BornAgainBrony

Alright... granted, this is coming from a relative noob. But after I caught the "bug," I did a lot of reading on what others have said about their experiences. This just feels right.

Going back to 2010. It was a pretty dark time. Really, most of entertainment had gone full grimdark. We were living in the post 9/11 wartorn world and hadn't recovered. Society felt dead to many of us, like the life was a hoax. Nothing to feel happy or good about. Deep down, we wanted a different world, something with heart, where people could have feelings, but it wasn't given to us. We became jaded and angry that nobody else could see the beauty that we knew was there hidden. Nobody else ever saw it because they were 'asleep.' And one by one, we all exiled ourselves to a mental prison, to shield ourselves from everything outside. A self-imposed lunar exile for... pretty much everyone. The rise of the "emo goth"  is a very physical testament to this.

Then comes S1E1/2. MLP, a silver lining in the metaphorical sea of darkness. It's all too perfect to me, to think that MLP began with the story of Nightmare Moon. She was so many of us before we discovered Ponies. A broken shell of our true selves created by forces beyond our control. But then we sit down and watch. We know the backstory, how Nightmare Moon was created. We see ourselves in it. And then the very next thing we get is an olive branch. We're shown something that we once knew, but had forgotten about, that the most powerful force in the world is friendship. And we're shown something that our psyche has never before experienced. "It's okay now. Things are different now. You can come home."

I, myself even had an evil villain counterpart that I actually created as a result of what I was experiencing back then. But it need not be so accurate. Nightmare Moon was so many of us. Just waiting to know when we could return to the world. For me, the salvation of Nightmare Moon couldn't possibly be a more perfect beginning for this fandom.

There's a LOT I can say about this, but it will have to wait. Not enough time right now. But I think that Nightmare Moon played a critical role in MLP becoming what it was.

It also tells us an important lesson right from the beginning; something that even old mythology never had an issue with portraying. NOBODY is perfect. Not even the gods. We all make mistakes. And sometimes we only find ourselves after being put through the fire.

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So very cool! And after thinking about it, I can't believe this hasn't been officially been done before. Rarity gem hunting just makes way too much sense for the genre.