ePONYmous

I suppose it comes down to how you define "best pony." To me "best pony" means your favorite pony, as I can't really see, truthfully, how one can objectively define a best pony. My first favorite character wasn't even part of the Mane Six. It was Spike. So was Spike best pony? Later on it was Twilight, then Fluttershy, and after seeing "Party of One" it was Pinkie Pie from then on since, for me, it added depth to her character and made me appreciate her more. However, I've seen people name many non-mane-six characters as "best pony" based on their own preferences and reasons. I say best pony is whomever you choose it to be. It's not a term to be taken seriously. Discussion of why should just be all in good fun, whether we agree or disagree with our choices. ^.^

When? I officially considered myself a brony on July 10th, 2011. That's the date I joined my first pony forum. How? It all started by accident. I was just browsing the Internet circa the end of 2010 when I started seeing pony image macros appear. A lot of them of a blue pony who I'd later learn was the Great and Powerful Trixie. I didn't think much of it at the time until around May of 2011. I was lurking an old forum I used to be a part of just to see how things were going. I saw a thread called "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic," which seemed to be an odd subject to be discussing. So I looked into it and saw that a member I used to know became a "brony." The first time I encountered that word. I saw him talking about the show rather excitedly and was putting forth the case for watching it. He managed to get other members into it. He posted a link to the pilot episode and so I checked it out myself. As soon as I finished watching the pilot I was shocked that I enjoyed it. My Little Pony, a title I once associated with its 80's version, and I'm enjoying this new version. I saw in the YouTube comments the same reactions that I was feeling. Most being along the lines of, "Why am I watching this and why can't I get enough of it? Why do I want more?" So I decided to continue to watch the rest. By the time I found it, Season 1 had just ended recently, so I decided to watch the entire first season in the course of about 3 or 4 days, donating about 3 or 4 hours to ponies when I had the chance. The reason I didn't consider myself a brony in May 2011 is because even though I found the show and enjoyed it, I didn't fully accept the fact I was liking it. At the time I felt weirded-out that I was enjoying the show not only because it was normally intended for a younger demographic, but not males. That didn't stop me from being pony-curious though. After finishing the first season, I decided to do a little research into the community and found a lot of fan art and fan fictions. I also learned that there were musicians within the community. I found that out by lurking a site back in June of 2011 that had a radio station dedicated to pony music. I even remember the first brony tune that I immediately loved, and that was PinkiePieSwear's "Giggle At The Ghosty (Simple Joy Mix)". I found myself listening to this song on a daily basis because I liked it so much. I also heard of stories about how the community was very welcoming, tolerant, etc., and even saw it with my own eyes in the community I was lurking. It was something I wasn't used to seeing normally on the Internet. After dealing with the internal struggle of deciding to embrace ponies or not, I finally gave in and joined that site back in July 2011. I was welcomed very quickly, to my surprise, with open arms, and met some pretty awesome people and learned some more things, not only about the community, but even myself. The rest is history. Although my view on the community as a whole has changed in some respects since I first joined— a lot has happened within it, and to myself, since 2011. I still consider myself a brony and am happy to be a part of this fandom.

How many do I want? Maybe six. You know, 6 main characters. 6 Elements of Harmony. 6 Seasons. 666. Mwahaha. Wait, no... that doesn't sound right. As much as I am inclined to say ?, I say I want just as much as needed. In other words, until the staff deem it necessary that the show can no longer continue. So far I think they're doing a fine job, and the show is still very interesting for me. So as long as they continue to keep the show interesting, however they choose to do it. Whether it be by introducing new plot devices, existing-character traits, new characters, new conflicts, etc. then I'm on board. ^.^

I have no issues with Twilight becoming an alicorn. Until that point, I didn't even know that was possible. I thought one was born an alicorn, not made into one, so that was a surprise, but not an unpleasant one. If anything, I'm now more excited for Season 4 because I am curious to see how her becoming an alicorn will affect her life, her friendships (if at all), and how that will be implemented in future episodes since now her role has shifted from being a student to a princess.

I voted "Meh" only because I treat my affinity for MLP:FiM just as anything else I'm interested in. I wouldn't make it a point to discuss it, unless it happened to come up or if I met any bronies in real-life. Two such cases happened to me. At a job I used to work at I happened to encounter two guys purchasing pony toys (an Applejack and a Rarity if I recall), and I had to ask them about it. I actually was rather careful about how I worded my question, too. I said, "I'm just curious, and I hope you don't mind me asking, but are you buying those for yourselves?" They were actually quite cool about it and said yes, they were bronies, and then I admitted I was one too. I said something like, "Pinkie Pie is best pony" and we brohoofed. It was actually a pretty awesome moment for me. So much so that my heart was actually beating heavily for some reason. I think it was the excitement of encountering another brony in real-life for the first time. The second instance was actually with family. As it turns out, my sister in-law's sister's boyfriend is a brony. We were having a family get-together at his place and at some point MLP:FiM came on Netflix and I jokingly asked, "Who's watching this?" and he admitted it was him. He has an interesting sense of humor, so I wanted to be sure, so I asked, "Really?" and he said, "Heck yeah. I'm a brony." Then he asked if I was one. I just said, "Allow me to answer that with this," and I pulled out my iPhone and played a few Pinkie quotes from my Pony Sounds app. So we talked about it a little. My older brother, who was there as well, didn't know what a brony was, so I explained it to him and he didn't seem bothered by it at all. Neither did anyone else. So that was a relief. We never talked about it since though, but only because it just never comes up. So I'm not embarrassed to be one, but I don't go around announcing it to the world either by randomly talking about it or wearing pony merchandise (Not that there's anything wrong with that). For me to discuss it, it just has to come up in a conversation somehow. Then I'll gladly talk about it. Besides, if someone ever does have issues with me liking the show, I see that as their problem. Not mine.

I think it was both a mixture of luck and quality. As I recall, it all started on 4chan's /co/ board. As for why, I don't remember. I would guess it was to poke fun at it for some reason initially, but I could be wrong, and if I am, please correct me. All I know is that it was thanks to /co/ that it became noticed in the first place, and memetic. However, I think it was because of the quality of the show that its popularity went to the next step. Think about how you found out about the show, or how others found out about it. Chances are, you found out about it from an online source, right? I know there are exceptions to that rule. Some found it from other real-life friends and such. For instance, my example: I found it by accident thanks to /co/. No, I don't visit 4chan, but I know the memes originated there, and that's what I kept seeing elsewhere. Every so often I'd see pony images show up from time to time and at first I didn't think much of it. As their frequency increased, so did my curiosity. Then I got lucky. I lurked a forum I used to frequent at just the right time it seems. A thread entitled "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic" showed up and I checked it out and I saw the exact same ponies I've been seeing for the past few weeks. Long story short, I saw words like "brony" and questions like "are you a brony now?" and watched the show myself just out of curiosity. I went in with the assumption I wouldn't like it, but was pleasantly surprised to find that it was actually pretty decent. This is when the transition from luck to quality occurs, I think. When you watch your first episode and think, "Wow! That was actually good! It feels weird, but I want to watch more!" After all, if it was just luck, I don't think we would be here right now on a pony forum talking about it. At least not in a positive light. We can even disagree amongst ourselves about how good certain episodes are. For instance, one person can say episodes A, B, C and D were great yet W, X, Y and Z were awful, yet another can have a totally different perspective. On the whole, though, I think we can all agree that MLP:FiM is a good quality product. It's what brought us here in the first place, did it not? As for why, it can vary from person to person, as well. For me, the very first impression was its animation style. It's simplistic in appearance (I'm not an animator, so I can't get technical), but it's visually appealing. A modern take on the 80's classic, if you will. The plots of many of the episodes don't really feel dumbed-down like they do from my experience in some childrens' cartoons. Many of which keep you interested. The characters are interesting, as well. They have unique personality traits to call their own. Their own flaws, talents, and struggles. Many of which can be either related to ourselves, or people we know. Not only that, but as time goes on we learn more about them. I think it's because of these, and other factors, that this show became a success. I still do, even to this day, wonder how I could ever enjoy a show like this. I don't mean that in a bad way. It's just funny to me. An adult male enjoying My Little Pony. Despite the fact there is absolutely nothing wrong with that, it still does strike me as strange, but a good-kind of strange. Being "normal" is boring anyway. If you told me 3 years ago that I'd like MLP, I would've said that's crazy. If /co/ had never found it, I wonder if it'd be as popular as it is now. Maybe it'd be confined to its targeted demographic. Of course, with online social networks these days, maybe it could've still became as popular as it is now. Who knows. Even so, there's no denying the Internet played a pivotal role, and I think that's the "luck" portion. Once we were actually introduced to the show and viewed it, it was the quality of the product that made us stick with it, and wanting more. The rest, as they say, is history.