1st Blog Post - Becoming a Brony

Ok, before I get into this, I just wish to comment on the fact that the first thing I see when loading the "make a blog post" page is the options tab, which blares NSFW POSTS ARE NO LONGER ALLOWED. Why not, I don't know, take away the options tab? I know it might be just a menial task (is that even how you use menial? It sounds right, at least), but just take it out. My opinions. Well, opinion.

Anyways, onto the advertised content!

So, becoming Brony. Imagine if you will, July 13th, 2013... Another day, another boring day of having nothing interesting to do because... well, just because. That's another blog post.

NOTE: My past was a little... checkered, when it comes to Bronies. Please, this is a big part of my life that I regret (well, a moderately-sized part, because it was only for a couple years), so I want to apologize right here and now for my actions. Also, I know this is supposedly the "whatever happened, it doesn't matter" type fandom, but I've gotten a lot of hate for this, so I'm putting myself at your hands here....

To put it out into the open, I was an Anti-Brony, once upon a time. Now, I know that's not all that big a deal to you guys, as it's a normal occurrence, but like I said, I've never been received positively when I bring it up in forums and such.

Anyways, I'm sitting there, bored, and it's about lunch time, so I decide to go upstairs and grab some food. My stomach agrees with me, and so I do. At the top of the stairs, I hear the phrase, "My dearest student, Twilight Sparkle..." (Guess who said it)

I knew nothing of the show, only that it was "gay" and that "people shouldn't be watching it unless they were 12 or younger or mentally retarded", so at the time I didn't think much about it.

I grabbed some food, went into the living room, and stopped, shocked at what I saw. My sister (11) was watching the very object of my internet-fueled hatred: My Little Pony (FIM). I couldn't move. I was listening and watching the very thing that I swore never to watch (yeah, look how that turned out), upon my own honor (yes, really).

Of course, it was my 11 year old sister. She was in the acceptable age range. Plus, she's a girl. So I figured, "Whatever. She can do it." Also, I never insult or hurt my sister. Ok, that's a lie. I try not to hurt or insult my sister. She's usually pretty good about it though. Throws it right back in my face.

So I scoff and turn to leave, when she pauses it and asks, "What?" Innocent question, having no idea of the drive behind it to stop anyone we (I) deemed unacceptable to watch said show. I turn back and say, "You're watching My Little Pony is what."

Completely confused as to what was wrong with watching MLP, she of course asked, "What's wrong with that?"

And I reply, "Nothing. For you, at least."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that there are people who are, like, 30 and watch it."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Cool! They must really like it!"

Cue facepalm.

"What? Can't people like things?"

"I don't mind if they like things-"

"I can tell. Oh, wait..." (My sister is very adept at making me silent. And that's only ONE of them. 2 are evil! EVIL! (Not really. I love my sisters.))

"Well they shouldn't like it if they're not supposed to watch it!"

"Why? You love Halo, but you started playing it when you were 9! You weren't supposed to play it. Same thing."

"No it's not!"

"How so?"

"Well..." At this point, I was standing there with a plate of hot lasagna, unable to come up with a good reason that my sister would A) understand, but B) accept as reasonable. I ran through all my arguments, unable to come up with a single answer that fit the bill. After I stood there for a few seconds, unable to say anything, my sister spoke up again.

"That's what I thought. Have you ever seen the show? You can't judge something before you've tried it. That's what Jordan always says."

(Jordan is my cousin, a chef-in-the-making. Made Food magazine once. He's always trying exotic dishes... Some are more appetizing than others, and those are his words. He once tried a delicacy, I don't remember the name, but essentially it's a duck egg, fermented underground until it's partially grown, and then... You eat it. Yeah, really. I'll find out the name for you.)

Now, my sister doesn't have a clue about things when it comes to animation style, voice acting, or anything that we know and love MLP:FIM for, so she can't explain that to me. I'd heard the arguments before though.

"I know what Jordan says. I just don't always agree with him." (Can you understand why?)

"Well, this isn't disgusting food. It's a show. You like watching TV, come on."

"Yeah, no. I'm not watching a show for little girls."

"Why? 30 year old people watch it, it must be good."

I'm well known in my family for watching shows like Dr. Who, Bones, Lie to Me, Numbers, Psych, stuff like that. To say the least, this was a little weird.

"No. I'm not going to watch some stupid show about ponies."

"Why? Are you not man enough to do it?"

I'd like to point out that my sister didn't know about Bronies before I became one. I'd also like to say that anyone who has younger siblings will understand the fact that no one insults you like that and gets away with it. Period.

So at this point, I'm at a standstill. My little sister has just challenged me, and as a good big brother, I have to accept, or face humiliation. Looking back, I'm glad the brother code was in place. It got me to where I am now.

Anyways, I take the challenge, almost immediately. I said I could sit through an entire episode and be completely done with it. Never see it again. She said as long as I'd watch it, she'd be satisfied.

So we watched an episode. For my benefit, she put on the very first episode ever made. And we watched it. I ate my lasagna, she complained that I was chewing too loud, at which point I'd go up to her ear and chew, she'd punch me, normal sibling stuff. The episode ended, and she asked me my opinion. Outwardly, I said it was horrible, and would never want to watch it again.

Inside, though, I was fascinated. The animation quality, the way the VAs essentially became the characters, the awesome story line. I desperately wanted to watch the ending, but I couldn't let my sister win. I left the room and went back downstairs, got on my computer, and away I went to YouTube, looking for episode 2. Then 3. Then 4. Then 5. I stopped when I realized it was 3 a.m. and that I was already into Season 2.

My first thought was, "Wow, what is wrong with me?? Why do I like this?"

My second was, "Man, it's 3 a.m. I'd better get to bed, I'm tired."

I'd completely forgotten that YouTube has things called suggestions... So when I came back the next day, of course, it had pony videos all over the place. My sister, the same one who got me into it, came downstairs to tell me something, she saw me watching the next episode of Season 2. She spoiled the ending! Of course, that wasn't the worst thing at the time. It was more that I was watching more ponies. She laughed at me, said, "Well, look at that!" and laughed some more.

To shorten the story by a few needless details, I shut down my ABB doings, remorseful that I'd even done it. As I said before, I still get some flak for it whenever I mention it. I contemplated life a little, and decided that I was going to like whatever I liked, to hell with everyone else's opinion. I looked up music (RF is awesome!), PMVs, fanfiction, pictures, everything. I still do. I saw what was going on with Derpy (hence the name), and decided to fight for the poor mare with a sight problem. Of course, it did nothing. We lost that battle. I'm still a little sore about that...

So, you know my story now. I hope it was informative. And once again, I apologize to anyone I insulted during my time in the ABB. Even if you didn't know, and aren't reading this.

P.S. Derpy is back now. Ignore the last piece of text here...
P.P.S. Derpy is best pony.
P.P.P.S. Twilight is best Mane 6.