>>4054
I suggest you browse through these to get an idea of how it all was back then. Word of advice, go into these fics by pretending anything past seasons 1 through 2 never happened. It'll be easier for you to immerse yourself that way. We may not have the videos or fan discussion of the way back when times any more, but there still exists the fics, and even some of the comments for back then. Many of those fics linked here will also provide a link to their Equestria Daily articles, which should give you a clue on the discussions happening in their comment section at the time. A snapshot of the fandom's history.
Overall, while some may have disdained the woobie interpretation of the character and consign it to the dustbins of history, she was nonetheless a mare that exist in the fandom's heart, if only briefly in the time she was with us before being sent to the Jossed pits of oblivion.
And a couple old Youtube vids as a bonus.
https://youtu.be/TkpRUhdVNmU
https://youtu.be/h0l28Qmj9MY
Speaking of jossed, it still annoys me at the fandom's collective inability to compartmentalize shit. It was my thought that while S2 Luna would come to be the dominant one, I at least thought that the original interpretation that so much work went into would still persist along with many other things.
Needless to say, I was wrong. Dead wrong. And thus my slow resentment for the show began. While I did not outright hate the show, I began to fear other episodes of the ilk like Luna Eclipsed. If the fandom was so eager to jettison stuff like that from the past, what else would they get rid of?
And come Equestria Girls and Twilicorn, plus the random introduction of Cadence and TWilight's brother who we had *never* heard of before the very episode they appeared in, it was easy to see the cracks that led to the finale that was S8 and S9. Perhaps things could have been averted, but S2 was where I more or less jumped ship and only occasionally popped my head in to see what was up, preferring to dabble in the fanfic side of things to keep it up, at least for a time. Some of what came after was enjoyable, but the taint of things rushed too soon, ala Twilicorn, or the stuff that should have never made it into the show because it diluted the essence of what made the ponies special, ala Equestria Girls, ala every fucking high school girls drama airing now and eternity, and the show filling in cracks that did not need to be filled...
Well, there isn't that much left for a sentimental oldfag like myself. But I still remain, because I love pony. Perhaps it would have been better to jump ship while I still had the chance, but I am afraid that pony hooked its claws far too deep for that to be possible. I feel like a damned original trilogy fan watching their beloved franchise slowly be warped beyond recognition by the prequels, and then the horrid sequels for the Star Wars franchise. I got a taste of that early, before the sequels were even a thing.
If you want to find out more pony fiction, Fimfiction and the Pony Fiction Vault are good places to start if you keep yourself to anything published in 2011. Fimfiction less so since a lot of the fics there did eventually update themselves to suit S2 canon and beyond, like Past Sins. But it's good as a general rule of thumb, and if you look at the completed stuff with anything above thirty to fifty likes, you should be good.
Anyway, I must retire for now. This post went far beyond what I expected to, but it was nice to reminisce. Enjoy the pony, and make merry with it all.
Also, have this vid by Aurelleah. It captures my headcanon for S1 Luna's voice quite well.
https://youtu.be/ubOM_gDCLPQ
And as an added bonus, have this topical HK song.
https://youtu.be/xtGCR7HrRlI