• Build a society complete with a central government  
• Institute/grant jobs for the common folk to work  
• Instate logistical functions like police and military that are needed in order to keep the peace and uphold the law (laws, which must be instated by the aforementioned government)  
• Build blimps with which to traverse the skies  
• Cultivate farms to grow food (I should’ve probably just relegated that to the “job” category, but whatever)  
• Craft pointless niceties like designer clothing outlets to be desired by the masses (I’m so sorry for saying that, Rarity; I’m just trying to make a point, honest)  
• Build schools to teach every next generation, et cetera
   
  Blah blah blah. So much! Sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much! So many intricate and absurdly complicated things that makes them basically human. Oh, except they have hooves and magic. I forgot, in this flawed argument, it’s the appearance that matters the most. My bad.
   
  All sarcasm aside (well, not all), those things do in fact make them very, incredibly, almost stupidly human. Mostly because, aside from the current shape and form that we as the human race exist in, those are all of the traits that make us an “arisen” species that no longer has to forage in the dung for good bugs to eat or fear thunder like it’s God’s way of screaming at us.
   
  Look, I know gorillas and dolphins are very smart, especially by stupid animal standards, and we humans proved this by teaching a gorilla sign language, but I don’t think they’re quite to the point of “build a prison to contain our world’s ultimate evils because the moral quandary of killing them is complicated” smart. You know, otherwise known as “Tartarus” in the magical pastel-colored pony realm.
   
  These things are not “common” for all sapient creatures. A chimpanzee driving a stick down a termite mound in order to collect a tasty snack is not the same as a collective family working a farm to grow food for an entire community. A howler monkey being able to scream a message of general danger to other howler monkies is not the same as literally writing a letter to the ruler of an organized nation that an imminent threat has been made against said organized nation.
   
  Pony society (and very likely all societies within the MLP universe) is much like our own.
   
  So, clearly, even without standing on two legs, these ponies are anthropomorphic. So, where do we go from here?
   
  Well, you can still enjoy the show without being a furry. Hell, enjoying the movie Zootopia doesn’t immediately make you a furry. However, there’s a point that one can cross, more than likely on the internet, that changes things.
   
  Sexualization.
   
  Once you sexualize an animalistic character, you’re pretty much automatically furry. “Oh, but it’s only MLP characters! Only them and nothing else!” Weak defense, bro. Wouldn’t hold up, not even in the silliest court of law. Likewise, the old “Oh, but it’s an alien!” line is also super weak. Just because someone wants to get wet’n’wild with a xenomorph doesn’t mean they’re exempt from the furry clause, yo.
   
  See, it’s the mental gymnastics involved that I find the most embarrassing. The whole, “No, I’m not a furry because~
   
  At the end of the day, people like what they like. If they’re into furry stuff, whatever. I’m not here to judge. I just find the whole argument involving MLP very contrived, deflective, and pointless. Just like what you like and admit it. Beating around the bush is just sad and pathetic.
   
  Think about it this way: The only way other people are going to know that you’re a furry is if you let them know. If you enjoy furry art, be it conventional or MLP-related, just don’t let anybody know! Problem solved in the easiest and most obvious manner possible. Griping, bitching, moaning, complaining, and screaming about it on the internet only serves the purpose of pointing out that you’re basically the biggest furry to ever exist.
   
  And to finish this off:
   
  @Sergalpony  

@Joseph Raszagal
Ignoring the meaning of words, doesn’t change their existence of meaning, it just means you’re basically denying reality in favor of opinion.

Basically, this is a very long winded and in-depth way of saying, you can be a furry, and/or a brony [or whatever term you prefer], but they are not mutually exclusive nor identical! XD
As Ponies are not an ‘animal that has been given human characteristics’ so much as a naturally sapient quadrupedal species, they are not a definitive ‘furry’ thing, they’re actually a sapient species that would need to be given ‘more’ human characteristics to be considered anthropomorphized to fit the qualifications.