It's never going to end, is it? · 4:50am Jun 15th, 2014
I'm not generally a bashful person. If I disagree on anything I will flat at say so, no matter the time or place. I wear T-shirts that raise eyebrows and I can talk to any member of the opposite sex with ease. Maybe it's pride. Maybe it's confidence. Maybe it's a little bit of both. But despite all this, one thing never fails to embarrass me.
The gosh dang fan fiction writing.
I'm not a closet brony by any means, but the information generally isn't revealed until many conversations after I give my name, and only in the appropriate setting. My family knows, my friends know, and my girlfriend knows. Which is how I got into the following situation last Friday:
Person: "So, what are you hobbies?"
Me: "Oh, I like to read, watch Netflix, play video games, stuff like that.
GF: "He likes to write too!"
Person: "Oh, What do you like to write about?"
I was told afterwards my face turned red while explaining in detail. The irony isn't lost on me. I'm a proud Republican and blatant Christian, and I have no problem with other people knowing that. But the fact I enjoy writing fan fiction about ponies? That's embarrassing, for some reason. I honestly think if I had never watched the show, I never would have been shy or bashful about anything. But I did, and it's the one hobby I hesitate to share.
Is it significant in the grand scheme of things? Not at all, it's just a TV show. But If I could go back in time and change my decision to gives ponies a whirl, I wouldn't do it. It's been way too much fun. It's been an unique experience that I really enjoy. So even it does embarrass me from time to time, I'm going to keep at it so long as it entertains me. The red-faced moments may never end for me. And that's okay.
Thanks for reading.
-Mysterious Stranger
I sometimes feel the same (or similar).
At one hand, I just enjoy ponies in all forms: animations/drawings/comics/songs and most importantly: fanfictions. I simply love the world: its positivity, the fact that creatures value life, its magic, and more. The first two are sadly not present in other famous fantasy worlds (e.g.: Lord of the Rings, Elder Scrolls) and it makes me not wanting to immerse into those worlds (or at least, not as much. I'm also a Narnian, a Whoovian, a... Bender? (how do you call Avatar:TLAB/LOK fans?), but none of these are even close to my Brony involvement).
At the other hand, if they ask me "What did you do yesterday night?", Should I answer them "I read the last chapter of Sweetie Chronicles," or, "What are you writing about?" should I answer "I write about Fluttershy hugging other ponies, because it's cute?" I don't want to explain every single person that an adult can enjoy entertainment mainly targeted to children, that watching a girly show doesn't make me gay, that they shouldn't judge by the cover, etc... I'd prefer to use my energy on telling people about Jesus, but the last thing that I would want is me being a Brony becoming an obstacle in proclaiming the gospel to the people around me.
So what I usually do is that I only tell everything completely to my close friends, because they love me as I am. To people who are not my close friends, I either try to not talk about it or talk in abstractions, like:
"What do you write?"
"I write fantasy, about topics like the value of life, unconditional love, hardships of life, friendship, etc..."
"What did you read yesterday?"
"I've read about a dimension traveler mage, who has to collect fragments of her mentor in different worlds."
It works to some extent, but it is also tiresome to quickly translate things into such an abstractions. Only my best friends tend to ask if they can read it, but then I have (not as much) problem to tell them that the stories are about ponies.
(Eh, I didn't plan to write this long, sorry.)
2208422
No need for apologies, I enjoyed reading the whole thing. I might actually play the fantasy card too in the future. Also, I've been told that the name for Avatar fans are "Avatards".