Hello, everypony.

Night Shine here, exactly one year after MLP first began to change my life. One year ago tonight....so much has changed in so little time.

Before I became a brony, all that I wanted was to continue playing Minecraft and keep having good grades in school. I didn't really care about art. I didn't really care about the power of friendship, or the experiences it could bring.

Then, in March of 2012, I found out about Bronies. I knew how obsessed I would become with MLP if I let myself...first I tried to become a hater, and that lasted for about five minutes before I realized I couldn't do it. So, I tried to suppress my interest for three months--I preferred my Minecraft death-machines to the genuine joy of MLP--until this night one year ago when I admitted defeat and dove in wholeheartedly.

And that was the greatest decision of my life.

Through this show, and through this fandom community family that has shown me so much, I have been changed. If not for the fact that I stayed up later and later watching ponies, I would have never realized just how beautiful the night sky really is. I knew that I had some talent for writing and for music before, but I would have never pursued them if not for the rampant creativity of the brony family. I would never have made any of this:

However, none of this compares to the experiences I've had with all of my friends online, experiences that I would never have dreamed of before becoming a brony.

I'll close with my proudest creation, the ending paragraphs of the fanfiction "Wisp" (It may not be totally relevant, but it's still my favorite thing I've ever made):

I can see a beautiful world rising up against the abyss, full of beautiful lives woven together with the harmony of friendship. I can see the spark of life, glorious and brilliant, shining in the night from every soul united against the darkness, forming a majestic curtain of stars twinkling across the sky. A new dawn will rise, a dawn whose light shall pierce every nook and every cranny of every dream upon this wounded earth, healing it with unbreakable permanence.

Now I go to my grave not with despair but with confidence, confidence that the life within myself and within all who dare to live will be passed down, from now into eternity.