Maria and the Children once said:

"Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start."

To that I say "Nah." Recently I hit a milestone in my life. I told 5 people that I watch My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. In a period of time lacking anything exciting in my life, this was a big step forward. Stick around and see just what happened in the wondrous tale of...

The Chronicles of Sir. Loin: The First Few Jumps!

Ahem. Many people say that jumping out of a plane is addictive. That first jump is the hardest but get it out of the way and the fear goes down. For me, this is how I felt telling people I was a Brony. To make it easier, my first person I told is one of the most understanding people I met. Here's what happened.

Jump One: Getting rolling:

"Hey Adam, can you keep a secret?"

<Go for it.>

"On Memebase, have you ever heard of the Brony Fandom?"

<Yes.>

"I'm now part of it."

<Really?>

"Yes. Really"

<Cool story, bro.>

So that was it. The moment I was so worked up over was gone. That first jump was completed and I was ready to take on the world. Sort of. I decided that the next person I should tell would be one of my life-long friends, Joshua. He was less understanding than Adam but we both joked about each other and what we like (Choices in football teams, who is best at Rainbow 6, how useful knowing almost every plane is in day to day life etc.) One other thing helped. Adam was next to us when I told Josh so I had a mark of initial success to spur me on.

Jump 2: Keeping the Pace:

"Josh, can you keep a secret?" (Sound familiar?)

<I'll try.>

"You must keep this one, others will know when I tell them."

<Tell them what?>

"You know Memebase? Have you seen any bits about Bronies?" (Yeah, 2 Memebasers.)

<Yes.>

"I am one."

<Meh.>

That was the second person and it only boosted my confidence further. Not only did I now have two people in the know and who would joke and talk about ponies, but I also became able to listen to Brony and Show Music in the IT suite at school (through headphones) without my two friends finding out I like MLP without me being honest and open.

Jump 3 came a few weeks later. At school, a large group of us got together after school and played Open Arena with one of the teachers who had managed to get it put on the "school shared drive" with only a few able to see it. Everyone named their character and started repeatedly firing and launching rockets at each other. Most people picked fairly un-original names such as Your Mum but I decided to go for broke. I choose to use Doctor Whooves. Risky? Definitely. When I finally killed someone, the words "Your Mum ate Doctor Whooves' rocket." flashed on screen. The person I killed asked the group "Who is Doctor Whooves?" I put my hand up and said me. Unbeknownst to me, Jump 3 was on.

Jump 3: Double Whammy.

<Who is Doctor Whooves?>

"That would be me"

<Oh cool. Are you a Brony?>

"Eeyup."

[i've heard of them.] (Quite how Liam knew this is still unknown.)

<I've always had respect for them. I'm a furry myself.>

"Cool. What's your name?"

<Marcus.>

So there was another huge jump. Someone who, at the time, was an utter stranger found out alongside Liam who was sitting next to me. My first time I told someone without planning a few hours before. Thankfully, my Silver Tongue helped me from getting worked up for no reason. After that, there was a pause. Until yesterday. That's right, Jump 4 was incredibly recent. This one though was all set up for me.

I had gone over my friend's house for a day to have some fun. He knew full well how bad I was at FPS games online. Just for fun, he set me up a game of Counter Strike: Global Offensive. It's safe to say that I died. A lot. However, in the game was a player called "MLP:FiM King of the Sombrero Republic". Jump 4 was imminent but split into two.

Jump 4: Turning up the Difficulty:

"Hey look. Someone here likes My Little Pony. I'll message him."

<Bit late, they just left.>

[iNTERMISSION: IMAGINE TWO TEENAGERS PLAYING PORTAL]

"Aaron, can you keep a secret?" (Hey, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.)

<Fine.>

"The only reason I knew that person earlier liked My Little Pony was because I watch it.

<Haha. Wow (My name withheld.), seriously?>

"Yeah."

That jump was not the easiest but could have been worse. Aaron isn't always the most understanding and I can only hope the secret stays with him. If you started with us for the entire entry then great! Otherwise, here's a summary.

"It may some hard at first but you don't know till you've attempted it. It may go wrong at first or you may be scared of the outcomes but every experience is learning experience, teaching you what to do and what to avoid the time you try."

Thank you for taking the time to read this wall of text and who knows, maybe soon I'll tell my first family member about the magic of Friendship.