Parent & Friend Reactions to your Bronyness: Before & After

[Ash Crimson 4]

I didn't intentionally tell either of my parents, my mother found out due to me mentioning I liked the show when she said about "bronies", acted embarrassed and such. I think she doesn't quite grasp that it's changed a bit since when she was a fan in the 80's. Either way, my dad doesn't care, he found the various image macros of Fluttershy on my facebook page to be funny and I've bought my younger sister on his side some MLP stuff for Christmas, so I figure he finds it nice that I can enjoy something with her.

[~Asuka <3~ 867]

Well, they didn't really react with ease  They kind of made fun of me and stuff, which confused me, considering how supportive they'd usually been over things in the past.  My mom was confused, and kind of mad too.  I still don't think she knows that being a brony isn't that big of a deal.  

[DusK 1,264]

I can do whatever I want, I'm like 26.

 

In all seriousness though, I don't talk to my mom much anymore. She's kinda crazy, stupid, and crazy-stupid.

[Derpyroo 14]

My parents arent really surprised by anything I do anymore, I've never been one to follow the norm in life and they accept that

[Galex Dj 173]

When I told my parents, they were a bit confused for a while. But soon they started to warm up to the idea. They were mostly excited that it wasn't violent than usual things I like. They were happy, yet did give me grief at times for bring so involved in the fandom. And when ever I called myself a "brony " or "pegasister " they would just say "don't call yourself that." and give me a little grief for a while. To my parents, the show is okay. They don't love it, but they don't hate the show as well. To me, Im just happy that they let me watch the show.

[sdjaigjaig 18]

I told my Best friend a few weeks ago and his reaction was not good. He hates MLP and bronies in all ways he even refuses to try watching it but he said he watched the first episode for 2 minutes then threw up (LIES!) And for some reason he refuses to belive that bronies are not gay. I am gonna buy pony merch wear to school to piss him off.

Later everypony

Edited May 25, 2013 by superleam99

[Rainbow Dash 1,472]

My friends did the usually hassling.Asking me if i was attracted to them and what not. Overall they were pretty supportive of it and took interest in the show as well.

[APonyToRemember 31]

I have had very mixed opinions from my friends and acquaintances about me becoming a brony, I am a very open one mind you but not a brony thumper by any means but if asked I will oblige. The majority of my friends were either extremely happy with my new found 'bronyism' or were surprised because I guess I don't seem the type I guess many of my friends seemed to open up and wanted to join the herd after I opened up about it. One of my better friends seemed dissaproving but respects what I like because I'm a great guy! haha and only one acquaintance I knew in school but didn't talk to much made a comment on my Facebook saying "Oh no, not you too..." after I changed my profile picture to what my picture is on here of Rainbow Dash so I asked him what that was all about and he replied "Oh, well nothing... It just kinda makes some guys look like pedophiles." Even with societies' wonky labels and stereotypes I thought that was a very ignorant thing to say considering most bronies are developmentally and mentally normal people but everyone is entitled to their own opinion I suppose.

[Ace-skylight 11]

Well a few of my friends turned out to be closet bronies and the others well they gave me a glare and well we don't hang out anymore =/

[Avatar tag: shipping 299]

I've only told one of my friends and at first he thought I was joking. He responded with the usual: lol! Gay! Homo! That's for little girls! But went I told him I was serious, he didn't care. I guess it helps that he's a WoW nut, he kind of is in the same boat as us. However, I'm about 97.56 percent sure he will be the only one I'll tell, at least for now.

[Sir.Flutter Hooves 2,953]

My friends didn't care!

 

My best friends still jokes about it, and I told one of my friends that is a girl and she has a pegasister friend. She 's gonna set up up.

 

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[Fhaolan 4,483]

Given all my friends are in their late 30's and up... Nobody seems to care.

 

Their children, however, are always asking me questions and wondering if I'm going to Everfree Northwest this year or not. A lot of them seem to want a chaperone with them as their experiences at other cons have not gone... well, and would prefer me I guess.

[Rainblow H. Ash 5,091]

Well, I got lucky because most of my friends  are really, really cool with me, and most of them are cool with it.

 

Before they all found out, however, I wasn't planning on telling another soul that I liked the show at all. The main reason was the reaction I saw when one of my other friends revealed that he was a Brony; I remember that it was all the way back in late 2011, and we're all sitting in our class waiting for our professor to get there. Suddenly my friend walks in with a Fluttershy shirt on, and all my friends are just rolling their eyes or making fun of him for it. One of them even stopped talking to him for a week. As for me, I wasn't a Brony at the time of course, but I didn't really think anything of it. He even showed me some cool pony backgrounds he had too, and I didn't really mind it that much either. 

 

Regardless, when I became a Brony about six months later, I had that moment in my mind and was honestly really nervous about telling anyone about it. I had watched all these episodes, was getting into the fan art, animations, and music, but I didn't want to tell anyone. Not even my Brony friend; I kind of feared he would tell others if I did. Slowly, though, my friends all started to find out, and I was surprised to find that they actually did care as much as I thought they would; they didn't give me a hard time at all. Like I said, I'm probably the one guy in our group who can get along with everyone very well, so they all didn't mind it. There's some light teasing here and there, but I kind of bring that on myself since I tease my friends all the time.

[Tarilaan 47]

Honestly, I was among the last of my friends to become a brony. Not because I hated the show, but simply because I hadn't heard about it beyond rumors that ponies were starting to invade all sorts of places on the internet. Among my friends, it simply never came up as a topic of discussion, and when it finally did, it was only a few more days until I became one. The transition was so smooth that there wasn't any drama or anything. I guess I was just gifted with awesome friends, because I hear all these scare stories about people who were rejected for their choice or something, but I've never experienced anything of the sort.

[Eragonrde12 49]

He found out through my computer background, he was all like "Really, [name]? A my little pony background?" And I was all like "yes, I watch it, and if you want to, it's on youtube and netflix and stuff". In his mind he was all like "this person is crazy" and then he watched it and then now he's a brony, and on these very forums (hi mehguy22). I feel as if we're the only bronies in the school 

[Solace 407]

well i have been a brony since last may and i have only told people in late January  and i had mixed reactions

• January 17 2013
• go up to friends
• made up a challenge to watch ep 1 to lesson 0
• they do it
• 3 days later do "challenge" in class at lunch
• in french tell two best friend i have been a brony since 05/10/2012 
• tell whole class a week later
• January 25 2013
• last day before cutting myself of from ponies (with small returns) till march 11-12
• march 22
• watch too many pinkie pies in class
• asshole sees it
• says" i don't mean to be insulting Joe, but isn't that for 2 year-old girls"
• i say " buzz off XXXXXXXXX " (name edited out)
• he says " oh is the little pony fag gonna use rainbow unicorn pink powers"
• my friends start standing up for me( i ignored him)
• he gets detention tomorrow and  Tuesday( the asshole)
• i post this two days later

[omnusus 52]

Some of my friends know, not many. My best friend finds it strange, but doesn't hate on it and watches some of the fan made videos. Some other people were already friends with other bronies, so it was the same old song and dance for them. One, however, reacted quite harshly, but he's generally a very harsh person so it didn't surprise or bother me. But only a handful know.

 

EDIT: I forgot to mention he guy who thought all bronies were cloppers. I wondered why he started acting strange around me, until he finally confronted me about it, and I sorted it out.

Edited March 25, 2013 by omnusus

[Modphase 1,271]

There's two classifications of my friends that reacted. My close friends and my not so close friends.

 

My close friends didn't act hostile, they may have shown some scorn, and one of my friends even told me a few weeks later that he watched a few episode. That was almost a year ago.

 

Then there's my not so close friends, whom I've been friends with for a couple of months. All of them were okay with the idea, and showed no scorn, two of them said, "You're a Brony?" (as well as some strangers).

 

I'm pleased that I have not received any negativity towards my like for My Little Pony.

[DoctorWhovian1902 596]

It went something like this (to the best of my recollection):

 

 

 

I was in Honors English at the time with two of my friends, a male (I'll call him Jake) and female (Whom I'll call Kassie). Then my other male friend (John, I'll call him) comes in and out of nowhere says "Wait, do you like My Little Pony?" (I'd given reference to it earlier that day but wasn't sure if he'd picked up on it).

 

 

 

Me: "Yes, I am"

 

John: "Oh no, you're one of those psychos." (laughs)

 

Kassie: "I just don't understand why he can like something for little girls, it's weird."

 

Jake: "Basically everything you two have been saying here is exactly what I've been thinking." (I'd told him about being a Brony earlier that week and was sure he wasn't judging me for it. Guess I was wrong).

 

John: "I think all Bronies are immature faggots."

 

Then the conversation continued where I can't quite remember the details, but I remember he later said:

 

John: "That's it then, this week I'm going to play Minecraft and watch My Little Pony, then I'm going to make fun of you for it!"

 

Our teacher then was gathering everyone's attention for the lesson, but John had one last thing to tell me. He turned his head to me, and with a joking smile said with disgust "Brony" and shook his head in disappointment. Class continued regularly from there.

 

 

 

Since everyone seems to be telling what happened later, I'll continue it from there. A little while later, Jake came over to my house to watch MLP. I showed him the pilot, which I'll be the first to admit was probably the biggest mistake I've ever made, but his final word on it was, and I quote:

 

 

 

"While I did see some references that he could see could be enjoyed, there was still too much 'cutesyness' in it that it's still a show for little girls"

 

 

I realized that it was a hopeless effort with him, so I let go of any efforts towards trying to convert him. Next, I moved on to John. To make a long story short, a little while prior to this he'd given Minecraft a chance and ended up loving it. So then one day, while we were working on a project for school:

 

 

 

We're sitting around waiting for our video to render when my sister (Sarah) walks by.

 

We share some conversation I can't quite remember then she says:

 

Sarah: "Oh, you guys can watch some 'My Little Pony'?"

 

John: "You know (me), for your eighteenth birthday I'm going to buy you a 'My Little Pony' cake. Everyone else will think it's a joke, and only I will know that you actually enjoy it."

 

I'd been planning to show him the show that day, and at that moment I finally snapped.

 

Me: "Okay, you know something? We'll watch an episode after this is done."

 

John: "Okay then."

 

The video finished rendering shortly afterwards and I'm getting a bit nervous as I'm starting to pull the episode up. I knew this moment was in the coming for a while, but I was still a bit worried. Prior to the episode, I showed him a parody on the "Most Interesting Man in the World" commercial with ponies. Then as I was about to pull up the actual episode, he said:

 

John: "Wait, what are you doing?"

 

Me: "You said you were going to watch it."

 

John: "I just did."

 

Me: "No you didn't."

 

John: "(me), can we please just play Minecraft?"

 

Me: "Not until you watched it."

 

John: "I'll watch five minutes of it."

 

Me: "I've got a better idea: you watch a full episode."

 

Anyways, I pulled up "Read it and Weep", and we watched it all the way through. When the episode finally ended, I stopped at the credits and looked back at him. He looked like someone had just given him a lecture on College Algebra.

 

Me: "So John, what did you think?"

 

Silence.

 

Me: "John..."

 

John: "It's a kids show!"

 

Me: "Is that all you have to say?"

 

John: "Well it was...(facially scoffs) cute."

 

Me: "What did you think of it, then?"

 

John: "It wasn't as miserable as I was expecting it to be. It was at least entertaining."

 

Me: "So, what did you think of it overall?"

 

John: "Well, I didn't hate it or like it. I'm neutral on it. I just can't see myself watching it regularly."

 

It was actually pretty late at the time, so I was walking him out the door.

 

Me: "Will you at least give a brohoof where it's due?"

 

He did. Best. Moment. Ever.

 

As he was leaving, I asked one last question:

 

Me: "But would you be willing to watch more?"

 

He thought about it for a minute, then left me vaguely hopeful with "maybe".

 

 

 

Then there was another friend of mine, whom I'll call Amanda. Her story was probably the most tragic...

 

It all started at a church activity:

 

 

 

I told her about me being a Brony, and she was very disturbed by it, convinced that it was very weird.

 

Then at another activity I told about how I was planning to trend the show (I said it vaguely enough that she would understand it) and she said "No. Just, no."

 

That really hit home with me as she was the last person I could turn to. This was right around the time as the occurrence in Honors English, keep in mind.

 

Then one day, while I was out running, I got a message saying: "I saw it, (me)! I watched it! c:"

 

At that point I literally jumped in the air with joy and screamed out "YES!"

 

We had an excellent conversation later, and we were the best of friends at that point. We had a lot of MLP conversations, and threw around ideas. I told her about my FiMfic, we thought about hosting an MLD movie party for when it got released, so many great things...

 

But all good things have to come to an end.

 

And unfortunately, it was the worst time for it to happen (see further below).

 

I'd been having horrible days that week (and on the days after Christmas, no less), the worst three of my life to be exact. So I was telling her about what had happened and sent her a link to my description of the story. What she sent me back...just read it:

 

"Great news.. As our computer screen isn't the smallest one in the world, obviously not as big as your fridge or anything..but any way, my mom came to the living room and decided to read what was up (your link). And when she begins to read, she doesn't just glance, she likes to know everything...her being my mother, there's no arguing.
Basically, she was fine until...she read the first comment below the story. So now, guess what websites are blocked? You guessed it, le wonderful Youtube and MLP forums....and the best part? She put a lock and password on the computer itself, so if I want to get on... I have to ask like I'm five or something, no choice in the matter. It's just a peachy situation.."

 

That broke me. I was cursing, convinced that her mother knew that I was a Brony, so it was only a matter of time before she told my parents about this. Thankfully, in a later message, she told me her mother didn't know it was me, so I was saved there, but what followed was the most depressing conversation I've ever had with someone. She basically said that, for many reasons I won't even mention here, she was giving up and would pretend this had never happened (the fandom, that is), and that this would be an easy change.

 

I fully admit to having shed tears at that moment.

 

And of all the days for it to happen on, long story short, my parents had told me earlier that morning that they didn't want me associating myself with Bronies anymore.

 

The two events was distressing for me, and I felt like giving up.

 

I swear, just now while I was looking back over the messages we sent each other, getting the info for the post, that is, I almost teared up remembering this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

That's how my friends reacted to the show. Quite a story, eh?

[LightsCameraAction 100]

Some of my friends were like: Um... ok we kind of knew that when you could name all of them. Me: Oh right. But some of my friends were like: Dude, you are soooooo gaaaaaaay! I cant be your friend anymore go be gay with your brony fag friends. Me: Um... uh... Ok?

[Golurk 468]

Well, I was the 2nd-to-last of my friends to give in, with all of them except the 1st-to-last one actively using all the force they could to push me over the edge. They were nearly all in support by the time I eventually did give in. Guess being late to the party ain't so bad after all. 

Edited April 2, 2013 by Yosef von Uzenvard

[Hay Lin 38]

Mine was postitive, but that was actually because I had brought the notebook in where I write my fanafiction. Now, in that fanfiction, I didn't specify that they were ponies. She peeked at it, and asked If you're posting this on fanfiction.net, what is this for?" I'm a girl, so I reply "My Litttle Pony". Then she asked me if it was based on an episode, and I said yes(that was an alternate ending to the Season 2 pilot, by the way.) She's an almost pegasister now. I say "almost" because she pays more attention to the fandom then to the real show. ( She didn't knw what Twilicorn was until almost a moth after the anouncement.)

[Sweet Dreams 1,893]

Well, I've been a brony for about 6 months now, and I just joined the forums about now to have some people to talk to about ponies!

I haven't told any of my friends yet, but my family does know.

My friends are pretty accepting so I guess it wouldn't hurt to tell them.

[AppieJackie 3]

My mom was weirded out at first when I started getting into it, but she adjusted pretty quickly. She likes seeing how giddy ah get when she gets me new merch. She works at Walmart doing stock, so she keeps an eye out for me. (mostly in the section she works in, which is all the cosmetics and toiletries like shampoo) When I found out the band-aids were there that I'd been looking for for months, I jumped all through the store!

Anyway, she's pretty chill with it now. She's just glad to see ah have something I really enjoy that helps keep me happy. Ah've had a lot of problems in the past, and ah'm on medication now but it can only help so much.. My sister recognizes most of the characters, even though she isn't really into it. But she respects my love for it, and she's always helping my mom out when getting me merch. My sister remembers which characters are my favourites, and which ones I don't like.

My brother doesn't seem to be bothered by it at all. My boyfriend thinks I'm silly, but then he realizes that he collects just as much, if not more, Power Rangers and horror stuff as I do ponies. He's gotten to respect it, and supports me with all my pony items that I make. Same goes for my mom and sister. My sister even drew me a huge anthro Applejack!

I don't have too many friends, but most of the ones I have were bronies before me. In fact, it's because of ponies that I've gained a lot of friends, including my best friend!

My mom and sister still mention how pink the bookshelf in the living room looks though... It's the only place I can put my collection without worrying about any of our cats getting to them. Plus I sleep on the couch downstairs, since I opted out of my bedroom for a couple of different reasons. Main thing now is that my dad lives up there (my parents are kinda separated right now) and so ah have to have someplace to put 'em all.

Edited April 16, 2013 by AppieJackie

[DoctorWhovian1902 596]

My parents both found out due to a Facebook comment I'd made (they read everything I post). After that, they didn't accept it. My mom was actually a bit better about it than my dad, but he was so adamant about me not being a Brony, that I just stopped saying anything about it around them. To be fair though, I did ask for a Fluttershy plush, which I guess pushed him overboard, to the point where he told me to never associate myself with Bronies again.

 

As for my friends, 90% of them think I'm weird for it and refuse to give it a chance. Then there's the 7% that are nuetral to it and the 3% that are actually Bronies (because of me). I can't stand the fact that I have to keep quiet about it, especially considering they never shut up about their obsession over Dr. Who. Bring up MLP, though, and you get shunned.