I don't actually know many bronies in real life. This is mainly due to fact I live in a small village in the UK, so the chances of running into another fan is pretty slim. Meeting two in one day as I did on Sunday is very rare. The only bronies I know include my friend who introduced me to the fandom and his girlfriend.

So imagine my surprise when I get on a train to London to go meetup with another friend when this guy around my age sits down next to me and asks about the cover of my Nexus 7 case. The case says "This Tablet Just Got 20% Cooler" and he immediately asks if I'm a fan of the show. I told him that I was and we ended up discussing various different things. I recommended that he come over to forums which he showed some interest in and then we speculated about season 4 for a while. Overall it was a good conversation, if the guy was a little bit too enthusiastic and nerdy about it.

So by this time the train is getting really full and I was pretty tired anyway so I politely asked if we could carry the conversation on a later date and that if he ever used the forums he could contact me there. However the guy would just not shut up about it. Now normally I don't get embarrassed but considering he was talking pretty loud to me and the trains now getting full, he's attracting a lot of attention to us. It was quite uncomfortable because he was just spouting random fandom stuff at me, to point where it was getting really irritating and I was tempted just to get off the train. It was a shame as well because it started off really well but he turned out to be one of those people who just can't leave things alone. So yeah that was a shame.

Fortunately on the journey home I had a much better experience. This was much later in the day as well so there were less people on the train. So again I pull out my tablet to keep myself entertained on the tube and this girl sits next to me and asks about the case. Immediately I thought "again?!" but the conversation was a much better one and a lot less geeky so we had a chance to talk about other stuff. Again I referred her to the forum and she seemed legitimately interested in it. She was pretty cool and a lot less obnoxious about the fandom, something which I feel is a quality lacking on some bronies.

So overall my first RBE (yes that is what I'm calling them!) was interesting and it turns out that there are other fans where I live, seeing as the girl got off at my home station. I'm not alone!