hdylta

I suppose I’ll start off with how I found My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic:

Way back in 2011 I used to lurk in 4chan (don’t judge me I did it in search of OC), when I noticed some commotion surrounding the banning of anything pony. I didn’t explore this new pony craze because frankly I was busy with life and a My Little Pony cartoon didn’t catch my interest despite having grown up with the earlier generations. Also I vaguely considered it strange that a cartoon for little girls would appear in such a site, but then again I’ve seen stranger things there. However my real world responsibilities pushed 4chan and the pony war aside and I soon forgot all about it.

The following year one random night I was reminded of My Little Pony and decided to see what all the fuss was about. A youtube video was what first caught my attention. It had a smiling yellow pegasus with her front legs atop the letters YAY, in front of a black background for a thumbnail. It seemed innocent enough so I opened it. This is the name of said video: “[Dramatic Reading] I’d Like To Be A Tree Part 2/2”.

My purity! My innocence! Oh God Why!!

It took me a while to figure out what was going on, and when I finally understood it only served to increase my curiosity, because honestly.. what the fuck? And yes, I did finish the video. I think it’s funny how my official introduction to the show was clop. Anyway, eventually I watched a couple of episodes in no particular order. Though I don’t remember which episode was the first I watched, I do remember what episode made me stick with the show for good. It was “Bridle Gossip”, for a very simple reason, it made me laugh.

Making me laugh might seem a bit of a lighthearted reason of why I developed a love for the show, however there is a deeper impact that MLP had on my life:

Although the world didn't come to an end in 2012 as the Mayas supposedly predicted, it was a year that marks a before and after in my own life. With the sudden death and terminal illness of two members of my family in the span of three months, it's needless to say I was not in a good place. As it seems common in the early stages of the grieving process, I was completely disoriented and found I had lost all meaning to life. I wasn't suicidal, I just didn't care about anything anymore. This no doubt affected all other aspects of my life, with my academic performance dropping drastically, my complete retreat from the little social life I had, and my emotional state becoming one of constant numbed out misery. So when I found myself laughing again at the antics of pastel colored magical talking ponies, I realized this cartoon was doing something positive for me. That is when I knew I wanted ponies in my life.

(I’ll write up on how mlp has helped with my social anxiety and how it has reconnected me with my long forgotten artistic talents later, it’s quite late and I need my shut eye)

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