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#TwitterPonies: Ponies on Twitter = Magical

Posted: March 11, 2011 21:48:58 • By Natasha L. • 719 words

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Recently, a group of in-character account popped up on Twitter, consisting of people playing the roles of various cast members from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. Pretty much every character is represented, including the main cast, supporting roles, and fan characters like "Dr. Whooves". And yes, even Derpy (*eyerolls*). They primarily interact only with each other, which is interesting to watch, if not particularly engaging. But, occasionally they'll interact with their followers, which is fun, and can be very endearing if executed well. This is why I'm an even bigger fan of this project than when I first found out about it.

Since this is a public post, I'll give a little background info: I have a moderate case of seasonal depression, so sunlight (and lack thereof) has a very strong effect on my mood. Usually, it's manageable, I'm fortunate enough to have a home office with amazing sun exposure (the few weeks I worked in a windowless office during the day were downright torturous), and skies are pretty clear around here during most of the year. However, winter is often rough on me, and while I've definitely had plenty of less-abstract reasons to be depressed this year, the weather hasn't helped. It's bad enough that there's less sun every day, but when the skies are cloudy for weeks at a time, it's hard to keep my head straight.

The last few weeks have been unusually emotionally turbulent for me, but earlier this week, we had the clearest skies I've seen here all month. It was absolutely beautiful, but only for about two days. Then we went back to icky, cloudy days, and on Wednesday, I was feeling downright miserable. So, Wednesday night, I posted this on Twitter:

Why am I so emotionally unstable? Just days ago, I was feeling great, and now I'm back to wanting to cry again. I hope sunlight is to blame.

It led to this conversation with Rainbow Dash:

  • mlp_rainbow: .@lupinia Sounds like your weather pegusi are slacking! I'll give 'em a kick for you, send some nice sunshine your way to cheer you up.
  • lupinia: @mlp_rainbow Hehe! It's been dark, cold, and rainy ALL day, bad news for a season-sensitive girl. But I live in the Everfree Forest :-/ (a lame reference to living in a mountain/forest town, as well as living in the "real world")
  • mlp_rainbow: .@lupinia Okay, well that kinda sucks. The weather still change there, though! Just... Really... creepily. >.<
  • lupinia: @mlp_rainbow Yeah, I don't get the luxury of awesomely-talented pegasi clearing the clouds and showing off their rockin' flight skills :-P
  • mlp_rainbow: .@lupinia I know, I am pretty awesome! Hey, I gotta go, long day sky clearing ahead. You feel better else I'll come kick the sad out!
  • lupinia: @mlp_rainbow *squeaks* Yes ma'am, I'll try :-)

Overall, a pretty silly conversation, but you know what? It made me feel a lot better. More than that, it really warmed my heart, and even brought that so-happy-I-could-cry feeling to my eyes. Not only did it clear up my depression that night, it did it so well that I felt like writing, and actually did it, something I've been struggling to motivate myself to do for weeks. To say it was a special evening is an understatement.

Unfortunately, the feeling didn't last much beyond sunrise (I've been nocturnal this week); the weather was miserable, and it was the sort of day where not a single thing went right. But, for a few hours that night, I might as well have been in the Carribean. I don't even know anything about the people involved in this, and to be honest, I like it that way, it makes this all the more magical.

So, I highly recommend checking them out, the accounts are linked below. I don't know if they're some super-organized RP group, or a bunch of random pony fans from an obscure IRC chat, but whatever the case, they're doing a great job of bringing already-vivid characters to life in a way that all the fanfics and artwork haven't been able to. Plus, it can lead to special moments for pony fans like me.

And, if Rainbow Dash reads this, thank you. You may not be able to jump dimensions and clear the Virginia skies, but you definitely cleared the clouds of my emotions.