Yes, sometimes I miss the early days. I spent several weeks without practically nothing else but pony 24/7 (the timing was perfect, I had only days earlier finished all school work for that semester, so I didn’t have to be anywhere else). Everything was new and exciting and the little fandom was nice. It had already produced some excellent videos (the original Equestrial Girls, Ponies The Anthology, etc.) and fanfics (whose names escape me now), all in such a short time (around 7 months). Ponibooru was gold and Ponychan was a friendly place for all kinds of pony discussion, even serious discussion. Every time the crew included a little shout-out for us we cheered.
Now… things have changed. I see drama. Drama and fighting. Every name calling is “pandering”. “DERPYGATE! SOMBRA SUCKS! TWILICORN! EQUESTRIA GIRLS! HASDRONE! DOWN WITH <X>!” and so on.
Strangely, I’m not tired of the ponies despite the daily exposure to them for almost 2.5 years. I’m just tired of the drama, and I’m afraid we haven’t seen the worst yet.
I wish season 4 would start soon. I wish people would just watch the show and laugh. Like we used to.
Addendum: and yes, I am still pissed off that I procrastinated for so long and did not go check out that “new pony fad” back in February 2011. I missed out months of the early fandom because I was lazy.