If you want to make a splash try doing things that are wildly popular as either crossovers or possibly furry art and then let the attention from that draw people back to your core pony stuff.

Most importantly though don’t become stuck on the approval of the internet. The best thing that has worked for me is just looking at where i started and where i’m at. I always feel better as long as i can point out appreciable progress in myself. If you can start doing that for yourself to get your mood into a better place and other things will fall into place.