The Final Word · 11:34am Feb 25th, 2017
The Final Word
In the early September of 2011, I was lost and drifting. Two years previously, I had just finished a long running series of online graphic novels, my Tryslmaistan Trilogy, with the final saga, 'To Save Her'. I needed a new direction.
I came across an article - perhaps it was in Wired, perhaps it was on some other website - roughly entitled 'The New Sincerity'. The piece was a wild-eyed, excited bit of puffery that suggested the arising of a massive online movement, away from cynicism and incivility and cruelty. It suggested that young people had grown weary of constantly abusing each other on the internet, and were turning toward a golden age of kindness and honesty. A primary example given was the Brony phenomena. My Little Pony had returned as a new show, one that had captured even the hardest hearts on the net, and turned them to the principle that friendship was magic... and worthwhile. That kindness and tolerance and charity were values worth living for, and by.
I had endured a lot of negative attention for daring to do my comics. In this article, in my exhausted, beaten state, I saw a glimmer of hope. I decided to check out this new iteration of My Little Pony. I vaguely remembered liking the show when it first came out, back in the eighties.
I devoured the available episodes of the very first season of Friendship Is Magic, and then waited breathlessly for each new episode doled out. The very first season captured me. It was, and remains, the best of the series, and it gave me something to adore. It showed me a glimpse of heaven - pony heaven - and I was enraptured. I found Fimfiction very soon after, and on it, the Conversion Bureau genre, just as it was beginning. I enjoyed, that first year, the very best creative time of my entire lifespan.
I have worked for Activision and Electronic Arts, Broderbund and Epyx. I have met famous game designers and had my name on many products. Not one moment of any of that was even a tenth as happy, or as fun, as that first year writing Conversion Bureau stories with my peers, friends all - or so I imagined at the time - excited and sharing and riffing off of each other. Nothing in all of my 57 years was as wonderful as that short time.
It was all a lie, of course - bullies came and destroyed everything good. I was an idiot to imagine otherwise. But - that said, I did get one truly perfect year out of my delusion. And I gained four more years of work I deeply value after that golden time. I had the finest creative year of my life, and then the death threats and attacks on my family came. There was no 'New Sincerity', just a brief island in the endless sea of despicable wretchedness that is humanity when it is anonymous on the internet.
The show - Friendship Is Magic - never truly lived up to that first year, though there have been numerous isolated episodes worthy of the original dream that was presented.
Those reading me now must see MLP:FIM as a very different thing than what I knew when I started writing. To you, who came later, the show is nothing like what it seemed back then I assure you. Now, Equestria has been written increasingly as a very... human... world, one with cruelty and harshness and deviousness and all the failings of Man within it. But in that first, unfinished year of episodes, this was not the case. Then, before the beginning of Season Two, Equestria was nothing less than the Elysian Fields. It was a place of kindness and joy, where all problems were solved with friendship, and where no pony was ever truly mean, or cruel, or cross with any other. All of that came later.
I don't think you, who have seen all the many seasons of Pony, can imagine the impact of such a thing. To you, Pony is a very mixed bag - the show little different than any other animated fare. Just a cartoon, one among many. But for many of us, back then, at the beginning, before the seasons to follow, Equestria was heaven, it was a land alien to Earth, a place of wonder where goodness always was the rule. Even if monsters crept and slithered in the Everfree, or Discord threatened the cosmos, ponies, themselves, were kindness and friendship poured into perfect flesh. Celestia and Luna were benevolent goddesses, and there was nothing that was not better there.
I offer something: a video. It is the most important of all pony videos to me, personally. I found this in my first year writing, and at the time it brought me to tears. It still can. I find it encapsulates, shows, demonstrates, exactly where I am coming from in all of my stories, in every single word and paragraph of my writing here. This video, which I have recently found again, combines images from the show with the music of Blackgryph0n, and manages to perfectly represent where my heart was, back in 2011, beginning my million-word march through pony fiction.
Watch it, and try to see if you can capture the feeling of an Ideal Place, a perfect world beyond the insanity and cruelty of our own - a pony paradise powerful enough to inspire and uplift the very soul. I am done with pony now, and this is my last blog. But I take with me the joys that I have had writing fiction here, and also the dear, marvelous delusions that gave me more joy than anything the real world has ever offered. I am grateful for having had even a glimpse of Something Better, even if it was a passing mirage.
Sometimes a fleeting madness can better an entire lifetime. Take, take me to Equestria.
- Petal Chatoyance, 2017
- Welcome to Equestria by Rulsis, YouTube, 2011
As I've said before, thank you for your time and effort spent here. You crafted an incredible world from the humble base material, and I am immensely grateful that you persevered through the backlash to complete the journey. Best of luck in whatever else you do.
Sad to see another great author leaving us. But at least we have your words to inspire and carry on.
The new sincerity is real. It always was, and it will be.
It was not alone. There are others who despise it.
That does not make it not real.
The show was always supposed to use relatable characters to teach lessons about handling interpersonal relationships.
If equestria was this perfect world free from all hardship or even "mean"ness then there would be no conflicts, not even "friendship problems" to resolve. That would make it neither interesting as a story for us nor useful as an educational tool for children.
If you're looking for a story about a perfect place free from all suffering and want then I think you should turn to religion. I'm a Buddhist myself and it sounds to me like Nirvana is what you are searching for, and you can only get there from being at peace with yourself, not from emulating something seen on TV.
Bullies only win if you let them.
I've seen plenty here and elsewhere, where the "magic of friendship" means nothing to them.
But you have the free will to choose how you react to this.
In any event, Godspeed.
Thank you for all the wonderful stories you've shared Chatoyance, they mean more too me then I'm able to put into words.
Good luck in finding the serenity and happiness you seek.
Thank you for your contributions and effort. I want you to know that your works are one of the major contributing factors to my joining this site and starting to create my own works.
You are an inspiration to both myself and others.
You will be missed, may the wings of pegasi speed you safely on your journey.
Go well, and thank you.
"And time marches on."
I'll miss you too ... best of luck with wherever you go next, and whatever you do. May the road rise up to meet you, and may the wind be always at your back. And thank you for your many wonderful stories.
And like 4435886 said, the new optimism is real and still here, but it's being opposed at every turn; I see wonderful, beautiful, hopeful things every day, but I also see the worst humanity has to offer.
Very sorry to hear you're leaving the site. Your stories have been some of the best I have read. Wishing you all the luck in wherever you go next in life.
I find the apparent hate weird.
If you don't like a writer, don't read them.
I have enjoyed most, if not all of your work. Thanks.
A taste of grass, perhaps especially.
Chatoyance, did you watch Westworld?
EDIT: I'm asking because there a few parallels I'd like to highlight about audiences and narratives.
Thank you for your stories, I like them very much.
May you find creative endeavors that bring you joy!
"It was all a lie, of course - bullies came and destroyed everything good."
Not quite everything. However much pain you suffered, however much people tried to destroy and smear you, there are still people today who love your work and have been touched by it. Remember that.
"and where no pony was ever truly mean, or cruel, or cross with any other"
(Well, except maybe Diamond Tiara, but we could still assume she'd grow out of it. And indeed she did, in fact, even in the later seasons.)
"I am done with pony now, and this is my last blog."
Ah well. I suppose it isn't that surprising; your work here is done, and for extremely understandable reasons you're probably not very enthusiastic about sticking around just for the community. I'm sorry I still haven't gotten around to finishing your work, though; I'm glad you enjoyed what comments I did leave.
"But I take with me the joys that I have had writing fiction here, and also the dear, marvelous delusions that gave me more joy than anything the real world has ever offered. I am grateful for having had even a glimpse of Something Better, even if it was a passing mirage."
Good. I'm glad your memories aren't too tarnished. :)
And the video was indeed nice. :)
Thank you for sharing your great stories. I have enjoyed them a lot and I have enjoyed thinking about your universes afterwards.
Don't believe this is your last blog here. Figure you have at least one last thing left to say. All and all there is a world with people out yonder that needs to be tending to.
Take care unicorn.
4435886 I think this perfectly encapsulates all there is to say, here.
I wish you happiness.
It was a fun ride. I enjoyed your stories as they usually had some fun and they certainly knew their directions and what they wanted to tell. Here's wishing you the best in your future endeavors.
That was still a weird reveal with Derpy being a newfoal...
Chatoyance,
I'm and glad, that even for just a year you were happy.
I eagerly await whatever you choose to do next, whenever that comes. I have never been dissatisfied with your works.
If any of you would like to see her other works, which I can highly recommend, you can find them here.
http://forums.unicornjelly.com/
Fun Fact: Unicorn Jelly was done almost entirely in an old as hell MS Paint like program, and produced Stunning artwork like this
unicornjelly.com/images/uni0286.gif
unicornjelly.com/images/uni0288.gif
unicornjelly.com/images/arrive1.gif
unicornjelly.com/images/uni602.gif
Bummer, but I get it. I like your stuff, though, and would be interested in following whatever you do after this. I guess PM me if you wanna stay in touch?
I've enjoyed all your work across the entire length of your amazing creative life, and look forward to whatever you choose to do next.
I take this is the eulogy for not just TCB but also the MLP:FiM that we fell in love with back in 2011?
God I feel depressed.
Hey. Ain't the end of it as long as we keep the memory of what is pure and good alive. You're proof of that. So am I. So's Alfador.
Expect a PM shortly. I have a consideration for you, if you'd be so interested.
Thank you so much for all that you've contributed to the site! Your stories were what inspired me to join here, what inspired me to write here, and they're still some of my favorites. Every time I sat down to write pony, I'd think about your stories and tell myself that one day, maybe, if I worked very hard, I'd be able to write like you.
Your work has given me and many other so much joy. You kept yourself afloat in a way few could. Fimfiction will be poorer without you.
Hello Chat,
Here's a gift in return. I hope it will bring you a smile whenever you need one.
Your friend Dafaddah.
The Herd
I remember the sweet song we sang,
The hope in the heart become music and voice and dance,
And though the rains came,
Dark and roiling to hide the sun and the moon,
Even then,
The sun and the moon were always there,
For they can never be taken away.
So let's smile and sing even as the heavens rage,
And dance in the puddles,
For we are and we choose to be the children of the sun and the moon.
The thunderheads can rage in vain and cast their shadows thinking they are real,
They do not understand that which we know to be Truth:
kindness, loyalty, generosity, honesty, laughter and magic,
and the sweet taste of harmony that can only exist in the we,
The I and the others, the gentle foals, the chorus, the symphony, the Herd.
I'm rather late on the draw here... likely by a few years. I've read some of your works, enjoyed some, not so much others, but I've given it some thought and I figured I should share my idea as to why your Conversion Bureau series was so... polarizing, I suppose is the best word for it. The thing about CB, is that it hangs by a thread. Conversion Bureau relies on a number of premesis: 1: Humanity has wrecked the earth beyond recovery. 2: the state of being pony is universally superior to the state of being human, or enough so that it's worth leaving everything human behind. 3: the process of conversion itself is entirely begnin. 4: Equestria's transit to Earth and the Barrier are completely accidental. There was no controllable motivating force, and no way to halt or reverse the event. 5: Equestria and magic are truly anathema to the human form.
The Conversion Bureau makes for a fine utopian fantasy, so long as every single one of these premesis is absolutely true. If even one of these points is in any way false, the story turns instantly from fantasy into horror. This, however raises another issue. One of the foundational premesis of your story blatantly insults not only the reader, but the reader's species and culture on a fundamental level. The idea that humanity is doomed to the slow death of an oligarcical strangulation and industrialism poisoning the planet is a bitter pill to feed. That the solution comes not from within, but from without only compunds the issue. The Conversion Bureau says "Okay, Humanity sucks, you fail, let's bring in these space ponies from nowhere, let them fix everything, join them or die, oh and you suck if you disagree." Not to say that any of the harrassment you recieved was in any way right, appropriate, or justified... but you did make some very bold statements. On the internet.
4446490
The polarization you speak of begins the moment reason ends. That is always indicated by the simplistic, childish words 'suck', 'fail', 'sucks', and 'fix everything'. Also 'crapsack', 'sugarbowl', and many others. These are the terms used by a mind that has resorted to emotion and buzzwords in place of comprehension. They are words empty of specific meaning, but loaded with vague emotional force.
When I developed my take on the Bureau mythos, I carefully studied current, real-world trends and facts in politics, ecology, sociology, and human psychology. I grew up on hard science fiction, it was my intention to write a solid, fact based world to background my stories of adventure and triumph of the human spirit despite overwhelming catastrophe. Every aspect of my Bureau future is nothing more than current-day real world events taken to their logical extremes. The guiding principle has always been: what if nothing changed, and people - governments, civilizations, big business - all kept doing what they are doing now with no sudden universal human enlightenment to change the world for the better. In short: business as usual until it is far too late.
Any person who has lived longer than twenty years would find this line of reasoning, and approach, utterly reasonable, and realistic. Unfortunately, obviously.
In all of my Bureau stories, without exception, the human spirit saves the day for ponies. Every Bureau story I write features a central human character that, whether they are human or converted into a newfoal, saves the day thanks to their irrepressible human spirit. Not one of my critics has ever seemed to note this universal theme in all of my writing.
I write disaster movies in book form, where the irrepressible human spirit saves the day despite colliding universes and physical transformations changing body and mind. No honest reader, thoughtful about such content, could ever rationally come away from any story of mine without grasping this. That I have been attacked for saying humanity is 'fail' and 'sucks' tells me that the people saying such things have never bothered to actually read my stories all the way through - or that they are very poor at reading comprehension. Or, that they have an ax to grind going in and no amount of quotes from my stories such as this:
could ever change their minds one bit. I can write adventurous stories... but I cannot open a closed mind, nor can I cure stupid.
I would expect, after such a comment to my blog, that you might demand proof and documentation to back up my simple claims, so, here is a heap of evidence.
The Triumph Of The Human Spirit In All Chatoyance Stories:
The entire premise of 'Teacup, Down On The Farm' is that memories of human existence are too precious to let go of.
The entire point of 'The Big Respawn' is that to a human being, friendship is the most important virtue.
The entire premise of 'Letters From Home' is that human friendship goes beyond all limits - even hatred.
The entire premise of 'The Taste Of Grass' is that human cleverness and determination can conquer anything, in any universe, ever.
The secondary storyline of 'Going Pony' is about how a rich, shallow woman chooses to find her heart and become a better person.
The entire premise of chapter 1 of 'Tales Of Los Pegasus' is about a young man willing to give his very life to save a stranger.
The entire premise of chapter 2 of 'Tales Of Los Pegasus' is that, for most humans, family is everything.
The entire point of chapter 7 of 'Tales Of Los Pegasus' is that a real man keeps his honor no matter what.
The secondary revelation of chapter 10 of 'Tales Of Los Pegasus' is that the spirit of humanity is eternally irrepressible and valuable.
At the conclusion of 'Code Majeste', only the strength and ingenuity of a human can save both Equestria and Mundis, and the princesses from disaster.
In my Bureau stories, before Equestria even arrives, humanity has ended all war, and every single human being on the planet has food and water every day.
Quotations From Chatoyance Stories Demonstrating The Triumph Of The Human Spirit:
I still have a lot of work to do with the translations, so (thankfully) it will be a year, at least, before to say goodbye. In fact, a million words, translated with the quality Chatoyance deserves... Thank Celestia, if we finish while show will be still ongoing. Or, by pessimistical prognosis - even before Optimalverse become possible. (Non if i think, the optimalverse is something bad).
Anyway, thank you for everything.
Aaand... I heard, Myazaki returns to animation, recently. So, will be waiting for wonder.
I feel really bad for not having been here to say goodbye. You gave me one small hope to keep me going in bad times, even if it's just a small hope. I will always remember your stories. I hope that every so often you revisit to see the new people who have just found your stories (and I hopefully will finish your stories one day).
4541155
I pass by occasionally, sometimes to read one of my stories to one of my spouses. I noticed your post.
I did finish all of my stories! Every last one. Go to my user page here, check it out. I set out to tell a specific list of stories, to write a specific list of novels, and I did. I finished my last one, Fiddler's Green, and that was the very last story I had originally intended, years ago.
I won. I beat the bastards, I whipped them utterly. My goal was not to be the most popular, or the most important, or to have the most upvotes, or to be the most famous. My goal was to write my stories for the readers who wanted to read them, and despite all the threats, and attacks, and harassment... I did just that. There was a war against me here, to stop me writing, and my goal was to finish every story I had planned, and I did just that. In style. I won. I beat them all, and I feel great about that.
All my stories are complete now. I literally have nothing left to say on the subject of ponies. I've said everything I had intended to say, written every novel and short story I had intended to write, and I am done here only because... I am actually done here. Anything more would be... repeating stuff. Rehashing old ground. Writing just to write. That isn't really art, so... I am done. A good artist knows when they have finished a particular work.
My work with ponies is complete. Yay! Cheers!
So, be glad for me. I faced down trolls and asshats and ignorant children... and adults who should really know better. And I won, I did every last thing I set out to do, and I ended on my own terms, at my own time, because I felt fully satisfied.
1,380,364 words. One million, three hundred thousand words. More than all of Shakespear, much more than War And Peace, far more than all the works of Tolkien. Vastly more than almost all of my beloved, Golden-Age science fiction authors, too. I triumphed, and all my stories are finished, just the way I wanted them to be.
I am glad I gave you some small hope, once. That makes all of the above worth it. Art is nothing without an audience, and if it touches no souls, then it itself is nothing. Thank you for telling me that my work mattered to you.
Take one more hope. It is possible to win, even against all the assholes. It is possible, it can be done, and I prove that with my own work. Brave heart, because you really can get good things done, if you try!
- Petal Chatoyance
I'm still reading these story still love them they are all fun to read :D and hope the best for you too :)
4626434
Thank you so much, for reading my stories!
4541189
As you can probably tell I visit FIMfiction even less often than you do :P.
Anyway, what I meant by that is hopefully I will finish your stories. I never actually finished reading all of them, I just never got around to it. I'm sure I will one day however, don't know when, but one day.
Hi Chat!
Wow... It's been forever since I was here. :)
I had to create a new account as the old one sailed off into the West or some-such, but I just had to stop by and see how you were doing. You may remember me from long talks about the theology of ponies and the psychology of immortal god-like beings, or perhaps a silly little intro cinematic for The Conversion Bureau (if we were to pretend it became a TV show).
I'm really glad to see that you reached the top of your mountain; ONE POINT THREE MILLION WORDS!! That's awesome! Congratulations! Plant your flag and head on home for tea!
And I have a little reading to do I suppose, now that the last few yarns are finished. Haha!
I will admit that I am saddened that you have stoppered your ink pot and left your quill to dry. But if you have said all there is to be said, and you are satisfied - then I can think of no better way to wrap up the classic Shakespearean fifth act than how you have done it. :D
As for myself; I still tell my 'tall tails' to my player-base... Seven years of role-playing ponies now, and still going! Things had slowed down quite a bit and I was pondering pulling my ship into port in July, but the movie has stoked the boiler and we're making good headway again!
Aaaanyway - glad to see you are doing well and still stalking FimFiction often enough that we can still say "Hi!" on occasion.
Do take care Chat, and I hope to experience whatever it is you do next! :D
4721963
Wow! Thank you for saying hello! And also, thank you for your very kind words. And for your work in the past. This was a very happy discovery tonight! Huzzah!
Thank you for chalice of purple. Thank you very much. It's amazing how mlp inspired you and still do it! I really would like to feel something like that. You are a very strong and amazing person. Therefore I can wish good luck in something new.
How to say ...I feel landing on top of you, while not wanting to do anything of this sort ..:/ This is your 'home', ok, may be one of them, but still important place to be around/in, at times.
To be honest, I don't have any right words, anything I can imagine sounds too false for my own ears. Just few days ago you were just some one-line reference from forum discussion. I followed link, and read few stories by you. I think we might agree on many points, but at the same time I'm at lost what exactly should be said.. I sort-of want to invite you to ...to where? Our little dolphin (cetacea) related group on FB not really best place to feel at home, and anyway pushing you 'nearer dolphins' sounds ..unfriendly? Friendship can't be made by force, and just for getting new member ("useful", at least potentially , eh :/ ..I like way you reason about language, mind, social structures... I strongly feel real Contact with dolphin-like beings and most importantly, for me, Contact truely made FOR them ("hey, I want to be _useful_ for them, in all this troubled reality we have no escape from!") actually impossible without humans who are ....not quite humans, in some areas, yet more than humans in others. Again, even finding some guide how to find and connect such humans seems to be .....nearly unsolvable problem. Humans damn inaccurate about themselves, I mean lie is wrong not because humans think so, but because it adds to big pile of inaccurate info, so, it objectively wrong thing to do .. real ethic is logic ...but ....well, we mostly see different thing with same label. Logic, but cut down at edges, sometimes down to core. So, simply following logic, scientists, philosophers not really helping ..even with all those tricks I learned (like looking for least famous names, or following contraversional names, not mainstream). Yes, there were amazing personal finds, like
Anthony Weston
, or https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2652431-king-of-the-sea ... but, overall ... after reading all those books and works..it only become clearer how many roads NOT lead to where they supposed to lead. Sometimes i think 'we' are just awfully out of phase - by the time you found some truely unusual idea, and read and checked, and re-checked and followed at least few references for making sure it has chance to work - it already 15 years too late for author ...he had no-one to actually back him in time :/
I was about to make some little gift for you, like, posting link to video of swimming libre ponies or something like this ..but all I found was horses with humans on top of them :/ Yes, pony/horse can swim (little _real_ surprize for me), so in theory, just in theory, having dolphins and horses at the same place (in your heart and as friends ..libre, not slaves) is not very impossible, just very improbable by now. I'm ok with no videos, it just mean most important things will happen IRL......
I can't give promise to read all or even most of your works, but at least i shared some I actually read and enjoyed with two of my remaining human friends. Who also happen to think/work on our little dolphin thing...
1.3 million? Jesus Christ, man.
The bloody hell do I start where?
4803005
I guess I did... get a little busy with the words.
You could just start in at the top of the list on my user page, the list is pretty much in the order I wrote my stories. It starts with the very first story I ever wrote here, The Big Respawn. There's even an audio book reading of it provided, thanks to a very nice lad named Pwezem.
OR, you could just grab stories randomly. This works, because anything (at least any story I wrote in the Conversion Bureau genre) all interlock to form a single, cohesive future history. They all reference each other, and characters flow through all the books and stories as if it were a real time and a real place. The more you read, the more you learn about every character and the world itself. You can literally jump in anywhere, and it will all eventually make sense no matter how you go through the works.
Some things stand on their own, though. I.D. That Indestructible Something is entirely it's own novel, unique. It is a take on Franz Kafka. I am very proud of that one.
If you like Simulationism, you could try Caelum Est Conterrens. That is also a stand alone work, and one of my most popular to those who like rationalism and philosophy of mind.
Every work also has the List at the end, so you always have links to all the other work inside every single story or novel. I tried to be full-service for the reader.
My recommendation? 27 Ounces. It's my personal favorite, at least for the Bureau genre.
I would be honored, if you would give my work a try.
I get what your saying about the first season of the show.
The first season set the stage for Equestria to be a magical place, but once the show became popular Hasbro started modernizing it.
Now Equestria has cities just like ours thrown into it, characters are changed so they can sell toys, and meaningful moments are destroyed for laughs.
Honestly for me it was the crusader cutie marks that really tipped the scales.
The crusaders in my eyes were always a coming of age tale of three friends finding their purpose in life, and having adventures along the way. We all knew they would get their cutie marks one day just as every child does eventually grow up.
Unfortunately Hasbro did not want to get rid of the crusaders or the dynamic they have, so instead of each of the girls getting their own special talent they instead all got the same shared talent...
What could have been a great lesson on how friends grow to eventually explore other paths in life, but still manage to stay friends we instead get more of the same CMC crusades with an added tag along character.
It woke me up to what the show had become.
I do not hate the show, but I cannot look at it the same way anymore.
I had to change my whole way of thinking about the show to come to terms with it...
Basically, to me, the first season is the true story, and everything else afterwards is simply Hasbros fanfiction.
No different then what you find here. They can just afford to get their fanfiction animated.
As association football or soccer is the world’s most popular team sport, I would love to see football included in the Conversion Bureau universe. Imagine a slice of life chapter where a central character organizes two football teams and then they enjoy a just for fun football game.
I love all of stories I've read so far, and I quite agree with you, the first season is by far the best out of the series. Between your works and the early version of the show has inspired me to write my current story. Despite all the darkness in the world, there's always a glimmer of hope and light - much like in this twisted and crewel world, there's Equestria, a place of inspiration, friendship, and wonder. I hope you the best, and never give up your on inspiration.
I’m honestly sad I didn’t find this amazing fandom earlier. Sometimes when I browse around this site, I come across a patch of old stories.
And it feels like a grave.
5055496
Yeah... it kind of does feel a bit gravelike.
But then again, every single thing has it's peak time and then settles into history. Fortunately, that which is preserved can be enjoyed still, which is why Lord Of The Rings and Sherlock Holmes are still relevant today.
And, even the current manifestation of Pony is going away soon too. What Generation Five will bring, I do not know.
That said, I always hope that there will still be those that will enter my particular little graveyard and dig up some treasure. Besides, that is not dead which can eternal lie, and with strange aeons even death may die.
5056288
True.
I do hope G5 revives the fandom though.
With the last Bronycon coming up I'm missing what the fandom was when I first found it more and more. I know even the entire 'brony' phenomenon is coming to an end now. But god I remember when I first found ponies, and how kind people were, how people really did seem to want to be better, nicer, more pony... and being 'more pony' really felt like it meant something. It felt so hopeful and positive. Then things got toxic and weird.
Conversion Bureau stories give a little reminder of what things were like back then, but I wish that moment had lasted longer.
5096583
Oh, sweet Celestia, me too. Me too.
Thank you for making a unique series.