The latest show within the My Little Pony franchise, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, developed by Lauren Faust who created other successful cartoons such as The Powerpuff Girls and Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends, has garnered a dedicated cult fan base, in addition to being well received from critics, that is an Internet sensation with many of the cartoon’s fans being males from 14 to 35 who refer to themselves and other fans of the show, regardless of gender as bronies, a portmanteau of “bro” and “pony.”

The reason for its growing popularity on the Internet is rooted within the fans of cartoon and animation on the Internet board 4chan; this reaction has spread throughout many Internet forums and resulted in an entire section of Memebase dedicated to pony memes, entitled “My Little Brony,” and blogs dedicated to the show such as “Equestria Daily” and “Pony Chan” that features artwork and news regarding the show.

News outlets such as FOX News and the Wall Street Journal have given the brony fandom media attention and PC and Time magazine both named the brony meme in their top ten lists of 2011.

“I like the show because it’s animated very well and unlike other shows, expecially kid’s shows, it actually has a moral to tell,” said senior Dalton Ripley, as to why he is a brony and loves the show. “I really have no idea [why it’s so popular among teenage males]”, Ripley continued. “I like it for the appeal of the animation and the story. There are also a lot of great little Easter eggs hidden in the show.”

Easter eggs are little intentional hidden messages within a show, sort of like an inside joke for fans who are lucky to catch them while they are watching. For example, in one episode, the opening scene takes place in a bowling alley, and you can quickly see the four main characters from The Coen brothers’ The Big Lebowski as ponies.

The show takes place in the land of Equestria and focuses on the adventures of Twilight Sparkle, a unicorn pony who was sent to Ponyville by her teacher, Princess Celestia, to learn the magic of friendship; Pinkie Pie, a hyper pony who loves to throw parties and eat cupcakes; Fluttershy, a shy Pegasus pony who has a fondness for animals; Rarity, a sometimes conceited unicorn pony with great fashion sense; Rainbow Dash, a Pegasus pony who controls the weather and one day dreams of making the ultimate flying team, the Wonderbolts; and Applejack, a southern-accented pony who tends her apple orchard on the outskirts of Ponyville.

“My favorite pony is Rainbow Dash,” said Ripley while wearing a “brony” shirt with his favorite pony on it, “because she’s just really arrogant and self-centered and for some reason I really like that, she’s so different from every pony on the show, and also because she’s the most awesome pony and she’s 20% cooler than all of them, too.”

“Fluttershy is my favorite pony,” said senior Mike Michaud. “She’s adorable. I love her so much.”

“I have only seen the first episode, but from that, I’d have to say Pinkie Pie is my favorite pony,” said senior Kathryn Lowney. “I did really like it. I just haven’t had time to watch the rest of the episodes.”

The show and the brony meme has its critics, some people on Internet forums have called bronies the “scum of the Internet. There was once a temporary ban on all things related to My Little Pony on 4chan due to the “trolling” attacks from the show’s fans that consisted of non-stop posting of pictures and posts related to the show. Even when Googling the words “Bronies are...” the options to finish that phrase include “annoying,” “stupid,” and “creepy.”

“First of all, it’s a show for three-year-old girls,” said junior Matt Calvin. “I’ve seen 10 minutes of it and it’s not like what any brony will tell you.”

Calvin also said that he’d compare bronies to the die-hard, or “twi-hard,” fans of the Twilight Saga. “There are just way too many fans that are obnoxious. If they keep it to themselves, it’s fine; if they display it, it’s annoying.”

Regardless of the people who hate the show and the brony meme, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is in the middle of its second season at the moment, which premiered with almost 340,000 people watching. There are 13 episodes left to air in the current season, and a third season is already in production and is scheduled to premiere in the fall of 2012.