I Want to Be a Brony

How many episodes of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic do I have to watch before I can consider myself a brony?

Two? Can it be just two? Because I don't think I can handle anymore. But I'm really fascinated by the subculture and want to call myself a brony without actually doing the homework.

When I saw the series on Netflix Instant, I figured, why not? I remember watching My Little Pony as a kindergartener, and I know that plenty of 20-and-30-something-year-old men watch its current iteration because I read it on the internet so it must be true. 

I actually quit partway through the first episode, but then Allison - who I think is shaping up to be a pegasister (the female counterpart to a brony) - encouraged me to finish it, and then it was a to-be-continued episode, so we watched the second episode, too.

Even though I want to completely throw in the towel, I keep going back to a quote from a man named Allen in the Wired article I linked earlier: "As a person with Asperger syndrome, I learned more about theory of mind, friendships, and social interactions from this season than I had in the previous 31 years of life."

Indeed, if there's one lesson I learned from the two episodes I saw, it's that friendship IS magic. They really drove that theme home. And maybe if I keep watching, I can befriend guys who hold conventions, dress up like ponies, and discuss a cartoon geared for young girls in detail. Now that would be magical!