It looks like I never explained how I got into MLP, so with the show ending I figured now is a good time to do that. I will also explain what the show means to me and try to understand why it has become a phenomenon.

I think the year was 2012. I know I had gone to BronyCan in 2013 after going to BronyCon, and I don’t remember how many BronyCons I had been to before that. But I guess the exact year doesn’t matter. I was visiting with a friend in Baltimore (of all places!). I had brought 2 other of our mutual friends with me. One guy wanted to show me something funny on YouTube. He started playing Friendship Is Witchcraft. I don’t know if I was even aware of FIM. I knew of the old My Little Pony. I might have been aware that there were still toys, and if I was aware of the new cartoon then I would have dismissed it as a show for little kids. Ironic, since I love cartoons of all kinds, but at any rate, the show was not on my radar. We were watching Friendship Is Witchcraft and I found it hilarious. It was well written and acted. We watched all of the episodes at that time and even were singing the songs.

The next day, my friend sat me in front of the computer again and queued another video, this one from the real show. He had explained that the real show was good, so I was curious, but I still had no idea what to expect. The video he played was the Smile song. Pinkie Pie, who I had seen from the spoof show, started singing about smiling. About half way through I could feel something inside of me change. By the end of the song I was holding back tears. I had to sit for a minute to compose myself. I knew my life had changed but I didn’t want to talk about it at that time. I had to pretend like nothing was wrong. It was some time before I got a chance to actually see the show, and I don’t even remember that moment. But I’m sure I watched it on Netflix alone, the way I usually watch my shows.

The rest is history. I fell in love with the show and everything about it. I had gone to every BronyCon since and every time I was there it felt like coming home. As I have mentioned before, it felt like the whole year didn’t matter and everything lead up to that weekend. I had never felt so happy. I felt like I belonged.

But why? Why can a children’s cartoon have such an effect on such a diverse group of people? I would expect to see the usual con crowd: fans of anime, video games, pop culture, things like that. But I had seen a truck driver in his 60s, men in the military, grandmothers, you name it. It makes no sense. I have been thinking about this for years and I have a few theories. First, look at the common fans. Most Bronies seem to be fans of other “nerdy” things, like I have mentioned. So maybe that 60 year old truck driver is also a fan of anime, for example. There is no way to prove it one way or the other, but it just doesn’t seem likely to me. Then I thought about the “nerd culture” over the recent decades. Perhaps in the past there just wasn’t much of an outlet for those kinds of people. There were comics, and that’s about it until maybe the 1960s. I suppose a “nerd” personality can be born in any time period, but it is only recently that such people can feel comfortable about it.

But does that hypothesis make sense? It assumes that these people would also be fans of other things. As I said, I have no way of proving it. But is there something special about MLP? I like other cartoons and hobbies, but nothing has the same magic that My Little Pony does. There are much bigger, non pony conventions, like Comic Con. But do people break down in tears when they have to leave? To this day I still cannot get through Smile without tearing up.

I think being a Brony is the ultimate symbol of cultural freedom. It’s like you can say, “I love a show about magical ponies, and I am not ashamed. There is nothing you can say to me that can hurt me.” Deep down everyone wants to be happy. MLP allows people to embrace that innocence and joy that they might be afraid to face. Fear keeps them shackled. Fear about not being tough, manly, or grown up enough. It’s like a guilty pleasure that you are too embarrassed to admit. But MLP shows that you don’t have to be embarrassed about how you are. It teaches you to love yourself, which means you don’t have to be afraid any more. There will always be a place where you can be you, and nopony will judge for it. That’s what My Little Pony means to me.