So what finally made you leave the fandom?
There was no single straw that broke the camel's back, really. It's a combination of things.
Firstly, Hasbro seems to have been more aggressively marketing the show lately and it feels like they're asserting more corporate influence on the creative process than when the show first started. I think that's partly the reason why Lauren Faust left after the first or second season or whatever. It's starting to lose its... well... magic, for me. It stopped being a novelty and it went back to being a franchise. The show's had some really epic things happening in recent seasons, and the two movies, but overall it feels like it's going downhill.
For the longest time I played with an obvious Brony gamer tag and emblem on Battlefield 4 and I just started getting tired of being heckled about it. It was fun in the beginning, because I know someone wouldn't take notice of it unless I was kicking their ass, but all the insults and namecalling, and all the people asking "Why the hell are you into that shit, wierdo," adds up, and it really starts to make you reconsider your conviction.
Also, I'm kind of an asshole when it comes to shooters so I felt bad misrepresenting the fandom. I went back to using my old tag and it's very liberating not having to worry about making anyone else look bad. And I realized how important that was to me. I realized I don't like representing an entity too much larger than myself.
Even the gentle teasing from friends and family has an impact. In my mind, they think I'm a weirdo just like every other asshole but they tolerate me because I, apparently, have some redeeming qualities. That's probably the totally wrong perspective but that's how it feels to me. Essentially, being a Brony became too closely coupled to my identity, which I wasn't very comfortable with.
I guess what really made me start thinking about it, though, was something that came up a couple months ago.
I think as much as they are responsible for perpetuating MLP, a lot of Bronies are also responsible for, essentially, corrupting it. For many it's an innocent hobby but there's quite a few out there that have done some really twisted things with the canon. I'll spare the details, you know what I mean anyways. I'm not ashamed, I don't regret it, but I will admit I have taken part.
I play with a small group of friends online, and one guy I've been spending a lot of my game time with told me recently that his little brother is a Brony. This kid is only 8 years old and he's jumping on the bandwagon, wanting the toys and to go to all these cons and shit. And I think to myself, this kid doesn't know what he's getting into. Aside from the usual hazing, kids have gotten brutally beaten up before for wearing MLP stuff. I know, in some part, it's my fault for whatever this kid gets teased about for as long as he advertises that he's a fan of MLP.
He's not a Brony because he wants to challenge traditional gender roles, he's doing it because he hears it's popular and there's a bunch of older people who think it's really cool, and he wants to be all edgy and grown up like every other 8 year old, but he has no idea what many of us get up to. And what kind of image that presents for the rest of us. I don't want to know what he would think of us if he ever found out. That's the part I would be ashamed of: destroying a little kid's innocence. I knew that was going to happen from the start, but it didn't really become personal until now.