(I couldn’t find anywhere else to post this, and I had to get it off my chest.)
It took me some non-trivial effort to determine the exact moment, but at the moment I hit Post, it has been exactly ten years since I sat down and watched the first two episodes of G4.
It was on 2011-05-16 at 13:32 UTC, +/- 5 minutes. At that moment, pony started flowing into my brains properly, overwriting useless information with colorful talking magical horses. Of course I had seen numerous pony images before that (like
>>11394), and they had made me surprised and curious. I wanted to know more. And that is when it happened.
I watched the first two episodes in one sitting and I remember thinking “that wasn’t so bad” after finishing them. I watched episode three an hour or two later. But I cannot remember if I watched Applebucking Season (episode 4) too on that day, or if it was on the next day. I watched between 2 and 4 episodes per day. After I finished Winter Wrap Up, I knew I would not be able to stop. After about a week I ran out of episodes and it left me with an immense crave for more. I found the fandom. The first time Ponibooru appears in my browser’s history was on 2011-05-23. Some CSImadmax’s comics, Kloudmutt, etc. right on the first day. Equestria Daily is also on the same day.
I’m not sure how to celebrate this moment. The obvious choice would be to simply rewatch season 1. But I already did that last October, when the show turned ten. Perhaps I will rewatch some of the best episodes from S1-S9 over the next few weeks. And maybe I’ll rewatch the original Equestria Girls video from May 2011. (No way I’m watching all 222 episodes. I absolutely will do that one day, but not yet.)
It’s amazing to think how many awesome memories and things I’ve seen and done, can all be traced back to that exact moment. The origin. It has been quite a ride. I’d do it all again if I could. And it wouldn’t have been the same without the fandom and the constant flow of quality fan content.