February: The Month of Despair - a look back through bloodshot eyes, and a look forward into the abyss.

February is many things.

The shortest month of the year, the month with a holiday designated specifically for romance self-loathing , and even Black History Month. But for the My Little Pony fandom, February means one thing: despair. Without fail, the month of February has, year after year, proved to be the month with the largest, most numerous, and most powerful shitstorms for the fandom. So today, February 4th, 2014 we shall take a thoughtful look back, and a dreadful look forward.

In February 2011, the fandom was still in its infancy. Equestria Daily didn't exist until January 2011, and "MyLittleBrony" didn't emerge until July. It was a golden age. A large portion of the fanbase existed solely on /co/ and /b/. The threads were very different in content, but common in spirit. The /b/read was a constantly moving chatroom-style thread, whereas the /co/lts were supposedly more worried about show content. The two threads would sometimes argue and compete, but were more often than not self-regulated. However, even more then than now, the rest of the board regarded the ponyfags as carcinogenic and shitpost incarnate. As it stood, the threads were not breaking any rules, however >4chan mods >caring about rules >2011.

On February 26, 2011 the fandom had its first taste of real shitstorm, as the first wave of pony-bans began. "“Endless pony threads with no actual content other than reaction images. Go start your own pony imageboard”. The bans read. This however had the opposite of the intended effect, and instead of destroying the equine menace, it merely strengthened their resolve, as the ban-evasions began. Ultimately the ban hammers were lifted, but it would not be the last time that the mods try to punish the ponyfans.

February 2012 ushered in a new level of shitstorm in the fandom, as it brought with it 2 major events; The creation of /mlp/, and Derpygate.

"Derpygate" is the series of events that spanned the entirety of February 2012, as a result of the censoring of Derpy's name and voice in all subsequent airings of "The Last Roundup" (the episode starring Derpy, featuring background-pony Applejack). A recap of the series of events is listed here. The effects of Derpygate were far-reaching and still persist in many ways to this day. Derpy's name in nearly all merchandise was replaced with a "Muffin Symbol", and Derpy herself was absent from nearly all subsequent episodes until Season 4. The heat of rage and in-fighting over Derpy's initial appearance, name, voice, as well as her later censorship, could have fueled a small city for a week. Many believed that this was the event that would end the ride once and for all, however on February 17, we discovered the ride had only just begun.

"Ponies, We fucked up."

These are the first words ever written on the "4chan - Pony" board "/mlp/".

And perhaps the truest words Christopher "Moot" Poole has ever typed. On February 17th, Moot launched "/mlp/" as a containment board for all pony-related content on 4chan, uprooting the 2 independent threads on /co/ and /b/ and forcing them to coexist with each other, or face perma-ban status. The 4chan staff likely thought this would be a welcome addition (or perhaps a coffin-nail to over a year of what they regarded as a shit-posting fiesta) to the fans. Either way, they were wrong. As wrong as the guy in the very first pony thread who said that there wouldn't be much porn of this cartoon. And that guy was pretty damn wrong.

Ladies and gentlemen; I present to you the most incorrect man in the history of the Internet.

Many posters liked their homes and had no intention of leaving, and fought tooth and nail evading-bans left and right for MONTHS after the creation of /mlp/. Others believed the entire board to be a trap. Still others had little interest sharing a room with their /co/mrades and /b/rothers. The fire started that day continues to burn today, almost 2 years and nearly 17 Million posts later.

February 2013 redefined hell for the fandom. Some thought the likes of Derpygate would be the most polarizing thing the community would encounter or could endure. Then February 2013 came around and made those people realize that they need to stop thinking things. February 2013 brought with it Alicorn Twilight Sparkle, Las Pegasus Unicon, and the confirmation of the premise of "Equestria Girls".

Alicorn Twilight, which was confirmed at the very end of January, and then realized midway through February, may be the pinnacle of paranoia, fear, and outrage in the community on its own. Magical Mystery Cure, the episode that spawned the phrase "Thanks MA Larson" aired in the middle of the month, suddenly promoting Twilight Sparkle from her status as a powerful unicorn, to a taller, likely more powerful, unicorn with wings. Who is also a princess. And might be immortal. Or dead if you prefer. To many, this was easily the most jarring change that the show had ever made, as well as the most confusing. Or at least it was. Until "Equestria Girls" was confirmed.

What was long-regarded as a hoax or misinformation, manifested itself as reality when the plot premise for EQG was confirmed in February, and the image provided by some unknown poluminati proved to not just be a DeviantArt creation. Ponies were going to become humans, and were going to high-school, complete with prom musical makeover and awkward hand-touching with the guitar player. Everything deemed to be the antithesis of what makes MLP good, was coming to a bigscreen near you. To fully appreciate how strong this shitstorm was, one must realize it was the event that led to the Lauren Faust /mlp/ visit a few months later, and subsequently "The Scruffening" on the board, as well as an avalanche of other smaller incidents. All stemmed from this confirmation. But this was just SHOW drama, and doesn't include the smoking crater that was Las Vegas at the end of February in 2013.

Las Pegasus Unicon. A term that is akin to "MacBeth" in the convention-crowd. And for good reason. A shiny star-studded guestlist, smeared and tarnished with mysterious monetary-mismanagement, disappearing acts, and Mass-produced-with-magic-marker Monopoly money. People were left stranded in a desert. Others were saddled with bills they couldn't pay. Seth went to bed on-camera. It was absolute anarchy.

No seriously, Seth went to bed. That's how fucked up this was.

Anarchy enough that the then-1 year old /mlp/ launched an investigation into the affair, rooting up information about the organizers and piles more, and was somehow thanked for their shady efforts. Staff members were furious, making tweets about their situations, some seemingly turned off to the convention scene entirely. As evidence of its stature as a top-tier shitstorm, the whole incident was given a name; "Hurricane Sandi", after the now-synonymous-with-Sin-City-shitstorms Sandi Haas.

2013 saw a solid month, back-to-back of non-stop community-crushing shitstorms. One must wonder if the resolve of this community is made of diamonds, as the amount of abuse it takes on an annual basis, which even continues to grow in severity would end most other groups with such tenuous ties, as mutual enjoyment of pastel ponies.

But, ever the gluttons for punishment, the fandom is back and prepped for another February of Fun. 4 days in to Feb '14, and we already have the signs of another month of mayhem and misfortune on our hands.
Equestria Girls 2 announced?
Alicorn Rarity Potential?
A Bronies musical?
Double Rainboom removal?
WE'RE ONLY 4 DAYS IN PEOPLE.
We don't know what the extent of terror and tragedy the next 4 weeks will hold. But we will be there for the fires. Ready and waiting. With marshmallows.

Horse-News would like to remind you to keep your hands and feet inside the ride at all times.