I would love to hear your stories/memories <3

[Starflower]

Hello everyone!

I am just so very curious and quite frankly in need of some lovely pony stories with all the serious stuff that is happening in the world right now. I would love to share some of my pony memories and stories with you

I am 36 and had pony's growing up. I remember my first one, Bonnie Bonnets. I loved her so so much! At first I wasn't sure what to do with a pony but soon I got a few more and the barbies had to play by themselves because it was mostly MLP and Fairy Tails since them. Although the FTB's were only on sale for not too long, but still.
I remember getting Baby Quackers for my birthday and always wanting the mommy, but she wasn't for sale here in the Netherlands. I remember getting baby Moondancer and Baby Glory and I was just mesmorized by the fact that they were a unicorn. I didn't have mommy Glory or Moondancer, but I did have Starflower. So I figured since she was a unicorn and had stars as a symbol, Baby Glory & Moondancer had to be hers. Good solution right? Starflower I picked when I had a nasty time health wise, I was in and out of the hospital and after a very nasty hurtful test that had to be done my mom took me to the store and I could pick a pony. They were selling Starflower and Gusty. I had such a hard time choosing! I remember looking up at the pony's and in the end I picked Starflower because of the rainbow hair. I picked her as my nickname too because she was always one of my favourites.

The kid next door was older than me and had of course different ones. Cotton Candy, Medley and Whizzer. I loved those pony's too! And of course I wanted a TE pony myself. So we looked and there were none in the store. And then some time later we went to second hand toy store (we did that a lot since my parents didn't have much money) and who was there, sitting in the display in front of the window? Whizzer! I couldn't be happier. A while later they also had a sea pony with the floater. I couldn't believe my eyes because I loved the pony movie and series and there were sea pony's in there, but I had no clue you could also have them! Again, I was super happy. Come to think of it, they gave me so much joy as a kid!

I was always super careful with them and so they still look great till this day.

At some point when I was 17 in 2003 we were going to move to a new house. So I packed up everything and found my box of pony's again. I saw them again and realised I really missed them! So I decided to make a shelf in my new room with my childhood toys. And then the infamous itch started. 'I wonder if that second hand toy store is still there....' And I went there. And they still had some pony's! So I bought them, Peachy was amongst them. Some pony's lingered in my mind. Like the white unicorn with leaves and green/red hair. I wonder if I can find that out somewhere. Also; I kept the back card of Bonnie Bonnets and on there was a drawing of all the TAF pony's and there was this blue one with planets that always drew my attention. My internet search started and it didn't take long before I found Dreamvalley! The ID'ing began, and with it the amazing discovery of so many new ponies! I found Gusty and Nightglider's names, added them to my collection and so many more. I have been collecting for several years and had to stop after a while due to a break up and several setbacks in my health, ending with cancer last year (I am okay now so far! ) During my time in the hospital I started thinking about pony's again and how happy they made me. So I looked them up again and I have already added some new ones to my collection. And oh; the joy they give! I collect G3's for a short while too but now I stay with the G1's

So, when and why did you start collecting or do you have nice other pony memories? I would love to read them.

 

[Icey_Flowerswirl]

That’s such a sweet story!
I remember when I was little, my sister and I played with a lot of G-3’s as we missed the G1s and 2s. We mostly played with the G-3 ponyville figures. The stairs where always the best place to play because they were the “ mountains”. My mom always laughed when we would chose of if tghe busiest areas to just play. It seems so long ago where you could go into a toys r us and see a whole shelf of ponies. One Christmas, my parents gave me the ice cream dream playsets and I can remember having so much fun with that! I can remember feeling like I was in kid heaven. The big figures that we had were swirlypop, pearly pie, thistle whistle, and desert rose and we brought them outside to play! The ones that were not thrown away or donated I still haves ( I still have the ice cream playset and I actually kept all the accessories together!) though they could use some restoration.

 

[Starflower]

@Icey_Flowerswirl I loved your story too! If I had stairs growing up I probably would want to use them, too
Nice to hear that you still have some from your childhood

 

[MerryAnvil]

Ahh this is such a neat thread! I loved reading through your story. I thought it was cool that your mom would let you pick out ponies for after your tests! My mom would actually do the same for me when I had to go to the orthodontist (I had a palate expander and it was probably the absolute worst experience ever in my life...and I've shattered my elbow, broken fingers, burnt all the skin on my hand off...yeah. I couldn't eat anything but mashed potatoes for a good two weeks). I would get to pick out a toy from the toy shop after the appointment

For me, I started collecting when I was around five years old, and I grew up with G3. I was a horse-crazy little girl who was taking riding lessons at the time and I just absolutely loved all things equine. Prior to finding the G3 toys, my parents had bought me a package of horse-related PC games, and the My Little Pony: Friendship Gardens G2 game was included in it. I played that game all the time when I was in kindergarten and I loved it to itty bitty pieces. When I learned that there were actually toys to go with the game, I about died from excitement! My mom told me she would buy me one toy while I was in school, and I told her I wanted the 'Strawberry' one.

She mistakenly bought a Strawberry Shortcake pony instead. I remember not being terribly disappointed, but my mom still went back to the store the next week and got me the one I wanted, and my first actual pony, Strawberry Swirl. I had the little 'Let's Go' version with the carry bag and everything. I've since lost all the accessories except for her charm, but back then I was super careful with everything and tried to keep it all together. Strawberry Swirl became my constant companion and I took her absolutely everywhere with me and played with her always.

I think I'll share my full story up until now too! I'm sorry if this gets a bit long, please forgive me. I don't get the chance to share this story often! I'll put the rest under spoilers so you won't be bombarded with a text wall hehe.

Spoiler: Long story ahead!

When I was around seven years old, my family moved from Florida to Vermont. I was homeschooled from first grade onward, so I spent much of my free time at home doing craft projects with my mom and little sister, and playing with my ponies. My dad was super into going to garage sales, so we often went on the weekends. I remember at one sale (which was actually a town-wide sale where everyone had tents and stuff set up in their yards) there was a huge cardboard box full of ponies. But these ponies were very, very different from the G3s I'd been used to seeing in stores. These were larger, and with a different painting style. One had feathered hooves, and being a horse-crazy kid, I recognized it as a 'draft horse'. My parents bought the whole box for...I think it was around $20?

Now I've been an Internet-savvy person from a young age (I was about eight at this point). As soon as we got home, I curiously got on my family's communal little box computer (lol!) and did some research. I discovered Dream Valley, and learned that the ponies I'd gotten were in fact G1 ponies, and the 'draft horse' was actually Steamer, a boy pony. The PC game I'd adored since I was little was a G2 game. There were entire generations of ponies I had no idea existed! Needless to say, I was extremely excited, and started taking this collecting thing seriously.
And when I say seriously, I mean seriously. I memorized as many ponies' names and appearances as I could so I could identify them. Whenever we would go to garage sales or thrift shops, I would purposefully hunt for ponies. I would dig through every bin and shelf for them. I was lucky enough to find quite a few G1s and G2s because at this time, the people who had these as kids were now moving off to college, and getting rid of their old toys. It was awesome!

I remember being enamored by Aikarin with all those beautiful custom ponies. I wanted to make my own customs but I never had the courage because I didn't think mine would look good, so I just drooled over other peoples'. I was also very fond of Ponyland Press and would often play the little games they had on there, and the Misty Mountain Nursery, where I would download the pics of the ponies, put them on a Word document, and print them out to make paper ponies. I did the same thing with my Ponyisland ponies! I also found My Little Pony Tales episodes online and would watch them with my sister. Our favorite episode was 'The Tea Party'. We also liked the My Little Pony 'n Friends Episode 'Little Piece of Magic'.

In addition to hunting for older generations, I was an avid buyer of retail store ponies. Any time I was allowed to pick out a new toy, I went straight to the pony aisle. My birthday and Christmas wishlists were always comprised of ponies. I even had a pony-themed party one year! My sister and I would play with our G3 herd all the time, and our G1s/G2s would join in the fun! I used to pretend that Steamer and Paradise were a couple, and that they'd adopted Baby Stockings. All ponies were welcome in our stories, even the fakies my parents bought us by accident haha! We also got the G3 movies whenever they came out and would watch them and play with our ponies. I would patiently collect points for the points program, and got a few things! Sadly no jumbo plush (at the time we didn't really have space for something like that) but my sister and I both got Love Wishes, and I got the bracelet so I could wear my pony charms on it.

I remember my family decided to plan a vacation trip to Disney World one year and I was completely over the moon because this was when the Disney Build-A-Pony was active. I brought Strawberry Swirl with me, and on the way there, my parents got my sister and I the Halloween ponies, Abra-ca-dabra and Pumpkin Tart. I got Pumpkin Tart! She was one of my favorites. When we arrived at Disney World, my parents let my sister and I each get a box of things from the Disney Build-A-Pony. Quite a few of the things were lost in moving, but I do still have some of them!
I stayed pretty active, collecting ponies all the way up into my teens. I went through a short period of time where I though I was too old for ponies, and sold quite a few of my G3s and all my G2s (but not my G1s; Firefly accidentally got put out at our garage sale and was sold to a very happy little girl before I realized the mistake, and Beach Ball has somehow disappeared. I think it's possible she got left behind with my dad when my parents divorced. He has since cut off all contact with us so unfortunately I don't think I'll ever get her back ;n; But I do hope to get a Beach Ball again someday!).

When I was thirteen or fourteen, I found two Rosey Poseys for $4 total at a Savers, which is my best find to date, and it got me back into ponies briefly. I got onto the Arena and the Trading Post (I've since lost all my account information - I don't remember my username, password, or e-mail which is why I made a new account because it's pretty much hopeless for me to find them sadly) and I was active online for about a year I think? I had a couple OCs around this time as I was getting into digital art - Kyro, a dragon-pony hybrid (based off the dragon pony species on Ponyisland), Tiger, a tiger-striped pony who was Kyro's girlfriend, and Jolly Apple, who was supposed to be a big brother counterpart to Applejack. I also started planning my first custom who was going to be on a G3 base and never actually got made, oops! His name was Chance, and he was yellow, had crimson-colored hair with a soft blue streak in the mane, blue eyes, white freckles, and a surfer riding a wave as his symbol.

Anyway...when G4 was announced (I think they had a pic of Celestia first) I hated it. I hated the new style and I just lost all interest in ponies at that point. I made one exception for a Fashion Style Applejack, because Applejack was my favorite pony from both G1 and G3 and my mom bought her for me while I was recovering from that shattered elbow I mentioned before, but I didn't buy any other G4s. I didn't sell any of my remaining herd, thankfully, just put them all in a box and took a 5-year hiatus. I came back to the hobby in 2015 and have been collecting, drawing, and customizing actively ever since! I still have all of my childhood G1s with the exception of Firefly and Beach Ball, and quite a few of my childhood G3s, including my very first Strawberry Swirl, Applejack, and Gem Blossom. I've since warmed up to G4 (thought it remains my least favorite gen) and collect them now too.

So yeah ahaha that's my pony backstory

 

[Tak]

My story is fairly simple. As a kid, for as long as my memory can go, there were two things that I loved most. Ballet, and ponies/horses. We had a pretty tight budget, but we always had what we needed. I had my first ballet class at 2 (almost 3) years old and didn't stop until an injury forced my new career to an abrupt end. I had encyclopedias about horses that I would study for hours when I was 4-5. My mother had tons of stories about her adventures with real ponies while growing up. (One found a way to open the back door of the house and ate a bowl of spaghetti! [Wierd!]) I loved watching my little pony on tv (also transformers, and teenage mutant ninja turtles, lol) I got a forget-me-not and a whizzer that I played with constantly. My sister had a couple, too, but she wouldn't let me touch them as I was, and am, accident prone. I got a real pony for my nineth birthday. She was just barely a pony, half arabian, so sweet, beautiful, and pregnant. I researched horse births and got to be right there with her when she foaled. A little paint colt named spooked dude after his sire. I had 6 other real horses after that, plus breyer horses. I pretended that I was a horse much of the time. We made a big move when I was 12, and about half of all our belongings were sold or given away just before the move. I only had the real horses then. Fast forward to 2011 and my little girl liked this new my little pony cartoon. I wasn't too sure of it, but we lived right by a target and on our walks, we liked the break of the a/c. My girl would always pick one pony every time we went. By the time the season 2 came out, I'd warmed up to generation 4, and even found some g3 and g1 ponies at garage or church sales. Zip ahead again to 2015. I got a bit of retroactive ssdi and some of it went to ponies! At one point I had over 2000, but life happens and I ended up selling most of the g1, g2, and g3, as well as mh and eah dolls, to pay for my pup's surgeries and my own ailing health. Now, I keep my collection small, though we still have all the g4 that my girl picked, and though my mom frowns about them, they make me happy. Even my psychologist agrees that mlp is good for my mental well being. How calming is it to brush, style, spa days, or a little playtime?

 

[Starflower]

@dakotadarkhooves:
I loved your story too! You had quite some hardships! Auch! It is so nice to read your experiences and some other things than G1 where I grew up with. Strawberry Swirl is such a cute pony Don’t worry about the story being too long, I loved reading it!
How awesome to find all these pony’s t the yard sale! So cool I used to know Aikarin too! That was a long time ago indeed And so cute that you kept picking pony’s for gifts!
I so enjoyed the stories about all the pony’s (and fakies) being welcome and Steamer and Paradise adopting Baby Stockings
Sorry to hear about your dad cutting you off, that is really sad. Hope you find her one day! If I have double one I will think of you. I don’t collect G3’s anymore, but kept Strawberry Swirl too, Pepperberry, Applejack and several Minty’s. G2 and G4 I never started
Anyway, thank you for sharing your story!
@Tak : I am sorry to hear about your injury! A pony eating spaghetti by the way! I really enjoyed your story, too! Too bad your mum frowns about them, my dad is used to it but still does a little every now and then. He just sighs a bit and leaves me be with it. They were stored on his attic so when I hauled them all out he was like 'no you're not starting again right?' Yessssss I am How nice to rewad that your therapist agrees. It is truly relaxing indeed and pony's always brings such happiness

 

[Skycakes]

My story. I had a bunch of ponies as a teenager but I gave them all away. I had two left and I went to find them after going to the webpage Dream valley. I remembered how much they meant to me. I thought about the fun times I had with ponies as a kid growing up in the early 80s. I was about maybe 8 when they rolled out the first ponies. I still remember my dream castle and show stable I had. So anyhow I had basicly gave away everything but Twinkler and Curly locks. I wondered if I could find anymore ponies I started with Medley because I really wanted her and she was one of my favorites. I got her and for some odd reason I started collecting year by year it was weird that way. Maybe not every pony I got was by that particular year but it was fun to buy ponies that way. I do wish I would of kept them I could of saved more money that way but it wasnt in the pony cards of fate.

 

[Elfpony]

My first pony was Cotton Candy, who my mom bought for me when I was 5-6. I loved anything to do with horses/unicorns, or pink, or fantasy, so MLP was basically Hasbro’s license to print money, as far as I was concerned. I had one or two toys from other lines in the 80s, and several barbies from relatives that didn’t remember I didn’t like dolls, but basically every birthday, xmas, or other gift occasion or spending money was spent on MLP or Pound Puppies.

My mom and I lived in an apartment, but my grandparents had a rec room and I was allowed to set up my pony playsets in a little town there and leave them set up for weeks at a time in the summer. My ponies also went to the beach with me, went on bike rides in my basket, and generally had all kinds of adventures. However, when I became a teenager I ended up giving all my ponies away, which I regretted pretty much instantly, but it was too late to get them back.

Fast forward to 1997, and I discovered G2 while shopping one day. It was a big hit of nostalgia and I bought my first G2 (Skyskimmer) that day (it took me about 30 minutes to decide which pony to buy that day). Then, like others, I discovered Dream Valley, and shortly thereafter, eBay, and the rest, as they say, is history. I’ve been collecting constantly since 1997. I collect all gens, but G1 will always be my favourite.

Of my childhood collection, I do have a few odd and ends. I have nearly all the accessories and the box from the party playset, and a few other random accessories. And I did keep all my childhood Pound Puppies, which is good because I’d never be able to replace them.

Elf

 

[Starflower]

@Skycakes
Thank you for the story! I think it is fun that you collected them by year


@Elfpony
Thank you too! It was very fun to read your story. So nice that they went everywhere. I I think I would have regretted it too to give them away, I’m sorry! Nice that you still have the accessoires and Pound Puppy’s though (I will google those, I’m curious!).

 

[Skycakes]

@Skycakes
Thank you for the story! I think it is fun that you collected them by year

I think it was harder that way. Some years were tough and theres still some second set seaponies I do not know if I will ever have.

 

[Starflower]

I think it was harder that way. Some years were tough and theres still some second set seaponies I do not know if I will ever have.

Harder it is indeed. Hope you will have them someday!

 

[Truly_Scrumptious]

I don't have a conventional roadmap to my current love for G1, I guess. I'm 19 and grew up with G3. I watched some of the G3 specials too, I think - I really remember some of the plots and artwork. But I watched way more of these VHS's I had as a kid, of the G1 MLP cartoon and the 80s Care Bears cartoon. Regardless, though, MLP didn't really matter to me all that much at the time. Crazy, right? I played with my G3s and got rid of them when I thought I was getting too old for them (which was ridiculous! I miss my Sparkleworks!).

Then when MLP:FiM came out, I was obsessed for a short time. I frequently became obsessed with TV shows as escapism. It wasn't even a very niche interest at the time because of the whole brony/pegasister culture showing up. I really don't remember how, but this interest led me to stumble onto ponylandpress.com about 7 years ago. I took a look at their pony bios and clicked through their entire documentation of G1 US ponies. I was hooked the second I saw Snuzzle. Something about her design was just so comforting and sweet. At the time I was going through a rough transition period after my parents' divorce and a few other things, so my brain just latched onto the soft 80s design of MLP as a comfort, and I started devouring as much G1 information as possible and started my own collection!

I was never a horse person, although people assumed I was when I started collecting. But I don't care for IRL horses, haha. I like the fictional ones. I think it has something to do with organizing, identifying, and acquiring the ponies themselves. It's calming to be an expert on something and to organize and catalog this thing. And G1 in particular makes pleasing symbol and color choices that I really love.

So yeah! I feel like it's not how many people get into this hobby so I feel a little weird about it

The world is so scary at the moment. I work at a grocery store so I can't really social distance during work. My college courses are up in the air. During the downtime that self-isolating is giving me, I've been returning to the comfort of MLP, doing more with my collection and MLP artwork. I feel like collections are commonly a tool for self-help during hard times. I'm glad to hear that you're doing okay so far stay safe out there. Ponies are pretty comforting in these times

 

[Starflower]

@Truly_Scrumptious : I loved reading your story! I think I used MLP as a little escape too, not just the tv shows but everything about it. My mom was in the hospital several times a year during the whole duration of my youth and that was pretty stressful.
Snuzzle is indeed too cute, love her I have several Peachies myself.
And yes many people find this hobby weird but that is why it is so great to connect with people who get it. When I started collecting in 2003 I made some amazing friends that I still talk to and see up-to-date. I am lucky though, I share a house with my best friend and she doesn’t collect them but has a whole stash from when she was a kid and used to collect them too a little. So I can yap to her about it too and she is happy for me when I have something new. So that is really nice.
Sorry to hear about your school and work in the grocery store. I really do hope you will be okay and that people treat you a bit nicely. Over here it is dramatic in the stores and staff is often treated in a very rude manner. So sad. Hope the whole situation will be resolved and with not too many casualties

 

[BabyNightmare]

My friend and I would get together and play ponies. We would dump all the ponies into the middle of the floor (mine were kept in a bin) and take turns drawing a pony to decide who got to be what pony. No matter who drew first my bestie would never ever pick Gusty and I never picked Masquerade because we each knew the other loved her and wanted to make sure we each had our favourite. We would then play for hours building houses with whatever we could find and having them go on grand adventures through the house.

 

[Starflower]

@BabyNightmare That is SO cute, never picking each others favourites Thanks for sharing

 

[Baby Ribbs]

I got into ponies thanks to my big sister and cousin. My cousin had given me my first ponies, Applejack, Pinwhel, Windy, Heart Throb, Tickle and Flutterbye as hand me downs (and later a sticker album she had compiled that had all the puffy stickers to her ponies!) since she was 8 years older and had grown out of toys. My big sister had a friend named Callie who lived down the street and had the best toys! Barbie, Jem, Care Bears, Moondreamers, My Little Pony... I specifically remember Callie bringing her Show Stable playset over and playing ponies with her and my sis. I got to play with Minty who I called Lucky and I loved her so much cause she was green, my fave color. The playset was so cool, I loved the little barn doors and tack wear. My sister had a couple ponies that Callie had given her, that Minty I loved, Sparkler, Parasol and Sky Flyer but she never really got "into" ponies so she gave them to me. Next thing I know I had dozens of ponies! I remember going to stores and getting Newborn babies, Fancy Mermaids, Ballerinas, Fancy Pants, Merry Go Rounds, Rockin Beats, Tropicals and some of the later 80s/early 90s g1 ponies brand new. I have photos of me in an album somewhere unwrapping the Sweet Celebrations family set on my 4th birthday. I still have lots of my originals though sadly most are lost to time... Thanks for letting me reminisce.

 

[Starflower]

I got into ponies thanks to my big sister and cousin. My cousin had given me my first ponies, Applejack, Pinwhel, Windy, Heart Throb, Tickle and Flutterbye as hand me downs (and later a sticker album she had compiled that had all the puffy stickers to her ponies!) since she was 8 years older and had grown out of toys. My big sister had a friend named Callie who lived down the street and had the best toys! Barbie, Jem, Care Bears, Moondreamers, My Little Pony... I specifically remember Callie bringing her Show Stable playset over and playing ponies with her and my sis. I got to play with Minty who I called Lucky and I loved her so much cause she was green, my fave color. The playset was so cool, I loved the little barn doors and tack wear. My sister had a couple ponies that Callie had given her, that Minty I loved, Sparkler, Parasol and Sky Flyer but she never really got "into" ponies so she gave them to me. Next thing I know I had dozens of ponies! I remember going to stores and getting Newborn babies, Fancy Mermaids, Ballerinas, Fancy Pants, Merry Go Rounds, Rockin Beats, Tropicals and some of the later 80s/early 90s g1 ponies brand new. I have photos of me in an album somewhere unwrapping the Sweet Celebrations family set on my 4th birthday. I still have lots of my originals though sadly most are lost to time... Thanks for letting me reminisce.

I loved your story! It made me excited even reading it. Getting so many ponies at once, nice! And you're welcome, I just love reading everybody's memories

 

[AyaSora]

Everyone's stories are so great! Great idea!
Mine doesn't follow exact I don't think. A lot of my younger days are kinda blurry. My memory isn't what it used to be, I blame it on my autoimmune disease.

I was an 80's baby as well and I can't even remember who my first pony was. I have been hooked on horses since I can remember. My parents never making much money but I remember from the time I was 7 or 8 I would do whatever housework I could to earn 'chore money' and mom would take me to Toys R Us and tell me I have x-amount of time to pick what i wanted and she would meet me at the register. I remember always going to the pony isle. Even when we were older and got Chore Money and allowance I still remember going to the pony isle. The apartment we lived in had a friend 2 doors down, Sarah, that we used to spread out on her porch or ours and play with our ponies. I wish I knew what happened to Sarah. I also remember one year for my birthday getting the Party Pack. I remember crying when within like 10 minutes YumYum's flutter wings snapped off from playing. I still have my original Party Pack ponies. We moved from the apartment to a trailer park 8 years later and I got a shelf put up in my room for my horses. I found Dream Valley and I LOVED looking at all that there was out there. I lost touch with Sarah and met Annie who also had some ponies but was never that big into them so I kind of thought, I am too old for these 5th or 6th grade maybe?). Then moved from the trailer park to our own place in another town(we moved a lot when I was young) 12 years later- still my ponies came with. I remember seeing the G2's come out but at that point I had all my MLPs in a tote because "I was too old for them" and I had finally talked my parents into getting me a dog. As I weaned out of MLP's I had picked up Grand Champions and reading Thoroughbred Series created by Joanna Campbell. (I still have Treasure Trolls and Surprise pets too but can't remember timeline on them either!) My brother who was 4 years younger than I, was a Super Mario fan and that's where I picked up my love for Yoshi. Just keeping my live horse story out of the storyline, went to college- all my things packed away and I took some Grand Champions with me, met a real life friend there and I kept it a secret from her because she was a few years younger than I but the childish stuff was a turn off for her and she had real horses. After leaving college I came home, shortly before the 25th anniversary ponies being released(home in 2006). Reloacted Dream Valley and started collecting again. Slowly collected a few for years. Then Kmart, which I frequented, had the 25th anniversary marked down because of the Kmart store closing fiasco(Around 2008 at this point), and I bought up the Unicorn and Pegasus sets. I built up a good sized collection and got my first 2 horses and first rehab horse(who got rehomed). Then it was time to move again, this time from Upstate NY to Kentucky. I didn't have to move but it would have meant giving up my rabbits that I raised, my horses and moving into my own apartment with no family in the area or move with them. I chose to move- new adventure into Horse capital of world! I ended up selling most of my MLP herd to help pay for trailering my horses to Kentucky. Then Kmart, which I frequented, had the 25th anniversary marked down because of the Kmart store closing fiasco(Around 2009 at this point), and I bought up the Unicorn and Pegasus sets despite selling most of my collection I kept them. When I got here I found the G3's and Breyers. I got some of the G3's but it wasn't enough to rekindle- but I still started collecting Breyers, then the G4's and I got a few of them- still not rekindling my joy but as my anxiety and depression got worse(2017) I started to find something that gave me joy again, My Little Ponies. Then the 35th anniversary sets were released and I've been hooked. So now I have my rekindled passion and am almost back to where I was rebuilding my herd. Still missing quite a few but KY doesn't seem to have the luck in the thrift shops so it's been mostly ebay, here(buy and trades) and some on Facebook. So two 'new' horses (That's a long story in and of itself), my dog and I are in this horse crazy life together.

 

[Starflower]

Everyone's stories are so great! Great idea!
Mine doesn't follow exact I don't think. A lot of my younger days are kinda blurry. My memory isn't what it used to be, I blame it on my autoimmune disease.

I was an 80's baby as well and I can't even remember who my first pony was. I have been hooked on horses since I can remember. My parents never making much money but I remember from the time I was 7 or 8 I would do whatever housework I could to earn 'chore money' and mom would take me to Toys R Us and tell me I have x-amount of time to pick what i wanted and she would meet me at the register. I remember always going to the pony isle. Even when we were older and got Chore Money and allowance I still remember going to the pony isle. The apartment we lived in had a friend 2 doors down, Sarah, that we used to spread out on her porch or ours and play with our ponies. I wish I knew what happened to Sarah. I also remember one year for my birthday getting the Party Pack. I remember crying when within like 10 minutes YumYum's flutter wings snapped off from playing. I still have my original Party Pack ponies. We moved from the apartment to a trailer park 8 years later and I got a shelf put up in my room for my horses. I found Dream Valley and I LOVED looking at all that there was out there. I lost touch with Sarah and met Annie who also had some ponies but was never that big into them so I kind of thought, I am too old for these 5th or 6th grade maybe?). Then moved from the trailer park to our own place in another town(we moved a lot when I was young) 12 years later- still my ponies came with. I remember seeing the G2's come out but at that point I had all my MLPs in a tote because "I was too old for them" and I had finally talked my parents into getting me a dog. As I weaned out of MLP's I had picked up Grand Champions and reading Thoroughbred Series created by Joanna Campbell. (I still have Treasure Trolls and Surprise pets too but can't remember timeline on them either!) My brother who was 4 years younger than I, was a Super Mario fan and that's where I picked up my love for Yoshi. Just keeping my live horse story out of the storyline, went to college- all my things packed away and I took some Grand Champions with me, met a real life friend there and I kept it a secret from her because she was a few years younger than I but the childish stuff was a turn off for her and she had real horses. After leaving college I came home, shortly before the 25th anniversary ponies being released(home in 2006). Reloacted Dream Valley and started collecting again. Slowly collected a few for years. Then Kmart, which I frequented, had the 25th anniversary marked down because of the Kmart store closing fiasco(Around 2008 at this point), and I bought up the Unicorn and Pegasus sets. I built up a good sized collection and got my first 2 horses and first rehab horse(who got rehomed). Then it was time to move again, this time from Upstate NY to Kentucky. I didn't have to move but it would have meant giving up my rabbits that I raised, my horses and moving into my own apartment with no family in the area or move with them. I chose to move- new adventure into Horse capital of world! I ended up selling most of my MLP herd to help pay for trailering my horses to Kentucky. Then Kmart, which I frequented, had the 25th anniversary marked down because of the Kmart store closing fiasco(Around 2009 at this point), and I bought up the Unicorn and Pegasus sets despite selling most of my collection I kept them. When I got here I found the G3's and Breyers. I got some of the G3's but it wasn't enough to rekindle- but I still started collecting Breyers, then the G4's and I got a few of them- still not rekindling my joy but as my anxiety and depression got worse(2017) I started to find something that gave me joy again, My Little Ponies. Then the 35th anniversary sets were released and I've been hooked. So now I have my rekindled passion and am almost back to where I was rebuilding my herd. Still missing quite a few but KY doesn't seem to have the luck in the thrift shops so it's been mostly ebay, here(buy and trades) and some on Facebook. So two 'new' horses (That's a long story in and of itself), my dog and I are in this horse crazy life together.

Thank you so much for telling this story! I so enjoyed reading it. Those flutter pony’s were so breakable! I can so understand that it was upsetting. I recognize a lot of what you say, thanks again

 

[starbritesprinkles]

I've had ponies as far back as I can remember. I'm probably two or three years old here. You can see Blossom and a green fakie on the ugly couch. There might be others in the pile on my right, but I've never been able to identify them. So I consider Blossom one of my first.

My earliest pony memory is buying Starshine at the flea market. I consider her my other first pony. She was... very well loved. I'll never sell my childhood herd of 50 or so, though.

Pony was everything. I remember getting them at Hills (it's where the toys are ) and Kmart. I remember my older brother lying to me about a pony Nintendo game and being super-disappointed every time he told me that he asked about it in the Ames electronics department and they didn't have it. I got them for birthdays and Christmas.

New ugly couch alert! This is my fifth birthday. 1990.

I played with them alone in my room for hours upon hours. My mother is a neat freak, so I was never allowed to keep anything set up past the time I'd finished playing. I had (still have) Paradise Estate, but it took up so much space and took so long to assemble that I was rarely allowed to play with it.

My best friend had Confetti and Raincurl, and my cousin had Sparkle Baby Starflower, and I was so jealous. The same cousin ended up giving me Speedy (with a horn painted in blue nail polish - since removed), and another cousin gave me Snuzzle and Baby Glory and a couple of Pony Wear pieces. I found her Skippety-Doo in my grandmother's house when we cleaned it out in 2009, and I kept it. I remember wanting Sugarberry so bad in the store once because my friend had her, and my mother said no. So I bought a MOC one for $55 on eBay in 2004 and opened her. (For the record, I would never do that now.)

I admired all of the mail order ponies until the pamphlets ripped and fell apart. I watched the movie (recorded on VHS from HBO or Cinemax) and TV series more times than I can count. MLP Tales was great when it started airing on Disney Channel because it had original episodes airing in the second half.

The last G1s I received that were bought in a store were Teeny Tiny Little Giggles, Bridal Beauty, and Birthday Pony. After that, I played with what I had, along with Barbies (one of my other collections). I expanded into Lisa Frank and Littlest Pet Shop and the Tales of the Crystals game. I drew a lot. I kinda grew out of playing around 11 years old when the "cool girls" in class made fun of me for still playing with Barbie.

I saw G2 for the first time at Rite Aid in 1997, and I was so mad and told my mother that those WERE NOT My Little Ponies. G2 has since grown on me, but I don't go out of my way to collect them.

When we got the internet at home later that year, My Little Pony is the first thing I searched for on Yahoo!, and I found the Trading Post ( though I didn't register an account) and Dream Valley. I was so excited to see all of these ponies I didn't know about or remember and spent hours browsing.

I joined Bolt.com in 2000 and joined the "My Little Pony Girls" group, where I met people that I'm still friends with after all these years. Most of them don't actively collect anymore. I started keeping an inventory of my collection and picking them up second hand when we occasionally went to the flea market. That group is where I learned about the G3 reboot and found the Pony Finders board.

I found my first two G3s, Kimono and Pinkie Pie, at Kay-Bee Toys in the summer of 2003 and was very active on the Pennsylvania forum of Pony Finders. I shopped there and at Toys R Us weekly. I worked at Walmart and stalked the toy dept. on breaks and after my shifts to buy the newest releases. Briefly attended college, keeping my purchases under my futon until I could bring them home. Registered here at the TP in 2005 and later that year at the Arena. Attended the flea markets weekly with my boyfriend (now husband) and went all over to thrift stores, looking for ponies. Still do that as often as possible, though the two kids make it tough sometimes.

I finished my first custom in 2007 after admiring the works of Woosie, whippetluv, tealslippers, Pop-Girl, poniesyeah, PrincessofDarkness, and others. I haven't really been actively customizing since 2012, though. Started the hair color matching website to help customizers/restorers.

And here we are. I'm about halfway to a complete US G1 collection, have a small box of G2s, probably 95% complete G3 (PRE-CORE 7), and a bunch of G4. Not crazy about the Pony Life reboot, though I did buy Potion Nova. But as long as it lasts, I can focus on G1 and G3. Maybe get back into customizing. Work on my pony room.