It’s feels surreal, knowing a pre-G4/G3 My Little Pony fandom. I remember discovering the community back in the early 2000s, when you navigated from pony site to pony site via web rings, watching actual episodes was out of the question unless you owned them on VHS and the fandom consisted mostly of 20-something women who repainted the toys to look like their OCs and wrote edgy fanfictions that read like bad sequels to The Last Unicorn. Y’know, stuff like
 
“Ebonystar Willowlilac shook her mother-of-pearl mane and sighed jubilantly before wearily turning her piercing beige eyes, which shimmered like pools of tormented Bisquick, toward the large maroon pig on the river’s opposite bank. The creature, which shat Rococo harpsichords onto the crowns of unsuspecting crayfish with every step, snorted whimsically at her before the mysterious mare flicked her teeth in moist indifference.”
 
Only, you know, with less fun, more angst, and at some point the harpsichords tearfully reveal to the pig that they’re pregnant but mummy and daddums don’t approve of the union.