My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic is the latest cartoon based on Hasbro's popular pony toy line, specifically the fourth generation. For more information about the toys, see My Little Pony.
The show's first season aired in 2010-11. It ran for a second season in 2011-12, a third in 2012-13, and has continued into its fourth season.
Characters
Main Cast
MLP:FiM stars six main characters, sometimes referred to as the "mane six" by fans. The PPC does not necessarily endorse using the wrong homophone simply because it is cute, but what can you do?
Twilight Sparkle
Twilight is a lavender unicorn pony with purple eyes and a purple-and-pink striped mane and tail. Her cutie mark is a six-pointed starburst surrounded by several smaller ones, signifying her talent for magic.
Twilight is the first POV character the audience meets; if anyone is the main character, it's her. She is a student learning magic under the tutelage of Princess Celestia, so bookish and devoted to her studies that she missed out on things like friends before Celestia specifically assigned her to go make some in the town of Ponyville. Her most constant companion is a baby dragon named Spike, who assists her by finding books, taking letters, and performing other chores.
She represents magic, the sixth Element of Harmony that can only exist in the presence of the other five.
In the season 3 finale, Twilight Sparkle gained true understanding of the power of Friendship, and through its power, fulfilled her destiny and ascended into an alicorn. This ends her study in friendship, which was the focus of the series up to this point, but promises to lead into a new series of lessons.
As of the Season 4 finale, Twilight and her friends now have their very own palace, located where Twilight's library used to be, and in Twilight's case, an actual royal title--Princess of Friendship.
Pinkie Pie
Pinkie is the first pony Twilight meets upon her arrival in Ponyville. She is a pink earth pony with blue eyes and a darker pink, curly mane and tail. Her cutie mark is three balloons, two blue and one yellow.
She works at Sugarcube Corner, helping to bake treats for Mr. and Mrs. Cake. She is happy-go-lucky, bouncy, and random to the point that even her friends (read: literally everypony in town) think she's a little nuts sometimes. Her favorite pastime is throwing parties, followed by pulling pranks and singing silly songs (all of which she makes up on the spot). Her craziness sometimes leads others to underestimate her or brush her off, but she usually does know what she's talking about. She also utilizes "cartoon physics" and might be able to break the fourth wall. (We'll never know for sure.)
She represents the element of laughter.
Applejack
Applejack is an orange earth pony with green eyes and a straw-yellow mane and tail. She almost always wears a brown cowboy hat. Her cutie mark is three red apples.
She lives and works at the Sweet Apple Acres farm with some of her very large family: her brother Big Macintosh, her little sister Apple Bloom, and their grandmother, Granny Smith. She is hardworking to a fault, and sometimes has trouble asking for help. Her friends know they can always count on her in a pinch. She's tough and athletic, and enjoys rounding up stray critters and finding ways to promote the Apple Family's business. She is also shown to be a sort of team mom personality, and has a friendly rivalry with Rainbow Dash.
She represents the element of honesty.
Fluttershy
Fluttershy is a pastel-colored pegasus pony, yellow with a pink mane and tail and blue-green eyes. Her cutie mark is three pink butterflies.
She lives in a cottage outside of Ponyville proper and on the edge of the Everfree Forest, where she tends to the local woodland creatures she loves. A poor flier since fillyhood, she prefers to spend most of her time with her hooves on the ground. She is very shy, timid, and soft-spoken, and nearly impossible to provoke, though it has been known to happen. Her friends sometimes find her shyness and fears frustrating, but she's always willing to lend a hoof to anypony in need and can be counted on to manage just about any living thing, no matter how big and dangerous or how small and annoying.
She represents the element of kindness.
Rainbow Dash
Rainbow is a light blue pegasus pony with pink eyes and a rainbow-striped mane and tail. Her cutie mark is a cloud with a red/yellow/blue lightning bolt shooting out of it.
She is one of the pegasus ponies responsible for Ponyville's weather, though she actually lives in a cloud house above and near the town. She is extremely athletic and competitive, and possesses large amounts of self-confidence. Her life's ambition is to one day join the Wonderbolts, an elite team of performance fliers. She's not a big fan of work, preferring to spend her free time practicing her latest moves, but she always has her friends' backs, even putting them before her own interests at need. She is famous for being the only pony ever to perform a Sonic Rainboom—three times. The first time was as a filly and how she earned her cutie mark.
She represents the element of loyalty.
Rarity
Rarity is a white unicorn pony with blue eyes and an elegantly styled purple mane and tail. Her cutie mark is three diamonds.
She lives and works in her shop, the Carousel Boutique, where she designs and sews fashionable outfits for clients in and outside Ponyville. She has a fluffy white cat, Opalescence, and a younger sister, Sweetie Belle, who lives with their parents. She has a keen eye for detail and sometimes loses sight of the big picture, getting on others' nerves in her desire to bring her image of perfection into reality. Her friends know that she obsesses because she cares, and is always willing to give of her time and talents to benefit others.
She represents the element of generosity.
Spike
Spike is a purple baby dragon with a bright green ridge of spikes, light green spikes on his cheeks, and bright green eyes. He was hatched by Twilight Sparkle as part of her entry exam into Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns and trained by Celestia to send and receive letters by means of his fiery belches.
Though not considered to be one of the main six, Spike does play quite a prominent role in the series, acting as Twilight Sparkle's assistant and postman and a counselor and little brother figure to the entire group. When Twilight Sparkle becomes too detail-oriented or otherwise begins to lose her grip on reality, Spike is typically the first to recognize what is happening, and will usually attempt to bring her back down to earth. He is also shown to have a massive crush on Rarity; while he seems to think this is a well-kept secret, it is readily apparent that Twilight, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity at least know this and seem to treat it as a cute, kid-likes-his-teacher-type relationship.
Cutie Mark Crusaders
A secondary cast of three fillies that sometimes get their own episodes, Apple Bloom (earth pony), Sweetie Belle (unicorn), and Scootaloo (pegasus) share a quest to earn their cutie marks and no longer be "blank flanks." Scootaloo is the only one who is unrelated to one of the main characters, though she idolizes Rainbow Dash. Their shenanigans often baffle or irritate their older, wiser mentors, who keep trying to tell them they can't force a cutie mark.
Apple Bloom
Apple Bloom is the younger sister of Applejack and Big Macintosh. She is a light yellow earth pony with an amaranth-pink mane and tail and reddish-orange eyes. Her most distinguishing feature is the huge pink bow she wears in her mane. She is the first of the Cutie Mark Crusaders to express a desire to earn her cutie mark, mainly due to the bullying she endures at the hooves of her classmates. She is a brave and highly independent filly, and is supremely unwilling to judge others based upon their looks alone. As a member of the Crusaders, she generally takes the role of de facto leader.
Though she has expressed an interest in (and appears to be a practitioner of) Kung Fu, it is heavily implied that Apple Bloom's true talent lies either in art, carpentry, or design. A prime example of this is the speed and excellence with which she fixed Applejack's rickety old treehouse by herself.
Scootaloo
Scootaloo is a bright orange pegasus pony with a somewhat messy, fuchsia mane and tail and gray-violet eyes. Her build is very slightly stockier than those of the other two Crusaders, and she has been shown to be unable to lift herself very far off the ground when attempting to fly. She is generally shown to be the tomboy of the trio, often gagging at "sappy" stories and expressing a dislike for any singing outside of rock and roll and Sapphire Shores (a pop-star pony). She idolizes Rainbow Dash as a sort of big sister figure (which is made official in season 4), and is usually the first of the Crusaders to pull or suggest a risky stunt like zip-lining or speeding through Ponyville at top speed on her scooter.
Though she expresses an interest in singing rock ballads, Scootaloo's true talent seems to lie in riding and doing stunts on her scooter.
Sweetie Belle
Sweetie Belle is Rarity's younger sister, and is a white unicorn pony with a curly, pink-and-violet mane and tail and light green eyes. As a member of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, she tends to trade the leadership role back and forth with Apple Bloom and is portrayed as the most even-tempered of the trio. She is noticeably less concerned about being messy or "uncouth" than her older sister, and her enthusiastic attempts to live up to Rarity's example often come with mixed results - usually at some cost to Rarity. Sweetie Belle seems to switch between being comically naïve and startlingly observant in some later episodes.
Though she expresses a desire to be a great designer like Rarity, Sweetie Belle's talent rather clearly lies in her singing ability, about which she is either very humble or terribly shy.
Themes
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is about the care and feeding of positive relationships, particularly with friends, but extending to family, community members, and outsiders, too. Its message is that even though ponies (and humans) don't always agree, that doesn't mean they can't live together, work together, and generally get along. Differences can be pretty cool, after all, since the thing that most vexes one person can be the thing at which someone else most excels. Everypony has something they're good at, and every talent is needed sometimes, whether it's book smarts, event planning, elbow grease, animal husbandry, a turn of speed, or an artistic flourish. Acceptance and tolerance, not scorn and hatred, are the key to living happily alongside people who are different from ourselves.
Fandom
MLP:FiM has a huge following thanks to its popularity with the Internet-using demographic. Fans call themselves "bronies", or sometimes "pegasisters", and congregate to celebrate their fanlove all over the web and in real life. The creators of the show encourage and support the fandom, even going so far as to include tips of the hat to the fanbase in the show itself.
The size and breadth of bronydom is often awesome in its creativity and willingness to live the ideals of the show, but has also resulted in some fairly terrifying bad fanfiction, such as the infamous "Cupcakes." Going against the show's themes and tone in fanworks is considered a cardinal sin by some, and some folk can't help but use that to provoke negative reactions in others.
MLP:FiM and the PPC
Lots of Boarders happen to be fans of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, some to the extent of considering themselves bronies. At first glance this might be surprising, but when you consider Da Rules and other tenets of PPCer behavior, it starts to make sense. Generally speaking, we try to get along with others, even if their writing is terrible.
OFU
MLP:FiM's Official Fanfiction University is the Royal Fanfiction Academy of Equestria, which sits on the edge of the Everfree Forest; its story is "My Little Academy: Fanfiction Is Magic." It was constructed specifically for the purpose of turning badficcers of the MLP:FIM fandom into goodficcers, and it is run by coordinators Glyph and Iron Gall.
This continuum's minis are mini-Discords.
Agents Native to Equestria
Some agents are bronies. Other agents are actual ponies (or humanized ponies in at least one case). These are them:
Missions in this Continuum
All reports are listed alphabetically by agent name, in the case of agents with multiple missions, or by mission name.
- Agents Florestan and Eusabius (DIC)
- "Playing Pointless Games" (crossover with Saw)
- "The Edge of Insanity" (crossover with the Mario Universe)
- Agents Marvin Jones and Printworthy (APD - MLP)
- "The Death and Resurrection of Shining Armor"
- "The Lost Land," with Agents Rina and Randa (DMS)
- "Enemy Mine," Agents Rayner and E.V.L. (DMS)
- "Lightning Strikes," Part One, Part Two, Agents Caroline Moor and Veralyn Amberwing (DMS), with help from Kilroy Vincentus (DMS)
- "The Longing," Agents Fisherman and Evie (DF - SOD)
- "The OOCest Teacher We Could Hope For," Agents Suicide and Diocletian (DMS) with Agents Éowine and Steormægð (DF)
- "Secret of the Rainbow Wands," Agents Ian Nahinu and Amelia Keaton (DMS)
- "Snapback," Agents Fritz Sorgebrunnen and Silas (DF)
- "Thunder Run," Agent Gaspard De Grasse (DoI)