I'm Done Calling Myself A Brony · 3:24pm Mar 3rd, 2021
I’m done calling myself a brony. There are a ton of reasons why that’s the case, and I’ll do my best to address them below.
I don’t watch the show regularly. When I catch glimpses of it, I get kind of embarrassed. Not because I don’t feel like it’s socially acceptable, but because the show’s taken so much out of me and redefined my life. I mean, I’ve written hundreds of thousands of words revolving around these ponies. Imagine that. I could have devoted myself to anything else. I spent three years and 750k words committed to Horse Stories.
As far as the stories are concerned, they’re only an outlet for my imagination. The characters just happen to be ponies. Am I really so bad at coming up with original characters and scenarios that I just use the show as a framework? I need to try better things. Original stories in the future, maybe de-pony-ifying the fics I’ve already written. I’m proud of the work I’ve done, but there’s a lot that needs to be acknowledged about what good it ultimately does for me. “Congrats, you finished your three-year-long effort. Now what?” I don’t think writing fanfiction has given me any significant benefits apart from practical hands-on writing experience. The fanfiction itself will not lend me a payout later down the line.
I mean, this won’t be so much of a big deal later on anyway. Imagine you’re talking to a girl and you mention interests and hobbies. “Oh, babe, I’m a professional fanfic writer. For My Little Pony. Hey, where are you going? That doesn’t make me any less masculine, trust me.” Do you realize how pathetic and weak that is? You gotta realize that this will barely take you anywhere. Developing those stories into actual fiction is one thing, but writing it all out and then not doing anything with it is another entirely. Perhaps now is when I will start actually caring about myself.
One thing the show teaches is to care. Something it doesn’t teach you is that part of caring for yourself is to not care about things that don’t matter. One of those things would probably have to be this show. Part of growing up, maturing, and being responsible for yourself is to discard things you know are detriments. My life does not and should not revolve around cartoon talking horses. That means I’m not a brony. I have a life. I have college, and a proselytizing mission I’ve been putting off for years. I could get an actual girlfriend with realistic potential. I gotta focus my energies somewhere else.
And for a show all about friendship, the community is so depraved that I wouldn’t want to be friends with the vast majority of them. I found a few good eggs among the basket in you guys, but who’d want to dive into a pile of poop for the chance of finding caviar? Why look for goodness among bad places?
“Oh, the Brony community, a bad place? Brady, what makes you say that?” Well, dudes, have ya seen what goes on here? Just turning off your Mature filter doesn’t protect you from the tripe these people produce on a daily basis. There’s always a constant churn of clopfics, mostly gay, about incest, or a weird age difference, or about orgies, or polyamory, or interspecieism. And they lap it all up, they try to normalize it or present it as risque and niche. The fact that you write porn is the first bad step. The fact that it’s pony porn is the second. The fact that it’s full to bursting of all sorts of weird fetishes and evil things is the third bad step, and your rationalization of it is the fourth. You think this porn is really about a difference of opinion? You would be shocked how many people treat incest as an opinion they agree with.
The fandom seems to always take a sexual route when presented with anything, because bronies are basically a specific type of furry. I was exposed to My Little Pony at around middle school age. I started getting into porn at the same time. This is no coincidence. Wherever you go as far as MLP is concerned, there is porn. The show itself doesn’t endorse it, of course, but there are people who decide to take everything that is good and twist it. I refuse to not acknowledge it. These people are mentally unstable.
How many bronies do you know that have a bad relationship with their parents, have emotionally unstable mental health, or have some kind of mental illness? It’s probably the vast, vast majority. The show doesn’t breed mental illness, but it does attract people with them. (And mental illness breeds liberalism.) Bronies are weirdos. This is not a controversial statement; this is just a fact. And relishing in your weirdness, or amplifying your weirdness in response, thinking it makes you unique, won’t do you any good. I realize I may come off as cold-hearted or unsympathetic towards those kinds of people, but the sympathy simply isn’t there.
My ideals and the ideals of the community simply are not in alignment. There’s simply too wide of a rift. I believe in the traditional family, in keeping sex sacred, and in striving to become better by improving positive characteristics and purging myself of negative charicteristics, while the most prominent members of the fanbase are seeking to corrode the meaning of the family, devalue sex, and promote degeneracy under a banner of tolerance. I am outspokenly conservative, and I am in a very outspokenly liberal fanbase. And I really hate to bring politics into this, but the truth is, you will never be able to escape politics, because politics is now infested in every single facet of our culture.
Experiencing this in brony culture is nothing new for me. For the most recent example, I started a riot in an Admiral Biscuit blog about Trixie kicking a bigot in the chest by saying there are only two genders. This bigot was a straw-man who was supposed to represent an abstract of the kind of person that opposes the idea of gender fluidity, but all he was saying was that there are only men and women, with genocide casually thrown into it. Not only is it bad by itself, but it’s just normal of the brony community at large. A popular pastime among the brony community is taking a character and J.K.Rowling her into a progressive icon. Trixie never made any mention of being gender-fluid in the show. So why is Trixie gender-fluid? I dunno, I said so. Don’t disagree with me. Thinking there are two genders makes you a bigot!
I mean, okay. Speed round! I also think sex and gender is the same, gender is fixed and can’t be changed, having sex with the same gender is wrong, and that the traditional family is the best family model ever. And some people get really mad and judge me for that, but their boos mean nothing because they’re coming from nothing. I’ve seen what makes them cheer. So many people call evil good and good evil. If only I’d been warned by Isaiah this would eventually happen. Oh no, I’m shocked that following Christ might actually cost me something in these last days. I got labeled a bigot by some brony for saying there are two genders, and I feel guilty about that because I sure don't want to piss them off. All of a sudden I don’t want to follow Christ anymore, I’m definitely free of my oppressive Christian programming. You sure showed me.
Screw that. Don’t like me? Sucks to be you! You gotta be proud of yourself, right? Don’t let the world change what makes you you, right? Not give a crap about the haters, right? And then they get all upset when I do the same thing. I’ve lost friends and their respect over my beliefs, but were those people really close enough of a friend that they’d cut ties with me for being who I am? I’m not going to take criticism from people I wouldn’t take advice from.
And for the people who say they pity me because I’ve been instilled with Christian programming and I can’t look past my preconceived worldview, that I’ve never had that worldview challenged before and I’m fragile and clinging on to my outdated beliefs--you can say that, but aren’t words violence? Maybe I could charge you with assaulting me. But nah. And honestly, using Christian as an insult? What, do you think that’s going to hurt me? “HA HA! LOOK AT HIM, HE’S SO PIOUS!” If you really shouldn’t be ashamed of who you are, then I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ. I’ve reached my major conclusions and decisions in life as a result of weighing my options and determining what matters most to me, and I’ll do it again now. Screw you, I’ll stand my ground.
Doesn't matter what the press says. Doesn't matter what the politicians or the mobs say. Doesn't matter if the whole country decides that something wrong is something right. This nation was founded on one principle above all else: the requirement that we stand up for what we believe, no matter the odds or the consequences. When the mob and the press and the whole world tell you to move, your job is to plant yourself like a tree beside the river of truth, and tell the whole world — "No, you move."
--Captain America
There are four solutions I see. I could realign myself to fit their mold, which I will never, ever do. I still have a few scraps left of dignity. The fanbase will never, ever, align to fit my needs and wants, either. So we have two more options. I can continue in this path and keep on cycling over and over again until I become a lifeless, vulnerable, emotionally neglected social outcast seeking validation through arbitrary comments, likes and online friendship on a friggin’ MLP fanfiction website. Or I can disassociate with the fandom, regain my confidence and emotional stability, seek out better things than what they have to offer me, and put my focus into improvement, in the hopes of regaining the person I’ve lost.
It’s a no-brainer, really. I’m not a brony anymore. Even the show itself, which I was originally fine with, I’m starting to loathe. It’s a reminder of just how much of my life I’ve wasted. What kind of man would I be today if I had focused on better things?
I’m finishing A Rather Large Adventure. I need closure on that. But I won’t stick around after that, and I disassociate myself from this fandom.
5465759
The only thing keeping me here are you guys and my commitment to my stories. I'm not interested in reading new stuff or building new connections or involving myself in the culture of the fandom. It'll suck when I leave you guys behind. As of now, today is not that day. But it comes soon.
I feel this to some extent but I’m in too deep. I’ve been a “Brony” or “pegasister” for a lack of a better word since Generation 3. That iteration is far more Christian friendly at times too. I’m Christian too btw. I do try to avoid the bad parts of the fandom whenever I can. I will say that. Sometimes having my Christian beliefs around some bronies is hard, I totally agree. Two of my closest friends are Christian pegasisters “female bronies”. I will say those are super rare nowadays which is sad. G4 fans take it to the extreme a lot and I try not to associate with those if I can help it. What I can’t help is the fact that my disabilities and traumas sometimes feed into my MLP stuff. The fandom and creating art for it is a therapy for me. I’ve been through so much, it makes me feel safe. It gets my mind off of all the bad that’s happened in my life: losing close friends, losing my father to suicide, dealing with my disabilities and my PTSD. In the end, do what’s best for you. I just wanted to tell you that I get your pain and grief on this to some extent, but I choose to stay because it keeps me sane (surprising I know, but it’s true). Good luck and I wish you the best in your future endeavors.
I guess if you feel like it’s right for you then we respect your decision
Let me just say (as I probably did before), that you have certainly come a long way since I met you Brady. You're reasons are valid, and I respect them and can totally understand why you want to leave your brony side behind. That said, I just want to say how proud I am of you due to how far you've come and improved in other terms; especially regarding your writing. I can feel it in every single word you right in every single new thing you post and that is what really drives me and inspires me to do better myself, and not just in that aspect either. On the flip side, I can also see you're reasonings why you think that your Brony side has affected you negatively in more ways than one. Do what your conscious dictates if you believe it'll be the best for you and help you improve yourself in the long run; just know that I will miss you once you leave and start to look for bigger things in life. That, and you have been a great person to associate with; even if I couldn't do it with you frequently. I wish you all the best wherever you are and I hope things will look up for you soon. And remember, stay savage, stay fierce, but most of all... stay Golden
!
Until that time comes though, I'll keep following your story of A Rather Large Adventure till the very end, as I promised I would and give you all the positive vibes that you need
! After that, I'll be sure to give you a proper farewell from the Brony Community so you'll always know who will always be your friend.
i.ibb.co/vXB5Tsf/sabre-tooth-tiger-1117360c.jpg
You guys take this shit waaaaay too seriously lol
I can sympathize. I don't think that I'll be leaving this site or this fandom anytime soon, however.
I hate to see you go, but if you think you need to, I understand.
I hope you'll keep in touch.
God and Jesus bless you, your family, and future endeavors
Well...you do what you think is best, is all I can say. It'll be sad to see you go, though.
Me, I think I'm gonna stay for a long time. I legitimately enjoy the show, even if I don't watch it all the time or completely immerse myself in it every day. Which one shouldn't, really, and that goes for just about any fictional interest. I have other interests and responsibilities that I balance. It isn't the sole defining factor in my life or identity, although I'd be lying if I said it didn't take up a lot of my hobby time. You could almost call it my "home base" fandom.
And truth be told, I owe this show and its fandom a lot. It gave me another imagined world that I could enjoy and take inspiration from. It got me to start seriously writing. More to the point, it actually got me in touch with people and things to make me a better writer. I've learned a lot from my time here, and I'll always be grateful to it for that.
I want to be a writer. This place allows me to do so. I want to write what I want to write, and if there's a good story to be made out of pastel-colored ponies of all things, then yeah, I'll go for it if I so wish. Getting paid for my writing? Okay, that's just society. People enjoying what I write? Now that's what I really want. People paying me because they enjoy my writing? Still a far off dream, but I'll get there. But first and foremost, I want to create and share my creations with people, and that's what I really care about most.
And I've made friends here. It got me to start branching out to people, even if I couldn't meet them in person. I was finally able to connect with people who were in some ways like myself. And when the pandemic started, being able to talk to them–and sometimes you–helped keep me sane.
And yes, there are parts about it all that I don't like. Foalcon, clop, all that stuff? Screw it.* But as I once had written as my user quote, a true fan can acknowledge the bad while still appreciating and celebrating the good. And that's a philosophy I wish to continue practicing in all walks of life. Confront the bad, critique it, condemn it. But also work to cultivate and expand the good. What is life if we don't at least try to improve it after all?
So yeah, I'm gonna stay here for a while. I still consider myself a brony. And a Trekkie. And a Godzilla fan. And a Jurassic Park fan. And a film student. And a writer. And a believer. And a whole myriad of other things that I've been making myself out of. But definitely a brony among them.
With all that it's given me, how can I completely abandon it?
But enough about me. People change, and interests shift. If you feel like your love of the show is waning, then...well, that's you.
I'll be sad to see you go and to have one less thing to share with you though. I know we've had our disagreements in the past, but you're still one of the best friends I've made in this place.
*Probably the wrong thing to say, but...pun not intended.
Well, good luck out there, man. Sad to see a fellow brony leave, but it is what it is. I wish you the best.
(And yes, I think foalcon is just... wrong. People can write what they want, but not everyone agrees with it)
Jade Dawn's comment basically summarized everything I wanted to say. It'll be a shame to see you go, but if you think it's for the best, by all means.
One quick question, though:
I'm on the autism spectrum, so I'm obviously going to be a bit biased, but... why am I to blame for it? (Sorry if I'm misinterpreting your words.)
...yeah, on a second pass, I'm with 5465835 here.
5465824
5465835
I agree, Jade Dawn, you've perfectly said how I felt, probably how a lot of us felt. I'll admit, I do read m rated stories, not foalcon though. I don't think I have read.
And I agree with your philosophy of balance,I also believe you need dark to see light, but I try not to let my own interests take me away from God or my savior. I still pray almost 24/7 everytime I eat to everytime I go to bed.
We'll miss you Brady. I sincerely hope we can keep in touch
5465845
Unless that one reply was meant for both me and Jade, I think you might've accidentally deleted something you were trying to tell me.
Awww, no. Somepony else is leaving the fandom.
But I understand. You are a unique person, and nobody has a right to try and change that. In the words of the highly controversial French philosopher and writer Voltaire, "I don't agree with what you say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it." To be honest, I do agree with most of what you've said, and you have valid reasons to leave. However, I second what 5465824 said about acknowledging the bad and celebrating the good. And I want you to remember the door will always be open for you to return should you wish to in the future.
5465808
It's our job to take these issues seriously because this place is important to us. We've all thought about it, Brady just said it.
5465855
Ah, yeah.
It was supposed to say I agree under it
5465808
Rich of you to say. Weren't you the one who said:
"Doy, uh, it's your fault for taking that seriously! I was joking, obviously!"
5465856
It's just hard for me to relate since I treat the online world as a joke and devote all seriousness to the real world.
To be frank, if someone takes a site like this one as seriously as Brady and others do, that shows a big lack of emotional and mental stability. Though, to be fair, at least Brady is up front about his in this post.
5465883
Again, the only reason I stay here is because of my friends and my obligation to finish my work. I don't actually enjoy the content or the source material anymore. I don't read anything the site produces anymore. And if my friends can find me on Instagram, and my work is finally done, then what other reason do I have to stay here?
5465880
I wasn't joking at all when I said that haha. In one of your blog posts, you said you had a mental illness of some kind, though I forgot which one, and I forgot the severity of it.
And even if I never read that, you 100% come across as someone who is not neurotypical. Which is fine! That doesn't make anyone less of a person. Others on here feel the same way and even have PMed me about it, though they'll never say it out loud due to fake politeness. At least I'm being honest about my feelings.
5465886
That's fair. No one is obligated to stay anywhere. It's just that the people who take a site like this one seriously will continue to take online drama and online issues seriously in the future. Emotional stability and mental stress will continue for them.
Talking about most of this site here. Not pointing a finger at just you.
I’m sorry to say, but if you can’t take it here, there are much worse things out there, things that make the things you highlighted look like it came from a synagogue.
MLP G4 was a great framework to build our own worlds onto.
Even if we don't come up with our own OC's and cities etc, the fact that the same characters can be in different stories such as University Days and Hard Reset is simply amazing to me.
MLP was the building blocks thousands of people used to put together their own little world, and share it with the rest of us.
that was rather long way of saying i.ytimg.com/vi/5FjWe31S_0g/hq720.jpg?sqp=-oaymwEcCOgCEMoBSFXyq4qpAw4IARUAAIhCGAFwAcABBg==&rs=AOn4CLCJpt4DILVVVMzECmJwBONKKNMFUA , good luck with where the winds will lead you tho, :)
How close are you to finishing the story anyway?
Also, I can understand where you’re coming from with all of this. I myself love MLP (G4), but I often can’t help but wonder if writing fan fiction is ever going to be enough. As a matter of fact, I’ve been finding myself becoming disenchanted with making certain ideas for MLP into fanfics because I can’t help but want to somehow make them into actual installments for the screen instead, such as my in-canon stories about Ahuizotl.
😔I just wish I knew how to actually contact them and get a job at the newly acquired Entertainment One, because I think that would give my stories more meaning and sense of accomplishment.
I’d love to see you transform “A Rather Large Adventure” from an MLP fanfic into an original work. I see quite a lot of potential in it, and the new characters definitely deserve to be released into the world outside being contained in fanfiction. The same with “Pony of Vengeance”, if I may add.
Hey.
You do you.
If you feel that you can’t do you and be here at the same time then do what you gotta do.
At the end of that day: you’re the only person qualified to make decisions on what to do with your life.
I can relate to deciding that the elements you don’t like outweigh the good parts, so for the sake of one’s sanity and well being: stepping away and moving on.
This statement got me so mad, I'm not *really* sorry to see you go. Gender fluidity and being agender is a thing. Educate yourself.
I actually want to respond to this part in particular since you've made posts about sex and gender dynamics in the past.
I've literally flirted with girls using MLP just to prove I could. And I'm talking about the type of girls who at first would be disgusted by men watching MLP.
If you're actually masculine and cool, you can get away with pretty much anything, including openly being a brony. So this is kind of a self-own. Besides, caring about the opinions of others is pathetic and weak in and of itself.
Why?
5466343
I said why in literally the next sentence.
5466544
Yes, but I didn't know if there was anything about the show you were starting to not like besides that. Like whether you no longer liked the MLP characters or something like that, you know?
But-but, who else's memes (and jokes) am I too look forward to (other than Jade Dawn's) when I log on (even if that is somewhat rarely), who else am I going to see almost daily blog posts from (I mean seriously, I can't read most of them, even though I want to), and then there's the story ideas I'm sure you still have!
I mean I get it, the community has become somewhat toxic, I've seen it myself, and there is indeed some err, rather unsavoury parts of the community, but... there's- I mean.... sigh I know I can't convince you to stay (especially if you really don't want to), but let me put it this way; the community will only get worse the more good people leave it, and truly you leaving would be dearly saddening and leave a hole in this community that simply cannot be filled.
As for not watching the show all that often anymore, I just want to say that I do the exact same thing (I'm stuck on season 8, still)
.
Tis a shame to see you leave so soon after I joined, I've read most of your blogs and fall in line with most of your opinions, having you leave is gonna make me feel just a tad bit more isolated. Anyways its a good thing I don't consider myself a brony at all, I enjoy writing, even about ponies, and im taking mlp and my mlp fanfiction to my grave. so not much trouble here for me
I wouldn't deponify previous works it kinda kills imaginiation alot, tried it with SCP works of mine and it just doesnt work, I'd suggest just making up new stories and stuff if you do go down that route, although I do love your stories alot.
You just couldn't stop yourself from attacking the left, could you? You talk about Christian beliefs and yet you never bother to turn the other cheek. In fact, I'm very certain you once said you kinda missed having angry leftists arguing with you, which implies you enjoy it. Sure, I'm not a good Christian (my mind-control fetish and enormous ego are well-known) but at least I don't pretend I'm righteous enough to tell people what to do and call them names or display other forms of verbal aggression when their views clash with mine.
I would have agreed with your statement considering I have absolutely no intention of reconciling with my arse-hole of a dad and, in addition to my autism, I might have an undiagnosed case of narcissistic personality disorder (not that I consider either of those disorders to be "illness"). But where do you get the idea of liberalism attracting the mentally ill?
Other than that, I admit, you do have a point about a good portion of the brony community being depraved (it wasn't that long ago that two members of this site were ousted as paedophiles) and that it has a massive porn problem. But what you consider a waste of life, I consider one of the only things that give my life meaning (the other being the pursuit of fame, of course). What a good majority of this site failed to learn, I eventually learned somewhere in my teen years.
Friendship is magic.
Sure, me and a select few of my friends might have our differences but, as Twilight taught Starlight, sometimes our differences are what make our friendships stronger. Or at least that's how I remember it. And yes, I am aware of the irony of me using Starlight in the example considering my dislike for Starlight is another well-known thing about me.
In many ways, I'm a better Brony than the majority of people who call themselves such. That's who I am. The Brony Victorious.
Honestly, I hope you keep to your word about no longer sticking around on this site once you're done with whatever story you have left to complete. If there's one thing that gets on my nerves, it's people who have admitted to no longer being into the show and then declaring their permanent departure from this site only to come back in a month or so. Especially if they say they're going to delete their account only to change their mind (even though I consider it a good thing that they had second thoughts about deleting their account since that would cost me a few of my followers).
Hermaphrodites and intersex people would disagree with you:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermaphrodite
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intersex
Speaking of Admiral Biscuit, why didn't you respond to his demand of evidence:
camo.fimfiction.net/4puobda-wuRKHuRW6PZiOpq1T3-I6hzZqjhL4JGloRA?url=https%3A%2F%2Flh6.googleusercontent.com%2F0dUhdFu7JThK739Ed2t4yFN6RWG0_Wbfqk8-7nURAndxGYZ7RKH2-GvreqkpODEj5HYfH7JHD8oglrjvkt-uenPLCiw9IJI7M1e329H3T726O01czP0gAmtBUX2RLCg1HvxEGtM9
Unless you did but I missed it.
And another thing, don't bring mental instability into this. It's very ableist!
5469062
I bet you got triggered by this line:
5470020
By the way, thanks for bringing up hermaphrodites. I'm surprised I left that out in my initial argument.
And since intersex people are born with a variety of male and female sexual characteristics, they could easily choose to be non-binary or gender fluid if they wanted to. This means no matter what way you look at it, there are more than two genders.
5470027
No problem, buddy!
Just don't go around altering the space-time continuum because you think you're the winner.
5470030
The power of friendship is mine! AND IT WILL OBEY ME!!!
True, but you have put that a bit more tactfully.
5465995
Sadly, I doubt he'll listen.
5470481
I've heard it all before. Then I made a rational decision.
5470495
Well, it's your opinion at the end of the day.
Hey man, I may have just discovered you, but I'll be sad to see you go. As someone who believes most of the same things you do, I understand that it's tough staying in this fandom when so much of it is populated with degeneracy. I've often thought of just leaving it all behind after spending hours trying to find ways to filter it out. I certainly won't fault you for doing what you believe is best though, especially when that entails finding a greater devotion to Christ.
Good luck and Godspeed, man.
I... really used to love you and your stories, Brady. I thought you were really cool and amazing.
Now, all I can say is that I wish blogs had dislike buttons.
5502198
You're not the first. Hate me all you want.
5502775
I don't hate you. I don't think I ever will. I'm just... disappointed.
5503048
Aww, what did lil old Brady do? Stand up for what he believed in? Make his opinions be heard? Or was it the wrong opinion that made you disappointed? I'm finally proud of myself. Isn't that all that matters? I'm not scared to be seen. I make no apologies. This is me.
5503264
Alright. You're gonna live your life how you live your life, I can't change anything about it. That's your choice. Go ahead.