There’s more to my toy collection than meets the eye Maxine Fontaine-Anderson, 23, Sandhurst
The telly flashed with bright colours, and animated horses jumped around on screen.
Slumped on the sofa in January 2013, aged 12, memories from my tough day at school grew smaller as the episode of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic sucked me in.
It told the story of Twilight Sparkle, an introverted purple horse with a blue and pink mane who lived in a library with only books for company.
By the end, as she’d finally made friends, tears filled my eyes.
‘The magic of friendship is everywhere. You can seek it out, or forever be alone,’ a pony says before the credits rolled.
If only it was that easy. I’d been diagnosed with autism aged 7.
Struggled at school, came across as awkward and sometimes said things I shouldn’t. Too shy, then too talkative. It didn’t matter how much I tried to fit in, I was shunned by my classmates and bullied for being ‘weird’.
I spent lunchtimes alone, never got invited to parties.
Now, though, My Little Pony stirred something inside me.
The more episodes I watched, the better I felt, seeing elements of myself in each of the ponies on screen.
Fluttershy was shy, Applejack too honest, Rainbow Dash was loyal to a fault.
Struggling with many social skills myself, the wisdom offered up in the show helped me navigate my life.
Maybe being different wasn’t so bad.
Within months, I’d binged over 50 episodes and couldn’t wait for the next one to come out from the US.
And bought a bag of my first My Little Pony figurines.
I hadn’t had them when I was little, but now they were my obsession.
Although Mum and Dad didn’t understand, they bought me an Applejack plush toy which I kept on my desk in my room. Before long, I was surrounded by l
