History WesternAnimation / MyLittlePonyG3

* ToTheTuneOf: The song "Singing Star" uses the same tune as the earlier song "Feelin' Good". Additionally, the musical ''The World's Biggest Tea Party'' does this with a few songs. "The Road to Unicornia" uses the tune from "We're Glad That Everyone's a Princess" from ''Princess Promenade''. "At Crystal Rainbow Castle" is "Here in Unicornia" from ''The Runaway Rainbow''. "How You Feel" is "Far Apart," also from ''The Runaway Rainbow''.

** As a non-previously used in the show's soundtrack example; "Bouncebackability" (also from "The Worlds Greatest Tea Party") is based on "Down by the Riverside".

Collectors unofficially refer to this incarnation of the ''Franchise/MyLittlePony'' franchise as G3. This is a series of [[DirectToVideo Direct-to-DVD]] movies, specials, and shorts released throughout [[TurnOfTheMillennium the turn of the millennium]]. Somewhat akin to ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyTales'', these stories tended to be about [[ThwPowerOfFriendship friendship]], SliceOfLife, and [[BbeYourself being yourself]].

Collectors unofficially refer to this incarnation of the ''Franchise/MyLittlePony'' franchise as G3. This is a series of [[DirectToVideo Direct-to-DVD]] movies, specials, and shorts released throughout [[TurnOfTheMillennium the turn of the millennium]]. Somewhat akin to ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyTales'', these stories tended to be about friendship, SliceOfLife, and being yourself.

The first G3 special. Released in 2003 in a VHS packaged within the first release of the G3 toys. Chronologically taking place before Dancing in the Clouds, it shows how the ponies in Ponyville planned a special surprise party for Kimono. It was released later as a bonus episode in ''The Princess Promanade'' DVD.

* InformedAttribute: Cotton Candy is a storyteller apparently, at least according to "A Charming Birthday", but) we never see any evidence of this. In practice, she can usually be found running the cafe alongside Sweetberry and Triple Treat. We've seen the role given to other ponies in later episodes, such as Storybelle and the second version of Cheerilee.

Collectors unofficially refer to this incarnation of the ''Franchise/MyLittlePony'' franchise as "G3". This is a series of [[DirectToVideo Direct-to-DVD]] movies, specials, and shorts released throughout [[TurnOfTheMillennium the turn of the millennium]]. Somewhat akin to ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyTales'', these stories tended to be about friendship, SliceOfLife, and being yourself.

The animated specials were animated by SD Entertainment, Creator/WangFilmProductions (G3 only) and Kunoichi, Inc. (for ''Once Upon a My Little Pony Time'', the G3 Newborn Cuties short) and were distributed by both Creator/{{Paramount}} and Creator/ShoutFactory. There are divided into 12 specials. The most notable ones were:

The first "G3" special. Released in 2003 in a VHS packaged within the first release of the "G3" toys. Chronologically taking place before Dancing in the Clouds, it shows how the ponies in Ponyville planned a special surprise party for Kimono. It was released later as a bonus episode in ''The Princess Promanade'' DVD.

Released on October 25, 2005 by Paramount Home Video, ''A Very Minty Christmas'' is the first feature length special of the "G3" series. The special is set after Friends Are Never Far Away, focusing on Minty as she accidentally breaks the "Here Comes Christmas Candy Cane", which apparently guides Santa Claus to Ponyville. To try to make-up for doing this, Minty gives each pony one of her socks (she hangs them like stockings on the other ponies' fireplaces.) When Pinkie Pie finds out what Minty has done, Minty states that the sock giving is a bad idea, and then decides she should go to the North Pole herself to set things right.

A Very Pony Place is the most unique of all "G3" specials. Released on February 6, 2007, it features three different stories. The first one, ''Come Back, Lily Lightly'' focuses on Lily Lightly and her ability to make her horn glow when she giggle, forcing her to run away from Unicornia. ''Two for the Sky'' focuses on Storybelle and her story about Star Flight and Heart Bright's dreams of flight. The third and final story, ''Positively Pink'' focuses on Pinkie Pie, Minty and Puzzlemint on planning Pinkie Pie's birthday in secret.

In 2007, Hasbro, while retaining body shape, has reduced the number of characters to seven: Pinkie Pie, Scootaloo, Toola-Roola, Rainbow Dash, Sweetie Belle, Cheerilee and Starsong. The Core 7 era saw a number of animated shorts, until another change came out; the "Generation 3.5" as collectors call it, which retained members but changed their body shape similar to Ponyville line of smaller plastic molds that released years ago.

Twinkle Wish Adventure is the only feature length "G3.5" Special. It was released in October 13, 2009 to promote this particular toy line. The story tells about the Winter Wishes Festival finally coming and all the ponies in Ponyville are excited to see Twinkle Wish, a wishing star who grants each pony one special wish. However, after Twinkle Wish gets kidnapped by a dragon named Whimsey Weatherbe, the entire event is facing a big dilemma and it's up to Pinkie Pie and her friends to get her back before the night of the festival, otherwise, everyone's wishes won't be granted, and the festival would be ruined.

* AdaptationDistillation: Most, if not all of the "G3" stories have been released as either picture books, graphic novels, or both. These generally follow the storyline of the video releases, but simplify or leave out certain elements.
* AlternateContinuity:
** From the cartoons preceding and succeeding it.
** The "G3" books line is in an AU from the cartoons.
* AnthropomorphicShift: The first special wasn't really all that different from other gens. They occasionally used their [[FeatherFingers hooves to do things]], and moved their forelegs around, but it wasn't that different from, say, ''[[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic Friendship is Magic]]''. Later on they became far more anthropomorphic and starting wearing clothings often.

* ArtEvolution: Originally the specials were hand-drawn.
* ArtisticLicenseAnimalCare: After that cake binge in ''The Runaway Rainbow'', Princess Rarity should be down with horse colic for the rest of the story.

* CanonDiscontinuity: Once the "Core 7" came along, Hasbro threw out several older characterizations out the window and everything became ''even more'' feminine. This DorkAge-type change is where the infamous "Fashionista" Dash comes from.

** "G3" has ''A Very Minty Christmas''.
** "G3.5" has ''Waiting for the Winter Wishes Festival'' and ''Twinkle Wish Adventure'', though these are about the [[YouMeanXmas Winter Wishes Festival]] rather than Christmas.
* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: Hard to define in a series like this with LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters and never the same lineup twice in the manner of "G1" (Pinkie and Rainbow Dash may be the only characters who are in every story.) However, the first special, which introduces us to everyone, has Razzaroo as the main character and narrator, and Kimono, whose birthday they're preparing for, is named as the wisest pony in the land. You'd expect them to be the main characters, but they're never seen again outside crowd scenes (mind you, not ''one'' of the ponies in the first "G1" special was ever seen or mentioned again, so it's not unprecedented.), though Kimino does appear more in the licensed books and comics. That didn't stop there, however, with the Core 7/G3.5 era reducing everyone ''not'' in the Core 7 to either background pony or total nonentity. Most infamously, ''Minty,'' most prominent pony after Pinkie Pie, didn't get as much as a crowd scene appearance in Twinkle Wish Adventure.

* DeconstructedTrope: Princess tropes get examined in ''The Princess Promanade''. Wysteria learned about the stuffy, restricted lifestyle princesses had--and the implication that before her, ''all'' princesses lived like that--likely put a damper on young girls who wanted to be princesses. Wysteria wasn't even allowed to ''sniff flowers''. Also, Wysteria doesn't ''earn'' the title of princess; all she did was happen to touch the magic flower. Any one of her friends could've become princess, and it's implied that if she did something to earn the title things wouldn't have gone so sour. Contrast with "G3" Rarity, who had actual responsibilities, power, and was selected from other young pink unicorns for the honor of making the first rainbow--but shirked her duties in favor of having fun.
* EverythingsBetterWithPrincesses: Played with in ''The Princess Promenade''. At first, everyone is excited to have Wysteria be the princess of Ponyville, but as Spike's rules pile on and restrict Wysteria from doing the things she normally does, including interacting with her friends as equals, the idea of having a princess doesn't seem so great anymore. However, instead of quitting being a princess in name, Wysteria makes everyone in Ponyville into royalty, including Spike, which means that neither she nor anyone else has to follow the princess rules anymore. So it's played straight in the sense that everything is better with LOTS of princesses instead of just one, but in making the title meaningless it's not a typical example of the trope.
* {{Filler}}: ''The World's Biggest Tea Party'' stage show is nice enough, but it also contains a lot of songs that seem to have been placed merely as a way to get the audience up and excited and don't actually drive the plot of the film. The story presented in the stage show probably could have easily fit into a 22 minute television episode.

* HiddenElfVillage: The Pegasus Ponies of Butterfly Island.
* InformedAttribute: Cotton Candy is a storyteller apparently, at least according to "A Charming Birthday", but (due to her never being given a key role) we never see any evidence of this. In practice, she can usually be found running the cafe alongside Sweetberry and Triple Treat. We've seen the role given to other ponies in later episodes (such as Storybelle and the second version of Cheerilee.)

* LighterAndSofter: Within the same generation at that. The first few specials weren't the sugary, TastesLikeDiabetes fueled stuff that G3 is known for (although it wasn't anywhere as dark as pre-[[MyLittlePonyTales Tales]] G1).

* MadLibsDialogue: The "Cheerilee & Scootaloo's Storybook" section of the online "G3.5" ''[[http://promos.treehousetv.com/mylittlepony/scrapbook.aspx Family Scrapbook]]''.
* TheMusical: ''The World's Biggest Tea Party'' stage show, to the degree that there is actually more singing than there is dialogue. It is not unusual for a song to be almost immediately followed by an entire song, as there a total of 25, running a total of close to 40 minutes. Many of the songs are extended versions of songs from other "G3" releases heavily edited to fit the show, including "Positively Pink", "I Just Wanna Have Fun, "Breezies Know" and "Here in Unicornia". In fact, they may have just about recycled close to half of the tunes within the "G3" releases, including the ''My Little Pony'' theme. Others, however, were created exclusively for the stage show. And two songs aren't original material at all, just traditional tunes that they repurposed for the program: "I'm a Little Teapot" and "Just Leave It Up to Me," the latter of which is based on "I Am a Fine Musician" (which in turn was adapted from the German "Ich bin ein Musikante" for ''Series/TheDickVanDykeShow'').

** In ''Dancing In The Clouds'', Sky Wishes prefaces every wish she makes with "I wish, I wish, I wish...." just like Twilight in "G1" ''Escape From Castle Midnight''.

* [[AcrophobicBird Nephelophobic Pegasus]]: Thistle Whistle.

* OffModel: {{Inverted}} in that the series was very ''on-model'', to a fault. In many specials, especially post Core-7, every pony essentially looked alike at all times. They all followed the same movement patterns and [[DullSurprise weren't very expressive]]. During the Core 7 and "G3.5" only Toola-Roola had her own tic, which was occasionally blowing her mane out of her eyes.

* TheOneGuy: There is [[http://i.imgur.com/afyvU.jpg one male pony]] in all of "G3", from "3.5" ''Twinkle Wish Adventure''.

* [[OnlySaneMan Only Sane Pony]]: Kimono shows signs of being this in A Charming Birthday.

* ThePowerOfFriendship: Before we learned that ''Friendship is Magic'', ''My Little Pony'' was already doing this. At least two of the "G3" songs were specifically about friendship, "Make a New Friend" and "That's What Makes a Friend." Another, "Far Apart," is about how hard it can be for two friends when they have to be apart from each other.

* PrimalFear: From the "That's What Makes a Friend" song in the "G3.5" ''Twinkle Wish Adventure'': "Once you told me you're a little scared of the dark / I told you I can be afraid of it too."

* SpinOffBabies: "G3.5" and it's two ''[[WholeEpisodeFlashback Once Upon A My Little Pony Time]]'' shorts and the ''Newborn Cuties'' toys they existed to promote.
* SpotlightStealingSquad: The Core 7.
* [[SurferDude Surfer Mare]]: Sunny Daze.

* TotallyRadical: "G3.5" Scootaloo is fond of saying "cool beans."
* ToTheTuneOf: The song "Singing Star" (from the "G3" toy "Sing & Dance Pinkie Pie" and the "Sing-A-Long with Star Song" section of the online "G3.5" ''[[http://promos.treehousetv.com/mylittlepony/scrapbook.aspx Family Scrapbook]]'') uses the same tune as the earlier song "Feelin' Good" (from the "G3" cartoon ''The Princess Promenade'' and ''Meet the Ponies: Starsong "Dance & Sing Party"''). Additionally, the musical ''The World's Biggest Tea Party'' does this with a few songs. "The Road to Unicornia" uses the tune from "We're Glad That Everyone's a Princess" from ''Princess Promenade''. "At Crystal Rainbow Castle" is "Here in Unicornia" from ''The Runaway Rainbow''. "How You Feel" is "Far Apart," also from ''The Runaway Rainbow''.
** As a non-previously used in the show's sounsdtrack example; "Bouncebackability" (also from "The Worlds Greatest Tea Party") is based on "Down by the Riverside".

** The online "G3" ''[[http://www.hasbro.com/mylittlepony/en_US/play/details.cfm?guid=C884F450-19B9-F369-D9C9-3BDE236BD2DD Ponyville]]'' game has Pinkie Pie's Balloon House in Party Place.
** The online "G3.5" ''[[http://promos.treehousetv.com/mylittlepony/scrapbook.aspx Family Scrapbook]]'' has the "Rainbow Dash's Dress Up" section.

* YouMeanXmas: The Winter Wishes Festival in "G3.5" specials ''Waiting for the Winter Wishes Festival'' and ''Twinkle Wish Adventure.'' Averted in "A Very Minty Christmas".

* {{Licensed Game}}s: A few games for the GameBoyAdvance, DS, and PC/Macs came out during this series' run.

* ReflectiveEyes: Happens in ''A Very Minty Christmas'', when the decorated castle is shown reflected in Pinkie Pie's eye and then the scene cuts to the "Here Comes Christmas Candy Cane" being reflected in Minty's eye.

!!''MyLittlePonyG3'' contains examples of:

* EarlyDraftTieIn: One of the specials featured Fiesta Flair, a pony who was ultimately [[ToylessToylineCharacter canceled]] and replaced with Candy Apple. Despite being canceled, she still appeared as background pony in G3.5 as well.

** As a non-previously used in the show's sounsdtrack example; "Bouncebackability" is based on "Down by the Riverside".

* DeconstructedTrope:
** Princess tropes get examined in ''The Princess Promanade''. Wysteria learned about the stuffy, restricted lifestyle princesses had--and the implication that before her, ''all'' princesses lived like that--likely put a damper on young girls who wanted to be princesses. Wysteria wasn't even allowed to ''sniff flowers''.
** Also, Wysteria doesn't ''earn'' the title of princess; all she did was happen to touch the magic flower. Any one of her friends could've become princess, and it's implied that if she did something to earn the title things wouldn't have gone so sour.
** Contrast with "G3" Rarity, who had actual responsibilities, power, and was selected from other young pink unicorns for the honor of making the first rainbow--but shirked her duties in favor of having fun.

** Skywishes and Star Catcher are famous for it.

* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome:
** Hard to define in a series like this with LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters and never the same lineup twice in the manner of "G1" (Pinkie and Rainbow Dash may be the only characters who are in every story.) However, the first special, which introduces us to everyone, has Razzaroo as the main character and narrator, and Kimono, whose birthday they're preparing for, is named as the wisest pony in the land. You'd expect them to be the main characters, but they're never seen again outside crowd scenes. (Mind you, not ''one'' of the ponies in the first "G1" special was ever seen or mentioned again, so it's not unprecedented.) Kimino appears more in the licensed books and comics.
** Not to mention the Core 7/G3.5 era reducing everyone ''not'' in the Core 7 to either background pony or total nonentity. Most infamously, ''Minty,'' most prominent pony after Pinkie Pie, didn't get as much as a crowd scene appearance in Twinkle Wish Adventure.

* BigDamnHeroes:
** [[spoiler: Pinkie Pie and Star Catcher's]] rescue of Minty and Thistle Whistle [[spoiler:from a hot air balloon]] in ''A Very Minty Christmas''.
** Also, the Breezies save the ponies from going down a waterfall.

* AlternateContinuity: From the cartoons preceding and succeeding it. Also, the "G3" books line is in an AU from the cartoons.

* BigDamnHeroes: [[spoiler: Pinkie Pie and Star Catcher's rescue of Minty and Thistle Whistle from a hot air balloon]] in ''A Very Minty Christmas''.

* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: Hard to define in a series like this with LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters and never the same lineup twice in the manner of "G1" (Pinkie and Rainbow Dash may be the only characters who are in every story.) However, the first special, which introduces us to everyone, has Razzaroo as the main character and narrator, and Kimono, whose birthday they're preparing for, is named as the wisest pony in the land. You'd expect them to be the main characters, but they're neevr seen again outside crowd scenes. (Mind you, not ''one'' of the ponies in the first "G1" special was ever seen or mentioned again, so it's not unprecedented.)

* DeconstructedTrope: Princess tropes get examined in ''The Princess Promanade''. Wysteria learned about the stuffy, restricted lifestyle princesses had--and the implication that before her, ''all'' princesses lived like that--likely put a damper on young girls who wanted to be princesses. Wysteria wasn't even allowed to ''sniff flowers''.

* ParentalBonus: "Minty, Minty, Minty" to "Marcia, Marcia, Marcia" from ''Series/TheBradyBunch''. Of course, even the title "A Very Minty Christmas" is a reference to "A Very Brady Christmas." Someone was just a fan of the ''Brady Bunch'' franchise...

* RomanticTwoGirlFriendship: Minty and Pinkie Pie are ''very'' close friends.

Collectors unofficially refer to this incarnation of the ''Franchise/MyLittlePony'' franchise as "G3". This is a series of [[DirectToVideo Direct-to-DVD]] movies, specials, and shorts released throughout [[TurnOfTheMillennium the turn of the millennium]]. Somewhat akin to WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyTales, these stories tended to be about friendship, SliceOfLife, and being yourself.

* DarkerAndEdgier:
** In ''Friends Are Never Far Away'', Pinkie Pie and Skywishes chased the Pegasi back to Butterfly Island through a Hot Air Balloon. Their balloon crash lands and is about to break as Pinkie Pie and Skywishes are about to fall to the waters bellow. Luckily the Pegasi saved them.
** In ''A Very Minty Christmas'', Minty went to the North Pole to talk to Santa. But it didn't go well for her balloon goes in another direction and Thistle Whistle is following. Thistle Whistle tries to grab the balloon but instead got tied up as the balloon crashed in a cliff. Both Ponies are about to fall for their doom until the others came to the rescue.
** ''The Runaway Rainbow'' had another dangerous moment. Rarity is chasing the butterflies during their way to Unicornia until she slipped and fell into the river. The others tried to save her but failed as Rarity, Minty and Pinkie Pie are in danger of going down a waterfall. Luckily the Breezies saved both Minty and Pinkie Pie, while both Rainbow Dash and Spike used a Briefcase to save Rarity from falling to her doom, before being brought to shore by the little flying ponies. Also, as the rainbow ceremony isn't fully completed, all color starts to drain from the world, making things ''very'' down-to-the-wire at the end. The characters are ''frequently'' made to sweat in such a manner even if there's nobody like [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyTVSpecials Tirek]] trying to kill them. Not only that, rainbows fading put all of Ponyville's food supply in jeopardy, as rainbowberries only grow after the first rainbow.
** Even ''Twinkle Wish Adventure'' can't escape this trope. All 5 ponies (Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, who caused the whole mess, were left in town to stall for time) were going to Willy Nelly Mountain by a balloon to retrieve Twinkle Wish from the big bad when the weather changes from clear to stormy. With no options, Pinkie Pie decided to land the balloon despite the harsh weather and there's no way to tie down the balloon on ground. Luckily Rainbow Dash used her hair ribbon as a rope to tie it into a tree with the help from Star Song.

The animated specials were animated by SD Entertainment, Creator/WangFilmProductions (G3 only) and Kunoichi, Inc. (G3.5 only) and were distributed by both Creator/{{Paramount}} and Creator/ShoutFactory. There are divided into 12 specials. The most notable ones were:

* ToTheTuneOf: The song "Singing Star" (from the "G3" toy "Sing & Dance Pinkie Pie" and the "Sing-A-Long with Star Song" section of the online "G3.5" ''[[http://promos.treehousetv.com/mylittlepony/scrapbook.aspx Family Scrapbook]]'') uses the same tune as the earlier song "Feelin' Good" (from the "G3" cartoon ''The Princess Promenade'' and ''Meet the Ponies: Starsong "Dance & Sing Party"'').

* BreakingTheFourthWall: At the end of the "We're Glad That Everyone's a Princess" song in ''The Princess Promenade'', the characters turn to the audience and sing "And, yes, it's true! That you are a princess too!"

Released on October 25, 2005 by Paramount Home Video, ''A Very Minty Christmas'' is the first feature length special of the "G3" series. The special is set after Friends Are Never Far Away, Focusing on Minty as she accidentally breaks the "Here Comes Christmas Candy Cane", which apparently guides Santa Claus to Ponyville. To try to make-up for doing this, Minty gives each pony one of her socks (she hangs them like stockings on the other ponies' fireplaces.) When Pinkie Pie finds out what Minty has done, Minty states that the sock giving is a bad idea, and then decides she should go to the North Pole herself to set things right.

* AnthropomorphicZigZag: The ponies can walk on their hind legs as easily as they can on all fours. They're constantly changing between the two, though the books tend to favor the former position compared to the latter.

The animated specials were animated by SD Entertainment and Creator/WangFilmProductions and were distributed by both Creator/{{Paramount}} and Creator/ShoutFactory. There are divided into 12 specials. The most notable ones were:

* InformedAttribute: Cotton Candy is a storyteller apparently, at least according to "A Charming Birthday", but (due to her never being given a key role) we never see any evidence of this.

** Special mention goes to Star Flight and Heart Bright, who are "as close as two ponies can be," share the same bed, dream the same dream, and finish each other's sentences.

* SavingChristmas: ''A Very Minty Christmas''

''Franchise/MyLittlePony'' G3 is a series of [[DirectToVideo Direct-to-DVD]] movies, specials, and shorts released throughout [[TurnOfTheMillennium the turn of the millennium]]. Somewhat akin to WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyTales, these stories tended to be about friendship, SliceOfLife, and being yourself.

The first G3 special. Released in 2003 in a VHS packaged within the first release of the G3 toys. Chronologically taking place before Dancing in the Clouds, it shows how the ponies in Ponyville planned a special surprise party for Kimono. It was released later as a bonus episode in ''The Princess Promanade'' DVD.

Released on October 25, 2005 by Paramount Home Video, ''A Very Minty Christmas'' is the first feature length special of the G3 series. The special is set after Friends Are Never Far Away, Focusing on Minty as she accidentally breaks the "Here Comes Christmas Candy Cane", which apparently guides Santa Claus to Ponyville. To try to make-up for doing this, Minty gives each pony one of her socks (she hangs them like stockings on the other ponies' fireplaces.) When Pinkie Pie finds out what Minty has done, Minty states that the sock giving is a bad idea, and then decides she should go to the North Pole herself to set things right.

A Very Pony Place is the most unique of all G3 specials. Released on February 6, 2007, it features three different stories. The first one, ''Come Back, Lily Lightly'' focuses on Lily Lightly and her ability to make her horn glow when she giggle, forcing her to run away from Unicornia. ''Two for the Sky'' focuses on Storybelle and her story about Star Flight and Heart Bright's dreams of flight. The third and final story, ''Positively Pink'' focuses on Pinkie Pie, Minty and Puzzlemint on planning Pinkie Pie's birthday in secret.

In 2007, Hasbro, while retaining body shape, has reduced the number of characters to seven: Pinkie Pie, Scootaloo, Toola-Roola, Rainbow Dash, Sweetie Belle, Cheerilee and Starsong. The Core 7 era saw a number of animated shorts, until another change came out; the Generation 3.5, which retained members but changed their body shape similar to Ponyville line of smaller plastic molds that released years ago.

Twinkle Wish Adventure is the only feature length G3.5 Special. It was released in October 13, 2009 to promote the Generation 3.5 line. The story tells about the Winter Wishes Festival finally coming and all the ponies in Ponyville are excited to see Twinkle Wish, a wishing star who grants each pony one special wish. However, after Twinkle Wish gets kidnapped by a dragon named Whimsey Weatherbe, the entire event is facing a big dilemma and it's up to Pinkie Pie and her friends to get her back before the night of the festival, otherwise, everyone's wishes won't be granted, and the festival would be ruined.

* AdaptationDistillation: Most, if not all of the G3 stories have been released as either picture books, graphic novels, or both. These generally follow the storyline of the video releases, but simplify or leave out certain elements.
* AlternateContinuity: From the cartoons preceding and succeeding it. Also, the G3 books line is in an AU from the cartoons.

** G3 has ''A Very Minty Christmas''.
** G3.5 has ''Waiting for the Winter Wishes Festival'' and ''Twinkle Wish Adventure'', though these are about the [[YouMeanXmas Winter Wishes Festival]] rather than Christmas.
* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: Hard to define in a series like this with LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters and never the same lineup twice in the manner of G1 (Pinkie and Rainbow Dash may be the only characters who are in every story.) However, the first special, which introduces us to everyone, has Razzaroo as the main character and narrator, and Kimono, whose birthday they're preparing for, is named as the wisest pony in the land. You'd expect them to be the main characters, but they're neevr seen again outside crowd scenes. (Mind you, not ''one'' of the ponies in the first G1 special was ever seen or mentioned again, so it's not unprecedented.)

** Contrast with G3 Rarity, who had actual responsibilities, power, and was selected from other young pink unicorns for the honor of making the first rainbow--but shirked her duties in favor of having fun.

* MadLibsDialogue: The "Cheerilee & Scootaloo's Storybook" section of the online G3.5 ''[[http://promos.treehousetv.com/mylittlepony/scrapbook.aspx Family Scrapbook]]''.
* TheMusical: ''The World's Biggest Tea Party'' stage show, to the degree that there is actually more singing than there is dialogue. It is not unusual for a song to be almost immediately followed by an entire song, as there a total of 25, running a total of close to 40 minutes. Many of the songs are extended versions of songs from other G3 releases heavily edited to fit the show, including "Positively Pink", "I Just Wanna Have Fun, "Breezies Know" and "Here in Unicornia". In fact, they may have just about recycled close to half of the tunes within the G3 releases, including the ''My Little Pony'' theme. Others, however, were created exclusively for the stage show. And two songs aren't original material at all, just traditional tunes that they repurposed for the program: "I'm a Little Teapot" and "Just Leave It Up to Me," the latter of which is based on "I Am a Fine Musician" (which in turn was adapted from the German "Ich bin ein Musikante" for ''Series/TheDickVanDykeShow'').

** In ''Dancing In The Clouds'', Sky Wishes prefaces every wish she makes with "I wish, I wish, I wish...." just like Twilight in G1's ''Escape From Castle Midnight''.

* OffModel: {{Inverted}} in that the series was very ''on-model'', to a fault. In many specials, especially post Core-7, every pony essentially looked alike at all times. They all followed the same movement patterns and [[DullSurprise weren't very expressive]]. During the Core 7 and G3.5 only Toola-Roola had her own tic, which was occasionally blowing her mane out of her eyes.
* TheOneGuy: There is [[http://i.imgur.com/afyvU.jpg one male pony]] in all of G3, from 3.5's ''Twinkle Wish Adventure''.

* ThePowerOfFriendship: Before we learned that ''Friendship is Magic'', ''My Little Pony'' was already doing this. At least two of the G3 songs were specifically about friendship, "Make a New Friend" and "That's What Makes a Friend." Another, "Far Apart," is about how hard it can be for two friends when they have to be apart from each other.

* PrimalFear: From the "That's What Makes a Friend" song in the G3.5 ''Twinkle Wish Adventure'': "Once you told me you're a little scared of the dark / I told you I can be afraid of it too."

* SpinOffBabies: G3.5's two ''[[WholeEpisodeFlashback Once Upon A My Little Pony Time]]'' shorts and the ''Newborn Cuties'' toys they existed to promote.

* TotallyRadical: G3.5 Scootaloo is fond of saying "cool beans."
* ToTheTuneOf: The song "Singing Star" (from the G3 toy "Sing & Dance Pinkie Pie" and the "Sing-A-Long with Star Song" section of the online G3.5 ''[[http://promos.treehousetv.com/mylittlepony/scrapbook.aspx Family Scrapbook]]'') uses the same tune as the earlier song "Feelin' Good" (from the G3 cartoon ''The Princess Promenade'' and ''Meet the Ponies: Starsong "Dance & Sing Party"'').

** The online G3 ''[[http://www.hasbro.com/mylittlepony/en_US/play/details.cfm?guid=C884F450-19B9-F369-D9C9-3BDE236BD2DD Ponyville]]'' game has Pinkie Pie's Balloon House in Party Place.
** The online G3.5 ''[[http://promos.treehousetv.com/mylittlepony/scrapbook.aspx Family Scrapbook]]'' has the "Rainbow Dash's Dress Up" section.

* YouMeanXmas: The Winter Wishes Festival in G3.5's ''Waiting for the Winter Wishes Festival'' and ''Twinkle Wish Adventure.'' Averted in "A Very Minty Christmas".

!!'''''[[http://www.hubworld.com/watch/610866127001 A Very Minty Christmas]]'''''

!!'''''[[http://www.hubworld.com/watch/610729116001 The Princess Promenade]]'''''

!!'''''[[http://www.hubworld.com/watch/610729115001 Crystal Princess: The Runaway Rainbow]]'''''

* BreakingTheFourthWall: At the end of the "We're Glad That Everyone's a Princess" song in ''[[http://www.hubworld.com/watch/610729116001 The Princess Promenade]]'', the characters turn to the audience and sing "And, yes, it's true! That you are a princess too!"

* BritishStuffiness: Spike fits this stereotype in this version, mainly in ''[[http://www.hubworld.com/watch/610729116001 The Princess Promenade]]''. While he isn't exactly reserved, he's certainly quite stuffy and concerned with rules and proper behavior.

* FunSize: The Breezies in ''[[http://www.hubworld.com/watch/610729116001 Princess Promenade]]'' and the new redesign in ''Twinkle Wish Adventure''.

* TheKlutz: Minty, more so in ''[[http://www.hubworld.com/watch/610866127001 A Very Minty Christmas]]'' than in any other movie.

* ToTheTuneOf: The song "Singing Star" (from the G3 toy "Sing & Dance Pinkie Pie" and the "Sing-A-Long with Star Song" section of the online G3.5 ''[[http://promos.treehousetv.com/mylittlepony/scrapbook.aspx Family Scrapbook]]'') uses the same tune as the earlier song "Feelin' Good" (from the G3 cartoon ''The Princess Promenade'' and ''[[http://www.hubworld.com/watch/602035921001 Meet the Ponies: Starsong "Dance & Sing Party"]]'').

* WasntThatFun: "Let's do that again!" is Rarity's catchphrase in ''[[http://www.hubworld.com/watch/610729115001 The Runaway Rainbow]]'' DVD.