Ponoptikum

I became a brony in 2021, and that happend absolutely accidentally. Back then I have just started my studies at the university, and immediately I was flooded with homework, different projects and presentations, campus activities - all of that wasn't hard actually, but I was rather shocked with the quantity, especially after my school years when everything was so much more understandable and easy) In general, there was not much positivity. Then once - and it was somewhere in November if I remember it correctly - I was visiting my cousin, he was 13 at the moment, and I was 17. That is quite a big age difference, and overall we never shared interests, but this day, everything changed. It appeared to be that he is kinda into ponies from the age of 5, back than he already saw some episodes on TV, and he also knew about such things as Smile HD, Rainbow Factory and others - luckily, it had no bad impact on him (or at least I suppose so) and he didn't become dark brony or anything like that) He was showing me different MLP-related memes and other things, while knowing that I have almost no idea who all the characters are. I, however, didn't mind him doing all that. It is also important to say that I already knew about bronies - I knew about the "bright" and "dark" sides of the community, and I was a little bit sceptical towards the fandom in overall, like "yeah, it exists, and it's kinda strange, but who am I to judge?" Still though, i remember that before becoming a brony I liked Sunset and Applejack. And also I thought that Rarity is not in the Mane 6. Funny. So in a couple of days after visiting my cousin, I decided to give the show a try - I asked him to watch the show from the beginnig with me when I meet with him again. At that time, I just needed something happy and positive to distract myself from the university (though now I understand that evading problems is not the best option.) So we met again. Turned on the first episode. And that is how I got hooked. At first, it was unbelievable for me that I like the show about ponies. But I guess that is the phase almost everyone went through out there) Episode after episode, and I couldn't stop. Sometimes I watched them by myself, sometimes with him. And when I found out about the documentaries, fan games, forums, musicians, all that things - I felt like I am entering a world which I never saw before. And I wanted to become a part of it. I wanted to contribute, but there are not many things I have done so far - I participated in Reddit's "Place," here I helped to protect our pictures and some others; Also I created a playlist where I save music from brony musicians and from the show itself so that I can reupload it if there will be a need for it. And I wish I can do more than that someday. When I finished watching FiM - aproximately at the and of the summer of 2022 - I cried. And I cried like never before in my whole entire life, of that I am sure. A rollercoaster of emotions I went through at this moment is undescribable. That might seem a bit too much openly, but I am not afraid to admit it, cause that shows what a life-changing fandom we have. So after 2 years, I am still here. All thanks to my cousin, even though he is not into ponies anymore. For the first time in my life I have that feeling of community, a belonging to a subculture even. And that is wonderful. With every day of my being here, my life gradually becomes better. And even if one day I won't be an active member of the fandom, I will always be a brony in my heart. P.S. Yeah, that is a long post. And maybe some things are not about the case, and maybe I was too emotional. But I finally had an opportunity to speak out, and I used it.