Why has the new "My Little Pony" cartoon turned into a meme?

I'm seeing it all over memebase, rage comics of dudes calling each other "bronies"... What am I missing? I just looked it up and watched about a 3 minute clip and it just seemed like any other cartoon designed for girls under the age of 8, what am I missing? I don't want any answers like "dude you just gotta watch it" I really wanna know, why is it becoming so popular????