The End of a Generation · 3:21am Oct 13th, 2019
And with that, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, after nine long years, has finally ended.
I started out watching My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic when I was 16 years old and in high school. At the time I was a depressed angsty teenager stuck in the confines of school and lack of imagination. I was in a bad place, and needed something to escape. I first saw My Little Pony on a Garry's Mod movie theater, where they played this video, Intensive Pony Unit . It only was on for about twenty seconds before I and about 80% of the audience voted to skip it. I hated the idea because I had the ideas of masculinity and my gender role to fill at the time, but that image of Twilight with Spike on her back stuck with me, and I always thought of her as an emo horse.
About six months passed after I saw that video, and in December of 2011 I thought of that unicorn. I did not know her name, but it popped up in my head and I wanted to see if she cut herself in the show, because she looked super emo to me. So I did the one action that would change my life far more dramatically than I thought. I pulled up My Little Pony on YouTube and watched my very first episode. It was The Return of Harmony Part 1. I watched it and immediately was repulsed by it, but I was bored and wanted to stick with it, because even then I hated anything unfinished. So I watched and saw the ending of Part 1. I needed to see how they conquered it and watched Part 2. In my head I decided to watch one more because I thought it was okay, but no more. However, it was Lesson Zero, the episode where Twilight goes crazy. I was laughing and enjoying seeing that emo horse go crazy over tardiness and homework, something I related to. Needless to say, I was addicted and binged everything that was available. Seeing Rarity look seductive, seeing Spike turn into a raging dragon, watching Rarity and Sweetie Belle bond. It was magical.
(Discord made these episodes really fun for me to watch at the time.)
(This is the shot that made me fall in love with the show and made me laugh out loud and smile. It is absolutely timeless.)
The first episode I watched on a livestream was Heart's Warming Eve episode and there is where I started a tradition. Watching the show every Saturday morning, and starting my weekend off right. After that episode, I believe I watched all of season 1 that weekend on YouTube, and early on, started downloading the episodes to my computer. I wanted to archive as much as I could, because in my heart, I knew I could never leave this.
(So cute!)
That following week, I remember watching an episode and saw a link to a song, a fan-made song. It was Crepuscularity by AcousticBrony, and that was where I discovered a whole new side to this addiction: The Brony Fandom. From there, I listened to all of AcousticBrony's work, discovered MandoPony, and all sorts of musicians. I remember the song Loyalty coming out and it was a song I had to learn to play on guitar. My mom thankfully had an old acoustic, and from there I started to learn on my own. I was inspired to play guitar and it would not be the last thing My Little Pony inspired me to do. Along the way, I learned to make custom wallpapers, learned to vector, got to be a proof-reader, learned to make 3D art and 3D models and so much more, all thanks to this generation of My Little Pony.
But to get back on track, I somehow stumbled upon Equestria Daily, and saw the wonderful world of art posts and fanfiction. The first ever fan-fic I read was a 6-star rated story by Pen Stroke called Past Sins.
I was a really bad reader back before My Little Pony, to the point I didn't retain what I read, but this fan-fic and many more like it changed that. I was engaged in Past Sins, and could not stop. Whenever I came home, I read that story and was engaged in its world and character. After I finished it, I went on to read the emotional My Little Dashie, which did make me cry just a little bit. After that, I read The Ballad of Twilight Sparkle, a shipping story that challenged me at the time. I was openly routing for Twilight to hook up with Trixie, a homosexual relationship, and at the time I was very anti-homosexual and religious. But I was slowly embracing the show's message, and starting to open up to ideas. My Little Pony transforming me into a better person in more ways than I realized.
(The Great and Powerful Trixie is awesome, and you know she is!)
Then came the story that made me want to write. Unfortunately, the author pulled the story from FIMfiction, but the name was Until You Met Her, by JohnBonPony. It didn't have the best writing, and wasn't the greatest 2nd person story, but it was one that inspired me. A story that involved me, getting to date a really cool pony like Rainbow Dash. It was an inspiration, and after I finished Until You Met Her, I started to write my first story, The Other Earth, which I still write to this day. The first few chapters were garbage, but it inspired me, got my brain thinking. Who would have thought that a show designed for little children would make me read and retain information and inspire me to write?
(I had a lot of favorite ponies when I first started watching, and Rainbow Dash was always up near the top)
A few months passed and I stumbled upon a story on the Equestria Daily list that would absolutely change my life. One that would inspire, teach, and mold me into a better person. I am of course referring to Fallout: Equestria by Kkat. When I started Fallout: Equestria, I had no idea how much it would engross me into its lore and world. I just saw it was good on Equestria Daily and wanted to give it a shot. I remember finishing the first few chapters a few days later -- I read slow -- and I was appealed by how graphic it got. This was my first taste of Grimdark, but I kept going at it. I remember the story getting better as I kept reading, to the point I would read entire chapters on my phone before bed, staying up until 3AM doing non-stop reading. I would come home from school, load up Fallout: Equestria and read non-stop. It was a story that engrossed me beyond comparison. When it ended, I cried and smiled and started the next logical sequel. Fallout Equestria: Project Horizons by Somber. But that is a story for another time.
Needless to say, I was deep into the brony fandom at that point. I remember being on FIMfiction, reading the comments to my story and a very particular person popped up in the comment section to The Other Earth: FireFlash13231. My very first brony friend that shared my love of the show and appreciated my writing. We chatted, got to know each other, and got into some antics. It was a good friendship, one that I thought would last forever.
Around the same time I met FireFlash, I remember stumbling upon a little author named Twilightclopple. I read my first erotic story and really liked it. The action, the descriptions, the sensation of how wrong it felt but how good it was invigorated me and made me clamor for more from her. And more I got, because Twilightclopple was one of the best clop-fiction writers around. She unfortunately deleted her stories from the site, but FIMFiction Archive does have them stored in there, along with Until You Met Her.
Yes, there are a lot of memories on this website. I made a lot of friends, but also stumbled upon a lot of drama. I dated FireFlash, I remember a love octagon between us, I remember crushing hard on Twilightclopple, and I remember so many good and bittersweet memories as I type this out. So many friends that unfortunately grew tired of the show and fandom, and I never got to say goodbye to.
Even I was tempted to stop watching My Little Pony. We all went through it. That initial high of discovering this fandom eventually fades away, and our enjoyment isn't as pleasurable as it use to me. We got tired of it, and we develop new hobbies and interests along the way. It was around the time of season four, when I was dating someone who I thought was the love of my life. She stopped watching the show and I was tempted too as well, but I stuck with it. Something just kept me tethered to it, kept me going. I am not sure what it was, but I stuck with the fandom and the show till the very end.
(Starlight Glimmer is what reignited my love for Friendship is Magic. I absolutely love her!)
And now, that is where we have arrived, the end of a generation for My Little Pony. It is sad to see it go, but I am happy. We got something a lot of shows don't get sometimes: Closure. We got to see Twilight and all of our favorite ponies evolve and change with us. We were there with them for the ride, and we got to see their story come to a close. If you want my thoughts on the epilogue, I thought it was perfect, especially the ending song. It is an episode I am going to watch on repeat for a long time, and cry to every time.
(This really was a beautiful finale.)
Of course, this is not the end of the characters. The finale still left a lot of room for us to explore with the years long gap, and I am certain there is going to be a lot of awesome and new stories and art revolving around the future of Twilight and her friends and how they got to where they are in the epilogue. Not to mention we also have Season 10 in the comics to look forward to as well. Pony is not going anywhere.
If you read this long, thank you for sticking with this long and somewhat rambily blog. I just wanted to write this now that Generation 4 is over, as a time capsule to all the memories My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic gave me.
Thank you My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. Thank you to all the writers, voice actors, musicians, storyboard artists, and anyone else who worked on the show. You changed -- no -- saved my life. If it wasn't for all of you, I most likely would be another directionless young adult with no inspiration for happiness or hope. There is nothing I can do you pay every single one of you back for the magic you gave me and millions of others, but thank you for all the hard work and dedication you gave to us.
And also I want to thank everyone in the brony fandom I ever got to know. I know we do not talk anymore, a lot of you moved on, and a lot of you hate me for what I did back in my reckless youth, but every single one of you helped me grow into a better adult. You guys gave me fond memories to look back on, and kept me inspired and happy, even if I didn't realize it at the time.
I also want to thank all the artists, writers, 3D artists, musicians, and every other brony that created something for the fandom. You guys are what kept us alive for all these years, and I hope everyone can keep that inspiration going all the way into the next generation.
My last words before I end this blog. Just because Generation 4 is over does not me My Little Pony is over. We have a whole new generation coming. A whole new world to explore, all new characters to write and draw about, new ways to merge it into Generation 4. We are not going anywhere. I will say something I heard at the last BronyCon during a panel about the future of the fandom. There are only two fandoms that are tied to a franchise. Star Trek and My Little Pony. As long as the brand My Little Pony is around, there will always be a fandom around. So do not get sad Generation 4 is over. Get excited, because there is more My Little Pony coming to keep us engaged and inspired. I will be one of the first ones to watch Generation 5 when it releases and I hope you guys will watch it with me too when it premiers. I will stick to My Little Pony for life because it is something integral to me now. It forged me into the young adult I am today, and it is something I love, even if it changes.
So thank you My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. Thank you for everything. I can't wait to see what the next generation has in store for us.
(A perfect shot. This makes me tear up, but smile at the same time. Thank you My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.)
Until next time everypony
--hunterz263
The end of G4 was disgusting.