BronyCon 2013 · 5:48am Aug 5th, 2013
So ever since I entered into the fandom, I've always been a proud brony. A fan of the show and enjoying a lot of the fan-produced content. But, to be perfectly honest fan fiction was something I never really dove into with both feet. Sure, I've written a piece or two here and there, but I was never a focus for me. It was never my creative outlet for the fandom. Now, I like to think I'm a good writer. Good, but not disciplined. I can't stay focused. I can't write every day. I can't make myself stick to ideas.
Besides, there are so many better MLP fic authors out there. While I'm biased when it comes to Bookplayer, I also spent this con getting to meet Applejinx, Bad Horse, Professor Plum, Wanderer D, and so many other wonderful members of this community. At first I was intimidated and I felt like this was a community that I couldn't be a part of. I felt like somehow I couldn't be included in this aspect of the fandom. I was bitter. I was put off.
I was being a jerk.
Then, a day into the con, I saw that the members of the community (and damn near every person I met at the con), was warm, inviting, and absolutely welcomed any contribution you might have. So instead of charging head long into conversations I knew nothing about I spent the day listening, really listening, to what these writers had to say. And their words amazed me. Once I got past my own ego and my own egocentric nature, I found myself among friends.
Suddenly, when I looked up, BronyCon 2013 was over and I was sitting in an irish pub on the water of Baltimore's Inner Harbor sharing a meal with friends. And I don't mean that casually. One of these wonderful creators poured his heart out to me about the joy and comfort he had never before experienced before becoming part of this fandom and community. How he finally felt accepted without judgment for who he is. I saw him literally with tears in his eyes. That's powerful. That's friendship.
I sat there talking with someone whom I'd never met. Two hours later we'd talked about our cultural differences, fandom, video games, politics, and all manner of topics. When it came time to leave, he gave me a hug. I don't know if he realized it at the time, but I took that to heart. Wow. From stranger to pub friend in a few hours. That's inspiring. That's friendship.
I met a man who's passionate expression of a broken character let me understand both a ficitional pony and myself in new and powerful ways. They turned someone I hated as a character into someone with whom I can relate to on a deeper level than I ever realized. That's insight. That's friendship.
I guess since I can't really write a letter to the Princess, I'll just have to blog about it. BronyCon taught me that friendship comes from the most surprising places and from the most surprising people if I can just get the hell over myself and let it come at all.
Dude, it was a pleasure
pinkie.mylittlefacewhen.com/media/f/rsz/mlfw1858_small.jpg
1263519
No worries, Jake. I've been told by Bookplayer you're quite fluent in troll.