Do You Have Emotional Ties To Any Of The Ponies?

[Shanks 10,816]

A certain topic earlier today accomplished something I have never seen in any topic ever and that was near universal opposition. And so I thought for a second that much of this opposition is due to the fact that people have strong emotional ties to these ponies and to some of these people suggesting something such as suicide even if it is not meant to be entirely serious is seen as almost like suggesting the same for a real person. But there are several people including myself that can occasionally enjoy a bit of darkness every now and then that still have similar ties to the ponies. It is very well known on here that I have a crush on Applejack and am one of the most outspoken fans of Applejack as well as Luna on here and have also developed strong ties to other ponies such as Twilight Sparkle, Derpy, Rainbow Dash and Sweetie Belle all for different reasons.

 

But the reason why Applejack in particular stands out is both because I can relate to her the most out of the ponies, she is the first pony I started to like and the first character in general I started to like aside from Discord (Return of Harmony two parter was the episodes I ever watched) which makes her special for that reason alone. And because she has traits which I find highly admirable and inspirational, the fact that she has was able to survive something as traumatic as her parents dying at such a young age and grow up to be so strong really speaks to me. I have had no shortage of tragedy in my life and my Dad dying is the most recent which really made Apple Family Reunion the episode that really tugged at my heart strings and finally made me decide what my favorite Applejack episode is.

Edited December 20, 2013 by EarthbendingProdigy

[Scootalove 10,689]

I do have an emotional tie to Applejack because, besides a lot of my friends being dependable on me they also look up to me and I'm always willing to help them even if I'm not able to complete the task.

[ghostfacekiller39 23,860]

I have a sort of emotional tie to Rarity, but not in a similar to personality sense.

 

Hey, dude, I was told by a professional that being a Brony was therapeutic, in the sense of it alleviating stress, which helps my heart problem.

 

It's like a wall, kinda. A huge wall for defense.

 

And the base of that wall is Rarity, with the other 5 being the rest of it; without Rarity, it'd still be a wall, just much weaker, and it might even fall over without being attacked. Without the base of the wall, the rest of the wall couldn't have been built.

 

So, when people start saying bad things about Rarity, I feel the need to go shut down whatever it is they say. It's like, they're attacking my wall of defense, which greatly protects me from stress and other things I face due to this disorder.

 

I've worked hard to get good at it, too

 

But yeahh. I guess that's an emotional tie? If it even made any sense to anyone, I guess it could be called that

Edited December 20, 2013 by ~Sadistic ghostfk39~

[Felix 1,363]

Luna. Because...in a way...she taught me it's okay to be different, even if being excepted isn't always as easy as you'd plan it to be. There will always be that one that sticks with you until they've seen you become the person they know you really are, and can then take you to places in which you fit in.

[Jammo 986]

Lovable characters will do that.

But yeah. I think most bronies have emotional ties to these colorful marshmallow equines, to varying degrees of course.

Some bronies relate to them, some bronies find their mannerisms endearing, some want to bone them. Hell who am I to judge. But yeah. People are attached to these characters, myself included.

[Shanks 10,816]

Hey, dude, I was told by a professional that being a Brony was therapeutic, in the sense of it alleviating stress, which helps my heart problem.

For me it is too, while I don't a heart condition or anything like that I have been going through depression for a while and it has helped with that. I think enjoying cute things in general is good for you and something as simple as cartoon ponies can remind people that life isn't all bad.

[FNGRpony 658]

well, if your basing this off my or the other suicide thread,

 

it if makes you feel better I think AJ would fit for suicide, it would take alot of bsing, and the act of setting her mental state for suicide would end up being darker than the act itself.

What lies behind the most reliable of ponies loyal heart?  I like to spin a good b.s. but i think she wouldn't be a first draft for that idea.

 

um emotional investment?

Call me fair weather but i tend to fallow how the writing staff has them shine.
Flutter shy was my favorite but she's really slipped this season,

in addition Rain bow dash has been amazing.  she's gone from my least favorite to top 3.

It would bother me, if her character like forgot about her growth.

 

it's coming, likely under mary what's her face or ma larson.. oh brother it's coming.

I'm invested when i'm given a reason to care.

 

I like pinkie, but it's been a while sense i was emotionally invested in her.

AJ?  It's been a long time sense apple buck season guys.  but she's kind of a one hit wonder.  Great hit though.

I can totally get people being emotionally invested in rarity.

 

The fact she makes other peopels emotions rise and fall is why i'm invested in her, but it's a secondary thing.  but that could change the season is still young.

[Diamondeye83 49]

I honestly kinda feel a connection with fluttershy, as I am much more passive than I would like to be. However, seeing her do it helps me be better about being assertive for some reason.

[Zygen 6,066]

Um, well i don't really know if i have a personal tie of someone to like each pony really. I think of them as their own individuals.

 

I am a bit attached to them, and I do sympathize and empathize with them on the show, but i don't relate the ponies to other people in my life i care about really. Its just not the type of association i do.

 

So if thats what you mean then no, if you just mean that I empathize with the ponies during the show then sure.

 

Otherwise i'm totally confused ;p.

[Sugar Cube 4,843]

My scenario is similar to the OP's. I lost my father when I was 14 and my family faced a lot of hardship. I am a middle child just like Applejack, and to have to fight through that difficult time with my two siblings and my mother has thus far been the most challenging obstacle in my life and I have had to do a lot of growing up quickly in my own right. Applejack gives me a lot of inspiration to do great things and to be the best person I can be and that includes being someone my dad would be proud of. Applejack's strong ties to her family and friends are very much like my own bond with my family and friends, and these things are very conducive to why I hold AJ so dearly. And as trivial as the reasons might be, Applejack reminds me of my dad in a lot of ways, so you can imagine there are some strong emotional ties there too.

Edited December 20, 2013 by Sugar Cube

[Moonbacon 384]

im more like twilight because i get easily paranoid of things.  

[Rough Pathway 157]

I'm not sure what you mean by 'emotional ties', but I guess I do have emotional ties to Fluttershy since I can relate so well to her. I've always been shy, and finally being able to relate to a character means a lot to me. Seeing Fluttershy having to live with her fear everyday, and being able to put it aside when she needs to, is really inspiring. Shes a source of strength for me, and has inspired me to try and overcome my shyness. I haven't made much progress, but making some progress is better than none. I also respect Fluttershy for her kindness, which is an important trait to have in my opinion. I can't really explain it better than that.

[hawkflame 3,310]

I think that if we didn't have some kind of emotional connection to the characters we wouldn't be Bronies. I guess it's a matter of how deep that connection is.  It's one thing to have empathy, another to view the character as an extension of yourself.  Me personally, I don't think I'm past the empathy stage, but I do feel a pretty strong urge to defend Rarity when someone speaks poorly of her.   But then I'm kind of olike that with a lot of things I enjoy.  I'm a pretty staunch defender of my favorite anime, movies, tv shows, etc. so this might be just an extension of that.

[Octavia's Melody 128]

It's gotta be Luna for me as well. I've spent a lot of my life with little or no friends, so it's hard for me to thrive in social gatherings.

[JonPear 209]

Fluttershy is the character I see myself in most, and I often root for her (like when she tried to get her wingpower up in Hurricane Fluttershy), so I suppose I have the strongest emotional tie to her.

 

I must have strong emotional ties to all of the characters, though, because I just can't force myself to read a lot of fan-fiction that is sad or violent, because it's just too emotionally difficult for me. I was on Tumblr once, and someone posted a fan-fiction that was partially about Diamond Tiara having been mashed into a bloody pulp of "pony guts." Even though Diamond Tiara is my second least favorite pony (rivaled only by The Stuck-Up Liar Trixie), I didn't make it past the middle of the second paragraph.

[jackleapp81 456]

I remember reading a story about a guy who literally fell in love with Twilight Sparkle, and eventually came to think of her as his companion and lover. I'm sure the man was either highly delusional, or just a very convincing troll, but either way, it's pretty intriguing to me that un-reciprocated deep emotional connections can be formed for fictional characters.

 

But if you think about it, this kind of attachment is nothing new. We all cried at the end of Toy Story 3, even though we knew those toys were fake.

And E.T., despite being a fictional alien character, earned affection and sympathy from millions of people.

 

I think the human capacity for love is so strong that it transcends the barriers of disbelief. Even though we know that the characters we see on-screen are an elaborate illusion, our hearts refuse to distinguish the character's struggles with the struggles in our real lives.

 

That said, I think a lot of it has to do with how "human" these characters are though. Thanks to the excellent animators, a broad spectrum of emotion is conveyed for every one of these ponies, and it makes what happens on the show all the more believable, and relatable.

Edited December 20, 2013 by jackleapp81

[ghostfacekiller39 23,860]

Fluttershy is the character I see myself in most, and I often root for her (like when she tried to get her wingpower up in Hurricane Fluttershy), so I suppose I have the strongest emotional tie to her.

 

I must have strong emotional ties to all of the characters, though, because I just can't force myself to read a lot of fan-fiction that is sad or violent, because it's just too emotionally difficult for me. I was on Tumblr once, and someone posted a fan-fiction that was partially about Diamond Tiara having been mashed into a bloody pulp of "pony guts." Even though Diamond Tiara is my second least favorite pony (rivaled only by The Stuck-Up Liar Trixie), I didn't make it past the middle of the second paragraph.

You should see some of the hate mail I got on Derpibooru. 

 

You'd vomit or cry, either/or.

 

 

But I cried my first time watching that episode, and I still get a little emotional and watery-eyed at the end.

 

If that episode doesn't give you feels, you're neither human nor brony

[Flight 11 89]

Applejack.

 

I'm always the one my friends come to. My parents while still living rarely interact with me (by my own will though). I always wear a hat. And finally accents.

 

Yeah. I am AJ.

[FNGRpony 658]

Fluttershy is the character I see myself in most, and I often root for her (like when she tried to get her wingpower up in Hurricane Fluttershy), so I suppose I have the strongest emotional tie to her.

 

I must have strong emotional ties to all of the characters, though, because I just can't force myself to read a lot of fan-fiction that is sad or violent, because it's just too emotionally difficult for me. I was on Tumblr once, and someone posted a fan-fiction that was partially about Diamond Tiara having been mashed into a bloody pulp of "pony guts." Even though Diamond Tiara is my second least favorite pony (rivaled only by The Stuck-Up Liar Trixie), I didn't make it past the middle of the second paragraph.

THOUGH SHELL NOT TAKE THE GREAT AND POWERFUL NAME IN VAIN! 

Ahem, bo. BOOOOOOOO.

 

Edited December 20, 2013 by FNGRpony

[Shanks 10,816]

well, if your basing this off my or the other suicide thread,

It is based more on the other one, the other one was inspired by a discussion I had with Inazuma on the phone the night before that was posted. I think AJ is a much deeper character than people give her credit for, season 3 has treated her very well and we will see how they do with her in season 4. Rainbow Dash has also gone up for me, she was my 4th favorite but then jumped up to the my 3rd and then 2nd favorite, and Twilight Sparkle has gone up to 2nd and then tying with Applejack and Luna for my favorite. And Rarity went up slightly in part because Fluttershy is slipping a bit and because I am writing a fanfic where she is the main character it is forcing me to see things from her point of view a bit more.

 

I have noticed that as certain ponies go up in my ranking it is because my emotional tie to them gets stronger. With Rainbow Dash I didn't like how she got so much more attention than Applejack and that clouded my judgement for a while, I didn't hate her saw her as a bit overrated but the character development in season 3 is her best yet. I started to love Twilight when I found out that I have almost as much in common with her as I do with Applejack and started to relate to her in way I never have before. My ties to Fluttershy and Rarity just aren't as powerful as the others but they are there, I see a bit of myself in my younger years in Fluttershy and I see a bit of my creative side in Rarity even if my creative medium isn't fashion.

 

 

 

I'm not sure what you mean by 'emotional ties'

What I mean is that there are certain characters some people like so much that in certain ways they view them almost like they are another person. This could because they relate to them very strongly, empathize with some of their struggles, have a crush of them, find traits in them that are admirable. And there are some people whose ties prompt them to get a bit protective of their favorite characters, I can get a bit protective of Applejack sometimes with alot of people calling her "the boring one" or a "one hit wonder" as one user in this thread put it. I don't go so far as to flame anyone but I do often do what I can to set the record straight that Applejack is a much deeper, more interest character than is often given credit for. 

[PissyPie 20]

Call me fair weather but i tend to fallow how the writing staff has them shine.

Flutter shy was my favorite but she's really slipped this season,

in addition Rain bow dash has been amazing.  she's gone from my least favorite to top 3.

It would bother me, if her character like forgot about her growth.

I agree with you about Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, it's a little disappointing feeling less for Fluttershy, but Rainbow Dash has become a great character and I love it :3

I have emotional ties to all of them. Yesterday a classmate said he'd go on the show and kill the ponies if he didn't get a B in physics while I and a brony friend of mine were talking about the characters. I wanted to say something but I kinda just scolded him as I'm not very good at defending myself or sometimes others. He was kidding and all, alot of his friends are bronies and he's friends with me and the other girl, but still. aha 

[TwiAttack 24]

Pretty much what jackleapp81 said. The treatment of the characters as three-dimensional and their relatability with us bronies indeed makes it very easy to be emotionally invested in them. I still like my least favorite of the Mane 6 (Applejack) more than my favorite non-Mane 6 (Discord), simply because I know more about her and therefore am able to empathize more easily.

Personally, I am attached to every major character in various ways and degrees, because each of them has his/her own quirks that make me feel happy, sad, inspire me, and/or make me contemplate. But the characters that I feel attached to the most are Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy.

Twilight and Fluttershy, because I can relate to them so well. I'm pretty much a combination of the two (though I feel more like Twi than Flutters). This is partly why Hurricane Fluttershy and Lesson Zero are my top 2 episodes; heck, the former inspired me to do better in PE (badminton) class which I suck horribly at.

Pinkie Pie, for VERY different reasons. In fact, out of the Mane 6, she's probably the least relatable to me. When I became a brony, Pinkie was my 2nd least favorite out of the Mane 6, because I didn't like her brand of humor, and found her annoying at first. But as the strains of college life started to take its toll on me, I began to see her crazy antics as a source of hope and joy. She's just so cheerful and positive, something I am totally NOT and wish I was more like. Pinkie is now my 2nd favorite character, and is very close to tying with Twi as my favorite. She's the closest I've ever had to developing a crush on a fictional character... in fact, I find her cuter than Fluttershy. Um... help? 

[The Helper 10]

A certain topic earlier today accomplished something I have never seen in any topic ever and that was near universal opposition. And so I thought for a second that much of this opposition is due to the fact that people have strong emotional ties to these ponies and to some of these people suggesting something such as suicide even if it is not meant to be entirely serious is seen as almost like suggesting the same for a real person. But there are several people including myself that can occasionally enjoy a bit of darkness every now and then that still have similar ties to the ponies. It is very well known on here that I have a crush on Applejack and am one of the most outspoken fans of Applejack as well as Luna on here and have also developed strong ties to other ponies such as Twilight Sparkle, Derpy, Rainbow Dash and Sweetie Belle all for different reasons.

 

But the reason why Applejack in particular stands out is both because I can relate to her the most out of the ponies, she is the first pony I started to like and the first character in general I started to like aside from Discord (Return of Harmony two parter was the episodes I ever watched) which makes her special for that reason alone. And because she has traits which I find highly admirable and inspirational, the fact that she has was able to survive something as traumatic as her parents dying at such a young age and grow up to be so strong really speaks to me. I have had no shortage of tragedy in my life and my Dad dying is the most recent which really made Apple Family Reunion the episode that really tugged at my heart strings and finally made me decide what my favorite Applejack episode is.

I don't have an emotional tie to Applejack, but I do like her as a favorite pony.

[Harmony And Rarity 195]

Pinkie Pie, Because my life was very depressing and meaningless. But then I discovered MLP and now im just one big bundle of joy. I know its not the best emotional tie but I guess it counts.

[ReverseFaller 2,483]

It's gotta be Luna for me as well. I've spent a lot of my life with little or no friends, so it's hard for me to thrive in social gatherings.

 

Luna. Because...in a way...she taught me it's okay to be different, even if being excepted isn't always as easy as you'd plan it to be. There will always be that one that sticks with you until they've seen you become the person they know you really are, and can then take you to places in which you fit in.

 

I have to agree with both of these. Luna all the way.