TIFU by not knowing what being a brony actually means

For some backstory, I am currently a 24m and I have two daughters. When I was younger, roughly 10yrs old, my younger sister got into the show my little pony and I enjoyed watching it. I am by no means a die hard fan but the general goofiness and messages in the episodes stood out to me so when I had kids of my own and they were old enough I decided to watch my little pony with them. I heard the term brony growing up and was told that it referred to a guy who likes my little pony but that was all the context I was given so i just rolled with it.

Fast forward a bit more than a decade where I was working as a manager for a fast food place. As is true with many fast food places, there were a lot of minors employed there, so you can assume that whenever I am there the majority of the staff are kids between 16-18yrs old. About 10 people would be working at any given point with no more than 3 other adults working in the building.

This story takes place on one of my shifts, it was early in the morning and I was opening the store with a couple other people. I just happened to mention to one of them that I started watching my little pony with my kids and they asked with a chuckle "are you going to tell me you're a brony now" to which I responded very confidently "of course I am, I am very proud of it and don't see an issue with liking my little pony." He seemed a little surprised and taken aback asking me if I was serious. Throughout the day as more people came in and shift changes happened (I worked long shifts so it was normal for me to see the entire morning staff and at least greet the night staff before leaving) the original person I was talking to would tell everyone that I was a brony and I had a lot of people asking me questions like who was my favorite. I should note here that rarity is my favorite until season 4, then it is twilight once she gets her wings, and when people heard this they would always respond with something like "oh, that's a classic" or "of course it is, I feel like rarity is every bronies favorite", you get the idea. They also asked how long I have been a brony, if I think it is weird, what is it like and to every question I just responded about the show, why I like it, how I thought it was fun to watch something with my kids, etc.

Having so many people coming to me and asking questions I started feeling a little weird. So, I pointed out a couple of the other male employees and said things along the lines of you look like a brony, why don't you try it, don't be ashamed of it I can tell you like it too. There was one employee, a 17yr old boy, who I really focused a lot of my comments on because we got along pretty well. After about an hour or so he started to get really angry with me and telling me to stop after I made a comment about how his favorite pony is probably fluttershy.

Eventually my shift ends and I go home where of course I tell my wife about the weird and silly conversation I had at work. When I finished telling her about what happened she asks, "did you really tell everyone you're a brony?" I just said what's wrong with that and she asked "are you actually a brony?" to which I said yeah, I am surprised you don't know that. She looked at me skeptically and thought to ask if I knew what it meant. Seeing the look on her face and hearing the tone of her voice I told her I am starting to think I don't know what it means. It was that moment that I found out that apparently being a brony refers to not just liking my little pony but also being attracted to the ponies...very very attracted to them. I was mortified to realize what I was accidentally saying to all these people and all those giggles, jabs, and confusion as to why I was talking about being a brony at work, actually meant.

To all the guys out there like me, just liking the show my little pony does not mean you are a brony. Do yourself a favor and look up what it means before telling everyone at your job that you are attracted to animated ponies. I will also throw out that there is no judgment from me if you are a brony but I definitely am not and if I were I would've been smart enough to avoid having that conversation with a bunch of my subordinates and minors. I seriously considered never going back but I had a lot of apologies to make to my staff.

TL;DR I thought being a brony just meant that you are a guy who likes watching my little pony so I told all my co-workers that I am a brony. I didn't realize there was a sexual undertone until I talked with my wife about it and she told me what being a brony actually meant...after I accidently told a bunch of co-workers, mostly minors, about a kink that I don't actually have.