Well, at my friend's suggestion, I took the plunge and watched this show to find out what all the fuss was about.  Prior, I had watched the occasional clip and had to admit, they were genuinely funny and well written.  But were they the standard or simply the exception?  I aimed to find out and I have learned a great many things since then.

I'll say right now, I do not hold a high opinion of most children's shows these days.  I'm not simply an old fuddy duddy with rose colored nostalgia goggles glued to my face but I say this as someone who writes himself as a hobby and takes pride in writing stories people can get invested in and not simply be distracted by.  It frustrates me to no end watching so many great ideas that have been ruined by editors and executives who think they know best despite how many times reality has told them otherwise.

I also won't deny that I have seen the original my little pony show which was pretty much the girls' answer to transformers: A show with decent storylines but minimal characterization because the show was designed to sell toys and thus had to shoehorn more cast members in on a regular basis, giving few individual characters any time to develop sadly.

Anyway, I watched My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic with high hopes.  So much hype and the first impressions were good enough for me to believe this was a show that stood out from the rest.
I'm very pleased to report that my hopes were well founded!

When I finished watching the two parter for the first story, I knew this was written by people who genuinely loved and respected their audience.  It was heart felt, it was sincere, it was genuinely clever and witty and damn did it know how to write good characters.  No prim, perfect, personalityless princesses to be found here.  The entire cast are all believable with their own individual quirks, likes, dislikes and most important of all: flaws.  Everyone of them had shortcomings that their audience could relate to and that's what truly made them endearing.  Everyone seems to have a pony they feel is much like themselves.  (mine would be Twilight if you must ask)

Further episodes were all self contained stories with little to no reference to each other but thankfully, no quality was lost here either.  The stories, while having far lower stakes than the two parters, still kept you interested, wanting your favorite characters to succeed and grow.  What most impressed me is how so many stories avoided taking the path of least resistance, especially with their morals.  My favorite example would probably be Hurricane Fluttershy.  Spoiler alert.

In this story, the pegasus ponies of the town have been given the task of creating a hurricane to supply the cloud city with the water it needs to make the rain and other weather.

Yeah, the weather in Equistria is kinda weird.  It doesn't change on it's own.  The ponies have to create it themselves.  Makes me wonder how this world survived before they figured this all out.

Anyway, Fluttershy's not keen on participating because she was teased when she was young for being a weak flyer and despite her efforts, she still is.  Well, on the day, the pegasi find themselves in a bind as several of them called in sick and now they can't quite get enough power to create the hurricane they need until Fluttershy shows up and helps them make their quota.

Now, in any other children's show, Fluttershy would have suddenly pulled super powers out of thin air and outperformed everyone.  But not here.  She still was an overall weak flyer compared to everyone else but that wasn't the point of the story.  She still contributed and made a difference, she was the grain of rice that tipped the scale.  This was a far more realistic and believable moral that made the story that much more relatable.

There's only one thing I have to raise my eyebrow at and that's the fact that the citizens of this world, I swear, have the shortest memories I have ever seen!  My issue is this: Why are Twilight and her friends not celebrities in this world?  They have saved the entire kingdom from destruction at least twice if not more, they are the wielders of the elements of harmony, they know Princess Celestia personally (Twilight especially) and they even have stained glass images in the palace.  Yet when they meet the nobles in the big city, they treated as commoners and most don't know them.  People do not just forget little things like that!  It simply doesn't happen!  It's especially ridiculous in the fact that Rainbow Dash has yet to ever be invited to join the Wonderbolts, a group of stunt flyers she idolizes.  She's not only saved the kingdom before, she's met the Thunderbolts a few times, saved their lives at least once and performed a stunt thought to be impossible in front of a live audience.

I know you have to suspend disbelief a notch to keep the status quo going but seriously, what do you have to do to get recognition in this world?!  It's crazy!

Now yes, the show did have it's "Fluff episodes" with stock lessons and simple writing but even those are entertaining enough to be worth watching.  But when the show puts on it's game, it's just unforgettable.  Watching Twilight give up hope and lose her color to Discord was a genuinely shocking and saddening thing to see even for me as I had been rooting for her to save the day.  (yes, she did in the end but for a moment, she had me worried)  This is what good writing gets you folks, love and respect your audience and they will love and respect you back.  Even if the show shills toys, it never feels like it.  (though it's ironic as I hear the toys for this show were kinda blah, some outright get the characters wrong)  It knows what it is and it works hard to make the audience feel welcome in this magical yet at the same time familiar world, exploring the trials of friendship.  I can truly say that I enjoyed this show greatly and hope dearly that other writers are taking notes as I know I am.

Does all this offically make me a brony?  I...have no idea.  I watched the show and had a good time doing so.  If that's all it takes, then count me in.  If you haven't seen the show, go check it out.  If you're afraid of your friends shunning you for it, then find better friends.  Life is just way too short to waste on that.  And that is my valuable lesson about friendship for you.

Until next time, be aware and be wise.