How did you become a brony?

[Redthebrony]

I watched the whole show up to season three until I found out about bronies. I had to watch it with my little sister and at first I thought "ok, this is kinda cool" but then I went like "OMG this is AWESOME!"

[happyalm]

I became a brony in February 2013, so I joined the fandom pretty late.

Anyways, one of the people I was subbed to on youtube became a brony, I didn't really care that much about though. Shortly after that though I found some pony pics on deviantART and seen 1 or 2 clips on youtube, but this wasn't enough to convince me to watch the show.

It was around the time that season 3 had ended and people were complaining about the alicorn twilight. I saw twilicorn rant videos and such, And a little clip from the last episode of season 3. So yeah I kinda spoiled some of the show for myself there.

I decided to watch the show about a month later, on youtube, I watched the first few episodes of the show and said to myself in my head this show is actually pretty cool. I then proceeded to watch the rest of the show all the way to the last episode season 3, browsing some of the fan-made content during and after that time too.

[Hoofstin]

no reason

[PlatinumJoystick]

I had known about FiM for a long time before i became a brony. In October, I had a friend over at my house, and while we were watching Netflix I said "Hey, let's watch My Little Pony." I just wanted to see what the buzz was about, I didn't think I would really like it. I could tell it on his face, he wasn't so sure, but he didn't object. So we watched the first two episodes. Then some more episodes. Then we were halfway finished with the first season. Two new bronies were made. This Christmas, this same friend was staying again, and he got me a Derpy Hooves FunKo toy. I wasn't sure how to react, since it was my first piece of pony merchandise, but I grew attached to the figure. It was a gift, after all.

[Lauren Rarity]

My life was empty and boring for a long time. Then i came across the show. At first i hated it but i gave it a fair chance and i liked what i saw. Then while searching for images i came across many sites. They brought colour into my life. Rekindled fires that i thought were all put out. In a way, discovering the community freed me from who i was. It allowed me to become better and it gave me a chance to fully express myself. I was brony before that though. I became a brony when i came across Molestia's tumblr. I thought it to be really funny and i got hooked.

Lame story but, whatever.

[Verdant Tome]

I had first discovered the fandom's existence sometime around July-August, 2011. I saw a couple pony-related memes on the interned. I didn't know what they meant or why they existed, but soon found out it was due to the "brony" fandom, an internet following of the semi-recent My Little Pony reboot. After a bit of mild confusion, I took a non-judgmental neutral stance on the whole matter and left it out of my head for much of the next three or four months.

Sometime in September is when I first decided to jump on the curiosity I had. It led to a few pages of meme-browsing - I didn't have much of anything to do on the internet back then, except visit Memebase and its subsites. Despite finding a few enjoyable, and taking a shine to the visual quality, I didn't feel compelled to jump in the fandom.

The next couple months had me discover the "status" of a few close friends of mine to be bronies. Since they were really good people, I didn't feel the need to judge them for it, nor did they feel the need to force the show on me. I can respect that, and their influence contributed greatly to my eventual turnover.

Speaking of said turnover: it was midnight, February 19th, 2012. I was on the internet, bored. So, what would someone like me naturally do in a situation like this?
Compulsively browse a hundred pages of pony memes, of course. And with that action, there sparked a chain of events that set the course of history. Thirteen hours later, I was able to tell one of my aforementioned brony friends about my decision to become a brony, a decision he supported greatly. I watched the episodes in secret for five months before I was accidentally found out by my brother, who, thankfully, was as non-judgmental as I was.

In the next month, I joined a small group of bronies on the internet, many of whom are still my friends today. I watched the epsidoes online - when I could - and live when I thought nobody else was watching. And I made sure nobody was watching. And then it was last weekend, and I decided to branch out on these forums after the free weekend ended. And then it was now, and I was telling everyone the saga of how I became a brony.

[Stalephreak]

I became a brony last year.  I had been playing MechWarrior: Online with House Jurai, and one of my lance members was really into the show, and the MWO forums have great brony posts as well.  I figured I'd check it out, as it's really odd for guys who are THAT into big stompy robots to be into MLP.  I remembered the gen 1 pony show, and I was expecting that.  I was pleasantly surprised to find how close to Power Puff Girls it really was.  The most recent MLP is intelligent, and has plenty of references that you have to pay attention to get (Rarity's annoyance at the obelisk when she discovers her talent...  the exact antithesis of the reaction in 2001: A Space odyssey ).  I saw some random episode on youtube, and just kept watching.  My wife heckled me for a bit, then I got her to watch a couple episodes, and it just kept going. 

I never had to worry too much about the stigma.  My supervisors and direct peers don't know, but it's not like I've gone out of my way to hide it.  I've mentioned party cannons and all sorts of weird things like that...  My subordinates on the other hand all know, and they know I'm a huge Rarity fan.  As for my family and friends, who cares?  Same with most strangers.  I mean, I have permanently discolored knuckles from MMA, I bmx and ride motorcycles, so nobody thinks to question my masculinity over my choice in entertainment.  (speaking of which, I'm seriously considering a Nightmare Rarity cutie mark for my bike if anybody has some decal ideas) 

[Nerine]

I can't say that at any point I decided to become a pega (no, can't bring myself to use that) brony.

I only became aware of the show last summer after a friend at work (not a brony, just a regular ol' troll) kept setting my desktop wallpaper to random pony pics.

When I saw them I squeaked "I really like her mane!" - Well maybe not but I did really like the art style. Before long I started noticing ponies everywhere. It was like a veil had been lifted from my eyes! *cue angelic chorus*

I soon discovered that the noble house McCracken were responsible for this most glorious of visual distractions which resulted in me watching an episode of the show. It doesn't take a genius to guess what happened next... as somepony somewhere once said 'the rest is history'.

I'm now hopelessly in love with these Faustian ponies but have resisted going near any merchandise 'cos we all know what lies down that road. I swear as Celestia is my witness that I will never be the cat lady of tiny brightly coloured ponies!

[Selects]

One of my friends heard about the show and said it sounded gay, then he watched it just to see how gay it was, then he was all like, "Holy balls dis a gud show." Then I'm all like, "How gay are you?" Then he nags me to death with all this, "Give it a chance," bull crap till I'm like,  "ILL WATCH IT KK?" Then I did and I was like,  "This shows rlly gud." That's basically my brony origin story.

[Mayapple]

>Generic response

My friends got me into it; I was in a club at school, and they made me watch it.  I just grew to like it from there.

[Luminescence]

... Well, it was around halfway through first season, when the ban-hammers were falling like rain. I accidentally got smacked by one, despite the fact I didn't post anything. Eventually, I started to wonder what it was I got banned for. After .017 seconds (according to Google) I found it all. Then came the "I wonder why everyone likes it?" followed by "I'll just watch one." and then by the death knell of "... well, it said To be Continued so it won't count, Right?" Since then, I've been lurking about and seen some pretty awesome stuff.

All in all, totally worth it.

[Mysteli]

Nyan Cat, which was fairly new at the time, lead me to this (found it in early May):

and that introduced me to ponies. Within a short time after leaving that site I started seeing ponies everywhere, so I decided to check the show out. Everything rocketed off from there.
Ohey, my third year anniversary is approaching in a bit over a month.

[OfficerShields]

I discovered MLP:FIM in late 2012, after watching the full length episode "Its About Time" on YouTube, and very much enjoyed what I watched. However I placed my curiosity aside and got more into compelling single player video games such as Fallout 3, New Vegas, The Last of Us, Beyond: Two Souls, and Skyrim. So over the course of 2013 I had kind of forgotten about the show.

Sometime during January of this year however, I decided to re-download and play DC Universe Online, a game I had abandoned since summer of the previous year. While gliding around Metropolis I saw a message from a user in Chat advertising his MLP-themed league. The first time I saw his advertisment I ignored him, but the following day I was once again in Metropolis and saw his message again.

This time I took him up on it, and joined the league as Applejack  . It turned out that he was the only member of the league and was being viciously ridiculed by other players for being a brony  . I decided to take on the challenge of recruiting the rest of the MLP cast, and after a month of doing so, I earned my position as second in command. 

It was during this time I joined the fandom and, about a month later, found out about Legends of Equestria. 

[Chromastone64]

You can thank a YouTuber called Joshscorcher (Commander Firebrand) for my discovery of this amazing franchise.

I think it was about two years ago. I was browsing through his channel, watching most of his vids, but i stayed away from that certain corner labled "My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic Reveiws" (I was a HUGE hater before. Didn't know that there was a fanbase, just the typical "Ponies are girly" stigma). Eventually, i decided: "Ok, I'll watch his review of the pilot episode, and that's it." One view later, I decided to watch the rest of his reviews, because they were really funny, plus Pinkie had started to grow on me. Then i watched and episode without commentary. Then another...then another...and soon i had watched every episode in the whole seiries over about a month. Imagine my shock when I found out this "little girl's show" had such a huge and awesome fanbase.

And now I can say I am proud to be a brony, and throughly regret EVER hating this show. 

[LightningDart]

I never even knew they had made another generation or anything about it until I found this video

After that I got interested because I thought that was a normal joke.  It wasn't, but I got hooked after the first episode.

[NovaDash]

Saw a video review which made the show look quite good so I decided to give it a go starting with the first episode on youtube, then watched the next episode, then the next, by the time I knew it I watched all of season 1. Then saw season two opener, Discord two parter which to date is my favourite episode (even though its two).  I then started watching season 2 as it came out on-line and as a result became a full fledged brony   

[TieDyeGirl42]

Well, about 3 years ago or so, I saw the video 'Sunshine and Celery stalks' by PinkiePieSwear. I soon forgot about the ponies until a year later, when I saw a huge amount of pony memes and decided to watch episode 1 & 2. I soon fell in love with the show about halfway into episode 2. 

[Pegasus_Name_Goes_Here]

 A few songs...

www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRP1DUdU3d0

www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcjso2HmQqo

[lazygizmo]

i dont remember how i got here. i only remember that i got to watching the show right as season 1  was ending. then watch everything and got caught up before season 2 started. i dont think ill every leave. people think the whole fandom thing act as one and is a reflection of everyone who likes the show. i enjoy any content they put out. when everyone says the fandom is dead and all that, ill still be here regardless.

[Itzmattxd]

I didnt. I just liked a few of the episodes and thought it was funny. Im much more into the fanmade stuff.

Then flufflepuff happened and this was me :