, from an old essay I wrote for school, in which I explained what being a part of the fandom meant to me, and why I like being a brony: "It is taking the side of open-mindedness and freedom, gaining perspective which I will carry with me even when the brony phenomenon is long dissolved. The fact is, I like who I am when I am a brony."
To the makers of MLP; to the fan artists, writers, etc.; to the hard-working EQD people who gather all the pony for our enjoyment; to my friends at my then-local meetup group, Bronies-NYC; to everyone who's read my stories or looked at my art; to every single fan out there, I say thank you. You all have made me, our fandom, and the world better.

What does My Little Pony mean to me?

I don’t even know how to start with this. How do you properly write about a topic that has had such an impact on the way you live your daily life? Well to start I guess you have to be in the right frame of mind, which is why Season 1 is playing while I think about this. Going back to the first season of MLP really allows me to reflect on what makes this show so special to me.

My MLP journey began in 2012 when I was in college with a user posting the song “Loyalty” by Acoustic Brony and Mandopony on FunnyJunk.com. I had seen memes about it prior to that but dismissed it as ridiculous. I heard all the dumb commercial jingles as a kid and just like many others associated it with ewwwwwww girly. The song really got me though, I was blown away by how professionally made it was and wondered why the heck fans of a girl’s show would make such wonderful music about it. I watched the first episode on YouTube and had an unexpected reaction to it. Twilight was so sarcastic, skeptical, and cynical it drew me in. I watched up to the Zecora episode and thought “Oh my gosh, they tackled racism! What is this show?”

I marathoned the rest of the first season really quickly, walking around campus the whole week with a huge smile on my face. By the time I had caught up on Season 2 it was a few days before the airing of “MMMystery on the Friendship Express” which was the first episode I watched live on stream, laughing and being excited with other young adults. The next livestream was the epic 2-part finale of Season 2 (GAK GAK GAK) and that was when I knew I’d be a fan for life. This show was different. This show was special.

The rest of that year I spent finding more awesome brony music, perusing Equestria Daily for art, and rewatching the first two seasons at least 7 times each. I continued to watch episodes when they came out for Season 3 and was a huge fan of the “Larson putting wings on everything” meme. Season 4 I was a bit less consistent in watching live, but I kept up pretty well. Around season 5 I stopped following the show regularly as my adult life was just beginning. I had an internship, then graduate school, and finally a full-time job. One of my fondest memories during this time is watching the 100th episode with a bunch of other bronies in the DC area (shout out to you if you ever read this).

Summer of 2015 I attended Bronycon in Baltimore which was my first convention, pony or otherwise. What a great experience that was! The panels were amazing, the con goers were amazing, and it was so well planned and well run. It was the first place I found I could talk with others about ponies without getting funny looks! I already had an uncle who acted weirdly around me since he learned I liked ponies so I was used to having to be pretty guarded about it. It never got any worse than that for me but it was enough to close me off from telling others about the show.

I moved across the country four times during my first 3 years of adult life – Idaho to Maryland, Maryland back to Idaho, Idaho to Louisiana, and Louisiana to Washington state – in addition to getting married. That took up a lot of my free time. Life was happening man, and it was so exciting! I still watched all the episodes, just not the day they came out. I also still listened to brony music because my gosh it’s just too good. Also, as a heads up, applying friendship lessons in your marriage is an excellent idea and makes it so much better.

Fast forward to my current (adult I think?) life, and I find that I still try every day to exemplify the qualities and lessons I learned from the show. I do my best to appreciate others’ interests and learn about the things they like. Even if it’s not a subject I enjoy. I take a conscious step back when I catch myself judging someone for their behavior or looks. I try to listen and fully understand others’ point of view before responding. I pay attention to others’ mental state, and care about what their personal lives are like. I take great care to be honest to myself about things I’m feeling, because lying to yourself gets you nowhere. I am honest to others about the way they are making me feel without being brutal or putting them down. I take responsibility for my failures, and I learn from them. I lift up others for their accomplishments. I strive to be a mentor, teaching others anything and everything I know. Above all I want to leave a positive impact on everyone I meet.

It’s hard to see this show leave my life; for 7 years it has been a mainstay of my existence and a major source of inspiration. The finale hit me hard emotionally, and it was a strange feeling. Not quite sad, not quite happy, and even with all the time and communication skills in the world I don’t think I could ever completely describe how it feels. Mixed together with all these emotions is an appreciation for all the wonder, love, magic, and humor packed into the show that had woven its way into my being. Appreciation for the staff that worked through unfavorable executive decisions, schedule crunch, new toy placement, long hours, boring meetings, and a rabid fan base to produce a wonderful gem of a show that has added so much good and joy to the world. Appreciation for the show that changed the way I view the world, showed me that being good takes hard work, and helped comfort me in times of loneliness. This show is a triumph against all odds and a shining example of how anything can be great when it’s made with love, passion, and hard work.

Thank you, My Little Pony, for everything you have given me.

Growing up in the rural south of the USA, I was taught toxic masculinity traits from an early age - that a man isn't emotional, gentle, caring, and that a man always hunts, likes cars, etc. This really messed with me growing up since I was a very emotional boy, something my dad never really understood.

After My Little Pony initially came out, my sisters didn't let me watch it since it was for girls, but of course I didn't obey them and ended up watching a few episodes. I loved it! It really let me free myself and online, I finally felt comfortable being who I was, a feminine, emotional guy who liked 'girl stuff'. I'm an adult now and I couldn't be happier finally being able to accept who I was thanks to the writing team, as well as other shows that helped me crack my shell (Adventure Time, Steven Universe, etc).

The show has also helped me find who are now my best friends and helped me discover interest and passions I never knew I had before, like writing, web-design, programming, webmastering, SEO management, etc.The shows mythology also got me into anthropology, and by extension, linguistics, which I am now currently in college to get a degree for! This show seriously helped me discover my passions for life!

Thank you all the writers, not only at the show, but the comics, manga, novels and the voice actors too! I'm sad to see the show go, but I'm also incredibly excited to see what come next, I have no doubt in my heart Gen 5 will be just as good, if not better, than Gen 4!

-Jordan @ Equestripedia.

Dear Princess Celestia

Can I tell you my story?

I am not a writer so if I have grammatical problems, pardon me.

Before starting to see My Little Pony I had almost no friends, nor did I even leave my own house since everything we had for me and they wouldn't let me do anything on my own.

In that year I started the university and one month I saw in a blog about the physics of the show, and I was interested. Start downloading the episodes since they have not yet arrived in my country, and I saw them without my mother knowing, they lost them.
When I arrived in my country, the first thing I did was to use a twilight as a profile picture, but my sister and my mother didn't like it, so I went back to the photo I had before. So I was in hiding for 2 years until I lived with a friend and when I saw the first Equestria Girls movie it changed my life forever and I followed it every day that it was transmitted.

When I was given a laptop on my birthday, at age 21, the first thing I did was the first episode of the fourth season that aired that day. I followed him until the last episode, but I never leave him.

I'm emotionally very sensitive, that is why when I saw the movie, this was the first one I saw in a cinema in my whole life, crying with emotion for a week because of how beautiful it was. I'm still trying to calm down after the end of the show.

I have a Twilight's stuffed animal that a friend gave me on my birthday, and is still with me everywhere, although at first everyone was upset, I finally accepted it and it's like Princess Twilight helping me study to finish college and get to Be an information systems engineer.

Thanks to Twilight and her friends, our friendship with my best friend is lasting a long time until these days.

And also thanks especially to Twilight I am improving my study techniques in university.

In my city, I don't know any fans, but I try to please and show what I like, but not to get it to attract, but I don't give up and I'm looking for new people to spread the magic of friendship.

Thank you for reading Your Majesty, with much love
Starlight Avatar.

Equestria Daily Settings

How My Little Pony Impacted Me! - The Submissions Part 2