I have yet to be confronted by a "hater". I'm not an open individual myself around or towards other people, but with my friends and relatives and they don't seem to care that I have a general taste in cartoons targeted towards kids, especially a market for little girls, so I don't have the experience to tell you what you should do when dealing with a hater, but I do have an insight on what you could do to avoid anymore grief between you and the disputer.
A couple of things you should keep in mind:
- Never respond or retaliate to such crude and hateful comments that are spat out against you, no matter the tolerance level of the comment. DO NOT FEED.
- Openly admit to your friends or relatives that you're a "brony", but be smart about it. Don't try and shove your pride down their throat, praising how great of a show it is and it's community. Wether or not if this show does sound like a great watch, it's a bit of an annoyance hearing someone talking about it to you everytime a conversation is brought up. DO NOT ABUSE.
- No need to feel insecure about your interests at all in public. It's your personality and what you do and like, is what makes you, you! Pretending to be someone you are not is suicide. DO NOT FEEL ABUSED.
I really do hope that you have the common knowledge that people who harass or generally hate on other people because of they're taste in different things are just a way of them to feel a power over you. They have something behind their face they feel insecure about and make it easier on thereselves by making you feel insecure.