How I discovered MLP:FIM · 4:40pm Jun 6th, 2015
My first real encounter with My Little Pony was when my little sisters started buying the toys. Compared to the Polly Pockets, those horses weren't little at all. But I quickly forgot about them as the years went by. Before I came to this website, my internet stomping grounds was centered around Gameinformer.com, the blogging community there specifically. I wrote topical blogs centered around video games, and chatted it up with other bloggers there. Seemingly overnight, people began changing their profile pics to images of cartoon ponies. Curious, I inquired of my fellow bloggers why they were all losing their minds (I was actually less blunt than that) and I was told, quite enthusiastically, that they were paying tribute to the greatest cartoon in existence and that I should start watching it right away.
So I did. I pulled up the very first episode on Netflix and prepared myself for amazement. I still recall my initial impressions. I missed it when Spike's name was first mentioned, so when Twilight called him Casanova I thought that was his actual name. When the first episode ended on a cliffhanger, I thought to myself, Oh, cool, they're going to spend the entire first season chasing after this Nightmare Moon in a land cursed by eternal night. When the entire conflict was resolved in the very next episode, I was less than pleased. The way that the Mane Six showed off their Elements was contrived. Nightmare Moon's defeat was way too easy. I didn't bother watching episode number 3. Well, not right away obviously. At the time, I remember thinking it was a darn shame. Had the show been any good, I would have liked being a part of the "brony" community.
Being the buzzkill that I was, I reported back to my delusional fellow bloggers that I didn't see why their show was so special. Their response was to tell me to watch more, because it gets better. So I did. I watched the third. Then the fourth. I thought that maybe I was fooling myself. I didn't actually like the show. I chuckled a few time while watching Episode six, Boast Busters. Then came episode 7, Dragonshy. It dawned on me that despite being a pegasus, Fluttershy was afraid of heights. For some reason, that was really funny to me. From that point forward, I was in.