Last week I mentioned on Twitter that John had voluntarily watched two episodes of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic with me, and who wanted to bet I had a Brony-in-the-making.
John was mildly scandalized, but all of the responses I got were so unbelievably encouraging that I think he was secretly delighted. Here's my favorite reply:
I've been trying to get into MLP for a while now, but the first half dozen episodes left me nonplussed. So when John agreed to watch a few with me, I skipped ahead a ways and then cherry-picked (apple-picked?) a few that looked promising. They were better, but it wasn't until we stumbled across the episode May The Best Pet Win that - you guessed it - we both got hooked.
Ooh, hey, I even found the full episode online! Here ya go:
(After this I also highly recommend The Sonic RainBoom if you're looking to give the show a try.)
The next day John sternly declared that he was only watching to be a supportive husband, and that he was really just going to be sitting over here playing a racing game on his phone anyway - but before I knew it he was yelling at Rarity to stop being a snob, and how could Pinkie Pie think they were all ignoring her on purpose, anyway? I mean, COME ON.
We've watched a few episodes every day since, and John's been quizzing me on everyone's names in-between.
Last night he went online to see if a guy had ever cosplayed as his favorite pony.
The answer? AyyyYUP. (But only one that he could find.) (And no, it's not Macintosh!)
I know there are some questionable areas to the Brony fandom - areas which neither of us have any interest in exploring, btw - but I like to think most Pony fans love the same things we do: a show with heart, laughs, and gentle stories that let us escape from real life for a while.
And in case anyone new discovers this post, let me state for the record that John is a former football linebacker who can re-plumb an entire house in a day, lift a couch over his shoulder, and is routinely told by friends that he's the "manliest man" they know. He also tears up over cute animal pictures, can pick out his wife's makeup better than she can, and yes, HE LIKES MY LITTLE PONY.
He IS... the most interesting man in my world:
...dramatically removing his glasses.
So, yeah. You know what it means if you're a My Little Pony fan? That you like My Little Pony. That's it. And I'm so glad that we've found a circle of friends - both online and off - that totally gets that.
And finally, since I KNOW you're dying to ask - and I'm proud to say I guessed this before John even knew himself - his favorite is Fluttershy.
(Mine's Pinkie Pie - but you probably already knew that. :D Her pet alligator Gummi cracks. me. up.)