#49) I had a phase that lasted a few months in which I "enjoyed" the Rule 34 aspect of the brony fandom, mostly just clopping at night a few times a week and only to the R34. I started to grow out of this phase about a month or two back, and now I am completely grown out of it. The R34 no longer interests me and I've stopped clopping to it. I feel mostly relieved because of this shift, but when I look back on my clopping phase, I am dragged down by guilt and sadness and can't help feeling that I am a horrible, perverted person and the bane of the fandom.

Am I a horrible person for having liked the R34 and having been a clopper? This fandom means a lot to me and I don't want to think I'm one of its "bad apples".

<sub>Answer: Welcome back. It's interesting that you went through a 'phase' – normally the sort of people who would masturbate to ponies wouldn't just 'grow out' of it, and so it's interesting that you one day suddenly seemed to lose interest in that side of the fandom. Of course, you should be glad that you moved away from doing that kind of thing if, in retrospect, it made you feel guilty. That said, the fact that you still feel guilty is also curious.

You didn't really do anything 'wrong', I guess, if you tried out the clopping side of the fandom. I mean, you sort of did, but it's not as if you killed someone or stole someone's wallet. You masturbated to My Little Pony – while it is perverted, by the sounds of it you didn't do it for a long period of time, and neither, it seems, did you actively contribute clop-content, and therefore you shouldn't worry too much about it.

While you may be seen by some as a 'bad apple', you have to ask yourself: do you care about what others think? If you do, which is very possible given how you worded your question, then the most that you can do is apologise for what you did, if it bothers you, and with any luck people won't allow it to tarnish their opinion on you. Everyone makes mistakes, and if you judge the clopping phase as your own mistake, then you should be given a chance to redeem yourself to others and to yourself. You have to forgive yourself before others will forgive you.  

You're not a horrible person; you may be attracted to some unorthodox things, and it's possible to be disgusted by that aspect of your past behaviour, but it would be far too reductionist to say that one indiscretion is enough to render you a horrible person. Instead, you seem to be a reasonable person who tried something out and who now feels guilty about doing so. What's important is where you ended up, and by the sounds of it, you ended up on the better side of the sexual spectrum (not masturbating over ponies). For that, you should be congratulated.</sub>


#50) Why do so many brony/pony roleplays become sex-related? It's quite disturbing to see it everywhere.

<sub>Answer: Well, it's fair to assume that a lot of your sex-roleplaying 'bronies' are teenagers who don't have actual sexual experience and won't be getting it any time soon, and thus they turn to other outlets, one of which is cyber-sex. Yes, sex-roleplaying is cyber-sex. I suppose if both individuals are consenting to it, then there's no stopping people from doing it. What is annoying, however, is when people do it on websites such as Ponysquare or even here on DeviantArt, with reckless disregard for who else might stumble upon it.

I myself have reported several users to DA for actively sex-roleplaying with pony characters, although thankfully the admins dealt with the issue swiftly. If people want to sex-roleplay with their pony characters, they should do it in private. Another annoying thing is people who do it frivolously; I've seen people in 'relationships' with other users, but they're sex-roleplaying with someone entirely different. It brings 'casual' a whole new meaning, and it's emblematic of the way that a lot of society seems to be going.

However, to avoid criticising society in general too much, I'd say that most roleplays become sexual because roleplaying, by its very nature, allows you to become someone else, and with that you can act in a way that you wouldn't normally. Whereas, as said previously, many sex-roleplayers don't get to experience real sex, when they take on a different persona they can pretend that they can. Add on top of that the general horny-ness of teenagers, and you're left with people who can't resist but to make their characters fuck each other in new and exciting ways.

Only, y'know, it's not real and you're getting turned on by a pony. And, while I suppose the thought alone doesn't hurt anyone, it's still not going to win you any awards in the 'social normalcy' department. My advice to you would be to just report those kinds of roleplays if you stumble upon them. While it's weird for people to do it in public, you have to feel at least a little bit sorry for the people who do it – a lot of them are probably lonely and desperate for real sex.</sub>


#51) What do you think of the fact that Scootaloo can't fly?

<sub>Answer: I'm not sure how I'm supposed to respond to that question. If you're asking if I'd like to see her fly, then I'm indifferent to the issue; if you're asking if I feel sorry for her because she can't fly, then the answer is 'no'. Scootaloo as a character hasn't been given an episode to prove her worth yet, and while I'm cool with that, I know that a lot of people wish to see it happen, whether because they like her character or because it seems fair, given that Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle comparatively receive more screen-time.

In terms of her inability to fly, it seems to be an issue that fascinates a lot of the pony fandom, although I can't say that I'm particularly interested by it. I suppose being unable to fly is a handicap in the same way as not having a cutie mark is; it might upset the character once in a while, but in the case of Scootaloo she's portrayed as being young, and thus she has plenty of time, presumably, to learn how to fly. Maybe she will earn her wings one day? Maybe it'll be Rainbow Dash who teaches her? That would make sense, in terms of how much she looks up to RD.

That said, outside of speculation for what might happen, I have to fall back on saying that Scootaloo's inability to fly doesn't interest me. Flight wouldn't necessarily make her character any more interesting. Maybe one day when an episode calls for it she'll just fly randomly? Perhaps a big song-and-dance won't be made about her flying? It could be that an episode hasn't yet demanded that she be able to fly, and so she hasn't done it. Or maybe fillies lose the ability to fly, but then get it back when they grow older? Or perhaps this is all fanon-themed speculation, and none of it really matters?

There's a thought.</sub>