Six Bronies
I’ve always wanted to live near the sea. One of the first things I did as soon as I got enough money was to buy a house in a small coastal city, a decision which I don’t regret, and never will.
I love the sea. I’m not much of swimmer, but I feel more relaxed just by living next to it. I love walking through the promenade in the afternoon, watching how the orange light of the sun reflects in the water, as the salty smell fills my lungs. Just like today. I’m walking calmly, enjoying the sound of my cane gently clashing against the floor.
I don’t need the cane, not yet, but I’ve always wanted one. Maybe it’s my inner snob, I don’t know.
I keep walking, and it doesn’t take me too long to find a chubby man, more or less as old as I am, sitting on a bench, staring at the sunset. I sit next to him. I know him, in fact we’ve agreed to meet here before reuniting with the others. His name is Jonathan, and just like me, he’s a brony.
Eh... ‘brony’... A smile comes to my lips every time I think of that word, because it sounds so distant now...
Just like many others, I became a fan of the fourth generation of the My Little Pony franchise, Friendship is Magic. I remember that I was very skeptical at first, not wanting to believe that a show about tiny talking horses could be anything good, but I decided to give it a try. I ended up watching the whole first season in three days.
I was completely caught by the ‘Brony Wave’, as I like to call it. I couldn’t spend one single day without listening to one of the songs or watching a random episode. I even opened an account on FIMfiction.net and wrote a few fanfics. It took me a while to get out of the closet, but eventually I started to wear My Little Pony shirts, buy some toys, go to conventions... I met really wonderful people, and the day I finally got my hands on that plushie of Pinkie Pie was one of the happiest of my life.
And then? Then, it all ended.
Now, it didn’t happen all of a sudden, obviously. The guys at Hasbro were smart, and they milked the goose that laid golden eggs as much as they could. G4 lasted for five seasons before ending definitively, and even the most hardcore bronies agreed with that, preferring to say goodbye to their favourite characters while they still resembled themselves, before they lost that spark which had made them so lovable. But that didn’t prevent Hasbro from finding new material, and they created two spin-off shows: one about Daring Do, and the other focusing on the Cutie Mark Crusaders and other fillies. Both of them were quite successful. They also made two movies of Friendship is Magic, shortly after the end of Season 5.
But we all knew it was over when Lauren Faust herself, who had returned to be the show's executive producer by the start of Season 4, asked Hasbro to plug the whole thing off. The second season of Daring Do Adventures and the third one of Cutie Mark Crusaders Chronicles, as well as the third movie, were cancelled.
G4 didn’t completely disappear after that, of course. The movies and the five seasons are still being re-broadcasted today from time to time, although almost no one watches them, you’ll see why. There are still fanfics and fanart, albeit not as much as when it all started, and even some fan episodes were made. And, just like you can still find the very first television special of My Little Pony from 1984 thanks to the Internet, I’m pretty sure that Friendship is Magic will be on Youtube long after I’m gone.
But the world had decided that it was time to move, and you know what happens with the world: either you move with it, or you’re left behind. G5 aired on television a year after the last chapter of Cutie Mark Crusaders Chronicles, under the name of My Little Pony Legacy, and saying that everyone was excited would be an understanding. Hasbro had promised that they would keep the spirit of G4 alive, that they would continue Lauren’s legacy, that they would repeat the miracle which had happened in the tenth day of the tenth month of 2010.
It flopped. Horribly.
The animation in G5 was even better than in Friendship is Magic, without a doubt, but it failed in everything else. The reason? Well, apparently there had been a change of direction in Hasbro, and the newcomers didn’t quite understand that one of the reasons why G4 had been such a success was that Lauren Faust liked the original My Little Pony. For her, Friendship is Magic was not just a new cartoon in which she was working, it was a part of her childhood becoming a reality, a dream come true, as it were. It’s like the difference of watching a parody made by someone who actually likes and respects the source material, and another parody by someone who doesn’t care about it. The guys in charge of G5 knew a lot about animation, innovation and remakes, but they had no idea about ponies. One of them even admitted, in one interview, that for him, Friendship is Magic was just a cartoon like any other, and that he didn’t understand why it had gathered so many fans.
As you can imagine, the result of this was catastrophic. Everything earned through the five seasons of G4 was lost in the blink of an eye. Actually, it became worse. The old view of My Little Pony as a “merchandise show for little girls” was not only revived, but upgraded to “a horrible merchandise show for little girls.” All around the world, bronies became weirdos and subjects of jokes again, to the point that some of them even rejected their bronyism and swore that they had never had anything to do with ponies, not even the G4 ones.
Ok, maybe I’m exaggerating a bit with that last line. It wasn’t entirely Legacy’s fault. Truth is, there had been bronies leaving the herd since the beginning of the fandom, for several reasons: some didn’t like the new seasons, others realized that they weren’t as hardcore fans as they thought, others found new cartoons which liked even more, and others had personal reasons. But G5 didn’t help, at all. Anyway, the show was cancelled after the first seven episodes, and we would have to wait ten years before we could see a pony again.
In that lapsus, the spirit of Friendship is Magic started to fade, slowly. The number of conventions dropped gradually until they simply stopped happening. Acquiring a doll of Princess Celestia, for example, became impossible unless you bought it by Internet from someone who didn’t want it anymore, since all the G4 merchandise had been replace with dolls of the G5 cast, who almost no one bought. Many websites dedicated to ponies closed. Equestria Daily and FIMFiction.net are two of the few which are still around, although they’re mere ghosts of what they used to be. All the memes, from ‘20% cooler’ to ‘Forever’, lost their original strength, no matter how much the dwindling bronies tried to keep them alive. Youtube forgot the ponies and became the domain of Team Fortress 3 and the newest generation of Transformers, and non-bronies and haters started to joke about how ‘the universe had been restored to its natural state.’
But finally, after a whole decade, Hasbro decided to try again. G6 was just a movie, My Little Pony: The Garden of Dreams, with barely no merchandise and no plans to be turned into a complete television series. To everyone’s surprise, and the relief of the few surviving bronies, the film did pretty good. It was not exceptionally brilliant, but it wasn’t bad, either. However, although the results were much better than expected, Hasbro wasn’t going to take any risks, and the movie remained as only a movie.
Three years later, the first episode of G7, My Little Pony: Sparkling Adventures, aired on television. I think I was one of the few old-school bronies who gave it a try, and I’m glad I did, because it was like watching Friendship is Magic all over again. Hasbro had recovered what had made G4 so likeable. It’s not as good, of course (at least, for me), but it’s a worthy successor. It has even raised its own generation of completely new fans, most of which barely know about G4. This new series is going to have it a bit hard to restore the Brony Wave after thirteen years of silence, but hey, if Friendship is Magic could do it, why not this one?
But, even if it manages to restore everything we lost, it won’t be our cartoon. They won’t be our ponies.
I sit next to Jonathan, and we both contemplate the sunset in silence for a while. I can see that he has gained a few pounds since the last time we saw each other. He has also lost some hair as well. Well, so I did, sadly. We’re not so different.
“Nice to see you again, friend,” I say, breaking the silence. I also extend a fist towards him. “Brohoof?”
Jonathan takes a sad look at me, and wearily, he touches my fist with his, but he doesn’t say ‘brohoof’. He doesn’t even mumble it.
We stare at the sea for another few minutes.
“I almost decided not to come this year,” says Jonathan, looking at his feet. “Don’t get me wrong, it’s always great to spend time with you guys, but... it’s just that all of this reminds me of everything that went away, everything we lost.”
I don’t reply to that, but I let out a sigh of empathy. I can understand him, because I’ve also thought like that many times.
“What did we do wrong, Bill?” he asks me, now looking at the sun again. “When it all started, we were so excited about everything... It was a worldwide phenomenon! Bronies everywhere! There was fanart, and fanfics, and fanvids... Everything is gone now. Even the fans who are still there, like us, are nothing but a shadow of what they once were.”
I hate to admit it, but he’s right. I still re-watch some episodes and the movies from time to time, but much less than before, and I can’t remember when was the last time I checked my account on FIMFiction. The site could have been taken down, and I wouldn’t know.
“People don’t even remember the show anymore,” continues Jonathan. “When asked about it, the best I can get sometimes is something like ‘Ah, that cartoon from the 10ies that got so much following.’, but if I’m not lucky, I may get gems such as ‘Friendship is Magic? Wasn’t that the prequel to The Garden of Dreams, the one that failed so bad?’. I’m serious, I’ve heard people saying that. Can you believe it?”
I just shrug.
“Some people still have a hard time understanding that spiders are not insects,” I say. “It doesn’t surprise me that they know nothing about G4.”
Jonathan laughs a bit. Good, that was my intention. The poor man seems more in the dumps than usual.
“What did we do wrong, Bill?” he asks me, again.
“We didn’t do anything wrong,” I say. “Nobody could have guessed that G5 would be such a-”
“I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about us, about you and me, about the bronies who are still there. I always thought that our fandom had something different from all the others, something that would allow us to endure for many years. But look at us now, back in the closets. No, we’re not even in the closets, we just don’t care about our ponies anymore. How could we end up like this?”
I sigh, and shrug again.
“I guess we changed,” I say.
“How could that happen?”
“I’m afraid there’s no explanation, it just happened. Remember Pokémon?”
“Yes. What has that to do with ponies?”
“When it came out, I was one of the biggest Pokémon geeks you could find. I knew the names of all the creatures, their attacks, I had the games, I watched the TV show and the movies... By the time I became a brony, I had practically forgotten about it. And it has happened to me with many other things, things I thought were amazing when I discovered them, and they ended up being mere shadows in my memory, shadows which I barely care about. Of course, I thought that with My Little Pony things would be different, that it would last forever. I was so naive...”
“So, it’s all gone now, isn’t it?”
“I’m afraid so. But then again, that’s how the world works, right? Old things go, new things come. Both in nature, human society, and human heart.”
“Gone,” repeats Jonathan, with a tired voice. “All gone...”
I don’t reply, and we sink in an uncomfortable, almost hurtful silence.
“We should get going,” I say, standing up. “It’s almost time, and the others will be waiting for us.”
***
Jonathan and I enter in a restaurant. The maître knows me and shakes my hand, giving me a warm welcome. Before I can ask any questions, because he has seen us do the same for the past years and already knows how it goes, the maître smiles and points to a table, where our friends are waiting for us.
We approach, and they stand up, smiling and with the arms extended. We hug each other, and ask the usual “How’s it going?” which are not really answered, save for the even more usual “Fine, thank you,” or “I can’t complain!”. It’s actually pointless, because we will tell each other everything we did in the past year during the dinner, but we do it anyway.
I get, as an extra, a good one: “So, did you finally fall off stairs, or is that cane still an ornament?” Such funny guys...
Jonathan and I occupy our seats. The people around us take a quick look at our table, and then they return to their own business, not giving us importance, thinking that we’re just a bunch of old friends reuniting.
And we are. But we’re also bronies. The six of us.
Paul is the one who attracts the most attention, with his old-fashioned yet strangely attractive cowboy hat. He even tries to speak with Texas accent, even though he’s from Washington. Of all of us, he’s the one who has gotten the closest to that impossible dream of going to Equestria: after winning the lottery, and after some very clever investments, he had his life practically solved, so he retired to a pony farm. He has three mares, which he has promptly named Twilight Sparkle, Applejack and Fluttershy. Every Christmas he sends us cards with pictures of him, laughing at us while he hugs his ponies. That funny lucky bastard...
Richard is also enjoying a brony dream: he's working on the staff of Sparkling Adventures. That’s right, he is getting paid for drawing and animating ponies. Not the ones from G4, but close enough. Apparently, he has convinced his boss to let him slip some characters from Friendship is Magic as background cameos in a couple of scenes. “Look carefully the next time you see a crowd of ponies!” he tells us. “You might see Rainbow Dash or Rarity!”
Steve also works on Sparkling Adventures, although not as much as Richard, since he’s just the voice actor for some minor characters. His true job is in cinema. He has already appeared in three movies, as the main character in one of them. They were not very famous, but his talent has been recognized by some bigger producers, and he’s waiting for his big moment. Steve dreams of winning an Oscar someday and I sincerely hope it happens.
David works in Blizzard Entertainment, bringing more World of Warcraft expansions to the world, but in his spare time, he works on a Friendship is Magic videogame. He has been creating it from scratch for the past two years now and the news have started to fly through the net, raising quite a surprising amount of expectation from both old-school bronies and the new ones who are curious about the legendary G4.
Mmh, maybe the fire of friendship hasn’t been reduced to ashes yet...
Jonathan, unlike all the others, never sought for any job related to ponies, or videogames. He married, had a kid, and he now teaches in a school in Minnesota. He has a completely normal life, not taking part in any secret conspiracy with crazy bronies like us to bring Friendship is Magic back from the shadows. Or does he?
“I showed my kid the first two episodes of Friendship is Magic,” says Jonathan, with a smile.
“Really?” asks Paul. “And what did she say?”
“Oh, she likes them... But she says it’s not as good as Sparkling Adventures.”
We all laugh.
Oh, I guess it’s my turn now, right? I’m the last one.
My name is Bill, and I’m a writer. I’ve been pursuing this dream since before I wrote my first fanfic of My Little Pony, and I’ve finally reached it. I’m not as rich or famous as Stephen King or J. K. Rowling, not even close, but my books give me enough money to have food every day and a ceiling over my head, so it’s fine for me.
And yes, I’m also making my own weird homages to G4. I put a pony in every single one of my books. If I can, if the story is surreal enough, the pony is pink. Most of my readers think it’s just a weird thing I like to do, but my friends know the truth.
***
The night transcurred as it was supposed to do. They brought us the dinner, we ate, we drank, and we laughed all the time, remembering our old times as young bronies. We rescued our favourite memes from the corners of our memories, and we recalled our favourite scenes from the show. We also tried to convince Richard to reveal us secrets from future episodes of G7, but he does his job too well, so we get nothing.
But we had a really good time. Jonathan is in a much better mood than before, and so am I. Nobody would believe that we were two depressed guys watching the sunset just some hours ago. We even did brohoofs. That’s when the waiters started to look weird at us.
Now the table is empty, save for our glasses and the bottle of wine. Most of the other clients have already gone home, but we’re still here, still laughing. It’s dark outside now.
Steve is doing an impersonation of Iron Will at Paul’s request. I lay my back on my chair while everyone else laughs, and I can’t help but to think about this night, about our reunion.
I have an epiphany.
Is Friendship is Magic really gone? Is the brony fandom truly extinguished? Look at us, six crazy guys in our good forties, some of us reaching their fifties, together in a restaurant, making jokes about an old cartoon and remembering good times from our past full of ponies. But we are so happy and cheerful, that anyone would say that we’re talking about some really good thing that happened to us this very morning, not two decades ago.
Truly, it’s just a weak flame compared with the first years of the fandom, but hey, it’s still there, we’re still here. Maybe we don’t listen to the music too often, maybe we spent years without rewatching our favourite episodes, maybe we don’t write nor read anymore fanfics, maybe our plushies and dolls are gathering dust in the corner of a shelf somewhere, maybe we don’t talk or think about it as much as before. Maybe we changed, even if we didn’t pretend to.
Maybe all that is true, but there’s another thing that is also true: we haven’t forgotten. We won’t forget. And just like us, the other bronies of the world surely won’t, either.
Friendship is Magic isn’t gone. It’s asleep and not as strong as before, but it’s still here. It’s in those who still write fanfiction, in those who watch the videos and smile at the memories, in those who find their dolls while cleaning the house and decide to put them back in their rooms, in the pink ponies I slip in my books, in Sparkling Adventures... it’s in all those who remember. And we remember. Once a year, in this restaurant, the six of us.
I smile.
Steve ends his performance, and we all applaud.
“Guys,” I say, picking up my glass. “I propose a toast.”
They all raise their own glasses, and we cheer.
We cheer for Sparkling Adventures, may it create as much bronies as our old show did.
We cheer for Lauren Faust, Tara Strong, Andrea Libman, Tabitha St. Germain, Ashleigh Ball, and all the other members of the Friendship is Magic staff; may they be happy, wherever they may be right now.
We cheer for G4, for all it gave to us, and because we will never forget it, even if we don’t think about it as much as before, even if we move onto other things.
We cheer for us, because our chapter in the big book of life is approaching its final pages.
We cheer for the new chapters that have yet to come.
We cheer for us, six bronies dining in a restaurant.
We cheer because, even after all these years, friendship is still magic.
SIX BRONIES - END
