99 Fun Facts About My Little Pony

Which Rhode Island toy company launched My Little Pony in the early 1980s?

Hasbro's first try was a single large horse in hard brown plastic, worked by a trigger under its chin; it was soon remade as six small pastel ponies in soft vinyl with manes to brush.

My Little Pony grew out of which earlier, larger toy horse that could wink and swish its tail?

My Pretty Pony was brown hard plastic with a trigger under its chin; its successors swapped that for soft pastel vinyl, silky manes to brush and a symbol on each rump.

Which illustrator is credited as the original creator of the My Little Pony toy line?

Bonnie Zacherle had left the brand decades before Friendship Is Magic, yet its adult fans sought her out: she was a guest at BronyCon's final convention in 2019.

Which winter holiday in Friendship Is Magic celebrates the founding of Equestria?

Hearth's Warming marks the day three feuding pony tribes made peace: their quarrels had fed the ghostly Windigos that froze the land, until friendship lit a fire that drove the winter off.

The symbols on the ponies' flanks are known in Friendship Is Magic as what?

Cutie marks appear only once a pony finds a special talent or purpose, so young ponies still waiting for theirs are mocked as "blank flanks".

Which Element of Harmony does Pinkie Pie represent in Friendship Is Magic?

Laughter, from the least likely of homes: Pinkie was raised on a dreary rock farm, and grew up into a pony who will find any excuse to throw a party.

How does Zecora, the zebra who lives in the Everfree Forest, always speak in Friendship Is Magic?

In rhyme: Ponyville at first hides from the striped stranger as an "evil enchantress", until a curious filly follows her home and the ponies find a kindly herbalist instead.

Which Powerpuff Girls and Foster's Home animator developed Friendship Is Magic?

Lauren Faust was "extremely skeptical" about the job, having disliked toy cartoons as a child, and took it to prove that shows for girls "don't have to be a puddle of smooshy, cutesy-wootsy, goody-two-shoeness".

The developer of Friendship Is Magic is married to which cartoon creator, whom she consulted while building its world?

Craig McCracken, creator of The Powerpuff Girls, later said she had left the pony show unhappily: making it "for a toy company" was difficult, and "there's still some frustration" over ideas that never reached the screen.

Friendship Is Magic premiered in October 2010 on which US channel?

The Hub went on air that same day, a relaunch of Discovery Kids half-owned by the ponies' own toy maker, which is why its launch shows were built on toys; it became Discovery Family in 2014.

Where was Friendship Is Magic animated?

Vancouver, Canada: Studio B animated the show there and most of the cast recorded there too, while the scripts came from Los Angeles, so writers and artists mostly worked together at a distance.

What does Twilight Sparkle become in the Friendship Is Magic finale?

Ruler: she is crowned ruler of Equestria when the two royal sisters retire, and the last episode jumps years ahead to show an older Twilight reigning in their place.

The pony heroines of Friendship Is Magic are collectively known as what?

The Mane Six have had a seventh teammate from the start, Spike the dragon, the only boy among them, and are later joined by Starlight Glimmer, a villain who redeems herself.

Which pony does Spike the dragon have a hopeless crush on in Friendship Is Magic?

Rarity: Spike once gave her a fire ruby he had been saving for his birthday, and the sight of it later snaps him out of a greed-fuelled rampage as a giant dragon.

Which pony dreams of joining the Wonderbolts, Equestria's elite flying team, in Friendship Is Magic?

Rainbow Dash broke the sound barrier in a race as a filly, and the rainbow shockwave she left set off the chain of events in which all six friends found their talents on the same day.

Pinkie Pie's pet, Gummy, is what kind of animal?

An alligator, and a harmless one: Gummy has no teeth, so when he bites Pinkie all over he can do no more than gum her.

Which pony can cow any unruly creature in Friendship Is Magic with a look called 'the Stare'?

Fluttershy is the timid one of the group, with a voice barely above a whisper, which makes the Stare a surprise: she uses it sparingly, and only when a friend or an animal is in danger.

Rarity runs which Ponyville business in Friendship Is Magic?

Carousel Boutique is her home and her workshop, and it exists to make a point: the show's developer wanted its fashion-lover seen "not as a shopaholic but as an artist" who sells her own designs.

Which two lead ponies of Friendship Is Magic share one voice actress, Andrea Libman?

Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie, the softest voice in the cast and the wildest, are both Libman; lines were recorded before animation, so she could be as exaggerated as she liked.

Tara Strong, the voice of Twilight Sparkle, is also famous as the voice of which Powerpuff Girl?

Bubbles led to the pony role: the show's developer had worked with Strong on The Powerpuff Girls and asked her to read several ponies for the pitch, then wanted her as Twilight for good.

How does Spike, the baby dragon of Friendship Is Magic, send letters to Princess Celestia?

Through his fire breath: Spike burns each scroll in magic green flame and blows away the ashes, which put themselves back together in front of the princess.

What is the name of the younger sister Princess Celestia banished for a thousand years in Friendship Is Magic?

Luna grew bitter that ponies played all day and slept through her nights, turned into Nightmare Moon and tried to make the night last for ever; her escape is the plot of the very first episode.

Discord, the spirit of chaos in Friendship Is Magic, is voiced by an actor best known as which Star Trek character?

Q was the model for Discord from the start: the crew planned to hire someone who merely sounded like Star Trek's trickster, then found that John de Lancie himself would take the part.

What kind of creature is Discord in Friendship Is Magic?

A draconequus has, in a schoolteacher's words, the head of a pony and a body made up of all sorts of things; Discord spends ages as a stone statue before he breaks out and turns Equestria upside down.

Which three fillies in Friendship Is Magic form a club to discover their special talents?

Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo try everything for years, then earn their marks together for what they had been doing all along: helping other ponies find their purpose.

Adult male My Little Pony fans are 'bronies'; what is the equivalent term for older female fans?

Pegasisters blends pegasus and sister, but it is only sometimes used: brony, itself bro plus pony, is applied to fans of any gender, so a woman who loves the show can be a brony too.

Before Baltimore, BronyCon's first three conventions were held in which city?

New York is why the event was first spelled BroNYCon: by its third gathering it filled a Midtown hotel ballroom, and the capital letters were dropped once it moved out of the city.

Which brony fan site, founded by Shaun Scotellaro in January 2011, passed 36 million page views within nine months?

Equestria Daily grew from one student's blog into the place the show's own crew came to talk: its developer gave it a 32-question retrospective interview after the first season.

The 1986 animated feature My Little Pony: The Movie featured which comic actor among its voice cast?

Danny DeVito voiced the Grundle King, whose ugly but kindly little tribe had lost its homeland to the slime that menaces the ponies; they end the film settling into the ruins of the ponies' castle.

In the 1986 My Little Pony movie, what is the name of the witch Hydia's unstoppable purple slime?

The Smooze swallows the ponies' castle and sours the mood of anyone it splashes; decades later it came back in Friendship Is Magic as a guest Discord brings along to a royal gala.

Which pop star voiced the singer Songbird Serenade in the 2017 My Little Pony: The Movie?

Sia did more than lend her voice: she gave the film an original song, "Rainbow", and Songbird Serenade was designed as her own likeness in pony form.

Which conqueror must the ponies stop in the 2017 film My Little Pony: The Movie?

The Storm King has promised his lieutenant Tempest Shadow a cure for her broken horn; when he betrays her she changes sides, and steps into the blast that turns them both to stone.

Which streamer released My Little Pony: A New Generation after the pandemic scrapped its 2021 cinema run?

Netflix took the film over from Paramount, which had planned to open it in cinemas on the very same day; in parts of Asia it still reached the big screen.

Which actress voices Sunny Starscout, the heroine of My Little Pony: A New Generation?

Vanessa Hudgens plays Sunny, raised on her late father's stories of a time when all ponies were friends, who crashes her town's fear-mongering trade show to prove him right.

In My Little Pony: A New Generation, which town is home to Sunny Starscout and the earth ponies?

Maretime Bay runs on fear of outsiders: its earth ponies have been taught that the other tribes are enemies, so the town factory sells gadgets and traps to keep them out.

In Equestria Girls, what takes Twilight Sparkle to the human world?

A magic mirror in the Crystal Empire: Twilight goes through it after a thief who has stolen her crown, and comes out the other side as a teenage girl at a high school.

Which former student of Celestia becomes the reformed lead of the Equestria Girls films?

Sunset Shimmer enters the series as its villain, stealing Twilight's crown and fleeing with it to the human world; forgiven at the end of the first film, she becomes the heroine of the rest.

Which treasure-hunting pegasus is the heroine of the adventure novels the ponies devour in Friendship Is Magic?

Daring Do turns out to be real: the novels' reclusive author, A.K. Yearling, is the heroine herself, writing up her own adventures and passing them off as fiction.

What was the name of the first human child to visit the ponies in the 1980s My Little Pony cartoons?

Megan is fetched by a flying pony who needs her help to rescue friends carried off by monsters; her brother Danny and sister Molly only join her on a later visit.

Which My Little Pony comedy spin-off with a chibi art style premiered on Discovery Family in November 2020?

Pony Life kept the old cast's voices but swapped quests for five-minute comic sketches, most of them set around the counter of a bakery, Sugarcube Corner.

Who is the villainous alicorn of the My Little Pony series Make Your Mark?

Opaline Arcana wants all of Equestria's magic for herself and sends her servant Misty Brightdawn to spy on the heroes; the shy unicorn ends up joining them instead.

My Little Pony entered the National Toy Hall of Fame in 2024 in the same class as which other 1980s toy line?

Transformers and the ponies had both been finalists so often without winning that the museum named them among its "Forgotten Five" in 2023; a year later both finally went in.

Which company announced a live-action My Little Pony film in July 2025?

Amazon MGM Studios announced it as the ponies' return to cinemas: their last feature had lost its theatrical release to the pandemic, and this was to be the first live-action version in the brand's 43 years.

Where does Twilight Sparkle live for the first four seasons of Friendship Is Magic?

Golden Oak Library is a hollow tree that doubles as the town's library; the villain Tirek blasts it apart at the end of season four, and its roots are saved to hang as a chandelier in her new castle.

Which three kinds of pony live together in Equestria in Friendship Is Magic?

Earth ponies, pegasi and unicorns were imagined as peoples of the ground, the clouds and the mountains; a rare alicorn, with wings and a horn together, stands for harmony among all three.

Which mountainside capital in Friendship Is Magic, all purple and gold, was modelled on European castles and cathedrals?

Canterlot is where the story begins: Twilight is a bookish student at the royal court there until Princess Celestia packs her off to a country town to study friendship.

Applejack works on which family farm in Friendship Is Magic?

Sweet Apple Acres is run by the whole family, from Granny Smith to big brother Big McIntosh and a little sister, with Applejack doing the harvesting herself by bucking the apples out of the trees.

Which composer wrote the songs for My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic?

Daniel Ingram found the songs in earlier pony cartoons dated and pushed his own towards Broadway: one first-season number is modelled on Sondheim's Sunday in the Park with George.

Which actress voices Tempest Shadow, the broken-horned unicorn commander of the 2017 My Little Pony movie?

Emily Blunt's grim commander is hiding a name that undoes all her menace: Tempest Shadow was born Fizzlepop Berrytwist.

Which musician voiced My Little Pony's Cheese Sandwich after sharing fans' pony videos of his songs?

Weird Al Yankovic played Cheese Sandwich in the season 4 episode Pinkie Pride and came back for The Last Laugh in season 9. The role grew out of talks between him and the show's directors.

Which former US president got all three My Little Pony questions right on an NPR radio quiz?

Bill Clinton aced the "Not My Job" phone-in segment a week after the programme had featured the brony fandom. At least one journalist jokingly called him a brony afterwards.

The adult fandom of My Little Pony took off in 2010 on which website, which soon banned pony posts?

4chan's comics and cartoons board was the fandom's cradle. The flame wars between lovers and haters of the show grew so fierce there that posting the word pony became a bannable offence.

Which comic-book giant's animation arm co-produced the 1980s My Little Pony cartoon with Sunbow?

Marvel Productions made the series and the 1986 feature film with Sunbow, while the drawing itself was farmed out to Toei Animation in Japan and AKOM in South Korea.

Spike the dragon becomes which animal when he passes through the portal in the Equestria Girls films?

A dog is the form Spike takes on the other side of the portal. Unlike an ordinary pet, he keeps the ability to speak.

Which rhyming zebra herbalist do Ponyville's townsfolk wrongly fear as an evil enchantress in Bridle Gossip?

Zecora turns out to be a kindly shaman whose potions and advice the ponies come to rely on. Her look and mannerisms draw on African tribal cultures.

Which My Little Pony villain queen, who feeds on love, takes the place of the bride at a royal wedding?

Chrysalis rules the changelings, insect-like shape-shifters, and poses as Princess Cadance until the real couple's combined magic drives her army out.

Which boastful My Little Pony unicorn, a stage magician, calls herself 'the Great and Powerful'?

Trixie talks about herself in the third person and wildly overstates her powers. She first shows up in the episode Boast Busters and turns apologetic after Magic Duel.

In My Little Pony, which pegasus city styled on ancient Greece and Rome holds Equestria's weather factory?

Cloudsdale floats in the sky, and its weather factory turns out the clouds and rainbows for the whole kingdom. The classical look is a nod to the original Olympic Games.

Which older brother of Applejack marries the unicorn baker Sugar Belle in Friendship Is Magic?

Big McIntosh, Big Mac for short, weds Sugar Belle in the episode The Big Mac Question, and the series finale shows her as the mother of their colt.

Which British actress voiced the broken-horned unicorn Tempest Shadow in 2017's My Little Pony: The Movie?

Emily Blunt's commander has a far sillier real name, Fizzlepop Berrytwist. She lost her horn as a foal in an Ursa Minor attack, and her friends drifted away soon after.

Which Star Trek captain, a self-declared brony, voiced Applejack's grandfather in Friendship Is Magic?

William Shatner played Grand Pear in the episode The Perfect Pear, months after revealing he enjoyed the show. Felicia Day guest-starred beside him as Pear Butter, Applejack's late mother.

My Little Pony fans named a brown background pony with an hourglass mark after the hero of which BBC series?

Doctor Who gave the pony his fan name, Doctor Whooves, because viewers thought he resembled David Tennant's Doctor. Official trading cards later christened him Time Turner.

Which animated sitcom spoofed bronies in The Equestranauts, sending a dad undercover at a pony convention?

Bob's Burgers has Bob pose as a fan to win back a rare toy pony that a grown collector tricked out of his daughter Tina.

Which fellow 1980s toy line met My Little Pony in the 2020 crossover comic Friendship in Disguise?

Transformers tumbled into Equestria when a villain's spell tangled with a faulty Spacebridge, stranding Autobots and Decepticons alike among the ponies.

Which bakery in My Little Pony's Ponyville, built like a gingerbread house, is owned by Mr. and Mrs. Cake?

Sugarcube Corner doubles as a home: the Cakes are landlords as well as bosses to their party planner, and they love her as a surrogate daughter.

Which Friendship Is Magic holiday celebrates the three pony tribes ending their feud to found Equestria?

Hearth's Warming Eve is the ponies' answer to Christmas. Its pageant tells how windigos, ice spirits that feed on hatred, froze the land until the tribes' advisors made friends.

Which royal event do the six pony friends wreck in the Friendship Is Magic episode The Best Night Ever?

The Grand Galloping Gala had been the friends' dream ever since they squabbled over two tickets in episode three. Princess Celestia admits she invited them to liven up a dull party.

Which Friendship Is Magic treasure hunter, a parody of Indiana Jones, is secretly the novelist A.K. Yearling?

Daring Do writes up her own real adventures as fiction, so readers never guess the novels are autobiography. Her pen name is a wink at J.K. Rowling.

Which My Little Pony unicorn ran a village of enforced equality before becoming a school guidance counsellor?

Starlight Glimmer magically stripped her villagers of their special talents, convinced that differences spoil friendships. She even meddled with time before she was won over.

Which magic-absorbing centaur of Friendship Is Magic is based on a villain from a 1984 My Little Pony TV special?

Tirek's 1984 forerunner was called Tirac, a demon who turned captured ponies into dragons to pull his Chariot of Darkness.

Which Ponyville schoolteacher in Friendship Is Magic is based on a pony from the 2000s toy line?

Cheerilee shares a voice with Princess Celestia: Nicole Oliver plays both the teacher who adores her pupils and the ruler of Equestria.

Which Friendship Is Magic realm did a tyrant unicorn curse to vanish into thin air a thousand years ago?

The Crystal Empire reappears in the third season along with its banished tyrant, King Sombra, whose comeback is ended by the Crystal Heart that protects the city.

Which wild region beside My Little Pony's Ponyville is home to Steven Magnet, a moustache-proud sea serpent?

Everfree Forest lent its name to Legend of Everfree, a 2016 Equestria Girls film set at a camp plagued by strange magic.

What is the name of the Persian cat kept by the fashion designer Rarity in Friendship Is Magic?

Opalescence usually goes by Opal. The jewel of a name suits her owner, whose special talent is prospecting for gemstones.

Which rock-obsessed My Little Pony character, who rarely shows emotion, keeps a pet rock named Boulder?

Maud Pie eventually finds a kindred spirit in her boyfriend Mudbriar, a literal stick-in-the-mud who dotes on a pet stick called Twiggy.

Which pegasus captains the Wonderbolts, the Friendship Is Magic flying team based on the Blue Angels?

Spitfire is also a no-nonsense instructor at the team's training academy, where Soarin serves as her second-in-command.

Which twin unicorn salesmen of Friendship Is Magic use song and dance to push their faulty products?

Flim and Flam keep having their get-rich-quick schemes foiled by Applejack. They later turn up running a resort in Las Pegasus.

Which cute, fast-breeding creatures devour Ponyville's food in the My Little Pony episode Swarm of the Century?

Parasprites owe more to the film Gremlins than to Star Trek's tribbles, which the episode's writer said he had never seen. A one-pony band finally leads the swarm out of town, Pied Piper style.

Which gentle changeling of Friendship Is Magic befriends Spike and later becomes the new leader of his kind?

Thorax won the job by appealing to his fellow changelings to turn on their old ruler. His older brother Pharynx is the hive's chief of security.

Which TV satirist gave My Little Pony's bronies a shout-out at least twice on his comedy news show?

Stephen Colbert's nods on The Colbert Report came while outlets from Wired to Fox News and The Wall Street Journal were puzzling over the show's grown-up fans.

Which crowdfunding site paid for the 2012 documentary Bronies, raising far more than its makers expected?

Kickstarter backers blew past the $60,000 goal within three days, and the windfall let the film sign the show's creator and a lead voice actress as producers.

BronyCon drew over 10,000 My Little Pony fans in 2019, its farewell year, in which US city?

Baltimore hosted the convention from 2013, and the last edition was its biggest ever, with attendance up roughly 87% on the year before.

Which brony fan site, launched by an Arizona student in 2011, was later archived by the Library of Congress?

Equestria Daily was run from its founder's parents' house, and he cut back on college classes to keep up with the flood of pony news and fan fiction.

Which fighting game began as a My Little Pony fan project before a cease-and-desist forced a new cast?

Them's Fightin' Herds replaced the six ponies with a cow, a reindeer, an alpaca and other hoofed brawlers, designed with help from the creator of Friendship Is Magic.

Which publisher's first My Little Pony comic drew over 100,000 pre-orders in 2012 and needed a second printing?

IDW Publishing had one of 2012's best-selling comics on its hands, one of only two in the year's top 100 that did not come from the two superhero giants.

Which singer with the band Hey Ocean!, the voice of Applejack, is the subject of the film A Brony Tale?

Ashleigh Ball voices two of the six lead ponies, and the documentary follows her first meetings with the show's adult fans at BronyCon 2012.

Which 2011 wedding comedy did a Los Angeles billboard for My Little Pony spoof to court adult fans?

Bridesmaids had its poster recreated with the six lead ponies in the stars' poses. A separate billboard had a pony imitating the child from the horror film Poltergeist.

Which X-Men actor voices Hitch Trailblazer, the pony sheriff of the 2021 My Little Pony film?

James Marsden's Hitch is the heroine's childhood friend, a kind, hard-working lawman who at first tries to send her straight back home.

Which craft-loving unicorn from Bridlewood wanders into an earth pony town in the 2021 My Little Pony film?

Izzy Moonbow sends most of the townsfolk running, but Sunny befriends her on the spot, her first friend from another pony tribe.

Which platform premiered My Little Pony: Tell Your Tale, the G5 series of five-minute shorts, in 2022?

YouTube carried the web series for two seasons of bite-sized episodes until it wrapped up in October 2024.

Boulder Media, the animation studio behind the 2021 G5 My Little Pony film, is based in which European capital?

Dublin's Boulder Media was founded by the filmmaker Robert Cullen, who went on to co-direct the pony film himself.

Which comedy veteran voiced Hydia, the witch of the Volcano of Gloom, in 1986's My Little Pony: The Movie?

Cloris Leachman's Hydia despairs of her two bumbling daughters, Reeka and Draggle, who were voiced by Rhea Perlman and Madeline Kahn.

Which sorcerer from the 1980s My Little Pony cartoon returns in Friendship Is Magic as a disguise worn by Discord?

Grogar was a test in disguise: Discord posed as the ibex villain to hand the heroes their biggest challenge and boost their confidence.

Which 100th episode of Friendship Is Magic hands the spotlight to background ponies as a tribute to fans?

Slice of Life follows the townsfolk scrambling to stage a wedding for the donkeys Cranky Doodle and Matilda while the usual heroes are off fighting a monster.

In 2017's My Little Pony: The Movie, the seaponies turn out to be which creatures, transformed by a magic pearl?

Hippogriffs fled beneath the sea to hide from an invading army, and their queen, voiced by Uzo Aduba, refuses to hand the pearl over to the heroes.

Which Equestria Girls sequel turns a music showcase into a battle of the bands against a siren trio, the Dazzlings?

Rainbow Rocks reveals the Dazzlings as sirens from Equestria who feed on negative emotions, which is why their singing sets everyone squabbling.

Rarity's song The Art of the Dress in Friendship Is Magic nods to Putting It Together by which Broadway composer?

Stephen Sondheim wrote the number for Sunday in the Park with George. The same episode, Suited for Success, gave fans the enduring catchphrase "twenty percent cooler."

Which clumsy yak in Friendship Is Magic's Young Six always refers to herself in the third person?

Yona is one of the strongest of the six classmates. The show's final episode pictures her grown up, running a dress shop alongside her classmate Sandbar.

Which chat app's 2013 update hid an easter egg that sent Friendship Is Magic-style ponies running across the window?

Google Hangouts was followed that August by a video site's Geek Week, which sent ponies trotting across the screen whenever someone searched for "bronies".