A Brony Tale Page #5

looking through pony toys.

It's programmed in their mind

to jump

to the worst case scenario,

which might be, you know,

"Oh, he's a pedophile,"

or, "He's a big ol' manchild,"

or,

"Something's wrong with him."

The fact that boys are becoming

more brave

and go into the pink aisle

buying pony toys

is a sign that

they're not afraid to say

That, "Hey, I'm a dude,

and I like My Little Pony."

A guy can, you know,

like pink stuff,

and a girl can like blue stuff,

and once we get over

that hurdle,

we can finally start

making some progress,

as in girls can do fireman jobs

and be an astronaut

And be a police officer,

and guys could maybe be

a teacher for elementary kids

or be a nurse.

That's fine.

At first, there's

a bit of a shock factor to it

Because it's My Little Pony.

It's got this huge stigma

being pink and girly,

and just poorly executed

20-minute commercials.

And then it turns out to be

really exceptionally

well crafted.

I think

it's a unique kids show

in that it has

a lot of adult references...

I mean, nods to Star Wars,

nods to the Brady Bunch,

to Benny Hill,

to just all sorts of media

that a seven-year-old girl

would have no idea about.

There are many of them

that are in it

for the guidance function.

Many more are into it

for the social function.

Take a look

at the 20th century.

You're going to see

that after every catastrophic

and chaotic time in history,

you're going to see

something in reaction.

The Roaring '20s were

a reaction to World War I.

The beatniks

and the Bohemian generation

were a reaction

to World War II.

You had the Korean War,

but Vietnam came really quickly,

and what did you have after,

during that,

but the hippie movement?

You know,

don't trust anyone over 30.

Then you get into 9-11,

and I think that 10 years later,

this is what we're seeing.

We're tired

of all the violence,

we're tired of the terrorism,

we're tired

of worrying about this.

Let get to something

that is tolerant, friendly...

we can escape into it.

Close your eyes

and watch My Little Pony.

It's all about

conflict resolution.

It has a positive message,

and not only that,

but it's entertaining.

We are currently

at the Santa Monica Pier, uh,

enjoying a Brony meet-up

for So-Cal Bronies.

Whassup?

The So-Cal Brony meet-ups,

they're just a bunch of people

that get together

that like My Little Pony.

Right now, we're 800 strong.

We put on small events

that'll be spur of the moment.

We'll just be hanging

at people's houses,

Or, you know, they'll be, like,

"Hey, let's go to In-N-Out

at two o'clock in the morning,"

and boom,

eight people will be there

Because they're local,

or we'll plan big, huge events

like our Grand Galloping Gala

last Friday,

which was 250 people,

um, you know...

it's just a bunch of people

that want to hang out

and have fun

and get to know each other,

so...

Yeah, there's a website

that we can go on.

It's called Meetup.com,

and from there,

there are different groups

and stuff that you can go to,

and one of the groups

is So-Cal Bronies.

I literally post it up

on the boards,

and people take interest,

and they want to do it,

and they're excited to hang out

with each other.

So-Cal what?

So-Cal Bronies!

Bronies!

Bronies! Bronies! Bronies!

Bronies! Bronies! Bronies!

Well, I'm Liam James

O'Donnell Linehan III,

if you must know my full name.

I am actually in high school.

I'm one of the youngest people

here, surprisingly.

I'm only 17, but regardless,

these are...

these are my people.

Join in!

Until you all shared

its magic with me

Big adventure

Tons of fun

A beautiful heart

Faithful and strong

Sharing kindness

It's an easy feat

And magic makes it

all complete

Yeah, My Little Pony

Do you know you're all

my very best friends

Woo!

So-Cal! So-Cal! So-Cal!

I have this one friend

who's been my, like, best friend

since second grade.

Since the very minute

I told him I was a Brony,

he's made fun of me non-stop,

like, just never-ending.

And about maybe a month ago,

I forced him to watch

one episode,

and he's just in love with it

instantly.

The grade school I went to

was tiny.

There were 32 kids

in my graduating class,

which made it almost impossible

to fit in

if you weren't the mould

that everyone wanted you

to conform to,

and I wasn't.

Like, last year,

at the end of,

towards the end of the year,

we had really started

getting together

as a group of friends

who are all into the show,

and we decided that we wanted

to start a club.

So we got our friend

who is really good at drawing

vectors on the computer,

like this,

and he designed

this shirt for us.

And so you have this Harmony

spelled out

with elements

of the periodic table,

and it's kind of a pun,

because the strongest force

in the show

is the elements of Harmony,

and so that's kind of a pun,

and then

he drew out the vector,

and we all bought the shirts.

A Brony?

No, I've never heard of one.

If you really like

My Little Pony,

could be something for you

there, I guess.

It's like adult comedy... no?

There's people

into weirder stuff than that.

That's pretty random.

People should be grown up

around now.

That's, that's pretty odd.

Which one of you guys

created that adorable logo

with the Northwestern "N"

and Twilight Sparkle?

Was that you?

I like the idea

that Twilight Sparkle

should be our official mascot,

Because A, she's nerdy,

and Northwestern

is legendarily nerdy,

and B, she's purple,

and Northwestern is purple,

so I think

that we really do have to accept

That Twilight Sparkle

is our mascot.

They have, like, a place where

they put, like, local meet-ups

for different universities

across the world, even,

and I saw one for Northwestern,

and I was, like,

"Wow, there actually...

There are Bronies

at Northwestern.

That's cool.

Let's see what's up there."

And I joined the group.

We usually meet, like,

about every two weeks,

um, catch the new episode,

maybe watch

a few other episodes.

Brings people together,

you know, makes friendships...

appropriately, I suppose,

and I guess it is kind of cool

that a show, you know,

so ostensibly

about friendship

is creating friendships

in the real world.

A big part of any community

isn't just the show,

but reacting to the show

and being able to share

your first reactions

on those episodes

and whatever else

you might find online, and...

but that's just really

the beginning

Of what we've been doing,

and it's like parties and games

and food and fun,

all this stuff.

There seems to be

this undercurrent

to most of the things

that's reported

Or written about us

where two-thirds of the time,

threequarters of the time

Has to be spent

reassuring people

that we're not insane,

and that's somewhat...

well, we may be insane,

but not criminally insane,

I should put it.

Northwestern is a place

where fraternities

are actually really important,

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