Characters / Friendship Is Magic: Mane Family Members

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Main Index The Main Cast: Twilight Sparkle, Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Spike, Starlight Glimmer, the Cutie Mark Crusaders Supporting Cast: The Princesses (Princess Celestia, Princess Luna), Mane Family Members, the School of Friendship, Ponyville, Other Locations, Animal Companions Antagonists: Major Villains (Queen Chrysalis, King Sombra, Lord Tirek, Cozy Glow), Dangerous Creatures, Jerks and Bullies, Redeemed Antagonists (Discord) World of Equestria: Races, Historical Figures, The 2017 Movie, Expanded Universe, Toyline Exclusive, Miscellaneous Minor Characters: One-Shots, Other Characters, Background Ponies (Common Background Ponies, Special Background Ponies, Other Background Ponies) Equestria Girls: Heroines (Sunset Shimmer), Villains, Supporting Cast

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Just because the Mane Six are True Companions doesn't mean they don't have family who love them dearly. Quite a few direct family members have appeared in supporting roles or cameos.

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The Apple Family

The clan which Applejack belongs to, a huge herd that works several apple farms all across Equestria.

See The Cutie Mark Crusaders for Apple Bloom, Applejack and Big Macintosh's younger sister.

Shared Family Tropes

• Badass Family: Applejack is a multi-time savior of Equestria, and Big Mac and Apple Bloom have both played a hand in some of Applejack's heroics. Both Big Mac and Apple Bloom helped fight off the Tantabus, Big Mac is capable of immense feats of strength, and Apple Bloom has faced the likes of a chimera.
• The Clan: Applejack's family is HUGE. All of them work in apple farms and they work together to maintain their family business. On special occasions they gather together in one of these farms to assist the local Apple family prepare for a celebration. In the first episode's case: The Summer Sun Celebration. In Season 3, it's a family reunion, which takes place once every hundred moons. And then it is revealed that through their mother Applejack and her siblings are related to another family that is likely just as large.
• Edible Theme Naming: Almost all of their names are somehow related to apples or foods made from apples.
• Feuding Families: In the past, the Apple Clan was embroiled in a very big and very vicious feud with the Pear Clan. Their respective orchards and fruit-selling businesses were in constant competition, and they were always trying to one-up and outdo each other in the farming business. It is unknown if the feud is still going, though, following Bright Macintosh and Pear Butter's marriage and the Pears moving to Vanhoover.
• Good Old Ways: They prefer to make cider using simpler machines as opposed to the Flim-Flams' more powerful cider maker.
• "I Am" Song: Or We Are Song: The episode "Pinkie Apple Pie" features "Apples to the Core", where Applejack and her family sings about what a tightly knit unit they are, no matter what may come around to tear them apart.
• Sibling Team: Applejack and her siblings often do the farm's chores in pairs, or all together as a team for harder, more exhausting stuff.

Immediate Family

Big Macintosh

"Eeyup."

"But still only one pony, and one pony plus hundreds of apple trees just doesn't add up."

Debut: "Friendship is Magic, part 1" ("Mare in the Moon")

Voiced by: Peter New^{Foreign VAs} Héctor Moreno (Latin American Spanish); Hiroshi Shirokuma (Japanese)

Big Macintosh is Applejack's older brother, a red earth pony with an orange mane and freckles. While most of the Apple clan live scattered around Equestria, he stays at Sweet Apple Acres with his sisters and Granny Smith.

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• Always Someone Better: "Brotherhooves Social" shows that he's chafing at his little sister being a world-famous Element of Harmony while he's still just working on the farm, though he doesn't have any resentment towards her over it.
• Ascended Extra: Although he was a named recurring character from the very beginning, he never did much. Season 2 saw a large increase in his screentime to the point where he even got an episode centered around him (and Cheerilee). And he spoke. Starting with "Brotherhooves Social" in Season 5, Big Mac having an episode devoted to him each season became pretty common, which resulted in him talking more, and in Season 7, he became one of the few Official Couples in the series with Sugar Belle.
• Audience Surrogate: At the end of "Lesson Zero", he gladly ran off with the Smartypants doll despite not being hypnotized. An adult male happily owning a toy intended for little girls. Sound familiar?
• Babies Ever After: He and Sugar Belle have an unnamed son in "The Last Problem".
• Baritone of Strength: He's one of the strongest stallions in the series, and to match his physical prowess, he has a very deep voice with a thick, cowboy-esque southern accent. He also knows how to use it as the Ponytones' bass.
• Beware the Quiet Ones:
  • He gives a mighty "The Reason You Suck" Speech to the Cutie Mark Crusaders after finding out they were Gabby Gums. You can feel both the anger and disappointment in his voice when he's giving them their chewing out. Made even more relevant by the fact he's usually The Quiet One, so his scolding is significant in showing how far the CMC had screwed up.^note In a role reversal, it's Applejack who gives a one word retort to the Crusaders.
  • In general, Big Mac rarely gets angry, but when he does he gets pissed. A flashback episode, "Where The Apple Lies", shows he used to be a lot more short-tempered and snippy as a teen; he spent that entire episode being pissed off at Applejack for getting them in trouble with Filthy Rich.
• Big Brother Bully: The young Big Mac acts like a blustering know-it-all to his younger sister Applejack, a stark contrast to the soft-spoken Big Brother Mentor he is now. Of course, Applejack wasn't exactly any better. It took Big Mac having a Heel Realization to see how bad he was acting.
• Big Brother Instinct: As Big Mac grew up, he took his role as the big brother of the Apple siblings very seriously, and in the present day he's a pretty nice, dependable stallion who shows concern about his sisters overworking themselves or having their dreams crushed.
• Big Eater: Revealed to be one in the 2021 Annual issue where he pigs out on golden apples.
• The Big Guy: The biggest and strongest pony in the Apple Family, as well as the only stallion in the household.
• Bishie Sparkle: His apple-half cutie mark is surrounded by four stars. Sometimes.
• Blunt "No": He simply says "nope" in response to something he doesn't like or agree with.
• Bruiser with a Soft Center: We see how tenderhearted he is almost as much as we see how strong and tough he is. "Brotherhooves Social" shows good examples of both: smashing through obstacles like crates and fences without slowing down... while wearing a dress to help Apple Bloom get a blue ribbon she wants, and being moved when she states that she'll always have room for her big brother in her life. In "Hard To Say Anything" and "The Breakup Break Down", Big Mac turns into an affectionate, lovesick sap whenever he's with his love, Sugar Belle.
• Brutal Honesty: Generally expressed with a blunt "eeyup".
• Character Catchphrase: "Eeyup" and "Nope."
• Characterization Marches On: He didn't become The Quiet One until after "Applebuck Season". Conversely, he has become more talkative in later seasons.
• Charles Atlas Superpower: All that farm work over the years has made him into one of the physically strongest characters on the show. He can buck a tree with a tap of one hoof and provides most of the muscle when raising a barn. Exaggerated when he's under the influence of Love Potion (actually Love Poison): while Cheerilee is powered up enough to effortlessly smash through doors, Big Mac is strong enough to rip a two-story house out of its foundations without missing a step. But for some reason he has trouble merely walking with a large cake on his back — although that may be more a matter of balance than strength...
• Chick Magnet: Dialogue in "Hearts and Hooves Day" suggests that he's one of the most eligible bachelors in Ponyville, and across the series he had Ship Tease with Cheerilee, Marble Pie, and Fluttershy, before he became an Official Couple with Sugar Belle. In the tie-in comics he draws attention from numerous mares, Fleetfoot and Tealove get Imagine Spots about marrying him, and he even gets a kiss on the cheek from Princess Luna.
• A Day in the Limelight:
  • "Hearts and Hooves Day", "Pinkie Apple Pie", "Filli Vanilli", "Brotherhooves Social", "Dungeons & Discords", "Where the Apple Lies", "Hard to Say Anything", "The Perfect Pear", "The Break Up Break Down" and "The Big Mac Question" respectively flesh out his character.
  • He is front and center in issues 9 and 10 of the comic book series.
• Dead Guy Junior: He has the same surname as his father Bright Macintosh.
• Deadpan Snarker: It's hard NOT to be this when most of your dialogue consists of "Eeyup."
  Applejack: I'll take a bite out of this job by day's end!
  Big Macintosh: Biting off more than you can chew is just what I'm afraid of.
  Applejack: Are you saying my mouth is making promises my legs can't keep?
  Big Macintosh: Eeyup.
• Depending on the Artist: Occasionally his Cutie Mark includes four stars; it's normally sparkle-free, and a development image for the My Little Pony mobile game from Gameloft specifically states that "Stars are not part of Big Macintosh's cutie mark design."
• Does Not Know His Own Strength: Normally he does, as he clearly uses just a fraction of his strength to buck apples from a tree, but certain things can cause him to forget.
• Expy: A very weird case. First, he's based on the Big Brother ponies in G1, and his general design strongly resembles G3 Applejack, down to his coat color but minus the green mane and tail and checkered blanket.
• Fast Tunnelling: While he's corrupted during Discord's reign in "The Return of Harmony - Part 2". It's unknown if he's normally capable of it.
• First-Person Smartass: The IDW comics that focus on him give him this trait. He's got a few surprisingly snarky moments in his narration, even if he never voices it out loud.
• Flanderization: Zig-zagged:
  • In "Applebuck Season", his first speaking role, his dialogue was normal. Ever since, nearly every word out of his mouth has been either "Ee-yup" or "Nope", though he does get the occasional short line. In "Hearts and Hooves Day", a love potion causes him to say a fair amount of unbearably sappy dialogue. The same episode also sorta kinda justifies his usual silence by Apple Bloom saying he's shy. He eventually got some more dialogue in "Ponyville Confidential", where he chews out the CMC.
  • This aspect of his character seems to have mostly been smoothed out in later seasons; while "eeyup/nope" is still his default mode of communication, he can monologue as well as anyone when an appearance calls for it. His female alter ego "Orchard Blossom" speaks in nothing but Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness, and he gets a stirring speech at the end of the same episode ("Brotherhooves Social") to top it off. Big Mac also tends to talk more in the episodes devoted to his relationship with Sugar Belle ("Hard To Say Anything", "The Break-Up, Break Down", "The Big Mac Question"), so he can try to express how he feels about her.
• Genius Bruiser: Applejack gets frustrated with his "fancy mathematics", and he knows the therapeutic pressure points for Granny Smith's muscle spasms. To top it off, when "discorded", he becomes incredibly stupid, acting more like a dog than a pony. Notice that for the Mane Six, the same effect reversed their core personality trait, a.k.a. their very Element.
• Gentle Giant: Big Macintosh is not only one of the tallest members of the main cast, he's also noticeably bulkier and way stronger than the other male ponies seen so far (with the exception of Appleoosa earth ponies, Canterlot unicorns, and Bulk Biceps). Still, he's very nice, calm and gentle, as his collector card◊ states. He's also probably one of the more even-tempered members of the cast; his ranting at the Cutie Mark Crusaders in "Ponyville Confidential" is a serious O.O.C. Is Serious Business moment given how rarely he does so.
• Graceful Loser: In "A Horse Shoe-In", he maturely accepts that he isn't qualified to be vice-headmare after his quiet nature makes him unable to communicate at a parent-teacher conference. So he gracefully bows out of the running after admitting as much to Starlight Glimmer.
• Happily Married: To Sugar Belle, as of "The Big Mac Question".
• Hidden Depths:
  • Sure he's super strong and usually quiet, but who knew he can sing?
  • In the IDW comics it's shown that despite him being a Stallion of few words, he actually has very much going on in his mind (much of the narration is him thinking about what to do).
• Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: He's noticeably taller than Cherilee when the Cutie Mark Crusaders try to pair them up. Ditto with Sugar Belle, who's about the same size.
• Hunk: Appears to be the pony equivalent of one, given his size and strength and it's how he tends to be portrayed in "humanized pony" fanart. Fleetfoot's Imagine Spot and Sweetcream Scoops' affections in the IDW Comics 9 and 10 take this to extremes.
• Iconic Item: In the show, he is almost never seen without his horse collar.
• I Just Want to Be Special: The ending of "Brotherhooves Social" has Mac confessing to Apple Bloom that he's still wanting to be the "hero" to his little sister, when all he really does is work on the farm and do chores. In the dream sequence of "Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep" he dreams himself first as a unicorn then as an alicorn princess, and in "Dungeons & Discords" his tabletop gaming character is a unicorn.
• Intergenerational Friendship: He sometimes likes to play Ogres & Oubliettes with Spike and Discord, the former of which is still a kid and the latter is several thousands of years older than him.
• In-Series Nickname: "Big Mac". Used not-at-all in Season 1, twice in "The Cutie Pox", extensively in "Hearts and Hooves Day", and from Season 4 onward used frequently by everypony.
• The Juggernaut: When sufficiently motivated to get somewhere, nothing short of Celestia herself is going to stop him. In "Hearts and Hooves Day" he pulls a cart full of anvils and the two oxen towing it while skipping without noticing. It takes being tethered to a full-sized, two-story house to make him pause for a second... and then he rips the house out of its foundations and drags it with him as he continues frolicking around.
• Large and in Charge: Implied by Applejack during "Bridle Gossip" when she threatens Apple Bloom with telling Big Macintosh on her after the filly defies Applejack's authority.
• Like Brother and Sister:
  • It's not brought up a lot, but he's quite close with Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, and even says he loves them in Issue 9 of the Friendship is Magic comics, albeit only in a thought balloon.
  • He sort of has this relationship with Twilight as well. Out of the Apple siblings, Twilight seems to interact with Mac the least, but they're very good friends regardless, and Twilight has said that she considered the Apple Family to be like family to her in "The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000". And whenever they do interact, they usually have a good time.
• Manly Tears: When Applejack's farewell letter is read aloud in "The Last Roundup". He has them again in "Crusaders of the Lost Mark", when Apple Bloom gets her cutie mark.
• Motor Mouth: In "Where the Apple Lies", it's revealed that he was a lot more talkative when he was younger. He got out of the habit after Applejack nearly lost the farm (and Big Mac was nearly amputated by their granny) over a Snowball Lie, and he blamed himself for not listening to her.
• Nice Guy: One of the nicest, which is why the CMC thought he'd be perfect for Cheerilee's special somepony.
• Noodle Incident:
  • It's never explained when or how he was injured in "Applebuck Season". One fan theory postulates that it may have something to do with the conversation heard in the opening to "The Ticket Master". Applejack states she has a bet with Macintosh and if she won, "he's gonna walk down Stirrup Street in one of Granny's girdles." It's also been suggested that he injured himself trying to work the "saggy old plow".
  • Why he wears that collar and how he got his cutie mark are stories we hear the tail end of in "Where the Apple Lies", but very little is provided in the way of actual information.
• Not So Stoic:
  • When he found out that the Cutie Mark Crusaders were Gabby Gums and posting fake stories of Applejack and him, he gives them a piece of his mind, and it isn't pretty.
  • The plot of "Brotherhooves Social" revolves around him fearing that he no longer has a place in Apple Bloom's life after being outshone by Applejack's heroism.
  • When Big Mac mistakenly thought Sugar Belle was going to leave him in "The Break-Up, Break-Down", he became positively hysterical with heartbreak for a good while.
• Official Couple: With Sugar Belle, as of Season 7. And then they get married late in season 9 during "The Big Mac Question".
• The One Guy: He was promoted to this slot (which he shares with Spike, the two of them usually trading off) in Season 2. As noted under The Big Guy, since the death of his parents, Big Mac is now the only stallion living on the Apple farm in a family of mares (which is particularly noticeable in "Pinkie Apple Pie"). In "Dungeons & Discords", Spike and Big Mac are shown to amuse themselves by holding a fun 'guy's night' every time the Mane Six leave town (though a throwaway line from "The Cutie Map" implies this tradition started as early as Season 5).
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: If he's speaking in complete sentences, things are not well. Or, more often lately, he trusts the pony enough to open up to them about his concerns.
• Overshadowed by Awesome: "Brotherhooves Social" reveals that he's secretly jealous of the fact that Applejack is a hero and is constantly going on adventures and saving the day, and all he can do are chores and farmwork.
• Pair the Spares: Invoked: he gets paired up with Cheerilee in "Hearts and Hooves Day" by the Cutie Mark Crusaders because he's the only stallion around who is both suitable and unattached. Averted when he gets into a proper relationship with Sugar Belle.
• Patchwork Kids: Has his mother's orange hair and his father's freckles, green eyes, and build. His hooves are also the same color as his father's coat.
• Poor Communication Kills: In "A Horse Shoe-In", his extremely taciturn demeanor tanks his application for vice-headpony of the School of Friendship when he needs to communicate at parent-teacher conferences.
• Promotion to Opening Titles: As of the second opening (introduced in "Lesson Zero").
• Promotion to Parent: Often acts as a father figure to his sisters, especially in Apple Bloom's case; whenever an older Apple sibling has to give the youngest one a very stern lecture, Big Macintosh is usually the one in charge. In "Bridle Gossip", when Apple Bloom won't listen to her about staying away from Zecora, Applejack threatens to "tell Big Macintosh on [her]!" Plus, in theinvoked original pitch bible, he was the farm's legal owner, only allowing Applejack to handle most of the administration since she has more social skills and he's more comfortable at doing most of the hardest physical chores.
• The Quiet One: He rarely talks and, when he does, he only says the bare minimum — often, he limits himself to simply saying "eyup" and "nope". He almost never raises his voice, not even when he's noticeably upset. A few exceptions, however, exist:
  • In "Ponyville Confidential", after the Cutie Mark Crusaders's identity as Gabby Gums comes to light, he and Applejack switch places in a sense — Applejack more or less snubs the Crusaders and only answers them in terse "eyups" and "nopes", while Big Mac articulately chews them out.
  • In the flashback in "Where The Apple Lies", it turns out that when he and Applejack were young, he never shut up. The fact that his constant talking and never listening was in part responsible for the misadventures of the episode is what convinced him to start talking less and listening more in the first place.
    Young Big Mac: I hate to say I told you so, Applejack, but—
    Young Applejack: You an' I both know you don't hate to say anythin'.
    Young Big Mac: Well, I've always thought that the most important thing a pony can do is say exactly what's on his mind to anypony who'll listen, so everypony everywhere always knows everythin' they're thinkin'.
  • After opening up to Apple Bloom in "Brotherhooves Social" from Season 5, this trope is Played With. Around strangers or large crowds he tends to limit himself to "eeyup" and "nope". With family and close friends, however, he's starting to become a good bit more vocal.
• Real Men Wear Pink: He didn't need Twilight's "Want It Need It" spell to want her old childhood doll.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Despite his red coat, he's the blue oni to Applejack's red, being generally calm and rational, even while upset, while Applejack is more... dynamic.
• Rule of Funny: He can drag houses with ease or send dozens of ponies flying over the horizon, but he can barely lift up Applejack's backpack or a cake. Whatever's funnier.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here:
  • Most notably in IDW Comics 9 and 10 when faced with either lovestruck Fleetfoot or flirty Sweetcream Scoops (his reaction to the latter at a kissing booth is simply "nope nope nope nope nope..."), but really any time when he's really out of his comfort zone fits.
  • When Starlight uses magic to make him open up, he's articulate but terrified that he can't stop speaking and runs off screaming.
• She's a Man in Japan: Apparently, some of the foreign language translations on his collector card◊ call him female. Seeing as the other stallions' cards apparently do the same thing, it almost certainly wasn't intentional, and most likely isn't indicative of those languages' dubs of the show.
• Ship Tease: With numerous mares; see Chick Magnet. He eventually became an Official Couple with Sugar Belle in "Hard To Say Anything".
• Shrinking Violet: Apple Bloom mentions that he's too shy to ask somepony out, which is why he spends all his time working on the farm. Even when he does start speaking more, it's only in small groups or around trusted ponies (...or Discord).
• Sibling Rivalry: When they were younger he had this with Applejack over who would take over Sweet Apple Acres. It centered on his plow-pulling strength versus her ideas for innovation (the latter of which didn't pan out).
• Sibling Yin-Yang: While they have a lot in common, he's noticeably calmer and more patient than his stubborn little sister. It's also hinted that he's smarter.
• The Silent Bob: Particularly in the second season, where Big Macintosh is usually voiceless except for saying "Eeyup" and "Nope". His expressions speak volumes, though, and he did explicitly refuse the Flim-Flam Brothers's bad Apple Cider deal. Occasionally, he will be about to say something and then suddenly someone will interrupt him as a gag.
• Smarter Than You Look: The Smart Guy of the Apple family as well as The Big Guy. Applejack gets exasperated with his "fancy mathematics". Also, in the Zen and the art of Gazebo Repair story arc in the comics, Big Mac is given thought bubbles in pretty much every scene. He's shown to have a rather articulate mind and is quite logical.
• Spell My Name With An S: There's been much debate and confusion over whether the second part of his name is spelled McIntosh (which is primarily used by the toyline, comic books, series guidebook, and would fit the apple name pun better) or Macintosh (which the sometimes-typo-y Season 3 credits use). Both have been listed as trademarks, the former by the toyline and the latter by the trading cards.
• The Stoic: He's very calm and rarely fazed by anything.
• Super-Strength: Even among earth ponies, who have greater physical strength than others, he is in a class of his own. Notably, Pulling a house while hopping, or shaking off a Dog Pile of Doom so hard he threw some of the participants over the horizon.
• Theme Naming: His name is a reference to the "McIntosh Red" apple with red and green skin (the same colors as Big Macintosh's coat and Cutie Mark).
• Took a Level in Kindness: Big Macintosh, as opposed to the calm, quiet, and above all nice pony that he is in the show proper, was a fairly stuck-up Big Brother Bully back in his youth. He had a Heel Realization after how much trouble it got the rest of his family in.
• Tragic Keepsake: A Flashback in "Going to Seed" reveals that Big Mac's yoke was passed down from his father, Bright Mac.
• Unmanly Secret: In "Lesson Zero", Twilight enchants the whole town to crave her beaten-up, old Smarty Pants doll, and every pony starts fighting over it. When the spell is broken, Big Mac waits until everyone else is gone before he gleefully picks up the doll and runs off with it.
• Used to Be More Social: He was incredibly talkative when he was younger, as shown in "Where The Apple Lies". His resulting tendency to talk over others and ignore what they had to say was what led in part to the misadventures of the episode, which led him to resolve to become The Quiet One. In "The Break-Up, Break-Down", Big Mac confirmed that he stopped talking as much as he used to, because he believed it only ever got him into trouble. In the present, he still finds it a bit difficult to find a balance between being a good listener and saying his part, avoiding bottling up his feelings.
• What Did I Do Last Night?: What Am I Doing in a Pit, on a Mattress, with a Mare? The Love Poison cooked up by the CMC led to such an awkward situation.
• Working-Class People Are Morons:
  • Averted, as the cartoon constantly implies that he's smarter than his sisters. Also, in theinvoked original pitch bible, Big Macintosh owned and ran Sweet Apple Acres while Applejack managed the day-to-day affairs.
  • He can be quite articulate when he does speak. "Brotherhooves Social" has him make one of the shows more passionate, heartfelt speeches about how he just wants to be viewed as Apple Bloom's hero again. The same episode also has him disguised as Orange Blossom, who can pull out Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness at the drop of a hat with very little prior knowledge that he'd need to use it.
• Writing Around Trademarks:
  • Originally, he was going to referred to as Big Mac in casual conversation, but it seems the showrunners were skittish about getting into too much trouble with trademarks, thus he is refereed to almost exclusively by his full name in early seasons. Starting in season 2, he is referred to as "Big Mac", but only after already being called "Big Macintosh" in the same scene. Somewhere around season 4, this nickname aversion gets dropped completely, and he becomes "Big Mac" in conversation and even in the credits of "Leap of Faith" and later episodes.
  • He was also going to be called "Big Apple" and he would be the current boss of Sweet Apple Acres, which itself would have been "Big Apple Orchard". However, trademarked or not, it didn't pass in the legal department, so both were changed to their current names.

Granny Smith

"Now wait you fellers, hold it! / You went and you oversold it! / I guarantee that what you have there won't compare / For the very most important ingredient can't be added or done expedient / And that's quality, friends, Apple Acres' quality and care!"

Debut: "Friendship is Magic, part 1" ("Mare in the Moon")

Voiced by: Tabitha St. Germain^{Foreign VAs} Diana Alonso, Karina Altamirano [young] (Latin American Spanish); Asami Yoshida [Seasons 1-2], Akemi Sawazaki [Season 3-onwards] (Japanese)

Applejack's, Apple Bloom's, and Big Macintosh's paternal grandmother. Age has done a number on this green earth pony, and while she's not crippled or senile, she's getting there. Despite this, she still manages to continue her role as the matriarch of the Apple family.

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• Aerith and Bob: "Smith" in a family of Apple Bloom, Applejack and Big Macintosh. The Apple family also features names like Red Gala, Red Delicious and Golden Delicious. Of course, Granny Smith is a type of apple, so the Family Theme Naming is not broken — it just happens to sound much more like a regular English name. On the matter,invoked Word of God said that ponies don't have surnames like humans do.
• Amazingly Embarrassing Parent: To Apple Bloom in "Family Appreciation Day". At the end of the episode she gains the respect of all the fillies and colts in Apple Bloom's class.
• Ascended Extra: Since Season 2, she's gotten a sharp increase in screen-time and spoken lines.
• Blind Mistake: Her poor eyesight causes her to mistake Gilda's tail for a rattlesnake.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Her methods for preparing the Zap Apples to be harvested sometimes take this to a literal level; hopping in a bunny suit while singing to water.
• Character Catchphrase: "Move your caboose!"
• Characterization Marches On: Granny Smith was very weak, slow, frail, and definitely senile during her debut in the pilot. She got a significant increase in mobility and lucid moments during Season 2, but her senility was still there. By Season 3, her mind is sharp as a knife and she has the vitality of a young mare, with her senility toned down into more harmless eccentricity.

• Cloudcuckoolander: Definitely comes off as this at times, especially during Season 2. It turns out that there is method to her madness.
• Cool Old Lady: In many of her appearances but for a specific example we have "Sleepless in Ponyvile". She is the only pony not affected by Scootaloo dashing by; in fact, she dodges in a way to allow one of Scootaloo's trick stunts. Looks like she's learned from experience.
• *Crack!* "Oh, My Back!": According to her granddaughter Applejack, Granny has a "saggy ol' hip" that needs to be replaced. Her joints creak audibly whenever she walks, and in "The Show Stoppers" and Applejack's Imagine Spot in "The Ticket Master", she's seen using an adult walker to move around. Her toys also give her a walker.
  
  While she's corrupted during Discord's reign in "The Return of Harmony - Part 2", she tap-dances on her hind legs. It's unknown whether she is more mobile than she usually appears, if Discord fixed her hip as part of his reality warping or didn't, but made her dance nonetheless. Her higher mobility in the second season implies that she got her hip replaced in-between seasons, but it isn't mentioned in show, so take that as you will. The "more mobile than she appears" is given more credibility in "Leap of Faith", when the "cure-all" placebo hints that she is still a lot more limber than she believes she is. At least as far as swimming and moving in the water is concerned.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: In the IDW comic, when Ponyville stands up to the Nightmare Forces, Granny Smith reveals she actually is a decent fighter.
• Curse of The Ancients:
  Granny Smith: Confangled modern doohickeys.
• Deadly Distant Finale: In "The Last Problem", Applejack is seen wearing Granny's shawl, implying that she died at some point before.
• Depending on the Artist: She's wrinklier than usual in "The Show Stoppers" and Applejack's Imagine Spot in "The Ticket Master".
• Dirty Old Woman: In "Hearthbreakers", when she learns that Pinkie Pie's parents married each other because a "Choosing Stone" told them to, she asks if she can have the stone fix her up with an apple-farming hunk.
• Eccentric Mentor: Often supplies the Apple family valid wisdom and teachings in running the business, even if there's a kooky peppering to most of it.
• Everyone Has Standards: In her youth, she hated the Pears and strongly disapproved of her son Bright Mac marrying Pear Butter. But even she was horrified by Grand Pear disowning Pear Butter, and accepted her into the family afterwards.
• Expressive Ears: She's old and weak, so her ears are floppy.
• The Fog of Ages: Because of her old age, her memory is fragile and she tends to forget things all the time. However, it's been shown she's got a memory like a steel trap when it comes to important family events.
• Good Old Ways: She prefers the family to make cider without the use of more powerful machines.
• Granny Classic: A textbook version of this — the sleep cycle, the achey back, the long stories, etc.
• Handbag of Hurt: With Rainbow Dash on the receiving end.
• Hidden Depths: She's literally responsible for the creation of Ponyville. Those wacky habits of hers? They're necessary to make her legendary Zap Apple jam the best it can be.
• Insult of Endearment: After reconciling, Granny calls Grand Pear "Prickly Pear", and he in turn calls her "Crabapple", but it's all good-natured.
• I Was Quite a Looker: When she was young, she looked like a cross between her granddaughters. She says this trope by name in one panel of the comic.
• Long-Lived: How old isn't known, but she predates Ponyville itself, which is stated to be a few hundred years old (assuming that part wasn't retconned).
• Meaningful Name: Granny Smith is an elderly pony with a green coat; the Granny Smith apple variety is known for its distinct green color.
• New Technology Is Evil: Played for laughs at Granny's expense as she can't figure out how to use a simple tin megaphone. She tries talking by the wrong end, then slaps it around trying to figure how to use it, and finally ends up poking her eye with it.
  Granny Smith: Is this thing on?
  (to Big Macintosh) I don't think this thing is on.
  (to the megaphone) Hello! What is the... e...
  (Big Macintosh whispers to her)
  (Granny slaps the megaphone into the correct position) You have to say so. Confangled modern doohickeys.
• Never Mess with Granny: She's a fierce old mare. For instance, in "Where the Apple Lies", she lays down the law to Filthy Rich regarding Apple Cider with such intensity that even years later he's scared of crossing her.
• Nobody Calls Me "Chicken"!: In "The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000", with a camera angle ripped straight out of Back to the Future, no less.
• Odd Name Out: Theme-naming or not, she has the most mundane and human-sounding name in the whole show, only being rivaled by Trixie and Pony Joe.
• Outliving One's Offspring: Heavily implied to have outlived her son Bright Mac.
• Parental Substitute: For her grandchildren, because the parents are never seen.
• Passing the Torch: She appears to be passing her role of matriarch of the Apple family onto Applejack as evidenced in "Apple Family Reunion" when she gave her the responsibility to organize the event.
• Pet the Dog: Despite her all-consuming rivalry with the Pears, she ultimately accepted her son's marriage and took in Pear Butter after her father disowned her.
• Plucky Girl: When she was a kid. She was brave enough to go into the Everfree Forest on her own.
• Retired Badass: She was initially played as an old senile pony for laughs, and then she was revealed to have been responsible for the founding of Ponyville because she braved the Everfree Forest on her own, thus instantly gaining the respect of Apple Bloom's class, even school-bully Silver Spoon. In the IDW comic, she shows some of the Nightmare Forces that she's a lot tougher than she looks.
• The Rival: In her youth, she had a vicious rivalry with Grand Pear and his clan.
  Goldie Delicious: All the Apples and the Pears were rivals to the core.
• Running on the Spot: Played straight during "Griffon the Brush Off" and then immediately subverted as Granny "runs" away at a snail's pace.
• Scatterbrained Senior: Played straight at first; in the first season, she was initially portrayed as being very senile, while in season 2 she's more lucid but still shows some forgetfulness due to her age. This was eventually phased out of her character from Season 3 onward, as from that point on she's quite sharp and doesn't have nearly as many problems with her memory.
• Scratchy-Voiced Senior: Her voice is very high and croaky.
• Senior Sleep-Cycle: Seen through the series, but especially played when Granny is chaperoning some kids during Nightmare Night.
  Granny Smith: I should have been asleep five hours ago!
• Spiteful Spit: In flashback, she does this to express her contempt for the Pears after seeing her son Bright Mac with Pear Butter.
  Granny Smith: What in tarnation are you doing, Bright Mac!? We do not fraternize with Pears! (spits on the ground)
• Supreme Chef: Her Zap Apple jam is legendary. Ponies travel from miles away to buy it and it literally put Ponyville on the map. The reason that Diamond Tiara can live in luxury is because it was the first thing her great-grandfather, Stinkin' Rich, ever sold.
• Theme Naming: She is named after Granny Smith apples. These apples are green colored (the same color of Granny's coat) and are favored to use in baking apple pies and tarts (Granny's cutie mark).
• Took a Level in Kindness: She was deeply against her son's relationship with Pear Butter, until she heard her refer to the Apples as her family following her and Bright Macintosh's secret wedding. Granny Smith was visibly touched by this, and even comforted Pear Butter after her father disowned her for it, showing that she had accepted her new daughter-in-law.
• The Unintelligible: "Griffon the Brush Off" contains her only dialogue that didn't consist of senile muttering (to us if not to the rest of the Apple Clan) in the entire first season. Season 2 onwards makes her far more coherent and talkative.
• Vague Age: OK, she's old, but exactly how old? She claims to have been one of the founders of Ponyville, which according to the episode "Winter Wrap Up" is a town several centuries old.
• Visual Pun: She's often seen in a rocking chair, which of course makes her a rocking horse.
• When Elders Attack: Granny Smith is old, frail and senile, but she still can deliver a considerable wallop.
• When I Was Your Age...: In the comics.
  Granny Smith: I remember back in my day we didn't have squeaky boards n' our out buildin's. Things were built bettr'. 'Course, eve'thing was new on account of we had to build it all with our own four hooves. And we didn't have fancy things like hammers... we had to pound in nails with out teeth! Uphill! Both ways!
• You Don't Look Like You: A stock vector◊ commonly used on the Facebook page and on her blindbag trading card shows a younger-looking Granny Smith wearing glasses.

Grand Pear

"Pears are nature's candy. Apples are sour. Like the expression on your face right now."

Debut: "The Perfect Pear"

Voiced by: William Shatner

Applejack and her siblings' grandfather on their mother's side, and patriarch of the Pear family. He and Granny Smith were bitter rivals in their heyday, but he has since mellowed considerably with age.

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• Affectionate Nickname: After the Apple siblings reconcile with him, Apple Bloom asks if she can call him "Grand-père Pear", to which he replies in the positive.
• The Atoner: When he returns to Ponyville as an old stallion, he does it in the hope of reconciling with the rest of the Apple family for their long and senseless feud, knowing full well he has forever lost that chance with his daughter.
• The Cameo:
  • In "It Isn't the Mane Thing About You", he is seen selling pear-based baked goods alongside Granny Smith in the marketplace during the Cold Open.
  • He appears at the beginning and end of the My Little Pony: Best Gift Ever special, celebrating Hearth's Warming Eve with the Apple family.
• Cool Old Guy: His personality in the present is a calm and friendly old stallion who still makes the best pear jam. Not so much when he was younger.
• I Have No Son!: He disowned his daughter rather than accept her marriage with a member of the Apple family. He deeply regrets this in the present day.
• Ink-Suit Actor: Much like nearly every other Special Guest character, Grand Pear's designs as an old, middle-aged, and young stallion all reflect how William Shatner himself looked in each of those stages of his life — though Shatner has entered old age so gracefully that the middle-aged version is closer to his real appearance and voice than the elderly version is.
• Insult of Endearment: After reconciling, Granny calls Grand Pear "Prickly Pear", and he in turn calls her "Crabapple", but it's all good-natured.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Though he buried it deep in his anger towards the Apples, he loved Pear Butter with all his heart and was heartbroken when she refused to move away with him. By the time we see him in the present, the "jerk" part has completely withered away.
• Luke, I Am Your Father: The Apple siblings are shocked to find out that this kind old pear merchant Apple Bloom met is actually their grandfather.
• Meaningful Name: Like his counterpart Granny Smith, his name proves rather prophetic to the fact that he becomes a grandparent. In fact, it literally means "grandfather" in French.
• Must Make Amends: Grand Pear's choice to return to Ponyville years after Pear Butter left the family is so he can bury the hatchet with her surviving relatives.
• My God, What Have I Done?: The way he acts and speaks in the present about his actions makes it clear he's long since had this reaction to disowning his daughter.
  Grand Pear: I can't believe I let a silly feud keep me from my family.
• Never Got to Say Goodbye: After Pear Butter's (heavily implied) death, he regretted the way things went between them. He intends to make up for it with the current generation of Apples.
• Outliving One's Offspring: Heavily implied to be the case with his daughter Pear Butter. Since their last meeting beforehand involved him disowning her, it's an even more tragic example.
• Parting-Words Regret: When he learned his daughter married an Apple stallion and had no intention of leaving him, he disowned her on the spot. This being the last time they ever saw each other, he has come to regret this considerably in his old age.
• Prophetic Name: His name is a homophone of the French word "grand-père" (grandfather). He eventually becomes a grandfather to three half-Apple, half-Pear children.
• The Rival: In his youth, he had a vicious rivalry with Granny Smith and her clan, to the point where it ultimately destroyed his own relationship with his daughter.
• Stealth Pun: His relationship with his daughter fell apart after he couldn't accept her marriage to an Apple stallion. In other words, it went "pear-shaped".
• Took a Level in Kindness: He has gone from refusing to be even five feet away from members of the Apple clan to happily giving Apple Bloom, his Apple granddaughter, a free sample of pear jam.

Bright Macintosh and Buttercup (née Pear Butter)

Buttercup to the left, Bright Macintosh to the right

Bright Mac: I don't want to be apart from you. Ever. I'm not sure what we'll do, but I'm sure of us. So sure that I'd marry you today.!
Pear Butter: I would, too!

Debut: "The Perfect Pear"

Bright Mac voiced by: Bill Newton
Pear Butter voiced by: Felicia Day

The parents of Applejack, Big Macintosh, and Apple Bloom. The two were members of the feuding Apple and Pear families that nonetheless fell in love.

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Both

• Ambiguously Absent Parent: Bright Mac's father and Pear Butter's mother are never seen.
• Childhood Friend Romance: They fell in love the moment they could speak coherently as toddlers, and it only grew with age.
• Deceased Parents Are the Best: Both are heavily implied to have died, and are consistently seen and spoken of only in the best of ways, with their family and friends being shown to miss them very much.
• Disappeared Dad: Bright Mac's father was never seen nor mentioned.
• Feuding Families: Their families were in the middle of a huge farming feud that lasted decades, but it didn't prevent the two of them from falling in love.
• The Ghost: For the majority of the series, they were never shown onscreen and barely even talked about, save a brief allusion according toinvoked Word of God in season 3's "Apple Family Reunion", and finally a direct mention in season 5's "Crusaders of the Lost Mark". This was finally subverted in season 7, where viewers were given a fleeting glimpse of them in "A Royal Problem" before their full names, faces, and personalities were unveiled in "The Perfect Pear".
• Happily Married: Goldie Delicious describes their relationship as being a "beyond the rainbow" kind of love potent enough to make those nearby feel happier. Since she's the Apple clan's historian, she knows what she's talking about, both before and after the marriage ceremony.
• Missing Mom: It's unknown who Pear Butter's mom is and she was never seen.
• Like Parent, Like Child: Each of the Apple siblings inherited one of their personality traits or skills from them. Bright Mac's penchant for honesty and humility, romantic gestures were passed down to Applejack and Big Mac, respectively, while Pear Butter had a knack for figuring out other ponies' talents like Apple Bloom. Pear Butter was also a good singer, guitarist and song writer, and the three siblings had shown musical talent more than once. Big Mac and Apple Bloom also both got Bright Mac's carpentry skills, while Apple Bloom alone inherited his clumsiness. Applejack also inherited the habit of wearing a hat at all times from her father.
• Never Say "Die": The writers really don't seem to want to use the dreaded "D" word, even though it's made quite obvious in other ways such as their family and friends getting emotional when reminiscing about them, and their kids have to ask the family historian and their best friends to learn about their romance, instead of their parents themselves. Only after the series ended did they confirm they were deceased.
• Parental Abandonment: Though the details are hazy as to the cause, it's all but stated outright that both of them are dead in the present day. They're spoken of exclusively in the past tense, several characters tear up when talking about them in "The Perfect Pear", and Apple Bloom has made comments about things to "remember them by."
• Posthumous Character: It's subtly suggested through dialogue and visuals that the two of them are deceased at present, though the details are unclear.
• Significant Green-Eyed Redhead: Both parents, but particularly Bright Mac, as Pear Butter's eyes are turquoise.
• Single-Target Sexuality: Neither Pear Butter nor Bright Mac are ever shown to be attracted to any other pony but each other.
• Star-Crossed Lovers: Both of their families were shown to be bitter business rivals. Of course, their romance was successful since they eventually married and had three children, which helped bridge the gap between their families. Bright Mac and Pear Butter's union was even symbolized when they exchanged apple and pear seeds instead of rings, which were planted and grown into intertwining trees. It wasn't without its sacrifices, however: Pear Butter burned bridges with her father when he refused to accept their love, and he never had the chance to mend things with her.
• Sweetie Graffiti: As teenagers, one of the things they did was carve both of their cutie marks into a rock on the Apple farm. Bright Mac would later propose to Pear Butter in front of this same rock.
• Token Good Teammate: To their respective families. While the majority of the Apples and Pears hate each other, Bright Mac and Pear Butter don't care about the feud at all, instead finding it a barrier to their love.
• Too Good for This Sinful Earth: Both are portrayed as the only ones in their respective families to not care about the feud, and their friends remember them very fondly as kind and honest ponies. They are also the only characters in the series to be pretty much confirmed as deceased.
• Unseen No More: For the majority of the series, they were unnamed, unmentioned, and absent. Season 7 finally revealed their names and personalities in full, along with their love story.
• Vocal Dissonance: They had adult voices as toddlers.
• Youthful Freckles: Both parents, which their kids all inherited.

Bright Mac

• Gentle Giant: He was very large, but very sweet. Like father, like son.
• Grand Romantic Gesture: When he heard that the Pears were moving to Vanhoover, Bright Mac wasn't about to lose Pear Butter that easily. What did he do? He set up an entire wedding reception on the Apple farm, got Burnt Oak and Chiffon Swirl to witness the marriage, asked Mayor Mare to marry them, and proposed to Pear Butter in front of the rock they carved their cutie marks into.
  Bright Mac: I don't wanna be apart from you, ever. I don't know what we'll do, but I'm sure of us. So sure that I'd marry you today.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: He was best friends with Burnt Oak.
• Small Parent, Huge Child: He was around the same size as his son Big Macintosh would be as an adult. As a result, he dwarfed Granny, just like Big Mac.
• Strong Family Resemblance: To all three of his children. He has Big Mac's frame and Apple Bloom's mane and coat colors, and Applejack’s mane is the color of his coat.
• Super-Strength: Being an earth pony, he could run super fast while pulling a heavy plow.
• Too Fast to Stop: One time, he was having a race with Burnt Oak to see who could plow the fields faster. Bright Mac was outrunning him, but got distracted when he saw Pear Butter and plowed right into the Pears' silo.
• Tragic Keepsake: It is visually implied that Applejack's signature cowboy hat was once her father's or that, at the very least, he was the one who inspired her to wear one all the time as he did.
• What You Are in the Dark: He was always honest, just like Applejack. When he and Pear Butter were young, Bright Mac accidentally destroyed the Pears' water silo, and Grand Pear blamed it on Pear Butter. Bright Mac was hiding in a nearby bush and could have gotten away with it, but came out and told the truth to save her from being punished.
  Burnt Oak: Grand Pear never would have known it was your father's fault. But there was no way he'd let your mother take the blame for something he did.

Pear Butter / Buttercup

• Affectionate Nickname: Bright Mac took to calling Pear Butter "Buttercup" after she successfully used such a flower to make her chin glow during their first meeting. After her father disowned her, Pear Butter seemed to take on the name permanently, since her own children were surprised to learn of her birth name.
• Break the Cutie: She's clearly heartbroken when her father disowns her after she marries Bright Mac.
• Did I Just Say That Out Loud?: She inadvertently confesses her love for Bright Mac during a song she sings to him. Bright Mac is surprised at first, but then reveals that he was planning to confess his love for her on that very same day.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: She was best friends with Chiffon Swirl / Mrs. Cake. Pear Butter helped her discover her cutie mark and talent for baking, and helped test all of her recipes.
• Farmer's Daughter: Pear Butter was the daughter of a pear-farming family who were rivals to the Apples.
• Flowers of Romance: Bright Mac puts a flower (a buttercup, appropriately) in Pear Butter's mane during the picnic where they admit their love to each other. We see that she keeps wearing it, up to the day of their wedding.
• Meaningful Rename: After being disowned from the Pear family, Buttercup stopped calling herself Pear Butter. Not even her children knew she was a Pear.
• Stealth Pun: Her relationship with her father fell apart after he couldn't accept her marriage to an Apple stallion. In other words, it went "pear-shaped".
• Strong Family Resemblance: Her mane is very similar to the color of Applejack’s coat, and is the same color as Big Mac's mane.
• Quirky Curls: She had a very thick, curly orange mane and tail, although she's only "quirky" when particularly lovesick.

Other Relatives

Braeburn

Cousin Applejack, mind yer manners, you have yet ta introduce me to your compadres! Shame on you!

Debut: "Over a Barrel"

Voiced by: Michael Daingerfield^note  Andrew Francis did audition for Braeburn, mentioned in this tweet and this interview, but it did not survive the final cut. (in "Over a Barrel")^{Foreign VAs} Benjamín Rivera [Season 1], Carlos Siller [Season 5] (Latin American Spanish); Kazuyuki Okitsu (Japanese)

Applejack's cousin who lives in the newly-settled Appleoosa. Is quite proud of the new settlement, but is also willing to listen to both sides of the conflict between the Appleoosians and the resident herd of Buffalo.

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• Butt-Monkey: Poor Braeburn in "Appleoosa's Most Wanted"... first he breaks his hoof, then he tries taking care of the CMC only to fall asleep soon after night falls, and he's subject to multiple of Troubleshoes Clyde's moments of clumsiness throughout the episode.
• Character Catchphrase: "AAAAAAPPLE-LOOSA!" (whinny)
• Cowboy: He has many traits of a typical movie cowboy, such as his attire (including a cowboy hat) and that his living in a Wild West-style frontier town.
• Determined Homesteader: Although he's more sensitive to the buffaloes' plight than most of the townsfolk.
• Furry Reminder: Neighs a lot, especially when mentioning AAAAAAAPPLE-LOOSA!
• Keet: Young, cheerful, highly enthusiastic and adorable.
• Motor Mouth: He's extremely eager to show the ponies just how amazing "AAAAAPPLE-LOOSA!" is.
• Nice Guy: While being kind does seem to run in the apple family, Braeburn seems to be the only resident of "AAAAAPPLE-LOOSA!" who actually seems to be interested in hearing BOTH sides of the conflict that's happening in his town.
• Noodle Incident: It's not exactly clear how he broke his hoof prior to "Appleoosa's Most Wanted".
• Only Sane Man: Twice.
  • First, he's one of the few Appleoosans who's entirely willing to hear things out with the buffalo and try to talk things through.
  • Then, he's rightfully cautious (mostly because his younger cousin and her equally young friends are now involved) but isn't as overly excitable as the rest of the town over the Troubleshoes Clyde incident.
• The Pioneer: He ventured into the wide open plains to start the settlement of "AAAAAPPLE-LOOSA!"
• Reasonable Authority Figure: He's implied to be high-status in Appleoosa. He's not official authority, but he is the most direct representative to the buffalo, and is rightfully cautious about the CMC's coming around the time of a hunt for a "criminal" though not as excitable and superstitious as the rest of the townsfolk.
• Theme Naming: As with most of the other Apple family members, Braeburn is named after a variety of apple. In fact, it's a hybrid derived from the Granny Smith.
• Vocal Dissonance: His "Uh-huh" in "Apple Family Reunion".

Aunt and Uncle Orange

Debut: "The Cutie Mark Chronicles"

Uncle Mosely Orange voiced by: Brian Drummond^note  according to this tweet by Brian Drummond
Aunt Orange voiced by: Tabitha St. Germain

Applejack's aunt and uncle who live in Manehattan. Unlike the rest of the family, the Oranges live a high class, posh lifestyle. Whether they grow oranges or not isn't clear. According to the Blind Bags, Uncle Orange is named Mosely Orange.

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• All There in the Manual: Uncle Mosely Orange's collector◊ cards◊ reveal that he "loves to have fancy parties!"
• All There in the Script: Uncle Orange's name, Mosely Orange, has only been used in the toyline; specifically, in the fourth and sixth waves of Blind Bags.

• Odd Name Out: Along with Hayseed Turnip Truck and Peachy Sweet, they're among the few members of the family whose names aren't related to apples.
• Theme Naming:
  • To drive the difference in lifestyle home, we are comparing apples and oranges.
  • While it might be coincidental, there's another layer to it when you consider that they live in a counterpart of New York City... a territory once owned by the Dutch who are associated with the color orange. New York is also nicknamed the Big Apple.
• She Cleans Up Nicely: Applejack's flashback states they wanted her to clean up from farm girl to socialite.
• Upper-Class Twit: Not as extreme an example as Prince Blueblood, but they place great importance on high fashion and proper upper-class etiquette and parties.
• You Don't Look Like You: Uncle Mosely Orange's molded toys and collector cards all depict him as a Palette Swap of Big Macintosh.

Hayseed Turnip Truck

"It's me, Hayseed Turnip Truck! We met at the big hoedown in Ponyville last month?"

Debut: "Sweet and Elite"

Voiced by: Matt Hill

An earth pony with buck teeth who wears a trucker cap with a turnip on it and a dirty white T-shirt. His cutie mark is three turnips. Hayseed works as a window washer in Canterlot in "Sweet and Elite" and appears in Ponyville in "Sleepless in Ponyville". "Apple Family Reunion" sees him attending said reunion and even being included in the family photo, revealing him to be part of the Apple Family. While not the brightest, he appears to be nice, greeting and complimenting Rarity when he sees her. In the Expanded Universe, a short feature in IDW Publishing's My Little Pony Micro Series Issue #3 shows that he started working in Ponyville, fell in love with Rarity, and moved to Canterlot to start his own business to become rich and successful in the hopes that Rarity would love him back.

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• Affectionate Gesture to the Head: Does a cross between a hair-tousle and a noogie to Rarity's hat while proudly talking up what a big-deal dressmaker she is in Ponyville.
• Alliterative Name: Only 2/3 of his name.
• Butt-Monkey: A non-comedic example. The poor guy falls in love with Rarity but ends up embarrassing himself every time he runs into her. He spends years working and becoming rich so that he can be good enough for her, and finds Rarity to finally ask her out, only for Spike to lie to him that Rarity is engaged, leaving him heartbroken.
• Curtains Match the Window: His eyes and mane are both brown.
• Determinator: He moved to Canterlot, started his own company, and made a fortune to try and win Rarity’s affection.
• Did Not Get the Girl: He fell in love with Rarity and became a rich businessman so that she would date him, only to give up on her when Spike lied to him that Rarity has a fiancé.
• Dogged Nice Guy: He is still trying to get Rarity's attention after a long time.
• Good Ol' Boy: A positive version of this as, from what we see, he is a sweet country boy.
• Horrible Judge of Character: After Jet Set and Upper Crust insult Rarity's fashion and walk off with their noses in the air, Hayseed waves goodbye to them, saying to Rarity, "Well, they seemed real nice!"
• Keet: His dialogue with Rarity is both energetic and endearing.
• Meaningful Name: Hayseed Turnip Truck is a stereotypical country bumpkin (a "hayseed") who seems rather slow and oblivious (as if he "just fell off the turnip truck").
• Nice Guy: He’s very friendly to Rarity and doesn't hold a grudge against Jet Set and Upper Crust for looking down on him.
• Odd Name Out: Along with the Oranges and Peachy Sweet, he's among the few members of the family whose names aren't related to apples.
• Self-Made Man: While working in Canterlot, he started his own company and became rich.
• Signature Headgear: His trucker cap. He stops wearing it when he starts his company, though.
• Uptown Girl: He's a lowly handyman with a crush on a fairly well-off fashion designer.

The Smith Family

Debut: "Family Appreciation Day"

Granny Smith's parents and brothers, which by extension makes them the Apple Siblings' great-grandparents and granduncles. Only seen during flashbacks in "Family Appreciation Day" and during flashbacks and in old photos in "Apple Family Reunion".

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• Anachronism Stew: Despite sewing machines being new-ish technology in "Apple Family Reunion", Granny's mother's cutie mark is a sewing machine something like a hundred years previous in the "Family Appreciation Day" flashback.
• No Name Given: Granny Smith never refers to these members of her family by name (the closest she comes is calling her father "Pa").
• Posthumous Character: Because they're not seen at the reunions, it's safe to assume that they're long dead.

Babs Seed

She's one bad seed.

"Looks like somepony's pumpkin just got squashed!"

Debut: "One Bad Apple"

Voiced by: Brynna Drummond^{Foreign VAs} Nycolle González (Latin American Spanish); Kanako Ikegaya (Japanese)

A young filly from Manehattan who visits Ponyville and her cousins Applejack and Apple Bloom to escape being teased as a blank flank. Instead of befriending her cousin and fellow blank flank Apple Bloom, she starts causing problems for her and the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Eventually she sorts things out with the Crusaders, and joins them as the group's fourth member. As of "Bloom and Gloom", she finally gained a Cutie Mark: A pair of scissors with the handles resembling an apple.

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• Absentee Club Member: The Cutie Mark Crusaders accepted Babs Seed into their club in "One Bad Apple", but she never attended any of their meetings due to living far away, and she left the club after getting her cutie mark in "Bloom and Gloom".
• Acrofatic: Babs is athletic despite being drawn chunkier than the average filly. She chases the Crusaders in "One Bad Apple" and keeps up with Apple Bloom in "Apple Family Reunion". On the cover of a Friends Forever appearance, she can roller skate faster than Rarity.
• Aerith and Bob: Her first name is part of a Punny Name, but it's also a shortened form of Barbara.
• Big Brother Bully: Of the cousin variety towards Apple Bloom. She gets better.
• Big Sister Instinct: Of the cousin variety. After she is reformed, she protects Apple Bloom from Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon.
• Boomerang Bigot: She bullies the Crusaders for not having their cutie marks to avoid being bullied for the same reason.
• Bully Turned Buddy: Babs Seed starts off as a bully to the Crusaders, latching onto Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon and joining in their torment. By the end of her episode, however, she reconciles with them after they learn she was bullied at her old school for not having a Cutie Mark either.
• Character Tics: Blowing her mane out of her eyes, and flicking her tail over her flank whenever her lack of a cutie mark is brought up.
• Country Cousin: Inverted; she visits the rural Ponyville from the suburban Manehattan.
• Easily Forgiven: The CMC instantly forgive her bullying and grant her full membership in the CMC, though the comics reveal she still feels she has to fight every day to prove she's truly reformed, and she forms a kinship with Trixie over it.
• Evil Counterpart: To the Cutie Mark Crusaders; she hates being called a blank flank by Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, but instead of standing up to them, she joins them in picking on the Cutie Mark Crusaders. In the end, Babs reverses her attitude and becomes a Crusader herself, even standing up to Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon.
• Evil Redhead: Or at least, she starts out this way.
• Fat Bastard: She bullied the CMC in "One Bad Apple". She got over it, though.
• Face of a Thug: She has a deep voice, a face built for smirking, a tomboyish demeanor and rather masculine interests, but actually shows herself to be quite shy, gentle and sweet (though she can certainly play a thug when it suits her).
• Freudian Excuse: Babs was bullied in Manehattan for not having a Cutie Mark, and only joins Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon to avoid suffering the same heartache in Ponyville.
• Girl Posse: Forms one with Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon.
• Heel–Face Turn: After learning not to be a bully. Notably the first antagonist in the series to make one completely willingly.
• Heel Realization: When she finds out the Cutie Mark Crusaders protected her despite how awful she'd been to them. Hits harder when she realizes her bullying almost made them bullies too.
• Hidden Depths: Her special talent rather unexpectedly turns out to be mane styling, with a scissors cutie mark; rarely for the show at this point this was consistent with her earlier My Little Pony: Friends Forever story, with Babs fangirling over the punk haircuts of the Roller Derby ponies
• I Just Want to Have Friends: This is the reason she joins Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon when she first comes to Ponyville in order to avoid being bullied. Later, she leaves them and becomes friends with the CMC instead.
• Kids Are Cruel: She's relentless in hunting the Cutie Mark Crusaders around Ponyville. However, she got better.
• Little Miss Badass: Bullying the CMC and taking their float isn't what gets her this description, but realizing the error of her ways and standing up to Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon to defend the CMC definitely is.
• Peer-Pressured Bully: She gets bullied a lot in Manehattan for being a blank flank, so when Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon start picking on her, she decides to become a bully.
• Punny Name:
  • Lampshaded in the CMC's song about her.
    "She's just a bad, bad seed."
  • Even after gaining her cutie mark (a pair of scissors), Babs's full name (Barbara) is similar to "Barber" (someone who cuts hair).
• Put on a Bus: Last seen in "Apple Family Reunion" which was in the third season. Hasn't shown up in the show since, though has made more appearances in the comic book.
• The Quiet One: She's pretty meek and doesn't talk much when she first meets her cousin. She gets much more talkative once she turns to the "dark side".
• Sixth Ranger: By the end of her debut episode, she becomes the fourth member of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. As she gets ready to go home to Manehattan, she promises to start up a branch of the club there. By the time of "Apple Family Reunion", she has already found two prospective new members at her school. By "Bloom and Gloom" however, she receives her cutie mark and is no longer a Crusader.
• Smug Smiler: When she joins Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon's bullying, she sports one of these to show her "in crowd"-ness.
• Stealth Pun: When her name was first revealed, fans wondered why her name simply wasn't "Bad Seed", as the pun is too obvious. She isn't a bad seed, she just looks like one.
• Temporarily a Villain: In her first appearance, she bullies the CMC with Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. After Babs makes amends with the CMC, she protects them from Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon.
• Theme Naming:
  • The bad seed of the family.
  • The Babs Seed Catalog, a famous gardening catalog that covers a wide variety of seeds, including apples.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: Tomboy to Apple Bloom's Girly Girl because of her bronx attitude and Apple Bloom's hairbow. Despite this, she managed to find her calling in something that's typically viewed as feminine (hair styling).
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Until she was constantly bullied for being a blank flank and becomes a bully to avoid being bullied herself. She gets better.
• "The Villain Sucks" Song: The Crusaders give her one in "One Bad Apple". It's later Deconstructed after her reason for bullying the Crusaders is revealed.
• Vocal Dissonance: She looks to be about the Cutie Mark Crusaders' age, but her voice sounds significantly deeper than even Scootaloo's.
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: She bullies the CMC so that she won't have to suffer from the pain of being bullied again.
• Youthful Freckles: She's the CMC's age.

Auntie Applesauce and Apple Rose

Auntie Applesauce (left) and Apple Rose (right)

Debut: "Apple Family Reunion"

Auntie Applesauce voiced by: Tabitha St. Germain (S3E8), Marcy Goldberg (S8E5)
Apple Rose voiced by: Ashleigh Ball (S3E8), Shirley Milner (S8E5, S9E5)

Granny Smith's aunt and favorite cousin, respectively. They seem to be around as old as her, and are members of the Gold Horseshoe Gals alongside Granny Smith and Goldie Delicious. Auntie Applesauce is also a possible link between the Apple and Pie families, being — maybe — a fourth cousin twice removed to the Pies.

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• The Bus Came Back: After their first appearance early in Season 3, Applesauce and Apple Rose reappear in major roles in "Grannies Gone Wild", five seasons later.
• Dirty Old Woman: In "Grannies Gone Wild", Applesauce aggressively flirts with the bellhop while the mares are checking into their hotel room, to the bellhop's intense discomfort.
  Granny Smith: You sure your name isn't Applesaucy?
• Ear Trumpet: Apple Rose occasionally makes use of one to listen to other ponies, although it still doesn't always let her hear properly.
• Embarrassing Nickname: "Applesauce" isn't her real name, it just refers to when she lost her dentures in a vat of apple jam.
• False Teeth Tomfoolery: Applesauce's dentures just won't stay put.
• Good Old Ways: They prefer sewing by hoof to a sewing machine.
• Grande Dame: Applesauce is this, sometimes making her the butt of Apple Rose and Granny's jokes.
• Granny Classic: Like Granny Smith; see her entry.
• I Was Quite a Looker: Also like Granny Smith, they were much better-looking in their youth.
• Long-Lived: Since Aunt Applesauce is Granny Smith's aunt, this may make her even older then Granny Smith. Unless there was a large gap between Granny's mother and Aunt Applesauce's ages...
• Ludd Was Right: They prefer sewing by hoof over using them new-fangled sewing machines Applejack sets them up with.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: Applesauce. According to Granny Smith, "Applesauce" is a nickname referring to an incident where she lost her dentures in a vat of the stuff. Her actual birth name isn't known.
• Parasol of Prettiness: Applesauce mentions hers got ruined by Apple Rose and Granny using it to bust open a pinata.
• Regal Ringlets: Apple Rose's mane and tail are styled into old fashioned barrel curls.
• Southern Belle: Aunt Applesauce is an elderly version of this trope; the accent and the quilt and the genteel decorum, etc.
• Textile Work Is Feminine: They have been working on the family quilt for years.

Goldie Delicious

"Y'all sure you don't want to take any of these Apple family heirlooms home with you?"

Debut: "Pinkie Apple Pie"

Voiced by: Peter New

A cousin of the Apple family, whose house is practically a museum of old Apple family relics and heirlooms. She's also the Apples' go-to pony for their family records. She's also a member of the Gold Horseshoe Gals, alongside Granny Smith, Aunt Applesauce and Apple Rose.

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• Ancient Keeper: She's one of the oldest Apples around and keeps a complete record of the family history.
• The Cameo: She briefly reappears during the animal adoption fair in "Filli Vanilli", obtaining more cats.
• Crazy Cat Lady: She owns dozens of cats, including a cheetah.
• Cross-Dressing Voice: She is voiced by Peter New, who also voices Applejack's brother, Big Macintosh.
• Curtains Match the Window: When she was younger, she had a green mane to complement her green eyes.
• Deadly Distant Finale: Apple Bloom is seen wearing her shawl in the epilogue, implying she passed away.
• Hammerspace Hair: In "The Perfect Pear", a white cat emerges from Goldie's hair at one point (another trait she shares with Pinkie Pie).
• I Was Quite a Looker: She was looking very cute when younger.
• Mad Libs Catchphrase: She oftens says "Now that's how ya—" (run an errand, make an entrance, etc.).
• Shared Family Quirks: Implied; though it's unrevealed whether or not Pinkie Pie is related to the Apple family, Goldie's shared traits with Pinkie — namely her curly mane, gingerbread house meal, and act of pulling a book from the bottom of a stack without toppling it (which Pinkie did earlier in the episode) — suggest that she is.
• Sweet Tooth: She ate a gingerbread house for lunch.
• Trash of the Titans: Her cabin is so cluttered with junk that it takes her a great deal of effort just to squeeze through the front door. In "The Perfect Pear", the amount of trash is such that it explodes through the door.

Other Apples

Voiced by: Ashleigh Ball (Apple Dumpling), Andrea Libman (Apple Leaves), Peter New (Half Baked Apple) and Terry Klassen (Apple Split)^note  according to this tweet by Samuel Vincent

The Apples of Ponyville have a LOT of relatives, but so far we mostly only know their appearances and/or names. In "Friendship is Magic, part 1", Applejack names off Apple Fritter, Apple Bumpkin, Red Gala, Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, Caramel Apple^note not to be confused with the Caramel who keeps losing grass seeds, (Uncle) Apple Strudel^note who first appears in "Family Appreciation Day", Apple Tart^note a baby colt who apparently has seven siblings, Baked Apples, Apple Brioche and Apple Cinnamon Crisp, in addition to her immediate family. Later, in "The Ticket Master", she mentions "Apple Brown Betty! Uh, the dessert. Not my auntie." Later still, Apple Dumpling, Apple Leaves, and Half Baked Apple appear in "Apple Family Reunion". And in "Somepony to Watch Over Me", Granny Smith goes to visit Great Aunt Pine Apple. According to the Blind Bags, one member is named Apple Honey, one apparent member is named Peachy Sweet, and another apparent member is named Lavender Fritter, according to Enterplay's Collectible Card Game and Gameloft's My Little Pony game, one member is named Apple Cobbler, and also according to Enterplay's Collectible Card Game, one member is named Gala Appleby. The Blind Bags also give Red Gala and Apple Bumpkin the respective names Crimson Gala and Apple Dazzle. There is also evidence that Pinkie's family also has distant ties to the Apple clan, but it remains inconclusive for now. For Applejack's great uncle Honeycrisp, see the Expanded Universe page.

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• Adaptation Name Change:
  • The Blind Bags refer to Red Gala as Crimson Gala and Apple Bumpkin as Apple Dazzle.
  • The "Meet the Apple Family!" trading card◊ refers to Caramel Apple as Caramel Apples.
• Alliterative Name: Apple Brown Betty.
• All There in the Manual:
  • Apple Bumpkin's collector◊ card reveals that she "is so loyal to her friends!"
  • Red Gala's collector◊ cards◊ reveal that she "gives everyone treats when she visits!"
  • Golden Delicious's collector card◊ reveals that he or she "loves acting like a movie star!"
  • Peachy Sweet's collector◊ cards◊ reveal that she "is always smiling wherever she goes!"
  • Apple Fritter's collector card reveals that she "loves to give homemade gifts to her friends!"
  • Caramel Apple's collector card◊ reveals that she "loves to watch movies with her friends!"
• All There in the Script:
  • Apple Dumpling, Apple Leaves, and Half Baked Apple's names have only been used in the credits of the episode "Apple Family Reunion", which don't even specify who's who.
  • Wensley, Candy Apples, Peachy Sweet, Apple Honey, and Lavender Fritter's names have only been used in the toyline; specifically, Peachy Sweet's in the fourth, sixth, and ninth waves of Blind Bags, Apple Honey and Lavender Fritter's also in the ninth wave of Blind Bags, and Wensley and Candy Apples' in Wave 11.
  • Apple Cobbler's name has only been used in Gameloft's My Little Pony Licensed Game and in Enterplay's Collectible Card Game.
  • Gala Appleby's name has only been used in Enterplay's Collectible Card Game.
• Depending on the Artist: In different manners on several occasions, the most major examples being a few of them sometimes appearing as unicorns: Red Gala with a different mane/tail style near the end of "A Canterlot Wedding - Part 2", and a couple of the unnamed fillies at the end of "Apple Family Reunion".
• Gender Flip: Golden Delicious is a stallion in the show and WeLoveFine's All Of Apple Acres art print, but a mare in the Blind Bags. G3 Golden Delicious was also a mare.
• Massive Numbered Siblings: Look at this list. These are all Applejack's relatives.
• No Name Given: With the exception of those listed above.
• Odd Name Out: Along with the Oranges and Hayseed Turnip Truck, Peachy Sweet is among the few members of the family whose names aren't related to apples.
• True Companions: The family remains very close-knit. Have fun trying your schemes in the future, Flim and Flam.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Peachy Sweet and some of the unnamed Apple Family members who attend the reunion in "Friendship is Magic, part 1" aren't included in the family photo at the end of "Apple Family Reunion", even though she and one of them do attend the reunion in the latter episode.
• Yodel Land: Uncle Apple Strudel, an elderly stallion with an impressive white beard and handlebar mustache, green lederhosen and a feathered Tyrolean hat, seems to come from whatever the pony equivalent of this is.
• You ALL Look Familiar:
  • The Apple Family Reunion in "Friendship is Magic, part 1" includes some of them more than once but since they're all related, they could just be identical relatives. A couple of pairs of them do have different mane colors.
  • Cutie marks aside, Caramel Apple, Red Delicious and Golden Delicious respectively look exactly the same as background ponies Golden Harvest (Carrot Top), Goldengrape and Cherry Fizzy, though Cherry Fizzy sometimes also has a different eye color.
• You Don't Look Like You:
  • Red Gala's molded toys and collector cards all depict her as a Palette Swap of Pinkie Pie.
  • Peachy Sweet's molded toys and collector cards all depict her as a Palette Swap of Pinkie Pie with a different-looking cutie mark.
  • Apple Bumpkin's molded toy and collector card◊ (from the third wave of the Blind Bags) both depict her as a Palette Swap of Applejack with a different eye color.
  • Golden Delicious's molded toy and collector card◊ (from the fifth wave of the Blind Bags) both depict him as a differently-colored unicorn mare Palette Swap of Rarity with a different cutie mark, based on G3 Golden Delicious.
  • Apple Fritter's molded◊ toy◊ and collector card both depict her as a Palette Swap of Applejack.
  • Caramel Apple's molded toy◊ and collector card both depict her as a Palette Swap of Pinkie Pie.
  • Apple Honey's molded toy depicts her as a Palette Swap of Pinkie Pie.
  • Lavender Fritter's molded toy depicts her as a Palette Swap of Applejack.

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The Sparkle Family

See The Princesses for Princess Cadance, Shining Armor's wife and thus Twilight Sparkle's sister-in-law. See the same link for Princess Flurry Heart; Shining Armor and Cadance's daughter, Twilight Sparkle's niece, and Twilight Velvet and Night Light's granddaughter. See also Spike for Twilight Sparkle and Shining Armor's adopted little brother.

Shared Family Tropes

• Badass Family: Twilight Sparkle and her friends have defeated two Big Bads. Shining Armor is the captain of the Royal Guard whose magic is strong enough to create a barrier around an entire city with only minor difficulty, and with the help of his wife, Cadance, and The Power of Love, defeated a third Big Bad. Cadance's magic alone was able to shield the entire Crystal Empire from King Sombra, and The Power of Love as wielded by Shining Armor and Cadance is superior to even Celestia, who is Cadance's aunt, which adds her and Luna to the Badass Family as well. Meanwhile, Flurry Heart is a Child Prodigy, as well as being the first alicorn confirmed as having been born as one, while Spike was instrumental in defeating King Sombra, saved the Equestria Games and was Dragon Lord for a short time.
• Blue Blood: The social status of their parents is unknown, but Twilight Sparkle and her family are surely among the supreme elite of Equestria, with Twilight being the personal protégé of Princess Celestia (not to mention being promoted to a princess herself) and her brother being at once Captain of the Guard, Husband to Princess Cadance, and Prince of the Crystal Empire.
• Color-Coded Wizardry: In the show, the family magic aura so far seems to be violet-purple. In the comics Night Light has a blue aura.^note The comics did give Sunset Shimmer a different aura color, so Depending on the Artist may happen if Night Light is ever given a different aura in the show
• Family Theme Naming: There appears to be some sort of light theme going on. Twilight Sparkle, Shining Armor, Twilight Velvet, and Night Light.

Prince Shining Armor

Twilight's B.B.B.F.F.^note That's Big Brother Best Friend Forever

"You've gotta stop saving my rump like this. It's starting to get embarrassing."

Debut: "A Canterlot Wedding - Part 1"

Voiced by: Andrew Francis^{Foreign VAs} José Antonio Macías (Latin American Spanish); Mamoru Miyano [Season 2, Friendship Games], Nobuyuki Doi [Seasons 3-5], Ryota Aoki [Season 6] (Japanese)

Prince Shining Armor is Captain of the Canterlot Royal Guard and a prince of Equestria through marriage to Princess Cadance, but more importantly, he's Twilight Sparkle's older brother. They were very close when they were younger, but started to grow apart when she moved to Ponyville. He presides over the Crystal Empire alongside his wife.

He has a human counterpart in the Equestria Girls movies, first appearing in Friendship Games as a Crystal Prep alumnus.

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• Affectionate Nickname: He calls his little sister Twilight Sparkle "Twily" for short.
• All There in the Manual: His and Cadance's trading cards list Love as their Element of Harmony (which isn't part of the cards' Official Fan-Submitted Content). In the initial release, said Element of Love is also listed as his pet, due to a misprint. Maybe he has a pair of lovebirds.
• Aloof Big Brother: Subverted. In his first appearance in Twilight's song, he looks very stern for a few seconds, then he smiles, proving that he and Twilight were very close.
• Ascended Fanboy: He greatly admired the Canterlot Royal Guard in his youth. He eventually became their leader.
• Authority Equals Asskicking: Shining Armor is the Captain of the Royal Guard, and is one of the more powerful ponies in the show, outside of the four Princesses, seen when he covered all of Canterlot in a magical barrier and maintained it for several days.
• Badass in Distress: Twilight has to help him out of trouble in both "A Canterlot Wedding" and "The Crystal Empire". Lampshaded at the end of the latter:
  Shining Armor: You've gotta stop saving my rump like this. It's starting to get embarrassing..
  • Unfortunately, in "To Where and Back Again", Shining Armor finds himself in trouble again when he is kidnapped alongside his wife, daughter, little sister and her friends, and the Royal Sisters by a vengeful Queen Chrysalis wanting revenge for her past defeat at his wedding and to clear the way for a full-scale invasion of Equestria without him to command the Royal Guards in its defense.
• Barrier Warrior: His special talent is defensive magic (as such, his Cutie mark is a shield emblazoned with a magical starburst). Specifically, he can conjure a force field that can encase all of Canterlot. His ability with that spell is such that not even Twilight Sparkle can match him, though maintaining it for a long time causes him to suffer migraines.^note It's not clear from the episode whether it was maintaining the spell, or whether that was an excuse and the headaches were from some combination of being under Mind Control and an all-you-can-eat buffet for Chrysalis.
• Battle Couple: With Cadance. In "A Canterlot Wedding", they use The Power of Love to save Canterlot from Queen Chrysalis and her Changeling army; in "The Crystal Empire", he throws her like a javelin at a critical moment; in the Best Gift Ever special, he and Cadance battle against an out-of-control pudding.
• Been There, Shaped History: According to the tie-in comics, it was his rock performance to woo Cadance that got Vinyl Scratch her cutie mark when she was fascinated by the music.
• Beware the Nice Ones: He yells at Twilight for disrespecting Cadance, who was actually a disguised Queen Chrysalis. He is a generally nice guy but honestly, for the love of Celestia, DON'T even think about hurting his family and friends. Seriously, just don't.
• Big Brother Instinct: While very (justifiably) afraid of Sombra, he doesn't hesitate to take him on head-to-head to buy time for Twilight and her friends to escape.
• Book Dumb: The Flashback to Twilight and Shining Armor's youth in "Sparkle's Seven" shows that he wasn't a very good student (contrasting his sister). But in the present, he puts together a nigh-impenetrable set of defenses, and anticipates every aspect of Twilight's plan.
• Brainwashed Bride: A gender-flipped version occurs in "A Canterlot Wedding". The Changeling queen, Chrysalis, shapeshifts into the bride, Cadance, and brainwashes him to keep him from figuring out.
• Bruiser with a Soft Center: Muscular, badass, broad-chested, former Captain of Celestia's royal guard (and current captain of his wife's), prince... bawls his freaking eyes out at weddings and his little sister's coronation.
• Butt-Monkey: Has begun to adopt this role since Season 6 and the birth of Flurry Heart; many of his appearances show him haggard and tired from trying to take care of a foal, and in "Once Upon a Zeppelin" he spends most of the episode fighting airsickness.
• The Captain: He's captain of the Royal Guard.
• Character Catchphrase: "Twily!"
• Cool Big Bro: Twilight describes him as her "Big Brother Best Friend Forever" (before she moved to Ponyville). He's also this to Spike, describing him as "the little brother [they've] always had".
• Curtains Match the Window: Both are blue.
• Custom Uniform: He gets special purple armor that's of a different design than the other guards.
• Death Glare: Shoots one to Queen Chrysalis before he and Cadance kick her flank.
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Alongside Princess Cadance, he casts a spell fueled by The Power of Love to defeat Queen Chrysalis and her army, even after Chrysalis had defeated Celestia. The only reason Chrysalis stood a chance against Celestia at all was because the love for Cadance she'd absorbed from Shining Armor was stronger than Celestia's magic.
• Dork Knight:
  • The comics show him to be this in his teenage years given the Dungeons & Dragons analog he played while a trainee (and Cadance suggests he's still this to some degree).
  • The Season 5 episode "The One Where Pinkie Pie Knows" reveals more of this aspect of his personality. When he was young he had an ant farm, collected comic books and like his sister, had his own doll called Brutus. Given his reaction to being shown all that stuff in the episode, Cadance is absolutely right when saying that he still is one.
• Drill Sergeant Nasty: In "Games Ponies Play" where he's the trainer for the Crystal Empire athletes.
• Early Personality Signs: Even as a young colt, he wanted to be a member of the Royal Guard, visually shown by him standing underneath a balcony of them and mimicking their hoof-salute.
• Et Tu, Brute?: How disappointed he must have felt when his sister, whom he chooses for the Best Mare post, straight out accuses Cadance of being evil. Turns out Twilight was right all along, even if it never occurred to her that this "Cadance" was an imposter.
• Four-Star Badass: He's the Captain of the royal guard, which seems to be the closest thing that Equestria has to a Military.
• Genius Bruiser: He has a tall, sturdy build and his special talent is defensive magic, but like his sister he has a lot of nerdy interests. The cover for one of the comics◊ shows his high school yearbook, and his photo lists LARP club, Math club, Chess club, and Cross Country. Expanded upon in issues 11 and 12 of the comics, where he is part of a gamer group playing games like Oubliettes & Ogres, and Hocus Pocus: The-Get-Together in high school, and is apparently a talented musician, playing the Flugalhorn and the Keytar.
• Happily Married: With Cadance. His love for his fiancée/wife empowered Chrysalis to god-like levels.
• Hidden Depths: The comics have revealed that he was part of the cross country team, LARP club, chess club, gaming club, math club, and an avid flugelhorn player. He also plays Equestria's version of Dungeons & Dragons.
• Horrible Judge of Character: Princess Cadance seems trustworthy enough, even if she ain't in her best behavior. As it turns out, that's not how Cadance acts. It was Queen Chrysalis disguised as Cadance. Justified, as Chrysalis was brainwashing him.

• Jerkass Ball: He carries it for most of "Sparkle's Seven" when settling an old Sibling Rivalry with Twilight. He smugly brags for most of the episode about his defenses to the castle, how Twilight won't be able to get pass them, and predicting her entire plan. He also apparently took their old Sibling Supreme crown with him when he moved out of the house after he won it last time, essentially stealing it and preventing Twilight from having a chance to win it back. He finally drops it at the end of the episode when Spike ends up winning the contest by outsmarting both him and Twilight and getting the crown himself.
• Knight in Shining Armor: He's Captain of the Royal Guard, and he's named after this trope. His cutie mark even matches it.
• Leitmotif: Heard at various points in "A Canterlot Wedding". In Part 1, it can be heard when he's first shown in the present day, when Twilight first comes to his house, and when he's explaining things after Twilight bumps into him. In Part 2, it can be heard when he's first shown in the Previously on… segment and when Twilight straightens his badge.
• Luke, I Am Your Father: Meta-example; he was showcased as an upcoming toy months before his relationship to Twilight Sparkle was revealed.
• Magic Knight: Seeing as he's Captain of the Royal Guard and a unicorn. Usually earth ponies tend to be strong but magically inept while unicorns tend towards squishy wizardry, but Shining Armor is strong both physically and magically.
• Meaningful Name: He's a knight in... yes, but the Shining part makes his name share a light theme with Twilight Sparkle, while Armor refers to both his duty of defending Canterlot and his force field spell.
• Names to Trust Immediately: He's named after the phrase "Knight in shining armor" and absolutely lives up to it.
• Nice Guy: One of the nicest, and Twilight will prove it to anyone who says otherwise.
• Official Couple: With Princess Cadance. Their wedding was the focus of Season 2's finale, and the two have since had a daughter together.
• Oh, Crap!: In the Season 9 premiere, Shining Armor learns that King Sombra is back, trying to reclaim the Crystal Empire, and realizes to his horror that Flurry Heart is not with either him or Cadance, finding her being held hostage by the evil king himself.
• The One Guy: Not in general, but he is the only male pony to be released in the main brushable toy line or the Fashion Style brushable toy line.
• Panicky Expectant Father: He's in complete disarray just after his daughter is born. When the Mane Six meet him at the train station of the Crystal Empire, he's barely coherent from a lack of sleep.
• Papa Wolf: Is this for Flurry Heart and Cadance in "The Times They Are A Changeling" when he learns that a spy for Queen Chrysalis may be in the Crystal Empire, leading the guards to search for the Changeling and spending the whole episode in his old armor.
  • Then in the Season 9 premiere, when King Sombra returns to reclaim the Crystal Empire, and both him and Cadance realize Flurry Heart is not with either of them, arriving to find her in the sinister grip of King Sombra himself as a hostage.
• Pink Girl, Blue Boy: The blue to Cadance's pink.
• Projectile Spell: He can fire these from his horn.
• Promotion to Opening Titles: He finally appears in the opening during season 8, receiving the letter from Twilight along with the rest of the Royal Family.
• Punny Name: He is a knight in shining armor...
• Purple Is Powerful: His Royal Guard armor is purple and his magenta magic aura — equivalent to Twilight Sparkle's.
• Remember the New Guy?: He was very, very close to Twilight Sparkle and her only friend growing up. The first time we hear of him in-series is about 51 episodes in. Her Ponyville friends just congratulate her on hearing upon hearing that he's getting married, not questioning why Twilight never mentioned him like the audience is.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: Is now Prince Shining Armor, having married Princess Cadance. He also coaches the Crystal Empire's team for the Equestria Games and handles announcing duties during the big event.
  • In the Season 6 premiere, Shining Armor becomes a father to a very hyperactive alicorn daughter. When her untapped Alicorn magic destroys the Crystal Heart, he takes it upon himself to evacuate the Crystal Empire from the approaching winter storm before being told of his daughter's Crystalling ceremony being what's needed to restore the Crystal Heart and save the Empire. Once the Empire is safe again, he's more than happy to present his daughter to her new grandparents.
  • Later, in "The Times They Are A Changeling," when he learns that a possible spy for Queen Chrysalis is in the Crystal Empire, he puts the Crystal Pony Royal Guards on high alert, and even dons his own Captain's armor to take command of finding the Changeling and bring him to justice, mostly out of vengeance against them for nearly wrecking his wedding to Cadance.
• Sand In My Eyes: When Twilight becomes an alicorn and is crowned princess, Shining Armor maintains that he's not crying. They're not tears, it's "liquid pride". Totally different thing.
• Satellite Character: Most of his personality is centered around his relationships with Twilight and Cadance, and in the seven episodes he's appeared in, he hasn't had a whole lot of development or displayed any particularly notable character flaws. However, he's had much more personality shown off in the official comic books, which portray him as a socially awkward dork.
• Sibling Rivalry: In "Sparkle's Seven", it's revealed that he and Twilight were very competitive when they were younger, fighting for the Sibling Supreme Crown by earning gold stars from doing good deeds. He brags about holding the crown for many years in the episode, driving its plot.
• Sibling Yin-Yang: In comparison to his sister, Twilight is the one who enjoys being a librarian while he himself is a Captain of the Canterlot Royal Guard.
• So Proud of You: Of Twilight when she becomes an Alicorn and a Princess.
• Super-Strength: Is strong enough to lift up Cadance ( who, as an Alicorn, weighs much more than a normal pony) and quickly launch her into the sky like a speeding dart/missile..
• Unreliable Narrator: He relates the story of how he and Cadance got together in the comics. He embellishes for the sake of storytelling.
• Weaksauce Weakness: He has terrible motion sickness, succumbing to queasiness mere seconds after he boards the ship in "Once Upon a Zeppelin".
• White Stallion: He checks all the status symbols; leader, knight, and prince.
• The Worf Effect: Despite being physically in his prime, exceptionally gifted in magic, and the only major character with military training, he tends to fare poorly against villains. It's more of a case of Worf Had the Flu against Queen Chrysalis, since she deliberately targeted him beforehand, and he and Cadance are the ones who kick her flank. In "To Where and Back Again" when he is kidnapped alongside his wife, daughter, little sister and her friends, and the Royal Sisters by Queen Chrysalis for said flank kicking.
• You Shall Not Pass!: In the Season 3 premiere, he stays behind to slow down Sombra so his sister and the others can escape to the Crystal Empire. He survives, but Sombra manages to implant dark crystals into his horn, blocking him from casting any spells for the rest of the two-parter.

Night Light and Twilight Velvet

Twilight Velvet: Oh, you know my Shiny? We're going to his flugelhorn recital tonight. He's just so talented!
Night Light: He's going to make some young pony very happy one day!

Debut: "The Cutie Mark Chronicles"
First Major Role: "Once Upon a Zeppelin"

Night Light voiced by: Andrew Francis (S6E2), Charlie Demers (S7E21)
Twilight Velvet voiced by: Tara Strong (S6E2), Patricia Drake (S7E21)

The parents of Twilight Sparkle and Shining Armor.

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• All There in the Manual: Twilight Velvet's collector◊ cards◊ and Gameloft My Little Pony Licensed Game description reveal that she "loves writing stories about adventures!" The comic book even shows a "Daring Do" award, which led many to believe Twilight Velvet was the author of Daring Do. This was later disproven with the introduction of A.K. Yearling in "Daring Don't", whileinvoked Word of God shrugs that the "Daring Do" award is just a name for a prestigious writing award.
• All There in the Script: The mother's name, Twilight Velvet, has only been used in the fourth and sixth waves of Blind Bags, in Gameloft's My Little Pony Licensed Game, and in the Collectible Card Game, which later confirmed her husband's name as Night Light. Issue #40 of the main IDW comic calls the two out by these names.
• Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: To Shining Armor when he was younger. Calling him "Shiny" and using baby talk at him in front of Cadance.
• Expy: Twilight Velvet is very clearly based on the original G1 Twilight◊ down to the cutie mark and hair colors. The father resembles a G1 German pony named Nachtlicht. Translated? Nightlight.
• Forced Transformation: They briefly get turned into potted plants by their daughter in "The Cutie Mark Chronicles".
• Furry Reminder: Night Light whinnies when encouraging his daughter to accept Celestia's offer of becoming her personal student.
• Good Parents: They are very supportive of Twilight Sparkle and Shining Armor.
• Hidden Depths: "Once Upon a Zeppelin" explores their individual interests. Night Light is shown to be an avid lover of bingo, with Twilight even overseeing a game. Twilight Velvet is quite the adrenaline junkie, going over Neighagra Falls in a barrel and racing her son in a tiny boat while shouting at the top of her lungs, with Night Light also alluding to Velvet going bungee jumping.

• Mum Looks Like a Sister: They haven't aged a bit since we last saw them in Twilight Sparkle's filly flashback. They practically look the same age as their grown-up children, except for subtle bags under their eyes.
• Nice Guy: They are quite a friendly bunch who are very supportive of their kids and affable to everypony they meet.
• Opposites Attract: Night Light has a love of neatness and organization, while Twilight Velvet is a Thrill Seeker who loves going on the most exciting activities around. Despite this, they are very Happily Married, as shown when Night Light lovingly kisses his wife on the cheek after her trip down a waterfall inside a barrel.
• Strong Family Resemblance: Twilight Velvet is a near-Palette Swap of her daughter, having the same tail shape, and a near-identical mane shape.
• Suddenly Voiced: After five seasons, they finally get speaking lines in the second part of the sixth season premiere. They are voiced by the same talents as their kids.
• Tears of Joy: Twilight Velvet twice, first at her son's wedding and then at her daughter's princess coronation.
• Thrill Seeker: "Once Upon a Zeppelin" shows Twilight Velvet to be quite an adrenaline junkie. Her favorite activity on the cruise is going over a waterfall in a barrel.
• Unnamed Parent: Both parents are unnamed on the show, but given names in the merchandise: Twilight Velvet's name was given first in the toyline (as a mini-figure), then in Gameloft's mobile game, and later the TCG. However, Gameloft passed up the chance to give Night Light an official name, listing him only as "Twilight's Dad" (he doesn't even have a Dummied Out name), though the place he and Twilight Velvet live in the game is called the Night Light Book Binding House. The TCG expansion The Crystal Games later confirmed his name. The comics have also used both names for the characters, though they've yet to be officially named in the show. Though initially credited as Mr. and Mrs. Sparkle, they were properly named in "Once Upon a Zeppelin".

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The Pie Family

Shared Family Tropes

The family photo from "Pinkie Pride" showing all three of her sisters.^note Clockwise from top: Marble Pie, Igneous Rock, Maud Pie, Cloudy Quartz, Limestone Pie. Pinkie's in the middle of course.

Debut: "The Cutie Mark Chronicles"

A family of earth ponies who own a rock farm outside of Ponyville. On this farm, there was no talking and no smiling... until the pinkest of the family's daughters suddenly threw a party and brought laughter and sunshine into their lives. They first appeared in flashbacks in "The Cutie Mark Chronicles" and "Magic Duel", but four of them play a major role in the Expanded Universe Tie-In Novel Pinkie Pie and the Rockin' Ponypalooza Party, which reveals their names: the mother Cloudy Quartz, the father Igneous Rock, the gray sister Marble Pie, and the bluish sister Limestone Pie. Enterplay's Collectible Card Game has affirmed Igneous Rock's name, listing it with a trademark symbol. It's said in Pinkie Apple Pie that they have distant ties to the Apple clan, but it remains inconclusive as both genealogy records were smudged.

Three other members of Pinkie's family have been mentioned on various occasions in "Friendship Is Magic, part 2", "Too Many Pinkie Pies", and Pinkie Pie and the Rockin' Ponypalooza Party: Granny Pie, Nana Pinkie, and a (then unnamed) older sister, Maud Pie.

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• All There in the Script: All of their names except for Granny Pie, Nana Pinkie, and Maud Pie. At least until "Hearthbreakers", which confirms the names of Pinkie's parents and other sisters.
• All There in the Manual:
  • Word of Godinvoked confirms the individual identities of Marble Pie and Limestone Pie, which Pinkie Pie and the Rockin' Ponypalooza Party itself hints at but doesn't explicitly state.
  • Berrow was the one that gave Marble and Limestone their names, such that "Marble", "Limestone", and "Pinkie" would spell out MLP.
• Ambiguously Related: "Pinkie Apple Pie" suggests Applejack was Pinkie Pie's fourth cousin, twice removed, which would mean they are related to the Apple family. While the records that could prove it were smudged beyond recognition, they're still treated as honorary family.
• Artistic Age: Pinkie Pie's parents... mostly because of their dull color schemes and strict expressions.
• Eat Dirt, Cheap: The family as a whole seems to enjoy eating rocks.
• Extreme Omnivore: Their Hearth's Warming Eve dinner consists of rock soup, made from actual rocks. Which they then eat. Judging from Maud eating a rock in "Maud Pie", this is not a once-a-year thing.
• Fantasy Counterpart Culture: The Pie family is given a distinctly "Amish" motif with their strict lifestyle, "old-fashioned" appearance, low-tech labor-intensive farming occupation, and emotional reservedness. Cemented when they appear in "Hearthbreakers", where they are given very "old-timey" speech patterns, conservative attitudes and the devotion to tradition further stereotyped of the Amish.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: Each Pie sister fits one of the temperaments. Pinkie Pie, naturally, is the Sanguine.
• It Runs in the Family: In "The Gift of the Maud Pie", Pinkie Pie says this of some of her unusual abilities, including Offscreen Teleportation and Psychic Powers.
• Missed Him by That Much: The rest of the family entered the house just as the Sonic Rainboom appeared before Pinkie and completely redefined her personality and way of life.
• Named by the Adaptation: They received official names from the Tie-In Novel Pinkie Pie and the Rockin' Ponypalooza Party, most likely due to trademark reasons.
• Nice Mean And In Between: Pinkie's three sisters; Marble the nice and shy one, Limestone the mean and rough one, and the drab but comedic Maud is the in-between.
• Not So Stoic: The moment when they saw Pinkie Pie's first party. The edges of their mouths were shivering and shaking so much as if they have not smiled in a very long time (if ever).
• Perpetual Frowner: All of them but Pinkie have thoroughly joyless personalities, only making the odd subtle display of happiness.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The Pie sisters. From most red to most blue: Pinkie, Limestone, Maud, Marble.
• Rock Theme Naming: With the exception of Pinkie, family members are all named after kinds of earthen materials — Igneous Rock, Cloudy Quartz, Limestone and Marble. Even Maud fits, because with some English accents, "Maud" is pronounced close to "Mud". Fitting, since they're rock farmers.
• The Stoic: The entire family is non-expressive until Pinkie introduces them to their first party. The whole bunch smiles for the first time.
• Vague Age: It's never stated in the show if Maud Pie is older or younger than Limestone.

Igneous Rock and Cloudy Quartz

Left, Igneous Rock. Right, Cloudy Quartz.

Igneous Rock: We better harvest the rocks from the south field.
Cloudy Quartz: Pinkamena Diane Pie! Is that you?

Debut: "The Cutie Mark Chronicles"
Major Role: "Hearthbreakers"

Voiced by: Terry Klassen (Igneous Rock Pie in "The Cutie Mark Chronicles"),^note according to this tweet by Samuel Vincent Peter New (Igneous Rock Pie in "Hearthbreakers"), Andrea Libman (Cloudy Quartz Pie)

Pinkie Pie's highly traditional parents and owners of the Pie family rock farm, her father Igneous Rock Pie and mother Cloudy Quartz Pie.

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• Dub Name Change: In the Italian dub, Igneous Rock is renamed Rocco (a common male name that sounds like the word for rock) and Cloudy Quartz is Quarzina (a feminine diminutive of "Quartz").
• I Am X, Son of Y: Igneous Rock introduces himself as "Igneous Rock Pie, son of Feldspar Granite Pie."
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Beneath their cold, serious, strict and authoritative demeanor, they truly love all of their daughters equally and care for them a lot, even Pinkie Pie herself.
• Leitmotif: When they are speaking in "Hearthbreakers", it is accompanied by solemn organ music.
• Meaningful Name:
  • Igneous rocks are rocks formed from cooled lava or magma, very often dark in color.
  • Cloudy (or milky) quartz is quartz with tiny fluid-filled pockets within it. It looks pretty much like the stones in her cutie mark.
• Not So Stoic: Both of them blush playfully and smile when Granny Smith asks if the choosing stone that told them to get married might find her a strong, apple-farming man.
• Perfectly Arranged Marriage: Igneous Rock and Cloudy Quartz married because a rock told them to. They seem quite happy with the arrangement.
• Prim and Proper Bun: Cloudy Quartz, as part of the Amish look.
• Retcon: The season 1 episode "The Cutie Mark Chronicles" and the book Pinkie Pie and the Rockin' Ponypalooza Party had them speaking normal english. "Hearthbreakers" reveals they actually speak in archaic english.
• Signature Headgear: Igneous Rock has a wide-brimmed black hat, fitting his Amish appearance.
• Sleeping Single: Unsurprisingly, given their rather prim, proper, and conservative appearances, Ma and Pa Pie sleep in separate beds.
• Stoic Spectacles: Cloudy Quartz wears the old-fashioned kind with a chain running behind the wearer's head.
• Tough Love: Pinkie Pie's parents were strict and intent on training their children in the ways of rock farming by giving them hooves-on experience, like manually moving an entire field of rocks from one location to another on a regular basis. The way they treated them were no better. As Pinkie puts it: "There was no talking. There was no smiling. There were only rocks."
• Unnamed Parent: Igneous Rock and Cloudy Quartz were both unnamed on the show up until "Hearthbreakers".
• Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe: They speak with archaic English terms.

Maud Pie

"I don't know if you've noticed, but I don't show my enthusiasm for things quite in the same way my sister does."

First Mention: "Pinkie Pride"
Full Debut: "Maud Pie"

Voiced by: Ingrid Nilson

Pinkie's older sister, who has a thing for rocks. Unlike her sisters, Maud is very stoic and hardly expresses any emotion at all. She and Pinkie have been close friends for years, and share a tradition of trading rock candy necklaces. Her full name is Maudalina Daisy Pie.

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• Aerith and Bob: She has a normal human name instead of a name that's usual for ponies.
• Aloof Big Sister: Subverted. Despite her stoic personality, she and Pinkie are actually very close; she just doesn't express herself as exuberantly as Pinkie does.
• Awesomeness by Analysis: In "Rock Solid Friendship", Maud uses her astounding knowledge of geology to find a weak spot in a cave roof and break through (with a little help from Boulder).
• Badass Bookworm: Beneath her cold exterior, she's not only getting a "rocktorate" (a scientific degree of some sort) and writing her own poetry, but can also reduce rocks to rubble with her bare hooves.
• Barefoot Cartoon Animal: A rare regular example for this show — she wears a full outfit most of the time, but never shoes.
• Beware the Quiet Ones: She may give off an emotionless, deadpan demeanor, but when Pinkie Pie is in danger, she demonstrates the lengths and strength she would go for her family. Not only is her Super-Strength an impressive ability on its own, her Creepy Monotone and Offscreen Teleportation make her scarily effective at interrogation when she's angered.
• Big Sister Instinct: She will literally move mountains if Pinkie is in danger.
• The Bore: The Mane Six minus Pinkie have a hard time connecting with her just because she's so boring to them.
• Breakout Character: Following her initial appearance in "Maud Pie", she's made an appearance in at least one episode per season, getting the most screentime out of all Pinkie's sisters.
• Brutal Honesty: She doesn't make much effort to mask what she thinks of something if asked, something that makes her seem insensitive on occasion, such as in "Rock Solid Friendship", when she bluntly mentions that the gems Rarity is mining are really common, driving Rarity to near tears. However, it appears that she is aware of this since she surprisingly averts it when it comes to Pinkie Pie. Maud would rather leave town than confront Pinkie about her well-meaning, but overbearing attempts.
• Busman's Vocabulary: Maud's obsession with rocks has a big influence on her choices of words and expressions too.
  Maud Pie: And you melt my heart more easily than sodium-rich plagioclase feldspar.
• Canon Immigrant: She's first mentioned (though not by name) in the Pinkie Pie and the Rockin' Ponypalooza Party! chapter book.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Definitely, but in a different way from Pinkie; she's obsessed with rocks and often randomly says what's on her mind. She also appears to be completely oblivious to the fact that others think that this is strange.
• The Comically Serious: Her deadpan, serious expression of her incredible feats and odd quirks are comedy gold.
  • In "The Gift of the Maud Pie", she borrows some of Pinkie's vocabulary. Imagine the most deadpan voice you can think of using words like "five-ever".
  • She claims to be into stand-up comedy in "Rock Solid Friendship", which in fact she does in "The Maud Couple".
• Commonality Connection:
  • She bonds with Starlight Glimmer due to the fact that they are both lifelong outcasts with a dislike for openly expressing their feelings, and have interests that most other ponies don't enjoy.
  • In "Uncommon Bond", she quickly connects with Sunburst after he displays a similarly extensive knowledge of geology.
• Companion Cube: Her pet rock, Boulder. Which may or may not be alive.
• Cool Big Sis: To Pinkie Pie. The two are easiest seen as the closest and Pinkie Pie utterly adores her. While Maud does not emote much, she clearly shows that she is very close to Pinkie.
• Creepy Monotone: How she always speaks. Even when she's concerned about Pinkie, her voice barely raises.
• Deadpan Snarker: Given how her entire dialog is deadpan, any of her quips is bound to be this.
• Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: Invokes No, You on Reality Warper Discord.
  Discord: This is the most basic of jokes!
  Maud: You're the most basic of jokes.
• Did You Think I Can't Feel?: On several occasions, it's been shown that just because she can't express her emotions that well, doesn't mean she doesn't have them. In her Friends Forever issue with Rarity, Rarity discovers this upon being allowed to read her diary after spending the issue frustrated with Maud's apparent lack of motivation or emotion.
• Does Not Like Spam: She doesn't like rock candy, so she keeps her candy necklaces instead of eating them.
• Dreary Half-Lidded Eyes: She has blasé half-mast eyes to emphasize her dry, unexcitable demeanor, contrasting with her enthusiastic younger sister Pinkie Pie.
• Dull Surprise: Her expression is so bland and unengaged, only Pinkie can tell whether she's excited or not.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Makes an appearance as a filly in the photo of Pinkie's first party in "Pinkie Pride", before her official debut.
• Eat Dirt, Cheap: When meeting Pinkie's friends for the first time, she eats a rock that fell off of Rarity's hat and comments, "It's crunchy."
• Emotionless Girl: She rarely ever expresses emotion, almost never fully opens her eyes, and always speaks in a deadpan monotone.
• Establishing Character Moment: When she is first introduced, Maud sniffs at a pebble on the ground in front of the Mane Six, immediately classifying it as a sedimentary rock in her emotionless, deadpan voice.
• Family Theme Naming: In "Rock Solid Friendship", it's revealed that, like her sister Pinkie, Maud's full first name (Maudalina) ends in "ina", and her middle name (Daisy) starts with the letter "D".
• Flat Joy: She isn't any more expressive about happiness than she is about any other emotion. Lampshaded by Maud herself.
  Maud Pie: I don't know if you've noticed, but I don't show my enthusiasm for things quite in the same way my sister does.
• Foil: She's a Cloudcuckoolander like Pinkie, but expresses it in a far more stoic fashion compared to Pinkie's hyperactivity.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: She is the responsible and calm one to her foolish and hyperactive sister Pinkie.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: The Phlegmatic: quiet, withdrawn, but friendly and caring in her own ways.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: Her cutie mark is only visible for a couple frames when she is in the middle of rescuing Pinkie. It's a rock, though one in the shape of a classic diamond gem.
• Fully-Dressed Cartoon Animal: One of the few ponies with clothing covering their chest and flank. Her cutie mark is always obscured except for the Freeze-Frame Bonus in "Maud Pie" when she drills the rocks with her hooves.
• Future Badass: In the Crystal War timeline, she's on the front lines with Pinkie, and they are Fire-Forged Friends with Rainbow Dash.
• Genius Bruiser: Is incredibly strong, even by earth pony standards, but also incredibly intelligent when it comes to rocks. She even earned the equivalent of a PhD quite quickly.
• Heavy Sleeper: When Pinkie Pie wakes up everyone for Hearthswarming Day in "Hearthbreakers", Maud's the only one who remains asleep.
• The Hecate Sisters: The mother in Pinkie's trio of sisters.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Pinkie Pie. They even like to share rock candy necklaces! That said, Maud isn't that fond of eating them, but has kept every single one Pinkie has made her.
• Hidden Depths:
  • Surprisingly graceful when ice skating, apparently another skill she shares with Pinkie despite their noticeable differences.
  • In "Rock Solid Friendship", she states she likes stand-up comedy. And unless she was just being sarcastic, she also plays guitar. Her love of stand-up also adds a further layer to her close relationship with Pinkie.
• Literal-Minded: Doesn't grasp Rarity's metaphor when she asks what her clothes are saying.
• Meaningful Name:
  • "Maud" is short for "maudlin", which means "weakly emotional". On its own, it's an Old Germanic name that means "might" or "strength", which also references her physical power. Her full name, Maud Pie, sounds like "mud pie", which is apropos to her personality towards the Mane Six (i.e., as boring as mud). May also be an allusion to her mane color, which is opera mauve.
  • Also, "Mud Pies" are fake pastries small children like to make when they play in mud. This symbolizes the fact that she's the emotionally closest of her family to the perpetually childish Pinkie.
• Nice Girl: Despite being The Bore and The Stoic, Maud is usually caring, friendly, and soft-spoken.
• Non-Standard Character Design: She has rather thick eyelids and, unusually for a mare, no lashes.
• Nothing Is Scarier: She has a penchant for (unintentionally) intimidating ponies with her utter stoicism and deadpan monotone. In "The Gift of the Maud Pie", Rarity leverages this to scare a shifty Manehattanite into returning Pinkie's party cannon.
  Maud: [completely deadpan] I'd like to return this pouch for my sister's party cannon, please.
  Rarity: Oooh, I've never seen her like this! Look at the fire in her eyes! [cuts back to Maud, still completely expressionless] You better do what she says!
  Manehattanite: [uneasy] Fire in her eyes?
  Rarity: [gasp] Did she just clench her jaw?! I think she clenched her jaw!
  Maud: [still deadpan] I'd like to return this pouch.
  Manehattanite: [panicking] Awaagh! HERE! Take it! Take it! PLEASE! Just relax that jaw, and turn down that fire in your eyes!
• Not So Stoic: The only time she shows emotion is when Pinkie is in danger. She also only smiles around ponies she's close to, like Pinkie, Starlight, and Mud Briar.
• No, You: Her second appearance gave us this gem:
  Discord: Knock, knock!
  Audience: ...
  Discord: You're supposed to say "Who's there?!" This is the most basic of jokes!!
  [he smashes a watermelon, spreading some pulp on the audience, including Maud who doesn't react]
  Maud: You're the most basic of jokes.
  [laughs]
  Pinkie: Good one, Maud!
• Odd Friendship: Her friendship with pretty much everyone counts, given how utterly devoid of emotion she appears to be at a glance. Special mention goes to how she bonds with Apple Bloom over their experience with Forced Transformation dreams.
• Official Couple: "The Maud Couple" reveals that she has a boyfriend named Mud Briar, who's as much into sticks as she is into rocks.
• Offscreen Teleportation: A skill she shares with Pinkie Pie.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: To show the effects of the Sombra-controlled timeline of "The Cutie Re-Mark - Part 1", she is shown with a grizzled, determined look throughout, just like the normally cheerful Pinkie.
• Perpetual Frowner: She's only ever shown smiling in a handful of scenes. "Rock Solid Friendship" is the only time so far in which she's been seen smiling more than once in an episode.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Ponies in general seem to be stronger than they look, but Maud takes it to an extreme.
• Promotion to Opening Titles: Maud is added in the intro beginning with Season 8.
• Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs: Is able to break down solid rock using her forehooves as a jackhammer.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The Stoic Blue to Pinkie Pie's energetic Red.
• Remember the New Guy?: The mention of Pinkie having a third, older sister came as a surprise in the novel since the rest of her family is clearly seen in a flashback. In "Pinkie Pride", she's in a photograph of Pinkie's first party even though she wasn't present in Pinkie's flashback in "The Cutie Mark Chronicles".
• A Riddle Wrapped in a Mystery Inside an Enigma: Rainbow Dash refers to her as a "Riddle Wrapped in a Mystery Inside an Igneous".
  Rarity: Don't you mean "inside an enigma"?
  Rainbow Dash: Nope. I mean "igneous". It's a kind of rock. Ask me how I know that.
• Sherlock Scan: She's able to tell Applejack went sledding recently by the rock residue on her hooves.
• Sibling Yin-Yang: Her stoic personality contrasts to her sister's hyperactive Genki Girl personality.
• Sincerity Mode: Despite her deadpan, cold-sounding speech pattern, she only has a few isolated snarky moments. Otherwise, it's implied she is genuinely just being nice or matter-of-fact.
• The Smart Girl: Is an expert on rocks. The reason she's visiting in "Maud Pie" is because she wants to hang out with Pinkie before she goes to get her "rocktorate" (presumably, a doctorate focusing on rocks).
• Spider-Sense: She uses a "Maud Sense" to track down the stallion Pinkie traded her party cannon to in "Gift of the Maud Pie". According to Pinkie, It Runs in the Family.
• The Stoic: Rarely shows any kind of emotion. She even admits she's not as expressive as her sister.
• Sugar-and-Ice Personality: She's so distant from the Mane Six, it's tough for them to believe she and Pinkie ever get along. However, her love for her sister and ability to literally move mountains for her well-being shine through.
• Super-Strength: Throws a large rock so hard that it disappears over the horizon and lands with an impact not unlike a nuclear bomb going off, and later drills into another with her bare hooves to save Pinkie from being crushed. And more subtly, she has no problem wearing Rainbow Dash's giant rock candy necklace, which even Rainbow herself had to drag along the ground. In "Rock Solid Friendship" she breaks through the ceiling of an underground cave simply by throwing Boulder at just the right spot.
• Sweet Tooth: Subverted. She and Pinkie like to share rock candy necklaces, but Maud doesn't really like candy. Instead of eating the necklaces like Pinkie, she saves them in a box.
• Theme Naming: Kind of follows the mineral theme naming the rest of the family follows ("Maud" sounds similar to "Mud").
• Tranquil Fury: She expresses anger in the same deadpan manner she does anything else, which can actually make her fury even more unsettling.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: As revealed in "Rock Solid Friendship", Maud was the one who told Starlight Glimmer where to find a rock capable of holding an entire town's cutie marks, inadvertently sparking the whole conflict of the fifth season premiere and finale.
• When She Smiles:
  • She smiles at the end of "Maud Pie" when she admits that she doesn't like rock candy that much, but she does love her sister Pinkie.
  • Gives a small but visible smile to Apple Bloom in "Hearthbreakers" after she feeds Boulder.
  • She smiles again in "The Gift of the Maud Pie" when she assures Pinkie that she'll always love her gifts. She even throws in a "five-ever" callback as she does so.
  • In "Rock Solid Friendship", Maud is so happy to make a new friend in Starlight Glimmer she actually smiles twice in the same episode.
  • Almost every time she talks to her boyfriend, Mud Briar, in "The Maud Couple" is done with a smile.

Limestone Pie

"Gaze into the eyes of Limestone Pie. Ma and Pa may own this rock farm, but I keep it running."

Debut: "The Cutie Mark Chronicles"
Major Role: "Hearthbreakers"

Voiced by: Ingrid Nilson

Pinkie's other older (and possibly oldest) sister, a no-nonsense mare with a very gruff and bad-tempered attitude. She is fiercely protective of the rock farm and its traditions, especially its important landmark: Holder's Boulder and the Pie Family's quarry.

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• Berserk Button: She does not like ponies messing with Holder's Boulder, an important landmark on the rock farm.
• Big Brother Bully: Her demeanor is very reminiscent of one, even if she isn't quite as actively nasty, just bossy and anti-social.
• Comical Overreacting: From her threatening introduction to taking sadistic pleasure in the Apples attempting to eat rock soup, it's clear Limestone is just as "off" as the rest of her sisters, just in a different way.
• Cool Big Sis: Steps up to the plate when Pinkie has a breakdown dealing with Maud's boyfriend.
• The Cynic: She generally doesn't have a high opinion of most things. In the Best Gift Ever special, she scoffed at the idea of somepony calling themselves "the best at gift-giving", calling it "ridiculous".
• Death Glare: She is almost always glaring even when she's not as angry.
• Dub Name Change: She's named Calcarea Pie ("Calcarous Pie") in the Italian dub.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: The Choleric: hard-working, passionate, and loud.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Almost anything can set her off, especially any threats to Holder's Boulder.
• The Hecate Sisters: The crone in Pinkie's trio of sisters.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Yes, Limestone may be very sour, salty and gruff, but she is still a good pony who cares for her sisters at heart, as seen when she helps Pinkie get over her issues with Maud's boyfriend.
• Meaningful Name: Limestone is a very rough stone made of calcium carbonate (a type of salt). In other words, she has a rough and salty personality. Extra points for her cutie mark, which is a lime half and two rocks that look like salt (sour and salty).
• Perpetual Frowner: So much that her eyebrows are drawn sharply on her face.
• Sour Outside, Sad Inside: It's implied in the "The Maud Couple" that beneath her abrasive personality, she's actually pretty lonely and sad. The moment that Pinkie reveals that Maud is in a relationship, she instantly tries to deny being jealous. It's pretty clear that she wishes she could find a special somepony who can click with her in the same way.
• Sibling Yin-Yang: Her rough bad-tempered attitude places her firmly against the rest of her sisters.
• Slasher Smile: Not intentionally, but with her Perpetual Frowner looks, every genuine smile of hers ends up looking quite sinister.
• Suspiciously Specific Denial: When Pinkie reveals that Maud has a boyfriend in "The Maud Couple", Limestone says apropos of nothing that she's not jealous.
• Tsurime Eyes: Complimenting her gruff personality.
• When She Smiles: Zig-zagged. Even when she is happy, she never loses her cross eyes, which can make it appear more like a Psychotic Smirk at best. That said, she does give Apple Bloom a gentle and friendly smile while serving her sweet buns.

Marble Pie

"Mm-hmm."

Debut: "The Cutie Mark Chronicles"
Major Role: "Hearthbreakers"

Voiced by: Ingrid Nilson

The youngest of the Pie sisters, born a few minutes after Pinkie herself. She is very quiet and shy, in contrast to Maud's stoicism, Limestone's gruffness and Pinkie's exuberance.

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• Always Identical Twins: Subverted, she's revealed to be Pinkie Pie's twin sister, but has a completely different appearance (though when Pinkie's mane is down, they do look a bit more similar.)
• Berserk Button: Downplayed as far as her reaction is concerned, but the one thing that snaps her out of her usual Shrinking Violet personality appears to be rudeness or insensitivity, at least toward family (or perhaps Pinkie Pie in particular). On "The Maud Couple", she glares at Limestone when the latter interrupts a downtrodden Pinkie's explanation as to why she returned to the rock farm.
• Character Catchphrase: "Mm-hmm".
• Cute Mute: Doesn't actually talk on screen beyond saying "Mm-hmm" due to extreme shyness.
• A Day in the Limelight: Issue #86 of the comics revolves around her throwing a party to make new friends, but needing help after accidentally inviting 200 guests. Issue #99 also featured Marble being accepted into college with Pinkie struggling to accept that her little sister is going away.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: The Melancholic: Shy, quiet, moody, and not good at socializing.
• The Hecate Sisters: The maiden in Pinkie's trio of sisters.
• Meaningful Name: Her cutie mark consists of three marbles.
• One-Word Vocabulary: All we ever hear from her is "Mm-hmm." She does try to say something at one point in "Best Gift Ever", but Pinkie interrupts her.
• Polar Opposite Twins: She's Pinkie's twin sister, but while Pinkie is brightly colored and outgoing, Marble is dull-colored and reserved.
• The Quiet One: Every bit as laconic as Big Macintosh, if not more.
• Ship Sinking: "Hearthbreakers" gave her some Ship Tease with Big Macintosh. Unfortunately, Big Macintosh has been dating Sugar Belle since "Hard to Say Anything". When Marble sees them together during the Best Gift Ever special, she is visibly heartbroken.
• Shrinking Violet: She's very bashful and shy, in contrast to her exuberant twin sister.
• Sibling Yin-Yang: Her shy and quiet demeanor is firmly against her other three sisters' personalities, especially Pinkie Pie, considering they're twins.
• Suddenly Voiced: In Issues #86 and #99 of the comics. She is far more vocal than she ever was in the show.
• Tareme Eyes: Appropriate for her Shrinking Violet demeanor.

Granny Pie

One of Pinkie's grandmothers, she was a big figure in young Pinkie's life. Given her name, it's implied she was married to Feldspar Granite Pie and thus Igneous' mother and Pinkie's paternal grandmother.

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• Cool Old Lady: Granny Pie, according to Pinkie.
• The Ghost: Though we've never seen her, she was clearly important to Pinkie's childhood.

Nana Pinkie

Implied to be Pinkie's other grandmother, she is not mentioned as often, but was still important to Pinkie's development. She was the one who told Pinkie stories such as the Mirror pool. If she is Pinkie's other grandmother, then by process of elimination, she is most likely Pinkie's maternal grandmother (and thus Cloudy Quartz's mother). Pinkie Pie herself may have been named after her.

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• The Ghost: Pinkie Pie has mentioned her, albeit less frequently than Granny Pie, but she has never appeared on-screen or on-page.

Holder Cobblestone

First Mentioned: "Hearthbreakers"

The ancestor of the Pie family, he found Holder's Boulder in a dragon's nest and founded the Pie family rock farm. He's mentioned by Granny Smith.

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• Our Founder: He founded the Pie family rock farm and the current Pie family itself.

Li'l Cheese (spoilers)

Debut: "The Last Problem"

Pinkie Pie and Cheese Sandwich's son in the future.

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• Ambiguous Gender: He is said to be male in the script, but has the implicit design of a filly, given the visible eyelashes and rounded muzzle of the mares. It's not helped that Li'l Cheese is never referred to with gender-related pronouns and has no speaking lines.
• Last Episode, New Character: His debut is in the show's Grand Finale.
• Patchwork Kids: Has his mother's pink mane and tail, and his father's yellow coat and green eyes. His cutie mark is also a slice of cheese pie.
• Quirky Curls: He has a curly mane and tail that's he's clearly inherited from both of his fun-loving parents, who have curly hairstyles themselves.
• Stealth Pun: A good, long look at Li'l Cheese's cutie mark will show that it is a slice of cheese pie. Fitting considering his parents.
• The Voiceless: Li'l Cheese has no dialogue when he is shown.
• Walking Spoiler: He can't be mentioned without revealing Pinkie Pie and Cheese Sandwich had become an Official Couple or the decades(s) long Time Skip in the finale.

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Rarity's Family

See The Cutie Mark Crusaders for Sweetie Belle, Rarity's younger sister.

Hondo Flanks and Cookie Crumbles

Debut: "Sisterhooves Social"

Voiced by: Tabitha St. Germain (Cookie Crumbles) and Peter New (Hondo Flanks)^note  both according to this email from RED Management

Rarity's parents, a pink unicorn mare and a white unicorn stallion^note As shown in the "Elements of Harmony" guidebook couple. Sweetie Belle lives with them; in "Sisterhooves Social" they leave her in Rarity's care before going on vacation, and in "One Bad Apple" their house (including Sweetie's room) is shown, with her father making a brief cameo fishing outside the house (wearing the same shirt and hat). They also make an appearance alongside Sweetie Belle at the beginning of "Inspiration Manifestation" and in "A Hearth's Warming Tail" with the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

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• All There in the Manual:
  • Their house appeared in the German magazine comic Einfach rufus before appearing in the show.
  • Artwork in the "Elements of Harmony" show guidebook show that the father is a unicorn with a rather dashing hair/mane, and that the mother's cutie mark is a trio of chocolate chip cookies (with one having a bite taken out of it). Unfortunately, they're only identified as Rarity's and Sweetie's parents and given no other names. These visual elements are both affirmed in the episode "Inspiration Manifestation" when they are seen briefly with Sweetie Belle.
  • The "Canterlot Nights" expansion of the Enterplay CCG gives the father and mother's names as "Hondo Flanks" and "Cookie Crumbles", respectively. Since this contradicts Gameloft's name "Magnum", this may be an example of an Orwellian Retcon.
• All There in the Script: The Gameloft My Little Pony app gives the father the name Magnum, which was a Fan Nickname.
• Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: They have no class and love gaudy clothes, such as Hondo's battered straw hat. They don't even cringe at all at Sweetie Belle's cooking (on top of that, Cookie was the one who gave her the cooking lessons).
• Beehive Hairdo: Cookie Crumbles; it's one more reason her lady-like daughter is embarrassed by her.
• Big Ol' Eyebrows: Hondo Flanks; again embarrassment.
• The Cameo: Hondo is seen fishing in the background of the episode "One Bad Apple", and both are seen at the Ponyville Foal and Filly Fair (minus their vacation clothes and thus actually showing Hondo's horn) in "Inspiration Manifestation". They are also seen giving the Cutie Mark Crusaders a wagon ride in "A Hearth's Warming Tail". They make one last appearance in "The Ending of the End - Part 2" hiding along with the other unicorns in Canterlot.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: They largely fade from the show after Season 4, only making one last background appearance in "A Hearth's Warming Tail". Their primary role in the show — to serve as Sweetie Belle's primary caretakers — is after that entirely taken over by Rarity, as Sweetie Belle is most appearances shown living in Rarity's house rather than their parents', thus negating their primary narrative role.
• Good Parents: Despite being embarrassing, they are shown to be very loving parents towards Sweetie Belle and Rarity, and they do raise them right.
• Iron Stomach: They truly enjoyed Sweetie Belle's horrible food, which included a glass of cinder (burnt juice) and a bowl of bubbling ooze (it was toast).
• Lovable Jock: Jolly Hondo is a tall, bulky and manly stallion with three American footballs as his cutie mark, so he's either this or a football coach. Either way this trope still applies.
• Pink Means Feminine: Cookie's coat is pink.
• Stout Strength: Both are able to pull a cart with the Cutie Mark Crusaders on it in "A Hearth's Warming Tail".
• Supreme Chef: Given Cookie's comments about teaching Sweetie Belle to cook, she was either being fantastically polite about Sweetie Belle's Epic Fail of a breakfast or is just as bad at it. Considering her cutie mark, it is more likely the former or is simply quite patient with Sweetie.
• Unnamed Parent: Both parents are unnamed on the show itself.
• Wacky Parent, Serious Child: They're both the wacky parents to Rarity's serious child considering how often they delegate responsibility over Sweetie Belle to her, and the gaudiness.

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Rainbow Dash's Family

Bow Hothoof and Windy Whistles

Bow (left) and Windy (right)

Windy Whistles: First of all, great job yelling at us, sweetie. No one [sniffs] can make their parents feel more worthless than you!
Bow Hothoof: [through tears] Your words were direct, clear, and... so painful! Is there nothing you can't do?!

Debut: "Parental Glideance"

Voiced By: Sarah Edmondson (Windy Whistles), Jason Deline (Bow Hothoof)

Rainbow Dash's parents, who love their daughter very much, and are not afraid of letting everyone around them know it.

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• '80s Hair: In flashbacks, Windy Whistles has a puffier head of hair with large bangs.
• Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: They still keep old trinkets of Rainbow Dash's, enthusiastically cheer her on for everything, and cause Rainbow Dash no end of embarrassment after they find out she's a Wonderbolt.
• The Cameo: They appear at the end of "The Washouts", as members of the Scootaloo fan club.
• Chubby Mama, Skinny Papa: Inverted. Bow is clearly heftier than Windy.
• Doting Parent: Bow and Windy did everything they could to encourage Rainbow Dash, even when she originally came in last in flying competitions, which helped to make Rainbow Dash strive to be the best as she grew up.
• Feather Fingers: They use their wings as earplugs when Scootaloo fangirl squeals at them.
• Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Bow is noticeably taller than Windy.
• Hypocritical Humor: They both cheer for Rainbow Dash as loud as they can no matter what it is she's doing and often put on a huge display when doing it, but they can't handle Scootaloo's shrieks when she first meets them (though it appears to be more shock than anything else) and later say that Rainbow Dash's apology performance to them was a little over the top (though it's likley they were just lightly teasing Rainbow there).
• Innocently Insensitive: They cheer for their daughter at everything she does. They do this to support her, but don't realize that it also embarrasses her when they enthusiastically cheer her on in public, no matter how mundane it is she's doing. A flashback also shows them cheering for their daughter after she wins a competition, but embarrass her so much the other competitors ignore her and fly away.
• Large Ham: Restraint, thy name is neither Windy nor Bow.
• Manchild: Also Womanchild. Both of them tend to act immature for their ages, causing Rainbow Dash to be embarrassed by them.
• Mum Looks Like a Sister: Windy doesn't look much older than Rainbow.
• Mundane Made Awesome: They treat everything Rainbow does as this. They made trophies out of the lamp she broke when she learned how to fly and the apple she bit when she got her first tooth. They also cheer for Rainbow no matter what she does, even if it's just hanging up a towel.
• No Indoor Voice: When it comes to cheering for Rainbow Dash (and eventually Scootaloo as well), they have no volume setting other than "as loud as possible."
• Parental Substitute: Much like how Rainbow is her surrogate big sister, they become Scootaloo's surrogate parents by going to her school and cheering her on when she gives a report. All three of them are as enthusiastic as possible.
• Perma-Stubble: Bow is depicted with persistent stubble in his first appearance.
• Rainbow Motif: Both of them have cutie marks with rainbows on them, further compounding their resemblance to Rainbow Dash.
• So Proud of You: As parents who have been rooting for their baby filly since the day she was born, this is their natural response when they find out she has finally achieved her life's goal.
• Strong Family Resemblance: Rainbow Dash's hair is the same rainbow-shade as Bow's, and her coat is almost the same color as Windy's. Rainbow Dash and Windy also have the same cerise eyes.
• Tears of Joy: In his debut, Bow cries because of how proud he is of Rainbow Dash becoming a Wonder-Bolt. He then cries again when Fleetfoot tells him Rainbow Dash is a great flier.
• Unsportsmanlike Gloating: Rainbow Dash says their constant cheering for her got worse when she finally started winning competitions. They cheered for their daughter, saying things along the lines of "you show ‘em!", embarrassing Rainbow Dash and not at all helping her popularity with the other colts and fillies...
• Wacky Parent, Serious Child: They're like this compared to Rainbow Dash, at least post-Character Development Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow Blaze

Debut: "Games Ponies Play"

An older male relative of Rainbow Dash's who appears briefly in a flashback and in the last scene of the third Hearth's Warming Eve special. He is a lavender stallion with a rainbow mane.

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• Ambiguously Related: His presence with younger Rainbow Dash and near-identical appearance led everyone to assume he was her father, but official material never specified the nature of their relationship beyond "mentor". Once Rainbow Dash's actual father Bow Hothoof was revealed, Word of Godinvoked stated Rainbow Blaze's relation was merely "heavily implied", but his exactly identical colors to Bow means he's still presumed to be a biological relation.
• All There in the Script: Named Rainbow Blaze in the "Canterlot Nights" expansion for the Enterplay CCG.
• Rainbow Motif: His name and his mane and tail, much like Rainbow Dash and her dad.
• Strong Family Resemblance: Rainbow Dash is essentially a younger, lighter-coated female version of him, looks-wise. He also looks virtually identical to Bow Hothoof, having the same coat and eye color and the iconic rainbow-colored mane. However, Bow has visible fetlocks and a different cutie mark from Rainbow Blaze. The near-identical appearance indicates that Blaze is probably related to Rainbow Dash through Bow Hothoof.

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The Shy Family

Fluttershy's Parents

Mr. Shy: I have my clouds, your mom has her flowers, you've got your animals, and your brother...
Mrs. Shy: Zephyr Breeze has his... interests. [nervous laugh]

Debut: "Flutter Brutter"

Voiced by: David Godfrey (Mr. Shy), Colleen Winton (Mrs. Shy)

Fluttershy and Zephyr Breeze's forgiving, unaggressive parents, who have recently settled down to enjoy the peace of retired life, with Mrs. Shy tending to her garden and Mr. Shy to his cloud collection.

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• Collector of the Strange: Mr. Shy collects cloud pieces made in the Weather Factory, where he used to work before retiring.
• Extreme Doormat: They make Fluttershy look aggressive by comparison. Judging from Mr. Shy's comments, they even consider Fluttershy to be the "bold" one of the family.
• Happily Married: They're clearly very happy together, and they're both looking forward to their retirement.
• Like Father, Like Son:
  • Like Fluttershy, Mr. Shy is shown to be very easily forgiving, as seen when he lets the loss of one of his cloud pieces slide despite the fact that it clearly upsets him.
  • Mrs. Shy's love of gardening draws parallels to Fluttershy's talent in animal care, both being skills you wouldn't normally associate with the cloud-borne Pegasi.
• Pushover Parents: Mr. and Mrs. Shy are even less assertive than Fluttershy is, letting Zephyr Breeze walk all over them.
• Shipper on Deck: They share their son's impression that Rainbow's been pining for Zephyr for years, something they don't seem to mind.
• Shrinking Violet: Implied. Rainbow Dash addresses them as "Mr. and Mrs. Shy", which makes it likely that the word "shy" is part of one or both of their names. While they've only been shown interacting with their children and Rainbow Dash, they're not very assertive when it comes to dealing with Zephyr Breeze, and Fluttershy clearly inherited her timidity and soft, quiet voice from both of them.
• Strong Family Resemblance:
  • Mr. Shy at least has roughly the same manestyle as his daughter, though it's a lighter shade of pink than hers.
  • Zephyr is very similar to his father in coat color; he also has his mother's eyes, and his mane is the same color as her coat. Similarly, Fluttershy has Mr. Shy's eyes, and a lighter version of Mrs. Shy's coat.
• Unnamed Parent: So far, they're just called "Mr. and Mrs. Shy".

Zephyr Breeze

"Sorry, sis, but when something's not the right fit, this pony's gotta fly!"

Debut: "Flutter Brutter"

Voiced by: Ryan Beil

Fluttershy's irresponsible younger brother, Zephyr Breeze is a slacker who refuses to put his all into anything he does out of fear of failure, while at the same time considering himself the most talented pony to grace Equestria with his presence. As a result, he's unable to hold onto any job for long, instead mooching off of his parents' and sister's hospitality.

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• Abhorrent Admirer: To Rainbow Dash, complete with No Sense of Personal Space. Adding to this is the unfounded belief Rainbow has a crush on him.
• Affectionate Gesture to the Head: Zephyr tussles the top of Fluttershy's mane several times, putting it in disarray over her eyes. She's clearly annoyed by this, but doesn't comment on it.
• Affectionate Nickname: He calls Fluttershy "Flutter Butter" and Rainbow Dash "Rainbows."
• All Love Is Unrequited: Zephyr has a fairly obvious crush on Rainbow. She is annoyed by his very presence.
• Annoying Younger Sibling: The only pony so far who can actually annoy Fluttershy.
• Basement-Dweller: His first appearance has him moving back in with his and Fluttershy's parents while expecting them to do everything for him. Judging from Fluttershy and her parents' conversation, he's apparently done this before.
• Big Little Brother: He's taller than Fluttershy and both their parents, but he's the younger sibling.
• Big Sister Worship: Deconstructed. He loves Fluttershy dearly, but his own failures mixed with her being a hero leads him to worry that he'll never be good at anything.
• Black Sheep: Practically the complete opposite of his family members. He's flamboyant where they're shy, loud where they're quiet, and insecure where they're content. Even as far as interests, Zephyr focuses on artistic pursuits like mane styling and sculpting while Fluttershy and her parents have more traditionally outdoor interests (animals, flowers, and clouds).
• Brilliant, but Lazy: Zephyr apparently does have some legitimate talent with mane therapy, but is too afraid of failure to try.
• Camp Straight: He acts quite flamboyant and effeminate, but constantly flirts with Rainbow Dash.
• Casanova Wannabe: He seems to think of himself as quite the ladykiller, especially where Rainbow's concerned. RD herself is less than impressed at his efforts.
• Character Development: Over the course of "Flutter Brutter", with some encouragement from Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy he's able to finally stick to mane therapy training and graduate it. While he doesn't completely lose his mooching mindset since he still needs to move back in with his parents until he can get his own place again, he's definitely far better than he was at the start of the episode.
• Crazy Homeless People: Temporarily, Zephyr becomes this while living out in the woods to the point that he talks to a mannequin as if it can understand him.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: His mooching and disregard for his parents' property makes him the Foolish Sibling to Fluttershy's Responsible Sibling.
• Go Mad from the Isolation: Zephyr quickly devolves into a very emotional breakdown/temper tantrum when his attempts at outdoor living fail, despite only having been in the woods for a few hours.
• Hidden Depths: It's implied that one of the reasons he's so insecure is because his sister has saved Equestria multiple times, so he feels like he's stuck in her shadow.
• Inferiority Superiority Complex: Zephyr enjoys bragging about himself and going on about how nothing is his fault despite the fact that he is actually rather insecure about himself and his abilities.
• It Runs in the Family: He thinks that Fluttershy's ability to talk to animals runs in the family, so he tries to get local animals to do his job. It doesn't work.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's obnoxious, full of himself, kind of lazy and not too sharp, but he really loves his sister and parents. It's eventually revealed that Zephyr was only acting like a narcissistic jerk because he wanted to hide his insecurities.
• Lean and Mean: He's very lanky and he's lazy and arrogant and takes advantage of others. Later he becomes more indpendent however.
• Manipulative Bastard: He's implied to have talked his parents into letting him stay with them countless times. When Fluttershy gets him a job cleaning windows at Twilight's castle, he tricks Spike (who was supposed to be supervising him) into doing all the work under the pretense of showing him the proper technique.
• Narcissist: Carries photos of himself everywhere.
• NEET: When he's introduced, he has no job and it's implied that he recently flunked out of mane therapy school.
• Never My Fault: In "Sparkle's Seven". After being fired from his brief role as a royal guard, he states that it's not his fault, because he wasn't told exactly what he was supposed to be guarding.
• No Sense of Personal Space: Zephyr is very physically affectionate and have little respect for boundaries. He frequently gives Fluttershy an Affectionate Gesture to the Head, hugs both his parents without prompting, and even tries to get touchy-feely with Rainbow Dash, who couldn't care less for his advances and frequently has to push him away.
• Patchwork Kids: He has his father's hairstyle, green coat, and build, along with his mother's eyes and his mane being the same color as her coat.
• Perma-Stubble: Sports an impressive five o'clock shadow, which gets somewhat longer and scruffier during his ill-fated outdoor stay.
• Remember the New Guy?: Unlike Shining Armor and Maud Pie, the Mane Six act like they've heard of and even met Zephyr before, with Rainbow Dash definitely familiar with him. It's likely that they've met and heard of him in their off time, especially since Rainbow Dash appears to go over to the Shy house for lunch on a fairly regular basis, and with her and Fluttershy having known each other since flight camp it's likely that Rainbow knows him fairly well. Justified as he's stated to be absent from home for extended periods of time (by trying — and failing — to find something he's good at), and that some of the Mane Six, Rainbow Dash in particular, don't like him, so Zephyr often isn't a conversation topic.
• Sanity Slippage: Zephyr quickly (as in, in a matter of hours) loses it in the woods, talking to a mannequin head like it was real.
• The Slacker: He tries to get out of any job he does or take disastrous shortcuts.
• Small Parent, Huge Child: In addition to being taller than his older sister Fluttershy, Zephyr towers right over both his parents.
• Solid Cartoon Facial Stubble: Zephyr has a minty-gray line running along his jawline and arching over his mouth.
• Take That!: With his "man bun" and sense of entitlement, Zephyr seems to be a take on stereotypical Millennials.
• The Thing That Would Not Leave: He still lives with his and Fluttershy's parents. It's up to Fluttershy to get him to leave and step out on his own.
• Unwitting Pawn: The end of "Sparkle's Seven" reveals that Princess Luna arranged for him to be hired as a royal guard, knowing full well that he'd mess it up.
• Vague Age: Similar to Fluttershy, it's very hard to determine his age since unlike the other younger siblings of the Mane Six, the age difference between him and Fluttershy is very little, unlike Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, who are school fillies while their older sisters are adults. The only thing that the audience knows about his age is that he is old enough to work as an adult and that he is younger than Fluttershy (who's a year older than Pinkie Pie and tallness as a filly implies she's the oldest of the Mane 6).
• Villainy-Free Villain: Zephyr serves as the antagonist of "Flutter Brutter", but at worst he's lazy, entitled and narcissistic — hardly full-on villain material.

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