Becoming a brony: 1 man’s brave foray into “My Little Pony” fandom

There’s a blockade of bronies standing in the way of my intended entrance into the Holiday Inn in Austin, Texas. They’re trying to get outside.

“And we will venture our bodies out of doors because it is nice out!” one of them declares when he first steps foot onto the rubber welcome mat outside the hotel. “And the air is fresh!”

The kid who’s shouting has a point: It’s downright beautiful outside. Not that anybody staying at this Holiday Inn this weekend is likely to notice.

This particular Holiday Inn in north Austin is hosting Texas’ inaugural Brony Fan Fair, a weekend-long convention of sorts for willful allegiants (henceforth known as “bronies”) of the My Little Pony franchise—a television series centered around a cartoon community of small, furry-looking ponies, all of whom have interesting, mythicized names like Octavia and Twilight Sparkle.

The Daily Dot has logged some extensive coverage of the brony culture, none of which I’ve truly taken the time to read. It’s like Greek to me; better yet, it’s like backwards Portuguese.

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