“Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened.” · 4:00am Sep 24th, 2013
Hey everypony, as you know I'm BronyDerp117. I've been a brony for about 15 months and I've been a member on FiM Fiction for around 14 months. Well, I'm making this blog post to tell you goodbye.
This last year or so has been the best year of my life. Becoming a brony was the best decision I've ever made. That night in June of 2012 when I decided to stop hating for twenty minutes to watch one episode was the absolute best thing that has ever happened to me. I fell in love with the show, and with that came some of my brony friends getting closer to me. Then my good friend SilverDream showed me Fim Fiction. And then the person I was completely changed when I discovered something.
I discovered writing. Discovering writing was one of the best things that has ever happened to me, and I have the Brony community to thank for that. The first story I ever wrote that wasn't for a school assignment was the original version of my story Gray Rainbow. I remember the reason I wrote it was because I read My Little Dashie and thought, "Wow, that was a good story. Hmm... Maybe I should try writing one of these fan fictions." And then I wrote the crappy little story that quite a few people enjoyed. I saw that people liked it, and I got deeper into writing. I kept on writing and I started developing a skill for it, each story getting a little better with more people liking it. But every story I wrote always had that one person who said it was "Meh" but they said I had potential. Those are the comments that truly kept me going. So I kept writing fan fictions. And then there was the day I wrote a story that was not a fan fiction. It was a real story without ponies. It was the real world, real people, real things, just real. It was the best story I ever wrote, then I made a pony version of it to post on this website and it became my most popular story: Isn't It Great To Be Different? There are so many comments on that story telling me how I changed some person's life with my story that I originally stayed up all night to write after listening to the first song that ever made me cry. Writing that story, listening to that song... I never felt so much pure emotion in anything before. I poured everything into that story. That story has a lot of personal emotion that I just completely poured into it. It was an experience that I really learned from.
Writing changed my life. Before I started writing, I really wasn't that much of a happy person. I always tried to fit in alongside my best friend who did the same. Honestly, I hated myself. I truly and fully hated the person I was. I hated the things I did to try and fit in. I just can't explain enough how much I hated the person I was. Then I started writing a month after summer vacation started. It was the transition from middle school to high school. I just remember how in middle school, I was a complete close-minded and ignorant asshole. Then I discovered writing. An outlet! I poured all that self-hatred, sadness, everything into the things I wrote. People ask me why everything I write has some kind of sad element to it. Well, it's because writing is how I drain myself. Writing is how I have the ability to be happy. If I never discovered writing, and if I never discovered Great To Be Different, I would still be a close-minded, ignorant, typical teenager trying to fit in and be the "cool guy." I found myself just by writing out words to form sentences and paragraphs and stories.
And I have you, the Brony community, to thank for it. It is because of you guys that I've become the person I am today. I love the person I am at this exact moment. In the last year, I went from a Christian, close-minded, ignorant, self-hating, country-music-listening, typical teen to an atheist, open-minded, kind, cheerful, funny metalhead(I know the religion thrown in that was a little random, but it was a huge thing in the process of becoming who I am. I don't mean any offense to religious people or to people who like country music). If the person I am today met the person I used to be, I know the person I am today would hate the old person.
Writing for you guys, talking with you, interacting with you has been the best experience of my short life. I've met friends in the community that I've become close to, I've grown closer to my IRL friends through the community, and I've become a way better person from this community. I will never, ever forget the year of writing little short stories involving colorful ponies. I will never forget the things I've learned from this community not only about writing, but about people in general. I've learned that sometimes, you can be closer to a person a thousand miles away than to the person sitting right next you. I found faith in people from this website. I found that human decency still exists, because there was definitely not a lot of it before I became a brony and started high school.
I'm ready to move on and start a new chapter of my life. I want to start really putting everything into my writing. And I just can't do that with fan fiction. I want to write real stories that I can do so much more with. I'm ready to move on. Writing for you guys has been an amazing experience and I will never forget it, I'll never forget the people I've touched; I'll never forget the people that have told me I changed their life, and I hope they don't forget me, because whether they realize it or not, they made me feel like I have a real purpose in life.
So, I guess this is goodbye everyone. I honestly love all of you. You have made feel special. You've made me a happy person. And if any of you ever has a bad day, just remember that you created happiness for some random teenage kid in California. You guys have made me.
Because of you guys, my old dreams were achieved. I dreamed of becoming featured, and I did. I dreamed of being featured on Equestria Daily, and I did. I dreamed of changing people's lives with my stories, and I did. Now, because of you guys, I have a new dream that I truly believe I can achieve: I dream of being a recognized author. I want to write stories not just for myself, but for others. I only have one year of writing experience and I've already changed lives; but I want to change more. I want my dreams. I know I can get them if I try hard enough! I know I can. Maybe you guys will see my name on your local library shelves some day. Maybe you won't. But no matter what happens, I'll never forget those young guys and girls who enjoyed reading my tales of colorful ponies.
I love you all. Thank you for making me the person I am today.
-BronyDerp117
P.S. I'm still a brony. I'll still be watching Season 4 when it comes out, I'm just done with writing fan fictions and things like that.
Wow. I just have to say that this is a wonderful and heartfelt goodbye. I'm really glad you had this experience, that you found so much good in it, and that you're moving on to newer, bigger, and better things. While I'll be sad to see you go, I totally understand your reason, support it, and hope you find success in your endeavors.
Even if you're done writing fanfiction, though, don't hesitate to drop by the site every once in a while.
1371705 I'll definitely still be dropping in
1371708
Good to hear. Again, good luck.
Funny. You were turned into an atheist. Do you think you could've become one without ponies? Did ponies influence your decision or would that decision have come through a much longer process?
1374373 Could I have? Probably. But I met other non-religious bronies that made really good points that influenced my decision. Again, it was just one of the steps into me becoming who I am today. I'm sorry if that little bit offended you.
1374561 I'm an atheist myself. I'm not offended in the least.