3 years and counting · 12:35pm Jan 18th, 2022

So, as the post suggests, the Earth has circled the Sun three whole times since I joined this site - and a full eleven since I became a fan of the show which inspired it. So maybe a good time (if there is one) for me to blather on about my journey for a bit to anyone who cares.

How I came to the show was relatively simple - I just happened to be looking into My Little Pony (which I was passingly familiar with in a general sense) on TV Tropes, seeing if there were any interesting fanfics for it and such. Of course, even though the show was only a dozen episodes in, it was still mentioned a lot and very positively there, so I soon found myself seeking out the actual episodes - and devouring them all in one gulp. I was also soon caught up in the massive amount of fan content and discussion out there even at the time, and by the time Season 1 ended - if not from the very first day - I was a brony at heart.

However, while pony became a powerful force in my life and Internet use, it didn't change the fundamental way I used the Internet - I was still a lurker, as I had been for a decade or so already. I watched episodes, read forums and fanfics, formulated my own headcanons and story ideas - but I kept it all to myself. That was how it had always been, and all the way through 2018, I never really suspected it would ever change.

In early 2019, however, one of the pony ideas I often floated around in my head started growing a bit more than I expected, and so I, on a whim, opened up a Word document and started putting it into words. It wasn't long before I had at least the early parts of a story before me. And so the thought crossed my mind that I knew of a place where pony stories could be shared... and if other people enjoyed it besides just me, then that couldn't be a bad thing, right?

So I joined up and posted the story, and at least some people liked it. Unfortunately for them, though, that kind of focused creativity comes to me once in a blue moon - hence it taking so long to manifest in the first place. But on the other hand, even by the time my story passed moderation I had discovered a privilege of my new account - posting on the forums! My long-bottled-up headcanons spilled out of me, and my nature as a contrarian drew me to debate with others. And it's in that capacity, as a threadmaker, commenter, and even in my early days a groupmaker that I'm sure I'm best known here on FimFiction.

Once I was established on one website, it became easier for me to become active on others - first other pony places like Derpibooru, then more general ones. Nowadays, I must put out hundreds of words every day, even if not in story form - three years ago, it was zero. So for that, and for of course all the wonderful things I've read and discussions I've had here - thank you, FimFiction and FimFictioners.