Once a Brony, Always a Brony

As I have hinted at a few times here, I am a somewhat casual fan of My Little Pony:  Friendship Is Magic.  I don't collect the toys.  I have only looked at the comic books, never have bought any.  Pretty much just interested in the cartoon.  Because of this, one could call me a 'brony,' a male fan of the series, particularly one who is beyond the typical age range of the cartoon.  Over the weekend, the series finale aired multiple times.  I have to admit, I cried a little when it ended.  It wasn't perfect.  The first hour was all about the season's villains made their attack and how the 'Mane 6' dealt with them.  The surprise twist about how they got together was enjoyable.  However, the fact that they weren't redeemed by friendship, even just a little, unlike pretty much every other villain during the run, kind of broke with the series's overall themes.  The final half hour was a flash forward to the future showing how the cast turned out.  While many facets were glossed over, the few that were revealed were very telling.  Pinkie Pie was the only one who was shown to be married and with a child.  Considering she has three sisters and a presumed husband, who was shown a bit later on, I'm surprised she couldn't find a babysitter, unless her kid has a reputation similar to Pinkie's.  Yeah, Rainbow Dash and Applejack don't seem to have children 😉, and Fluttershy seems to be in a relationship with Discord that could prevent her from having kids, but there's no reason to presume that Twilight and Rarity don't have kids.  Both could easily get sitters.  Rainbow Dash appears to be a general in the Wonder Bolts, semi-retired perhaps.  Applejack still works on the farm, being an aunt to Big Mac's family.  Couldn't tell if they had more than one kid though.  I only saw one, but there were a bunch of four-legged things in the background.  Rarity has even more boutiques, more non-pony creatures, with two of the former friendship students running the Ponyville shop.  As mentioned, Fluttershy is still friends with Discord, who helps her run the reserve. At least they have all of Angel's, the rabbit, descendants to deal with.  Starlight Glimmer is still running the school, with Sunburst.  The Cutie Mark Crusaders are teaching there, along with a few other former students.  Some of the information I saw online hinted that Flurryheart was seen, but I didn't notice her during any of the times I watched.  Many other fan-favorite characters were glimpsed, but there were a few more that could have shown up.  All in all, I liked it.  I only started watching with the fourth season, when Discovery Family, then known as The Hub, got added to my channel lineup.  At first, I just wanted to see what all of the fuss was about.  I had been hearing about the show for awhile, from some of my overlapping interests, and decided to check it out.  I got hooked.  Somehow, I got to see all of the previous seasons (I think) on reruns.I knew about the original show from the 80s, but this one was better.  The plots were more dramatic, especially when compared to many of the "boy" cartoons out at the time.  There was also the friendship quotient.  Just like the 'Mane 6,' I had always felt/wanted to have some friends to rely on for years.  That never happened.  I tried, but it fell apart, possibly on my end, maybe on theirs.  Maybe it was too little too late.  It takes me a long time to feel comfortable around someone to open up and try to become a friend, probably due to issues when I was a young boy.  For various reasons, I never made any friends in college.  I never had a job, so no work friends.  I never had to chance to go out, so I was never in a situation to find friends elsewhere.  I guess I started watching because it gave me a chance to feel that 'magic of friendship' that was missing in my life for so long.  This was just a year or two before I joined social media and began to reconnect to the world.  As I have mentioned, I am very immature for my age at times.  Thank you ponies for everything! You helped me out, even if I am not your average fan.