Oh no Narei, you've joined the ranks of haters and have placed Princess Celestia into Trollism. I myself am not going to be part of tht contingent. I see her as the Benevolent Dictator. Sure she manipulates, plots and scemes every move she makes, much like a champion chess player, but the outcome everytime has always been the best for her subjects, the Ponies of Equestria.
As a matter of full disclosure, I will have to say that I am a ranking officer in the Royal Army of Equestria. Since I'm not a Unicorn or Pegusi I don't live in Canterlot with the Royal Guard or in Cloudsdale with Blue Fliers, but I live on the ground with the Cavalry. Can't wait til my Pony OC commission comes in and you can me in my full Army uniform.
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How did I get involved with the Bronies? It all started with that darn sight FA. As one or two of you might recall, I am an Ungulate and speak about pro-Ungulate things as often as I can. Hence, I belong to a number of Hoofer type groups in the FA community. Around late December, about 1-1/2 months after MLP: FiM started up, the moderator of one of my Pro-Hoofer groups posted about the new MLP series and how amazing it was this time. I knew the Mod personally, he was straight, male, 20-something and definitely not in the target demographic of 8-10 year old girls. So if he was impressed, it must really have something behind it.
So I watched Episode 11: Winter Wrap Up. I was a little lost with the forged relationships between the mane 6. But when Twilight Sparkle started singing, my jaw hit the floor and the first thing I thought was "This is not the MLP I grew up with". the corners of my mouth started to curl and I was smiling for the rest of the show. I immediately watched Episodes 1 & 2 on youtube then what-ever I could on the Hub site. Lauren had me in her hooves since.
Since the show is on its break, between seasons, I've been branching out, much like Narei and catching what I can with Podcasts, PMVs, Art dump sites, etc. I'm not a huge Fan Fic guy but I think by the time I'm finished with my OCS (Only 1 month to go) I'll be reading those too. IFC con is coming up and I'm already working with DashaRhosenwyn from FA to put togehter a combined Hoofer/MLP panel. She's doing most of the legwork, I'm putting together a Powerpoint.