Characters / Friendship Is Magic: Supporting Cast – Ponyville

aka: Friendship Is Magic Supporting Cast

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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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These characters have appeared in multiple episodes and often play important roles in the lives of the Mane Cast and the Cutie Mark Crusaders. These are the characters who live in Ponyville and thus tend to show up the most.

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Ponyville

Lyra Heartstrings

She's excited to see so many tropes!

"With you by my side, I knew we could get it done in time."

Debut: "Friendship Is Magic, Part 1"
Speaking Appearance: "A Canterlot Wedding – Part 1" and My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (IDW) story The Fall of Sunset Shimmer
Major Role: "Slice of Life"

Voiced by: Britt McKillip ("A Canterlot Wedding – Part 1"^note according to this tweet by Jim Miller) and Ashleigh Ball ("Slice of Life" and onwards)^{Foreign VAs}Asami Yoshida (Japanese)

A mint-green unicorn^note also appears as an earth pony in "Friendship Is Magic, Part 1", "Applebuck Season", "Boast Busters", "Suited for Success", "The Show Stoppers", "Green Isn't Your Color", "Over a Barrel", "Luna Eclipsed", "The Mysterious Mare Do Well", and "Hearth's Warming Eve, and also appears as a pegasus with a different hairstyle in "Sonic Rainboom"; Twilight Sparkle's flashback during "The Cutie Mark Chronicles" additionally shows her as an earth pony, and Fluttershy's flashback during "Hurricane Fluttershy" additionally shows her as a pegasus with a lyre cutie mark, and arguably the second most famous background mare, next to Derpy. She seems to have been made with Funny Background Events in mind. She's been spotted happily waving hi to Twilight early in the pilot episode, jumping up and down excitedly, mugging for the camera, and sitting on a bench like a human being among other things. She is often seen alongside Sweetie Drops/Bon Bon.

An analysis on Lyra Heartstrings is available on the analysis page.

She has a human counterpart in the Equestria Girls movies, first appearing in Rainbow Rocks alongside Bon Bon.

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• Adaptation Name Change: At one point, the two parts of her All There in the Script name seemed to be separate names, as the toy line only referred to her as Heartstrings while WeLoveFine only referred to her by herinvoked Fan Nickname Lyra. Hasbro rectified this by having subsequent toy releases refer to her as Lyra Heartstrings, which carried over to her and Golden Harvest's trading card and has since been made official in the show as of the episode "Amending Fences".
• All There in the Manual:
  • Her brushable toy's box and her◊ collector◊ cards◊ reveal that she "loves to play! She finds a way to have fun no matter where she goes" and "sings and plays all day!"
  • She's apparently best friends with Golden Harvest.
• Ambiguously Gay: Starting in Season 5, she has regular Homoerotic Subtext with Bon Bon despite the two stating they are "best friends". The last few episodes drop the "Ambiguous" and upgrade them to Official Couple; the two propose to each other in the background of "The Big Mac Question", and a newspaper in "The Last Problem" shows their wedding.
• Anthropomorphic Zig-Zag: Used for a couple of Funny Background Events in the show. The most famous incident is when she was sitting on a bench like a person and she was also seen holding a fast food drink cup with her hoof when she could have been using her unicorn magic to levitate it. Other than those two times she's usually on all fours or jumping like all the other ponies. "The Mysterious Mare Do Well" shows her, her Palette Swap Amethyst Star, and Minuette standing up on their hind legs to cheer for Mare Do Well (and since the shot Minuette appears in shows her as a Lyra Heartstrings/Amethyst Star Palette Swap, it's likely that the pose was designed for one or both of them).
• Ascended Extra: The Pony Wedding line includes a brushable toy of her, and she and Golden Harvest share a trading card.
• Cast Herd: With Sweetie Drops; in the show as well as on the Comic-Con 2011 poster/desktop background and the There's A Pony For That shirt and art print.
• Characterizing Sitting Pose: Her awkward, bipedal manner of sitting in "Dragonshy" was initially just an animator amusing themself, but it gained so much attention among fans that it became an Ascended Meme in "Slice of Life".
• Childhood Friends:
  • She used to be one of Twilight's friends in Canterlot, although, granted, Twilight was too much of a shut-in to really care or notice.
  • She and Bon Bon are seen together as fillies in a flashback in "Pinkie Pride".
• Color-Coded Wizardry: In the play in "Hearth's Warming Eve", her magic aura is shown to be gold.
• Exorcist Head: At the beginning of Rainbow Dash's Imagine Spot during "The Ticket Master", one Lyra Heartstrings in the back turns to face the camera for a split second then immediately turns her head back the other way, and it keeps spinning asinvoked an error box indicating the animation error flashes on and off.
• Expy: Her color scheme and cutie mark resemble G3 Bee Bop.
• Depending on the Artist: A pegasus mare sporting Cloud Kicker and Merry May's design and Lyra's color scheme appeared in "Sonic Rainboom". Months after the episode was aired, fans became fully aware of her and dubbed her asinvoked "Skyra". She is often paired with "Bon Voyage/Bons Away" (Bon Bon/Sweetie Drops also has a pegasus version with a different design but her exact color scheme).
• Felony Misdemeanor: She starts crying when a parasprite eats her pie while Sweetie Drops just looks surprised.
• Funny Background Event: Even more than Derpy. The most common gag is an animation that has her jumping up and down grinning at the camera, usually from behind a group of other ponies. This is probably why she cameos in the otherwise pegasus-only city of Cloudsdale in "Sonic Rainboom" as it makes for a good cheering animation.
• Genki Girl: Judging by her tendency to jump up and down and the manic grin she often has while doing so as well as by her All There in the Manual descriptions.
• Harp of Femininity: Her cutie mark is a golden lyre which implies that she is good at playing one. How feminine she is debatable.
• Hero of Another Story: It hasn't escaped many fans' notice that she shows up almost everywhere Twilight goes even when Twilight's nowhere near Ponyville. Her very first appearance is in Canterlot with Twilight's classmates and she even shows up in Cloudsdale in "Sonic Rainboom", making her the only non-pegasus outside the main cast to appear in that episode (not counting the earth ponies-turned-pegasi like Time Turner and Caramel, or her own pegasus variant). The two exceptions so far are "The Last Roundup" where she didn't appear in Dodge Junction but was back in Ponyville before Twilight and friends set off and (like nearly every other Equestrian BG pony) she didn't visit the Crystal Empire in the Season 3 premiere.
• Hide Your Lesbians: Averted as of "The Big Mac Question", where she and Bon Bon are shown proposing to one another.
• Informed Ability: Her cutie mark would suggest she's a musician but she has yet to be seen playing a musical instrument in show (though the harp player in Octavia's band has the same cutie mark). Her collector cards say she "sings and plays all day" (and she does indeed sing in the show) but mention nothing about playing a lyre or harp! (The "plays all day" part likely doesn't refer to playing an instrument, judging by her other All There in the Manual descriptions.)
• Official Couple: With Bon Bon/Sweetie Drops. The two are seen performing a simultaneous proposal in "The Big Mac Question", giving the two of them a Relationship Upgrade. A Freeze-Frame Bonus shot of a newspaper in "The Last Problem" even shows a photo from their wedding day.
• Pseudo-Romantic Friendship: So much so with Bon Bon. The two of them are rarely seen apart, and their appearance in "Slice of Life" emphasizes their closeness. Gets a Relationship Upgrade in "The Big Mac Question", where she proposes to Bon Bon, who reciprocates.
• Signature Instrument: Her lyre, reflected in her name and Cutie Mark (which is a mark on a pony's thigh that signifies their personality/talent).
• Spy Fiction: She joins S.M.I.L.E. along with Bon Bon in a tie-in book the pair star in.
• Suddenly Voiced: Lyra Heartstrings has no clear lines until "A Canterlot Wedding – Part 1" (except in the Italian and Polish dubs, which respectively give her clear lines in "Friendship Is Magic, Part 1" and "Call of the Cutie"). She's then voiced by Ashleigh Ball from "Slice of Life" onward.
• Those Two Girls: Almost always seen alongside Sweetie Drops/Bon Bon.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: In "Over a Barrel", she (as a cerise-eyed earth pony) wears a feminine bonnet (also seen briefly in "Luna Eclipsed") while Sweetie Drops/Bon Bon wears a masculine top hat. However, in "Green Isn't Your Color", Sweetie Drops is the one that becomes a fangirl of a fashion model.
• Trademark Favorite Food: A few of her Funny Background Events (in "Fall Weather Friends", "Putting Your Hoof Down", and "Magic Duel") have featured her with a hay smoothie.
• True Companions: With Golden Harvest, according to their trading card.
• Was It All a Lie?: She doesn't take it well that Bon Bon had a whole secret life she never talked about.

Berryshine / Berry Punch

"I don't know about you, but it takes more than a cup of orange juice to get ME going in the morning."

Debut: "Friendship Is Magic, Part 1"

Also known as the Overly Protective Parent Pony. An earth pony^note she also appears as a pegasus in "Winter Wrap Up", "Fall Weather Friends", "Suited for Success", "The Best Night Ever", and "A Friend in Deed" famous for her scene in "Call of the Cutie" as the pony who drank directly from the punch bowl and for whisking a unicorn filly (who is presumed to be her daughter named "Ruby Pinch") into her house as Zecora wanders around Ponyville in "Bridle Gossip". She's a popular pick for gag scenes and Funny Background Events for the show's crew... especially storyboard artist Sabrina "Sibsy" Alberghetti, who's responsible for her "Call of the Cutie" scene. According to her collector card, she "loves berries more than any pony!" Before the show aired, and thus years before Hasbro's blind bag waves 3 & 9 and Enterplay's trading card series 2 respectively gave Berryshine/Berry Punch her All There in the Script names (the latter being an Ascended Fanon Fan Nickname), Lauren Faust called her Pinot Noir.

An analysis on Berry is available on the analysis page.

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• The Alcoholic: While there's no evidence that she is one, this was the basis of one of the show's jokes.
  • The Hub's browser game "Racing is Magic" included a bonus minigame where the player must guide an inebriated Berryshine back to her house, trying to not make her crash during the trip. So yeah...
  • The TCG removes all ambiguity: Berry's own card has the quote "And one more for the road!" and she provides the quote for the Apple Cider card, calling it "liquid courage".
  • Taken straight from her Enterplay card: "She sells a wide variety of drinks made from berries and other fruits, and thanks to her love for her own recipes, Berry frequently slurps down all the profit." It also marks her likes as "Cider! Cider! Cider! Cider!"
  • In "Slice of Life", she is seen near the end holding on tight to a barrel labeled with a variety of fruit, as if it were her best friend, smiling like a maniac as Vinyl's mobile DJ station flies through town.
  • "On Your Marks" shows her stomping grapes, the first step in the process of making wine. ^note Okay, yes, technically it's just grape juice, but all grape juice that isn't drunk immediately after juicing will inevitably become wine (the winemaking process is more about enhancing the quality of the final product) unless it undergoes pasteurization, and there's no indication that the ponies do that. Also grape stomping is generally associated more with wine anyway.
• All There in the Manual: Loves berries more than any pony, apparently sells drinks, is overly protective of her loved ones, is very close friends with Minuette, and is also associated with DJ Pon-3.
• Ascended Extra: Initially she was only used as a generic background pony, but in later episodes she becomes her own character with a running gag being that she likes drinking. She is even present for the final curtain call in "The Last Problem".
• The Bartender: She might be one for juice, going by her card.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: She's either waving to Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy during the jousting scene, or us.
• Butt-Monkey: As of season 2, she seems to be on the receiving end of a lot of bad luck; Discord spends a ton of time sprinkling pepper on her in "The Return of Harmony, Part 2", she loses out on cider season in "The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000" and Apple Bloom ends up getting a lovestruck (long story) Big Macintosh to drag her house around in "Hearts and Hooves Day".
• Cool Big Sis: She enters the Sisterhooves Social with Piña Colada, the pink earth pony that dressed as a ladybug in "Luna Eclipsed". They win the big race.
• Curtains Match the Window: Purple eyes, purple hair.
• Depending on the Artist: There's a stallion with her color scheme appeared as a Bandage Mummy at Ponyville Hospital during "Read It and Weep".
• Motifs: Her character design is based on grapes.
• Noodle Incident: How'd she make it to the Crystal Empire, during the end of the jousting match, exactly?
• Production Nickname:invoked Pinot Noir, by Lauren Faust, because it was her "drink of choice while working on MLP".
• Sneeze of Doom: In "The Return of Harmony, Part 2", Discord sprinkles her with pepper, making her sneeze, which causes every tree and house around her to topple.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Berries, which she loves more than any pony.
• Weirdness Magnet: See above, as well as what happens to her house in "Hearts and Hooves Day". No wonder she drinks.
• You Don't Look Like You: Her first blind bag figurine is a unicorn using Rarity's mold, and has green eyes instead of cerise.

Sweetie Drops / Bon Bon

Lyra Heartstrings's right-hoof-mare.

"There is nothing like a best friend, is there?"

Debut: "Friendship Is Magic, Part 1"
Speaking Appearance: "Call of the Cutie"^note where Apple Bloom forces a bunch of apples on her and Dr. Hooves, "Green Isn't Your Color"^note where she becomes a Fluttershy fangirl and apparently doesn't know who Rarity is, "Lesson Zero"^note where she wants that incredible, amazing doll, "The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000"^note commenting on the foul taste of the Flim Flam brothers' cider, "Putting Your Hoof Down", and The Merch Bon Bon Voice; (Human Counterpart) My Little Pony Annual 2013 Equestria Girls story
Major Role: "Slice of Life"

Voiced by: Andrea Libman ("Slice of Life" and onwards)^{Foreign VAs}Yumi Uchiyama (Japanese)

An earth pony with a cream coat, mixed purple/pink mane and tail with three bows as her cutie mark. Has become a bit infamous for her several speaking appearances and as with other background ponies, her voice did not stay the same in any of her early appearances (until "Slice of Life", where Andrea Libman voiced her from that point onward). Is often seen alongside Lyra Heartstrings. In "Apple Family Reunion", she appears in one shot at the hoedown, but isn't included in the family photo.

She has a human counterpart in the Equestria Girls movies, first appearing in Rainbow Rocks alongside Lyra.

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• Adaptation Name Change: Until the Tie-In Novel Pinkie Pie and the Rockin' Ponypalooza Party made it a case of Sudden Name Change, her two names were a case of this, with "Sweetie Drops" (listed with a trademark symbol in blind bag wave 7) being used by more-official sources and "Bon Bon" (listed with a trademark symbol in trading card series 2) being used more but by less-official sources. Season 5's "Slice of Life" reveals that both names are correct: she's a secret agent named Sweetie Drops, but her Secret Identity as a Ponyville citizen is Bon Bon.
• Age Lift: The original Bon Bon in My Little Pony Tales was a school-aged filly, while this version of Bon Bon is an adult.
• Alliterative Name: Bon Bon — the same words, in fact.
• All There in the Manual:
  • Her collector card reveals that she "knows sharing treats makes them taste sweeter!"
  • Gameloft's My Little Pony game specifies that the trio of objects depicted by her cutie mark are bows.
• Ambiguously Bi: Starting in Season 5, she has regular Homoerotic Subtext with Lyra despite the two stating they are "best friends". The last few episodes upgrade them to Official Couple; the two propose to each other in the background of "The Big Mac Question", and a newspaper in "The Last Problem" shows their wedding. The comics 9th issue had her crushing on Big Macintosh but this was before the show, which often retcons over the comic, established her subtext with Lyra, making it ambiguous if her male interest remains canon.
• Cast Herd: With Lyra Heartstrings, in the show as well as in IDW's Friendship Is Magic comic book series and in The Merch.invoked
• Childhood Friends: She and Lyra are seen together as fillies in a flashback in Pinkie Pride.
• Expy: Her design resembles G1 Bon Bon from My Little Pony Tales. Naturally fans nicknamed her just that, and it becameinvoked Ascended Fanon in the Gameloft game, closed captions for "Call of the Cutie", and Enterplay's trading cards.
• Hero of Another Story: "Slice of Life" reveals that she's a secret agent on a deep cover mission in Ponyville, whose exploits include taking down a Bugbear.
• Hide Your Lesbians: Averted, as after years of ambiguity regarding her relationship with Lyra, the two are shown proposing to each other in "The Big Mac Question".
• Inconsistent Spelling: "Bonbon" is used by Gaia Online.
• Jerkass: She is seen as this by some due to being grumpy in several scenes, though mostly it's understandable that she'd be displeased.
  • For example, Apple Bloom dumps some apples into her bag, saying she put them there and trying to force her to buy them, hoping it will get her an apple selling cutie mark. As an apology for Apple Bloom's rudeness, Applejack is forced to satisfy her by giving her the baskets full of apples on and under the cart, free of charge.
  • Also implied in her second spoken appearance. She comes into Rarity's store along with Berryshine right after the then-famous Fluttershy busts in and bluntly tells Rarity she's never heard of her in a rather condescending voice.
  • "Putting Your Hoof Down" has her as someone who isn't happy with the "new, improved" Fluttershy who is taking her assertiveness training too far.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: However, she is shown to care, particularly towards Lyra.
• Kick The Son Of A Bitch: A victim of this in "Putting Your Hoof Down". Who didn't cheer on when Fluttershy bucks the trash of carts over her and Cherry Berry?
• Large Ham: Her five voices so far have been over the top in cartoonishness: French, Valley Girl and Jewish Mother, among others.
• Non-Indicative Name: Her cutie mark is of bows, but can be seen as being of wrapped candies. Guess which one she's named after?
• No Such Agency: She is formerly a member of a secret organization based in Canterlot that guards against fantastic beasts like bugbears. After an incident with a bugbear, the agency was shut down and every trace of it destroyed to maintain deniability.
• Official Couple: With Lyra Heartstrings. The two are seen performing a simultaneous proposal in "The Big Mac Question", giving the two of them a Relationship Upgrade. A Freeze-Frame Bonus shot of a newspaper in "The Last Problem" even shows a photo from their wedding day.
• Sudden Name Change: The Tie-In Novel Pinkie Pie and the Rockin' Ponypalooza Party unexplainedly mentions both of her names, "Sweetie Drops" in chapter 3 of the story itself and "Bon Bon" in one of the bonus activity pages.
• Those Two Girls: Almost always seen alongside Lyra.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: In "Over a Barrel", she wears a masculine top hat while Lyra Heartstrings (as a cerise-eyed earth pony) wears a feminine bonnet (also seen briefly in "Luna Eclipsed"). However in "Green Isn't Your Color", Sweetie Drops is the one that becomes a fangirl of a fashion model.
• Vocal Evolution: Her voice is surprisingly deep in "Call of the Cutie" but it's a lot higher (and sounds more like a Valley Girl) in "Green Isn't Your Color". It changes once again in "Lesson Zero", this time sounding kinda like Olive Oyl. As of "The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000", it's even deeper than her first appearance. "Putting Your Hoof Down" goes back to her Valley Girl voice from "Green Isn't Your Color". Her series 2 trading card suggests she tries a lot of different voices to help break a rotten string of bad luck. The dissonance stopped after Season 5's "Slice of Life" when Andrea Libman became her permanent voice actress.
• You Don't Look Like You: Her blind bag figure is a Crystal Pony palette swap of Applejack, while her brushable toy◊'s mane is lavender and magenta rather than blue and pink, which ironically more resembles G1 Bon Bon.

Muffins / Derpy Hooves / Ditzy Doo

The Ensemble Dark Horse

"I just don't know what went wrong!"

First Appearance: (Background) "Friendship Is Magic, Part 1"
Speaking Appearance: "The Last Roundup", "Slice of Life", My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (IDW) Issue #9 story Zen and the Art of Gazebo Repair, and Twilight Sparkle and the Crystal Heart Spell

Voiced by: Tabitha St. Germain^{Foreign VAs}Yumi Uchiyama (Japanese)

Best known as "Derpy", this is a grey pegasus mare with a blonde mane and a cluster of bubbles as her cutie mark. She works at the Ponyville post office, is clumsy and a bit dim but nice and well-meaning, and loves muffins. Talking about her role in the show requires an explanation about the fandom that sprang up around her and how the showrunners reacted to it.

She debuted in the background of the first episode, just one of dozens of background characters, but thanks to her eyes and scrunchy face, she caught on with the brony community and was nicknamed "Derpy Hooves". The animators took notice of her popularity and began giving her scripted scenes. Then came "The Last Roundup" in Season 2, where she was given lines and addressed as Derpy. However, various viewers voiced their concerns over the portrayal of people with disabilities due to her name and speech patterns.^note Tabitha St. Germain voiced Derpy based on a neighbor's son, who sounded "like he had always just woken up", resulting in Derpy having a slow, slightly slurred voice, that in tandem with her name led to the perception she was a caricature of the mentally handicapped. Re-airings of the episode changed her voice and removed mention of her name, and she was quietly left out of Season 3 due to the backlash, but returned in Season 4, though without a voice. Season 5's "Slice of Life", which in general focused on the background characters for the day, gave her a voice again (different from either of her previous ones), and since then she's gotten the occasional small speaking role, now consistently using her "Slice of Life" voice.

The matter of her name is contentious. The episode "Winter Wrap-Up" made mention of a pegasus named "Ditzy Doo", and the writers intended for that to be this character's, but they hadn't yet directly attributed it to her. "The Last Roundup" called her Ditzy in the original script, but the writers were asked to call her "Derpy" to acknowledge the fandom, which was then removed in re-airings as mentioned. With her speaking appearances from "Slice of Life" onward, her name is always listed as Muffins in the closing credits (referring to her Trademark Favorite Food the fandom gave her), but she has never been called that, or anything else, In-Universe. Merchandise for her variably uses "Derpy", "Ditzy Doo", "Bubbles", "Muffins", a picture of a muffin, or even nothing at all with the name space just being left blank.

Regardless of her name or how she's depicted by fans, she's pretty much the mascot of the brony community. That being said, fandom depictions of her should not be listed here; only what is official canon from authorized materials. More analysis on her is available on the analysis page.

She has a human counterpart in the Equestria Girls series, starting with a cameo in the first movie.

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• All There in the Manual: Her love of muffins and job as a mailmare areinvoked Ascended Fanon referenced in official merchandise, but weren't featured in the show prominently until the episode "Slice of Life". She's seen in mailmare uniform in "Crusaders of the Lost Mark", and delivers a letter to Starlight in "To Where and Back Again – Part 1".
• All There in the Script: Likewise, the name "Muffins" was only given in merchandise and the credits for "Slice of Life", and was never mentioned in the show.
• The Alleged Car: In "The Cart Before the Ponies", her entry into the Applewood Derby as a filly was a bunch of random planks of wood nailed together. However, the car wound up winning the award for "Most Creative", traumatizing Rarity. The car she helps a colt make in the present isn't much better, having simply cut driver and passenger seats into the block of wood and adding wheels.
• Alliterative Name: Ditzy Doo.
• Ascended Extra: She was just one of many other background ponies, but her ridiculous popularity catapulted her to recurring extra with a few speaking parts here and there. In a series somewhat infamous for the popularity of its background characters, Muffins is unquestionably the most popular.
• Ass Kicks You: She knocks down one of the Town Hall's support beams and later breaks the Hall's floor, just with her butt. And let it be known that the latter happened when she merely sat down.
• Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: Is easily distracted in "Slice of Life" and seems to have trouble focusing.
• Back for the Finale: After being Out of Focus during Season 3, she finally managed to return for the season finale episode "Magical Mystery Cure". She even winks at the audience, lampshading the whole situation.
• Badass Adorable: Implied because she was able to break through solid wood just by sitting on it. She's also part of a wing of pegasi trying to take down Tirek and Discord in "Twilight's Kingdom – Part 1".
• Beam Me Up, Scotty!: Invoked possibly; she's only one of three ponies whose lip flaps match the famous "muffin" line in "Applebuck Season" (the other two being Sea Swirl and Minuette). It isn't clear which of them are saying the line (or if it's meant to represent all three). And since background ponies generally don't have consistent voices, that can't be used to narrow it down.
• Cast Herd: In Season 1 she's often seen alongside fellow pegasi Parasol/Showers and Raindrops, both sharing her famous "Feeling Pinkie Keen" scene with her. In Season 2 she's usually, if seen with somepony else, with Golden Harvest or Dr. Hooves in various Fandom Nods.invoked
• Clumsy Copyright Censorship: Probably the biggest consequence of the "Derpygate" affair is that it scared the showrunners and Hasbro off of giving her a name at all; for a long time merchandise just used a picture of a muffin where her name should be, or just left the field blank.
• Comically Cross-Eyed: The cross-eye was originally an animation mistake, but she became one of the more popular characters in the show because of it. In "Slice of Life" the animation clearly rests on her long enough to show that one of her eyes is lazy and thus her eyes drift into this condition, rather than being fixed this way. She also manages to focus both eyes on the same spot from time to time, but it's brief.
• Composite Character: She's been compared to G1 Applejack, and has also been compared to Minty, G3's resident Cute Clumsy Girl who was also voiced by Tabitha St. Germain. Appearance-wise, she's a lot like G3 earth pony Bubblecup, which has lead to some fans adopting that as an alternative name for her, and she shares a cutie mark with G1 Bubbles, one of the first six My Little Pony toys!
• Curtains Match the Window: Pale blond eyes and hair.
• Cute Clumsy Girl: Her clumsiness wrecks the town hall in "The Last Round Up" when she is trying to help arrange the festivities.
• Delayed Reaction:
  • During a collective Gasp! in "Green Isn't Your Color", hers is a bit later than the rest of the crowd's.
  • In "Putting Your Hoof Down", Iron Will's odd money-back guarantee initially confuses ponies, but then causes them to laugh. When he gives the crowd a stern glare, most of them immediately stop laughing. Guess who doesn't.
• Deleted Scene:invoked One explains how she destroyed the town hall roof; it was hit by lightning due to a weather control mistake.
• The Ditz: A walking (or flying) disaster area. First implied from the annoyed look on her supervisor's face when she accidentally pummels Twilight with everything but the kitchen sink in "Feeling Pinkie Keen" and when she accidentally drains the barrel of water and apples in "Luna Eclipsed". Confirmed in "The Last Roundup" as she demolishes Ponyville's city hall while she was helping Rainbow Dash to hang some banners on it. She breaks the floor and drags Rainbow Dash to the hall's basement with her, literally by sitting there and doing nothing as ordered.
• Does Not Know Her Own Strength: A subtle example can be found in her appearance in "The Last Roundup". She was strong enough to inadvertently knock over a wooden support beam, drag Rainbow Dash down a hole and break through a solid floor by sitting on it too hard.
• Dream-Crushing Handicap: An extremely downplayed example that only becomes evident by examining a Meaningful Background Event. In "Parental Glideance", there's a sequence showing Rainbow Dash taking part in flying competitions and moving higher and higher up the podium each time. Muffins is also present in the sequence: she starts at the top of the podium (even above other ponies who would go on to be Wonderbolts) and moves down a spot each competition, as her eyes become progressively more and more crossed, implying that she could've been a Wonderbolt-tier flyer if it weren't for her eyes (and she still places even with her condition!). Adding to this is a brief shot of her at the hospital wearing a bandage over her eyes in "Where the Apple Lies", implying that she tried to have her eyes fixed, but it didn't work.
• Dumb Blonde: Yellow-maned and stereotypically forgetful and accident-prone.
• Fearless Fool: She has shades of this in a few appearances, notably in the season 4 finale where she's part of the flight of pegasus going head-on against Tirek. And in the movie, she sees one of the villains' petrification grenades heading for Twilight and shoves her out of the way. Fear, this pegasus mare doesn't know.
• Fish Eyes: Surprisingly enough Inverted most of the time (her eyes face inward more often than outward), but played straight for brief moments in "The Show Stoppers", "Green Isn't Your Color", and "The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000".
• For Want Of A Nail: The story behind her original appearance is that an animator crossed her eyes for his/her own amusement, then attempted to put another pony in front of her to obscure the abnormality. However, during rendering, the other pony glitched, revealing her scruncy face to the world. If that pony hadn't failed to render, we wouldn't have one of the most iconic ponies in the fandom.
• Funny Background Event: Her very expression in the first episode◊ and in later episodes following "Feeling Pinkie Keen". Spotting her is a Where's Waldo?-esque game for fans.
• Handicapped Badass: Despite having strabismus, she never lets it stop her. This holds true whether she's placing in summer flight camp races or playing an instrumental role in allowing Twilight Sparkle to get clean away from Tempest Shadow.
• Heroic Bystander: In the 2017 movie, after Tempest Shadow invades Canterlot, she shoves Twilight out of the way before Tempest's petrification grenade turns her to stone, and gets petrified in her stead, distracting Tempest long enough for Twilight and friends to get away and regroup. She gets better.
• I Have Many Names: She may be forever known as Derpy Hooves, but official sources have provided several other names, such as Ditzy Doo and Bubbles. Her most consistent official name is Muffins.
• Inconsistent Spelling: Mighty Fine's online store WeLoveFine has very rarely misspelled her names in the keywords of their merchandise's pages:
  • "Derpy Whooves" (My Bad BUTTON shirt and button, Misunderstood shirt)
  • "Ditsy Doo" (What Went Wrong shirt)
• Intergenerational Friendship: With Doctor Hooves, who's implied to be centuries old due to time travel experiments.
• The Klutz: During "Feeling Pinkie Keen" she drops several items of furniture from a delivery truck in comical fashion on Twilight Sparkle's head, while during "The Last Roundup" she partially destroys Ponyville's city hall, which later becomes an important part of the plot.
• Larynx Dissonance: Her Delayed Reaction Gasp! in "Green Isn't Your Color" is either this or Vocal Dissonance (it's unknown whether she was voiced by a woman or a man in that episode).
• Line-of-Sight Name: The alternate name "Bubbles". Because she has bubbles! The name "Derpy" was coined because of her wonky eyes.
• Meaningful Name:
  • Her name "Derpy", as well as being a reference to her googly eyes, deals with being idiotic, since she is canonically a ditz.
  • Her other name "Ditzy Doo" also references her ditziness (and by its original definition, unlike the name "Derpy").
  • Muffins is for her Trademark Favorite Food.
• Mind Screw: When Apple Bloom is demonstrating her hoop talent in "The Cutie Pox", one of the blank-flanked school background fillies appears to be Muffins, down to her wings, hair color and style and her crossed eyes of gold. Your guess is as good as ours.
• Must Make Amends: When she screws up, she's very apologetic. "Slice of Life" has her worrying about how to make up with Matilda after getting the date wrong on her wedding invitations.
• Mythology Gag: In "Winter Wrap-Up", she goes north to find the southern birds, with less success than Megan et al. in Baby, It's Cold Outside.
• Nice Girl: She's friendly and likes to help other ponies like Rainbow Dash, it's just a shame she's so clumsy.
• No Name Given: After the name "Derpy" was used as ainvoked Fandom Nod, it was discovered that it had offensive connotations (it has had use as a slur against the disabled). As a result, for a while she was referred to without a name in merchandise, using workarounds such as descriptions, pictures or leaving the field blank. It took until Season 5 for her to get the name Muffins and it stuck from there.
• Noodle Incident: Muffins must have a very interesting life. Among other things, she has her own private suite in the Friendship Express Train's Ice Cream Train Car, she's entered flying competitions, hung out in Fluttershy's chicken coop, is somehow able to freely converse with the Canterlot elite wearing only a pearl necklace and herinvoked paper bag wizard getup from Nightmare Night, got turned into a filly for a day, and was shrunken and imprisoned in a snowglobe owned by someone who just moved into Ponyville as of that episode. However, since she's friends with Dr. Hooves (and if he is The Doctor), she's had it somewhat tame for a companion so far.
• No Sense of Direction: In "Winter Wrap Up" it's mentioned that Ditzy Doo tried going north to fetch the southern birds (after going west the previous year).
• Out of Focus: In Season 3, she's only seen in the background in four of the thirteen episodes. The controversy must have gotten to Hasbro really, really hard. Thankfully she returned in season 4 in a big way.
• Recurring Extra: She appears in the background often, but sometimes she is important to the plot, like in "Slice of Life".
• Running Gag: Starting in the second season, she has appeared in some sort of wacky scene or random cameo. In season 3 she only appeared in general crowd scenes until the Season Finale "Magical Mystery Cure". After that she gets a couple appearances by herself as a human in Equestria Girls.
• The Scottish Trope: "Derpy" ended up as a meta-example thanks to the Moral Guardians; while the showrunners have occasionally used the name and admitted they also use it internally during production, the name will certainly never be used in an official context ever again.
• Simpleton Voice: In the original version, although apparently not intentionally, as her VA thought she was a stallion and does an absolutely atrocious male voice. It was Orwellian Retconed into a generic squeaky female voice after "Derpygate". Her voice in "Slice of Life" strikes a medium between them; a distinctly feminine voice, but with a cute lisp and a slight Bronx accent.
• Suddenly Voiced: Muffins had no clear lines until "The Last Roundup" (if her gasp in "Green Isn't Your Color" isn't counted as a line).
• Taken for Granite: In the 2017 movie, she throws herself between Tempest Shadow's petrification orb and Twilight, getting herself turned to stone while allowing Twilight to escape. She gets turned back into a living pony at the end of the movie.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Muffins; prior to "The Last Roundup", one of the few scenes where it seemed she talked was to exclaim "muffins" while looking at said goods. It's since become another part ofinvoked Ascended Fanon the creators have run with.
• Unsettling Gender-Reveal: Tabitha St. Germain apparently thought the character was a boy on the day she came in to record her lines for the original version of "The Last Roundup", and wasn't told otherwise, though the voice was probably adjusted a bit in post production to be just a little higher than what was in the original recording. This resulted in her sounding androgynous or young-boyish, but still female. (The edited version of the episode gives her a different, much more feminine-sounding voice.)
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: In "Slice of Life" she accidentally sends out the invitations to Cranky and Matilda's wedding with the date listed a day too early, which the couple themselves don't realize until that very day, resulting in a mad dash around town to whip up a whole wedding.
• Valley Girl: Sounds like this in the edited version of "The Last Roundup".
• Vocal Dissonance:
  • Her Delayed Reaction Gasp! in "Green Isn't Your Color" is either this or Larynx Dissonance (it's unknown whether she was voiced by a woman or a man in that episode).
  • In the original version of "The Last Roundup", she sounds very tomboy-ish, almost like a young boy. According to this, the voice actress wasn't aware that the character was a girl (though according to this, the voice was probably adjusted a bit in post-production to be just a little higher than what was in the original recording). Considering her original googly-eyed expression and resultant popularity came into being due to an accident (while the expression was intentional, she wasn't meant to be visible in that scene), it seems fitting that other aspects of her would come about due to accidents.
• The Voiceless: Her big reappearance in "Rainbow Falls" after a long absence has her not talking at all, most likely to avoid another controversy. She breaks her silence again in "Slice of Life".
• Walking Disaster Area: She can cause property damage just by sitting down.
• Watch Out for That Tree!: Part of her clumsiness manifests with her flying into things, like in "No Second Prances" where she bumps her snout on a hanging sign after being distracted by Twilight. "School Raze – Part 1" opens with Muffins delivering mail to the school, and smacking into its blason because she was busy checking out the address on a letter.

Mayor Mare

"Fillies and gentlecolts, as mayor of Ponyville, it is my great pleasure to announce the beginning of the Summer Sun Celebration!"

Debut: "Friendship Is Magic, Part 1"

Voiced by: Cathy Weseluck^{Foreign VAs}Mami Horikoshi (Japanese)

A beige earth pony with a wavy gray mane and tail, Mayor Mare is a somewhat ineffectual leader who doesn't seem to carry as much authority as Ponyville's resident Princess Twilight, although she does at least officiate marriages.

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• Alliterative Name: If you include her title.
• All There in the Script: Her and Time Turner's trading card, a couple of shirts featuring her, Gameloft's My Little Pony game, and the Tie-In Novel Twilight Sparkle and the Crystal Heart Spell have made herinvoked Fan Nickname "Mayor Mare" Ascended Fanon. It's also used in the fourth issue of IDW's Friendship Is Magic comic book series, but without showing her.
• Authority in Name Only: Played with, as while Twilight Sparkle tends to have more "weight" than her, both Celestia and Luna recognize Mayor Mare as an authority figure and treat her with appropriate respect.
• Cool Old Lady: Or at least middle-aged lady. She likely wants to be seen as one. Age and gray hair are seen as an Authority/Status symbol for office holders.
• Covering Up Your Grey: Inverted—she covers her naturally pink mane and tail with grey to look older and more respectable.
• Demoted to Extra: Amazingly, her role actually decreased significantly on the show.
• A Dog Named "Dog": In a land populated largely by ponies, she's a mare named Mare. Kind of fitting, given that the town she's Mayor of is named Ponyville.
• Dye Hard: In-Universe. She's shown with gray hair, but an article by Gabby Gums states that she dyes it and her hair is natural pink. This becomes a Brick Joke later on in the episode, where she is seen looking at a new issue with part of her hair in-dyed, revealing pink roots. This is further confirmed in "The Perfect Pear", where she did have a pink mane when she officiated Bright Mac and Pear Butter's wedding.
• Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Her name has been used by several different sources, but the show itself has only called her by her title, even in the credits.
• Expy: She looks like a duller and older version of Flitter Flutter in G3.5 and even shares a job with her. Plus her mane and tail are naturally pink, similar to Flitter Flutter's pink-and-purple.
• Luminescent Blush: Out of all the ponies in attendance, she's the only pony whose face turns into a shade of red after the chaos with Smarty Pants towards the end of "Lesson Zero".
• Nonconformist Dyed Hair: Inverted. Her hair is naturally bubblegum-pink but she dyes it grey to look respectable.
• The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: Played with:
  • In "Dragonshy", she's nowhere to be seen, and it's Twilight who informs the townsponies about the dragon smoke and Princess Celestia's orders to her to solve the problem.
  • In "Winter Wrap Up", the only duty of her office that Mayor Mare exercises is to give an inspirational speech that fails to motivate the town to get their job done on time, but after Twilight shows that she has better organizational skills than the rest of the town, Mayor Mare is seen to work just as hard as everypony else through the night.
  • In "A Bird in the Hoof", her request to speak with Celestia was enough for the princess to cut the party short.
  • In "The Best Night Ever", she went to Canterlot for the Grand Galloping Gala (the beginning of it, at least).
  • In "Lesson Zero", she's seen relaxing outside (until she notices the commotion).
  • In "Luna Eclipsed", she's the one behind Nightmare Night's celebrations.
  • In "Slice of Life", she presides over the wedding of Cranky Doodle Donkey and Matilda.
  • In "On Your Marks", during the Cutie Mark Crusaders' search for problems to solve, we see her very clearly working and standing in an office while other ponies walk up to her with documents that she reviews and signs before they leave.
• Power Hair: Her mane seems to be tied into a tight bun in the back.
• Promotion to Opening Titles: Starting in Season 4.
• Punny Name: She's the mare of Ponyville. A Stealth Pun in the show, since her name is only All There in the Script.
• Repetitive Name: Her title and name are very similar.
• Ruling Couple: Implied during the episode "A Friend in Deed", where she's shown next to a stallion of her age with a scroll Cutie Mark that implies an administrative talent. A young mare with a hammer Cutie Mark (implying she's a judge) is with them, hinting she's their daughter.
• Stealth Pun: Following from her All There in the Script Punny Name, she's the old gray(-maned) mare. If she seems ineffective at her job, it's because she ain't what she used to be.
• Vague Age: Unlike with the Cakes (whominvoked Word of God has specifically stated to be middle-aged), her exact age is difficult to pin down. Her mane and tail are only dyed gray, and "A Friend in Deed" shows her with what might be a husband and an adult daughter, though it's possible they may simply be other members of the town council. An issue of the official comics show her going to the same high school as Cheerilee, Shining Armor and Cadance. So she might be in the pony equivalent of her twenties. However, "The Perfect Pear" shows that she was already an adult when Big Mac's, Applejack's and Apple Bloom's parents got married as she officiated the wedding.
• You ALL Look Familiar: Not usually, but when she's shown from overhead in "Suited for Success", "The Best Night Ever" and "A Friend in Deed", multiple copies of her appear at once.
• Younger than She Looks: She looks like a middle-aged mare due to her grey mane and tail, but that's not their natural color. They're actually pink, and she dyes them gray; though she may simply be embarrassed by the color. The comic book seems to suggest she's the same age as Cheerilee who was close to Rarity's age in "The Cutie Mark Chronicles".

Doctor Hooves / Time Turner

The Sole Survivor of Gallopfrey.^note This is Dr. Hooves as seen from his role as a time keeper in the episode "The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000".

"Great whickering stallions!"

Debut: "Friendship Is Magic, Part 1"
Speaking Appearance: (Normal Version) "Call of the Cutie" and My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (IDW) Issue #9 story Zen and the Art of Gazebo Repair; (pegasus version) "Sonic Rainboom"
Major Role: "Slice of Life"

Voiced by: Brian Drummond (normal version in "Call of the Cutie")^note according to this tweet by Brian Drummond, Tabitha St. Germain (pegasus version in "Sonic Rainboom")^note according to a tweet by Tabitha St. Germain, and Peter New ("Slice of Life" and onwards)^{Foreign VAs}Yoshiyuki Shimozuma [S01E12], Ryou Kuratomi [S01E16] (Japanese)

A brown earth pony with an hourglass cutie mark and one of the few recurring male background ponies to appear as early as the first season. He helped out at Sweet Apple Acres during Winter Wrap Up, bought an apple from Apple Bloom in "Call of the Cutie" (then promptly ran away in fear), may or may not have a pegasus relative^note he appears as a pegasus in "Sonic Rainboom", though there's a similarly looking pegasus named Crescent Moon with a different cutie mark and a lighter version of his color scheme, and may or may not play the banjo and/or the violin^note the below mentioned country band and fancy band, respectively in "Luna Eclipsed" and "Sweet and Elite, includes ponies playing these instruments who share his color scheme but not his cutie mark. However fans swear up and down he is in fact the Doctor regenerated as a pony, or at least the Equestrian equivalent of the Doctor, leading to countless crossover fan works (in which Derpy is generally his Companion). He's Mayor Mare's official timekeeper, but that doesn't stop fans (or the IDW comic for that matter) from putting a sonic screwdriver in his hoof (it helps that IDW has also obtained the rights to Doctor Who comics). His voice actor in "Slice of Life" did in fact confirm that he played the character with the view that he is, in fact, the Doctor regenerated as a pony,

An analysis on Dr. "Time Turner" Hooves is available on the analysis page.

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• Absent-Minded Professor: In "Slice of Life", when Derpy asks for his help, he gets so caught up in showing her his experiments that he completely forgets what she asked him.
• Adaptation Name Change: At one point, his two All There in the Script names seemed to be a case of this, as The Merch by Enterplay only referred to him by the trademarked name Time Turner while The Merch by Mighty Fine referred to him by the Ascended Fanon Fan Nickname Dr. Hooves. The Merch by Mighty Fine now uses both names, making it a case of Sudden Name Change. The name "Doctor Hooves" is also used in the official The Elements of Harmony: Friendship Is Magic guide book. The latter is backed up by Starlight Glimmer, who says his name in "A Horse Shoe-In".

invoked

• Affectionate Nickname: His name is officially "Doctor" but Derpy just calls him "Doc".
• All There in the Manual: His and Mayor Mare's trading card◊ reveals that he is the Mayor's official town timekeeper, "the pony responsible for keeping Ponyville's clocks in sync, setting the hourglass for cider competitions, and all things timey-wimey." The Elements of Harmony: Friendship Is Magic guide book also gives his name as "Doctor Hooves".
• Alliterative Name: Time Turner
• Amazing Technicolor Population: He averts this. In a world filled with brightly colored ponies, his coat and mane colors are plain brown, like a perfectly normal horse. This is why he stands out.
• Ascended Extra: He and Mayor Mare share a trading card◊, and he's given an actual role beyond "Doctor Who Parody".
• Borrowed Catchphrase: He says the classic "Allons-y!" phrase from the 10th humanoid incarnation of The Doctor once, which is the one he's most based on.
• Catchphrase: He'll normally say "Great whickering stallions!" whenever he makes some important realization or remembers an important thing, like having to get his suit tailored for Cranky and Matilda's wedding.
• Character Tic: In "Slice of Life", he'll violently shake his head back and forth for a second or so whenever he's been distracted and is trying to get back on track.
• Depending on the Artist: Ponies that usually bear the same cutie mark and coloring as Dr. Hooves have appeared throughout the series with slightly varied physical appearances. This is often used to support the theory of his being a Doctor Who shout-out since these could easily be explained as different regenerations. The most common one is a brown adult earth pony but variants include:
  • A brown pegasus.
  • A younger-looking brown earth pony.
  • A blue blond-maned .earth pony (on at least one occasion, a unicorn) with a bowtie.
  • Alternately, the blue blond-maned pony is named "Harold Saddleton" by the fandom making him a pony version of The Master due to his resemblance to John Simm.
  • Doctor Whooves XI, a black and gray earth pony with a bowtie and top hat.
  • A blue unicorn with a white mane and fancy red jacket.
• Dimensional Traveller: Implied given he's the Doctor as a pony. How he got to Equestria in the first place is a Riddle for the Ages, as there's only so much the show can do without violating the BBC's copyright.
• Ditzy Genius: A brilliant inventor and scientist, capable of making complex mathematical equations in his head, but has problems staying focused on the task at hand and gets caught up in the wrong details — and he literally had to be told that a bowling ball is more likely to hit the pins if you throw it straight at them.
• Doctor Whomage: A lovingly crafted Timelord who fits into the series in his own way.
  • The Hot Topic cover to the IDW comic issue #1 forgoes all subtlety, putting him in front of the TARDIS... and with Derpy as his companion! The one for #2 goes even further: trademark scarf, fobwatch, and a TARDIS-shaped streetlight next to a Weeping Pegasus. The Issue 1 cover was also made into a T-shirt.
  • The 9th comic book issue used a background gag as a Doctor Who reference (to be exact, to the episodes "Human Nature", "The Family of Blood" and "Utopia") and to make clear he's the Doctor, just having regained his memories.
    Dr. Hooves: This watch is ME!
  • "Slice of Life" made his friendship with Derpy canon and also made a number of other references to Doctor Who (time travel, long life, catchphrases and iconic accessories) plus what we get to see of his house is clearly made to resemble the interior of a TARDIS.
• Expy: Dr. Hooves isn't the only one who resembles the Doctor due to the fact that the Doctor has regenerated a number of times now thus having more than just one appearance.
  • Dr. Hooves, the first one to appear, bears a resemblance to 10th Doctor David Tennant mainly due to his brown coloring^note The 10th Doctor is often seen wearing brown clothing, hairdo and the hourglass cutie mark^note making a connection to the Doctor's race: the Time Lords. He was the most well known due to the fact that he appeared in the same year the 10th Doctor regenerated.
  • In "The Best Night Ever", "Sweet and Elite", "MMMystery on the Friendship Express", and "A Canterlot Wedding – Part 2" there's a yellow-haired blue pony with (usually) the same cutie mark who looks like the 5th Doctor Peter Davison.
  • In "Sweet and Elite", there's a black and grey pony (also with an hourglass cutie mark) that appeared that (most likely coincidentally) resembles either the 11th Doctor Matt Smith or the 2nd Doctor Patrick Troughton (who fans have ponified his name into "Patrick Trotton"). He was the first Doctor look-a-like to be spotted more prominently by fans^note although there were a few instances but it was barely noticeable after a long time since the end of season one and got a lot of attention from it, spawning a new speculation that Dr. Hooves has regenerated into him. This was later referenced by the licensed shirt 9 10 11, giving the black and grey pony the All There in the Script name Doctor Whooves XI and specifying that Dr. Hooves is Doctor Whooves X (as well as introducing a Canon Foreigner Doctor Whooves IX).
  • Also in "Sweet and Elite", a different Pinprick was spotted by fans at the garden party. His safety pin cutie mark was replaced with the hourglass cutie mark and he now wears a red jacket which makes him resemble the 3rd doctor Jon Pertwee.
  • In the second 4-issue arc of the main IDW comic, besides the show-version (Tenth Doctor, David Tennant) appearing with his tie, there's another one with a fez (Eleventh Doctor, Matt Smith), and later one in a fedora and with a long scarf (Fourth Doctor, Tom Baker).
• Fandom Nod:invoked
  • In "The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000", the brown coat version is seen wearing a tie like the 10th version is known to wear.
  • In Hasbro's Comic-Con 2011 poster/desktop background, he was purposely included on the front row, in a way that his hourglass cutie mark were completely visible.
  • Running around with reckless abandon in "Hearts and Hooves Day" may also be a reference.
  • According to his and Mayor Mare's trading card and the mobile game, he's in charge of keeping the clocks right (in essence a Lord of Time) and is responsible for everything timey-wimey in Ponyville.
  • Explaining the workings of some sort of time-related device to Future Twilight in the 2012 cast poster is definitely a reference.
  • In "One Bad Apple", he's seen wearing a pear costume. We thought he hated pears...
  • The Hot Topic variant cover for the comics issue #1 just isn't trying to hide it, depicting the Doctor in front of the TARDIS, with Derpy as his companion holding a Sonic Screwdriver. How they got away with that is unknown, but it might have something to do with the fact that IDW, the publisher of the comic, also has the rights to the Doctor Who comics.
  • On November 23rd 2013, the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who, the Hub Network uploaded a picture of Applebloom and Dr. Hooves to Facebook and Twitter with the hashtags #DoctorWho50th, #MLPSeason4, and #BestDayEver.
  • In "It Ain't Easy Being Breezies", he's seen wearing 3-D glasses while walking with Rose/Roseluck.
  • His first CCG card has the subtitle "Unblinking" and the flavor text contains a coded reference to a recurring phrase from the series. In addition, the gameplay text seems to be referencing the process of regeneration and the post-regeneration issues that typically follow.
  • His second CCG card has flavor text that references two of the Doctor's companions and gameplay text that seems to be a general reference to his tendency to show up and help out with other people's problems. Both cards are also of the Blue color, representing Rainbow Dash's element, which may possibly be a subtle reference to the common theme of running throughout the series, as well as the blue color of the TARDIS.
• Hypocritical Humor:invoked The Merch portraying him as Dr. Hooves makes his laughing at the concept of time travel in "It's About Time" seem like this. He probably knew everything would be fine.
• Inconsistent Spelling:
  • "Time Turner" is spelled as "Time-Turner" on the cover of a Hoof Beat magazine in the Lone Star Comics variant cover of Issue #1 of IDW's comic books.
  • "Dr. Hooves" was originally spelled as "Doctor Whooves" (and is still spelled that way in the instances that weren't updated). Doctor Whooves would be correct for a Doctor Who reference, since calling the show Dr. Who and calling the Doctor Dr. Who is a big no-no in the fandom.
  • His name is labeled as "Dr. Whooves" according to the Hot Topic vinyls◊.
• Intergenerational Friendship: With Derpy, who's canonically hundreds of years younger than him.
• Large Ham: Oh yes. He's basically the Fourth, Tenth and Eleventh Doctors combined into a super large ham. His personality is primarily based off the Tenth, with elements of Eleven and Nine thrown in.
• Measuring the Marigolds: He apparently sees everything, even a game of bowling, as equations.
• Noodle Incident: Apparently, his fascination with science started with a traumatic incident when he was a foal. The fandom, of course, thinks this was the destruction of Gallifrey.
• Really 700 Years Old: He briefly mentions this when talking to Derpy in "Slice of Life", saying he's been studying science for centuries. Comes with being a Time Lord no matter what universe you're in.
• Roadside Wave: He accidentally splashes mud on Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle when running by during the song in "Hearts and Hooves Day".
  Scootaloo: He might do [as Cheerilee's boyfriend]!
  Apple Bloom & Sweetie Belle: If he weren't so splashy
• Scarf of Asskicking:
  • As another Shout-Out to Doctor Who, one of the tie-in comic's variant covers◊ for Issue #2 has him wearing a certain iconic scarf.
  • Naturally, in "Slice of Life", this is all he has left to wear to the wedding after he is unable to get his suit tailored in time.
• Sudden Name Change: His trademarked name "Time Turner" and hisinvoked Ascended Fanon Fan Nickname "Dr. Hooves" have both been used by Mighty Fine's licensed merchandise and the brony-oriented trading cards, and the latter appears in the official The Elements of Harmony: Friendship Is Magic guide book. In the mobile game, his name was changed from Time Turner to Dr. Hooves in an update, while Dr. Whooves was used in the My Little Pony Project 2012 New York presentation.
• Timey-Wimey Ball: According to his trading card he's officially responsible for all things timey-wimey.
• Writing Around Trademarks: Celestia only knows what the The BBC would think about a pony calling himself the Doctor or Doctor Whooves being owned by an American toy company, but the issue has been avoided in several ways so far. Instead, they go for a cute Harry Potter reference. On his official Funko vinyl figure, he's named "Dr. Whooves". How they got away with that is anyone's guess. Though considering the BBC acknowledged Pony Doctor in a note of trivia before the 50^th Anniversary special of Doctor Who in theaters, one can assume they're just fine with it. Averted in the IDW comics as IDW had the comic book rights to both Doctor Who and My Little Pony at the same time.

Rose / Roseluck

Debut: "Applebuck Season"
Speaking Appearance: (solo roles) "A Friend in Deed" (florist)

Voiced by: Kazumi Evans (in "Slice of Life")^{Foreign VAs}Ikumi Nakagami (Japanese)

A rose-themed earth pony. In the toyline, she "loves to pick pretty flowers and wear them in her hair!". She is most notable as one of the flower trio. She appears as an unicorn in "Newbie Dash" and "Amending Fences".

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• Adaptation Name Change: The show and the Blind Bags have continued to exclusively refer to her as Rose and Roseluck, respectively. Presumably, either Rose is short for Roseluck or Roseluck is an In-Series Nickname for Rose; neither explanation is official, though.
• All There in the Manual: Her collector◊ cards◊ reveal that she "loves to pick pretty flowers and wear them in her hair!"
• Expy: Rose looks similar to a G3 pony who was named Desert Rose.
• Fandom Nod:invoked Rose has been spotted several times standing next to Dr. Hooves.
• Winged Unicorn: In "Newbie Dash", an animation mix-up gives her both a horn and a pair of wings for a brief shot, turning her into one of the show's occasional accidental "background alicorns".

The Cakes

Mr. Cake and Mrs. Cake

Debut: "Applebuck Season"

Mr. Cake voiced by: Brian Drummond^note according to this tweet by Brian Drummond^{Foreign VAs}Shinobu Matsumoto (Japanese)
Mrs. Cake voiced by: Tabitha St. Germain^note according to this comment by Lauren Faust and this email from RED Management^{Foreign VAs}Asami Yoshida (Japanese)

Mr. Carrot Cake and Mrs. Cup Cake (née Chiffon Swirl) are a middle-aged earth pony couple. They own Sugarcube Corner, the bakery where Pinkie Pie works, holds her parties, and resides as their live-in helper. Kind and friendly, this older couple has shown saintlike patience for Pinkie Pie's antics... especially after the poisonous muffins fiasco (though that wasn't her fault) and Pinkie's appetite at the beginning of "Swarm of the Century". So far, they're one of the few married couples seen in Ponyville. As of "Baby Cakes", they're now parents to baby twins Pound and Pumpkin Cake.

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• Adaptation Name Change: The toyline refers to Mrs. Cup Cake as Mrs. Dazzle Cake.
• Alliterative Name: Both of them, and they alliterate with each other, too.
• All There in the Script: Until Season 2, their first names had only been revealed byinvoked Word of God and used by the German and Swiss Nickelodeon and German Nick Jr. websites. They were first referred to by their full names on the show in "Baby Cakes".
• Artistic License – Biology: Twin pregnancies for mares are dangerous for both the foals and the mother and can cause permanent damage or even death to the mare. They're usually aborted as a precaution.
• Astonishingly Appropriate Appearance: Mrs. Cake's mane is styled exactly like a swirl of pink frosting.
• Benevolent Boss: To Pinkie Pie. They let her use the highest floors of Sugarcube Corner as her home, have endless patience for her silliness and think of her as a daughter.
• The Cameo: Both of them make a brief appearance in the movie during the Festival of Friendship and the song "We Got This Together".
• Chubby Mama, Skinny Papa: Cup Cake is the former, and Carrot Cake is the latter.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Carrot Cake since Season 5 when he last had a speaking appearance. He has been relegated to background appearances while his wife and twins have gotten more focus.
• Doting Parent: Both of them to their twins. Justified since Pound and Pumpkin are toddlers.
• Edible Theme Naming: The whole family—Cup Cake, Carrot Cake, and their son and daughter, Pound Cake and Pumpkin Cake.
• Family Business: The two of them run Sugarcube Corner together.
• Formerly Fit: Downplayed with Mrs. Cake. She was slightly trimmer when she was known as Chiffon Swirl in "The Perfect Pear".
• Gingerbread House: The bakery roof is literally shaped like a gingerbread house with two cupcakes and a slab of rock candy on top.
• Happily Married: They've never once been seen fighting. When the Foal Free Press said they were splitting up, they were as shocked as everypony else.
• Like a Daughter to Me: Pinkie may not be their biological daughter, but they still love her like she is.
• Malt Shop: For Ponyville's standards, their place acts like this for kids and couples.
• Masculine Lines, Feminine Curves: Mr. Cake is very angular, particularly in his jaw, and Mrs. Cake is quite plump.
• Meaningful Rename: As revealed in "The Perfect Pear", Mrs. Cake used to be called Chiffon Swirl.
• Minnesota Nice: Mrs. Cake speaks with an Upper Midwestern accent and is one of the nicest ponies on the show.
• Never Bareheaded: Mr. Cake is just about always seen wearing his short cylindrical hat.
• Out of Focus: As of Season 7, Mr. Cake seems to be making fewer appearances.
• Panicky Expectant Father: Implied. Normally, Mr. Cake keeps an impeccable appearance, but when his twins are finally born he looks as if he were returning from war with his messy hair, untied bowtie, and unshaven beard.
• Parental Substitute: They serve as this for Pinkie Pie. She lives with them in Sugarcube Corner and Lauren Faust said they see her as a daughter. Furthering the connection, she is a Cool Big Sis and the go-to foalsitter for their blood children.
• Perma-Stubble: Mr. Cake gets an awesome version of this while he's waiting for the birth of his twins.
• Prehensile Tail: In "Baby Cakes", Mrs. Cake uses hers to balance and carry a tray with baby bottles.
• Promotion to Opening Titles: Starting in Season 4.
• Secret-Keeper: When Mrs. Cake was a young mare known as Chiffon Swirl, she kept her best friend Pear Butter's romance with Bright Mac a secret, and was one of only three ponies invited to their surprise wedding (the other two being Mayor Mare and Bright Mac's best friend Burnt Oak).
• Standard '50s Father: Mr. Cake exhibits a few traits, mainly in his appearance. He's well-dressed even when he's not working and he's devoted to his wife and foals.
• Supreme Chef: The cartoon presented them as this very early on, but their Marzipan Mascarpone Meringue Madness (MMMM for short) definitely cemented them as Supreme Chefs. Just hearing Pinkie Pie describe it created an uncontrollable urge in nearby ponies to eat it.
• Unto Us a Son and Daughter Are Born: Pound and Pumpkin Cake, respectively.

Pound and Pumpkin Cake

Pound on the left, Pumpkin on the right.

Pound Cake: Pinkie...
Pumpkin Cake: Pie...

Debut: "Baby Cakes"

Pound Cake voiced by: Tabitha St. Germain^note both according to these two tweets by Andrea Libman^{Foreign VAs}Sora Tokui (Japanese)
Pumpkin Cake voiced by: Andrea Libman^note both according to these two tweets by Andrea Libman^{Foreign VAs}Emiri Katou (Japanese)

Mr. and Mrs. Cake's twin babies. Pound is a pegasus colt and Pumpkin is a unicorn filly, explained by Mr. and Mrs. Cake having unicorn and pegasus ancestors respectively. Pinkie adores them as new playmates.

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• Achievements in Ignorance: Pumpkin Cake is one of two unicorns shown flying through self-levitation, the other being an insanely powerful villain.
• Babies Make Everything Better: Subverted; the twins are cute and all, but, as Pinkie found out the hard way, they require a lot of responsibility. Particularly when the pegasus and unicorn genes kick in.
• Baby's First Words: Pound's was "Pinkie" and Pumpkin's was "Pie", they were saying their foalsitter's name.
• Babysitting Episode: They get babysat in "Baby Cakes" by Pinkie Pie.
• Brainy Baby: Both babies are incredibly intelligent for their age. Pumpkin can use magic perfectly at less than a year old, and Pound is great at flying even though he's also not even a year old.
• Brother–Sister Team: Even at the age of one month, they're inseparable. The final episode shows that they're still together as adults, and presumably work at Sugarcube Corner together.
• The Cameo: Both twins appear in the movie during "We Got This Together" and at the end during Songbird Serenade's song "Rainbow".
• Child Prodigy: Rainbow Dash guesses (correctly) that Pound will be "all over the place" once he starts using his wings, and Rarity says that baby unicorns get strange magic surges that come and go. Those comments imply that the babies are getting a temporary boost but only future appearances will tell for sure. It's also suggested for Pound Cake is that the only reasons he flies so well so young are a combination of his Super-Strength and the fact that he still has a body small enough for his wings to carry. Scootaloo and filly Fluttershy have/had the inverse — that is, wings too small to carry their bodies.
• Chocolate Baby: Pound does not look like either of his parents. That being said, brown is what you get when you make a shade of orange, and his coat IS ever so slightly yellow. Since he takes after his mother's side of the family more, it's likely those are Carrot's traits, filtered through something inherited from Cup's side. Basically, it's downplayed.
• Color-Coded Wizardry: Pumpkin's magic aura is light blue, just like her eyes.
• Curtains Match the Window: Pound's eyes and mane are brown.
• Expy: For Pebbles Flintstone (Pumpkin) and Bam-Bam Rubble (Pound). Pumpkin even has Pebbles' hairdo (with a bow instead of a bone). The blue bow looks similar to Maggie Simpson's.
• Extreme Omnivore: Pumpkin has a habit of trying to eat anything in front of her.
• Hollywood Genetics: Mr. Cake's great-great-great-great-grandfather was a unicorn and Mrs Cake's aunt's-second-cousin-twice-removed was a pegasus; "that makes sense right?" Lauren Faust confirmed similar scenarios were possible during Season 1.
• Innocent Prodigy: They don't mean to cause Pinkie Pie such grief but are too busy exploring their abilities to notice until the end, where they douse themselves in flour to make up for it.
• Leitmotif: They sort of have one, but it's more of an indicator to show the audience that they're about to get into trouble.
• Meaningful Name: Pound Cake. Guess what he likes to do?
• My God, What Have I Done?: They have a mild version of this when their antics reduce Pinkie Pie to tears.
• Oral Fixation: Pumpkin is constantly trying to chew on anything she can get her hooves on.
• Parental Bonus: Mr. Cake's not-entirely-convinced plea: "That makes sense, right?" Made doubly funny if you notice that Mrs. Cake's "aunt's-second-cousin-twice-removed" is only related to Pound Cake by marriage, not by blood.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Pound is strong enough to lift and carry an adult pony at high speeds in flight.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: They're magical, baby ponies. How much more ridiculously cute can you get?
• Say My Name:
  Pound: Pinkie...
  Pumpkin: Pie...
• Silent Snarker: They are snarky when they're silent.
• Strong Family Resemblance: Pumpkin is colored exactly like her father, just with slightly lighter yellow fur and blue eyes instead of green.
• Superpowerful Genetics: According to Mr. Cake, a pony of one type can have offspring of another type, depending on the family tree.
• Wall Crawl: Pound can achieve this using his wings for thrust.
• Wild Magic: Pumpkin has impressive magic for being only one month old, levitating herself and passing through solid objects.

Snips and Snails

Snips on the left, Snails on the right.

Debut: "Boast Busters"

Snips voiced by: Lee Tockar^{Foreign VAs}Miguel Ángel Ruiz (Latin American Spanish); Kappei Yamaguchi [Seasons 1-2], Nobuyuki Doi [Season 3-onwards] (Japanese)
Snails voiced by: Richard Ian Cox^{Foreign VAs}Arturo Castañeda (Latin American Spanish); Akira Ishida [Seasons 1-2], Masatoshi Fujita [Season 3-onwards] (Japanese)

Two unicorn colts with a penchant for troublemaking and, in Snails' case, a talent for telekinesis and an almost Zen-like worldview borne out of him not thinking about anything. Ever.

They have human counterparts in the Equestria Girls series, starting with the first movie where they are Sunset Shimmer's dimwitted minions.

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• Accidental Athlete: Snails became the buckball team's unicorn after displaying a natural talent for the sport when he effortlessly caught a trio of balls heading his way in water buckets he happened to be carrying.
• Acrofatic: Snips is overweight but in "Boast Busters", he escapes rather handily from the Ursa which he and Snails bring to Ponyville.
• Adaptation Name Change: The toyline refers to Snips and Snails as Snipsy Snap and Snailsquirm. Presumably, either Snips and Snails are respectively short for Snipsy Snap and Snailsquirm or Snipsy Snap and Snailsquirm are respective In-Series Nicknames for Snips and Snails; neither explanation is official.
• Alliterative Name: Snipsy Snap.
• Animal Motifs: Snails, in name and cutie mark.
• Attention Whore:
  • They enjoy the humiliating Gabby Gums article the CMC wrote about them, and repeat their chewing gum accident for an audience.
  • Deconstructed in the "Don't You Forget About Us!" storyline, where it's revealed that Snips and Snails have become rather insecure about their status as the town dunces and how everyone only seems to remember them for their mistakes.
• Big Eater: Snails can chomp half of a cake with a single bite. Applejack's game from Adventures in Ponyville also shows them sneaking onto Applejack's farm and eating everything in sight if the player doesn't chase them away.
• Big Ol' Eyebrows: Snips sports a pair of these to add to his stocky appearance.
• Body Horror: The first thing Trixie does upon seeing them when she returns is to forcibly merge them, Professor Monkey-for-a-Head style.
• Boke and Tsukkomi Routine: Snails plays boke to Snips's tsukkomi, first with the Are You Pondering What I'm Pondering? moment and then again during their magic show in "Show Stoppers".
• Butt-Monkey: Generally is their role in the show.
• By the Lights of Their Eyes: In "Boast Busters" this is how they find an Ursa Minor.
• The Cameo: First appeared in Applejack's game from Adventures in Ponyville, thus earning a bad reputation among players for their thieving ways.
• Class Clown: And funny ones too. This is why they don't mind making fools of themselves.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Snails, often annoying Snips.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Downplayed on the "badass" part, but this still applies because the two aren't very bright.
  • "Boast Busters": Snails is one of the few unicorn foals who's been shown using magic (albeit with difficulty) and can buck Snips pretty far in "Ponyville Confidential". They can also run quickly and don't slow down when Spike gets dragged along, adding weight. They also both go into the Everfree Forest at night. Given how the Mane Six are shown to be scared of that place, day or night, that's pretty brave. In their case, it's closer to Too Dumb to Live considering what happened next.
  • In the "Nightmare Rarity" arc, Snips and Snails have a small, but valuable role in the battles against Nightmare Rarity's forces even defeat one of their goons, albeit with the help of Cheerilee, the CMC, Babs Seed, Twist and a bunch of pets, but still.
  • In "Buckball Season" it turns out Snails' empty-headedness puts him into a zen-like mentality allowing him to catch balls with ridiculous ease and finesse, netting him a place on Ponyville's buckball team.
  • In the "Don't You Forget About Us!" arc, Snips and Snails save Sweetie Belle's life from a berserk bear.
• A Day in the Limelight: They're main characters in the two-part story arc "Don't You Forget About Us!", where they're given more depth and even get to be the heroes for once.
• Demoted to Extra: Their roles have decreased slightly in newer seasons; they only speak in one episode in seasons 3 and 4, and they don't speak at all in season 5. In Season 6, however, they get off some good one-liners.
• The Ditz: Snails is inarguably the least intelligent character on the show but strangely enough, he's the only unicorn in his class shown using magic, even for a basic spell.
• Dogged Nice Guy: To Trixie, for whom they are consistent fans despite her haughty behavior.
• Expy: Snails looks like a taller male version of G1's Squirmy.
• Fan Boy: They're Trixie's biggest fans in "Boast Busters", and they're shown to be members of the Rainbow Dash Fan Club in "The Mysterious Mare Do Well". If you look carefully, they are the only members of Rainbow Dash's fan club to have T-shirts with Rainbow Dash's picture in a heart. Combined with their possible crush on Trixie, they might have a thing for blue mares.
• Fantastic Light Source: Snails can use light magic.
• Fat and Skinny: Snips is short and round while Snails is tall and slender.
• Fat Idiot: Snips is chubby and dim.
• Fearless Fool: They went into the Everfree Forest at night to try to find an Ursa Major to help Trixie look good for Ponyville.
• Free-Range Children: They both go all alone in the middle of night into the Everfree Forest.
• Gag Haircut: When the duo get their rumps stuck together with bubble gum, the haircut they get to cut the gum out leaves them with bald patches on their butts and tails.
• Genius Ditz:
  • Oddly enough, this is one of their more consistent character traits. Snails is incredibly empty-headed and easily one of the least intelligent characters in the show. He is also the first unicorn foal shown using even basic magic, and is also able to develop an incredibly peaceful state of mind and to completely avoid performance anxiety... by never thinking about anything he's doing. Ever. This applies to Snips too, but to a lesser extent.
  • Also, in the "Don't You Forget About Us!" storyline in the comics, Snips and Snails are able to support Scootaloo's bodyweight with their magic. They had the help of Sweetie Belle, but given the fact that Sweetie Belle struggled to lift brooms, it's possible they did the bulk of the work themselves. In the same story, Snips and Snails both effortlessly light a fire with their magic. That might not seem impressive, but they are only foals after all. Even Diamond Tiara was impressed by their talent.
• Hidden Depths: Snails' empty-headedness keeps him in a constantly zen state of mind that allows him to play buckball without worrying about pressure from the spectators, the other team, or his coaches. As a result, he does very well as the Ponyville team's catcher.
• The Klutz: The famous gum-chewing incident had them stuck together.
• Meaningful Name:
  • "Snips and snails and puppy dog tails — that's what little boys are made of." In the case of Snails, his cutie mark is a snail.
  • The comic likewise shows that Snips is good at cutting with his buck teeth (which also explains the cutie mark).
  • Another explanation for scissors cutie mark is that he comes from a family of barbers. His father has a curling iron cutie mark.
• Nice Guy: Both of them are rather kindhearted and supportive to their friends. They're even pretty heroic if they need to be. In the "Don't You Forget About Us!" storyline, when Sweetie Belle was stuck and being chased by a vicious bear, the two don't even hesitate to run to her aid and dig her out with their horns! In the same story, they help save Diamond Tiara's life when she fell of a cliff and show genuine concern for both her and Apple Bloom.
• Non-Standard Character Design: Unlike the other ponies and foals in the show, both Snips and Snails stand out in having much goofier appearances. They also are lacking any irises the other ponies have in their eyes.
• Precocious Crush: The standalone version of Applejack's game from Adventures in Ponyville has hearts appear over them when the player runs towards them to chase them away. The hearts are most likely just a replacement for Adventures in Ponyville's Friendship Sparkles but still...
• Promotion to Opening Titles: Starting in Season 4.
• Shadow Archetype: To Spike, considering they are all young kids who are fond of older mares (Rarity for Spike, Trixie for Snips and Snails), and also have their bouts of clumsiness at times, but unlike Spike who is usually more helpful than not, Snips and Snails inadvertently cause more trouble than they fix in the long run.
• Simpleton Voice: Snails mostly talks like a fool.
• Those Two Guys: They're never apart, have little bearing on the plot, and mostly exist for comic relief.
• Vague Age: They're seemingly older than the CMC. While they're still in school, they know some magic unlike them at first and seem to have entered puberty.
• Young Entrepreneur: In his latest appearances in the show, Snips is often seen trying to make a quick buck, most usually by selling Buckball paraphernalia, surfing on Snails' success with the sport.
• Youthful Freckles: Snails sports some.

Cheerilee

"Today we are going to be talking about cutie marks. [...] You can all see my cutie mark, can't you? Like all ponies, I wasn't born with a cutie mark. My flank was blank. [...] Then one day, when I was about your age, I woke up to find that a cutie mark had appeared. [...] I had decided to become a teacher, and the flowers symbolized my hope that I could help my future students bloom if I nurture them with knowledge. The smiles represented the cheer I hope to bring to my little ponies while they were learning."

First Appearance (Background): "Boast Busters"
Full Debut: "Call of the Cutie"

Voiced by: Nicole Oliver^note according to these two interviews with Nicole Oliver and a reply to this comment by Lauren Faust^{Foreign VAs}Megumi Han (Japanese)

The Ponyville Schoolhouse's teacher. An earth pony, Miss Cheerilee sports a cherry-colored coat with a pink/cherry mane topped with a kind and cheerful attitude. She has a human counterpart in the Equestria Girls series who's a young teacher at Canterlot High School.

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• The '80s: Played for laughs when Cheerilee shows to her class a picture of her younger self wearing typical (and gaudy) '80s attire.
• '80s Hair: "Yes I know, but honestly; that's how everypony was wearing their mane back then."
• A Day in the Limelight: Has a central role in "Hearts and Hooves Day".
• Adults Are Useless: Despite her friendliness, she doesn't notice or attempt to stop Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon from bullying the Cutie Mark Crusaders (except in the episode "Ponyville Confidential", when she punishes Diamond Tiara). And that's not the only time...
• All There in the Script: Until Season 2, her name had only come up at all in the toyline and the Expanded Universe (specifically, in the toys and the iOS Games Twilight Sparkle: Teacher for a Day). It was first mentioned on the show in "Lesson Zero", and she was first addressed by name in "The Cutie Pox".
• Always Identical Twins: In the comics she has an identical twin sister named Cherry Blossom.
• Ascended Extra: Cheerilee was fairly popular in G3, so Hasbro made her the 8th pony of a Happy Meal toy set from McDonald's. She's also included in a later set.
• Chekhov's Gunman: After making a few appearances in Adventures in Ponyville, she remained a silent background pony who happened to be in the opening. Then at the beginning of "Call of the Cutie", she suddenly got a single long scene that gave her an important job and a personality.
• Cool Teacher: The CMC think it is a travesty that such an amazing teacher is not beating off suitors with a stick. The first part of Sweetie Bell's song states that she's "the best teacher we could hope for".
• Death Glare: Gives one to Rainbow Dash after being pranked by her in "28 Pranks Later".
• Decomposite Character: A very ironic one, as her G3 self was already a Composite Character. The second G3 Cheerilee was a Composite Character of the original G3 Cheerilee and a pony named Cherry Blossom. The comics split them back into two separate characters by making Cherry Blossom her identical twin, with Cheerilee getting her scholarly side and Cherry Blossom getting her more fun loving and playful side.
• Demoted to Extra: In Season 3, the only times she ever shows up are in background appearances in "One Bad Apple", "Sleepless in Ponyville", and "Just for Sidekicks". Her schoolhouse is never shown, and she never even gets a single speaking appearance. What's more, in season 4 she's practically the only notable member of the supporting cast not to receive a Promotion to Opening Titles; especially odd is that Photo Finish does, despite appearing far less. However, she has at least received speaking appearances again.
• Embarrassing Nickname: Creates one without intending to ("Blank Flank") which quickly catches on and is used by the school bullies to humiliate Ponies who lack a Cutie Mark.
• Era-Specific Personality: G3 Cheerilee is Rarity's adviser and is mature. G3.5 Cheerilee loves to play, read stories to her little sister Scootaloo, and comb her friend's manes in fancy different styles. FiM Cheerilee is a young adult with a calm and responsible personality and is in charge of educating Ponyville's fillies and colts.
• Expy: Of G3 and G3.5 Cheerilee.
• Friend to All Children: It goes with the territory, considering she's loved by all her students, but even Spike seems to like her before she gave him a hat for his birthday.
• Friend to Bugs: In the toys at least; the Cheerilee toy is accompanied by a ladybug.
• Genki Girl: As described by Nicole Oliver, she's much more upbeat than her other role of Princess Celestia.
• Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: She's a good deal smaller than Big Macintosh, which is extremely noticeable when the Cutie Mark Crusaders try to set them up together.
• I Was Quite a Fashion Victim: Could also be considered a self-deprecating call-back to the more...ill-advised G1 My Little Ponies.
• Misplaced Kindergarten Teacher: Zigzagged. The exact age of her students are in question because they're a different species. She talks like a kindergarten teacher to them but explains setting concepts (like history and biology) more akin to a middle-school teacher, and on the blackboard she often hasinvoked advanced planetary physics equations.
• Ms. Exposition: She often fills this role in the episodes she's in, such as explaining what a cutie mark is to a classroom almost full of students who already have theirs.
• Nice Girl: She's very good with kids. She was nice enough to give Spike a hat on his birthday.
• Old Maid: She tries to hide her frustration, but it's clear she isn't happy about being one, or at least having attention being brought to it.
• Pair the Spares: A literal case, as the CMC pairs her up with Big Macintosh in the episode "Hearts and Hooves Day" because she didn't have a date and Big Mac was the only "good" stallion they could find available at that moment.
• Pink Means Feminine: Her body and hair qualify for this.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Most of the time she can be counted on to manage her class.
• Rose-Haired Sweetie: Warm and compassionate type.
• Schoolmarm: A textbook example of this; the only teacher in a rural community school that consists of one room.
• Ship Tease: After the madness dies down, the last scene of "Hearts and Hooves Day" is Cheerilee and Big Macintosh going on a picnic. Whether they're going on an actual date or just teasing the Cutie Mark Crusaders is left open. In a latter episode, she is seen swooning at Big Mac singing.
• Stepford Smiler:
  • She displays a type A during "Hearts and Hooves Day" when the CMC bring up her Old Maid status.
  • Her human counterpart displays a borderline type C, given how she actively tries to hide her irritation from a technologically inept Twilight.
• Unrelated in the Adaptation: In the third generation cartoons, Cheerilee was Scootaloo's older sister. In Friendship Is Magic, Cheerilee is simply the town schoolteacher and has no relations to Scootaloo beyond the typical teacher-student relationship she has with all her other pupils.
• Vague Age: While "Call of the Cutie" implies that Cheerilee was a teenager during The '80s, flashbacks in "The Cutie Mark Chronicles" (along with a picture that's part of the toy Ponyville Schoolhouse) shows they were young enough to have gone to school with Rarity and "Where the Apple Lies" shows her in their '80s appearance slightly older than Applejack, whominvoked Word of God put at between 17-21.
• What Did I Do Last Night?: "What the Tartarus am I doing in a pit, on a mattress, with a stallion, wearing a wedding veil?" Sleeping off a love poison from well-meaning students.
• You Don't Look Like You: Her second fully-molded toy depicts her as a Palette Swap of Pinkie Pie; her cutie mark looks different in most stock art and all of the other toys (strangely, the stock art used on most of the toys' packaging has it match the show instead of those toys); her first fully-molded toy and her collector◊ card◊ both depict her as a Palette Swap of Applejack.

Zecora

"Beware, beware, you ponyfolk! Those leaves of blue are not a joke!"

Debut: "Bridle Gossip"

Voiced by: Brenda Crichlow^{Foreign VAs}Nao Fujita [Seasons 1-2], Yuri Makuta [Season 3-onwards] (Japanese)

A mysterious zebra who lives in the Everfree Forest. Most of the ponies distrust her at first because of her unusual appearance, and her seemingly cryptic warnings don't help her reputation. Afterwards, she becomes a helpful ally towards the ponies, using her knowledge of magical herbs and creatures to assist the Six.

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• Accent Slip-Up: Her heavy African accent is exaggerated. When she's sick in "A Health of Information," she has to remember to put it on when Fluttershy calls her out for not rhyming.
• Ambiguous Situation: She has a symbol of a spiral sun on her flank that resembles a cutie mark, but since she's not a pony, it's not made clear whether it actually is a cutie mark or just a tattoo.
• Anthropomorphic Shift: A minor inversion. Whilst still fully sapient, Zecora is a quadrupedal non-anthropomorphic equine unlike the humanoid zebra Zeb from My Little Pony 'n Friends.
• Arboreal Abode: She lives inside a hollow tree in the Everfree Forest.
• As Long as It Sounds Foreign: Lauren Faust stated that they wanted Zecora to be speaking authentic Swahili in "Bridle Gossip", but they didn't have the time or resources. Instead, they got the voice actor to make up some African-sounding gibberish. Lauren Faust said that she likes to imagine Zecora is speaking Zebra in lieu of Swahili.
• Badass Normal: Despite lacking any (definite) powers, she lives in a place that other ponies consider an Eldritch Location, only in part because it's filled with dangerous plants and animals like cockatrices, Ursa Minors and Majors, Timberwolves and Poison Joke. She isn't bothered in the slightest by her dangerous "neighbors". To say nothing of the alternate Zecora who Twilight encounters in "The Cutie Remark". She leads La Résistance against the changelings and even gives Chrysalis a Shut Up, Hannibal! moment before brawling with her.
• Berserk Button: In the Season 10 comics, she really doesn't want to return to her hometown. This is because it brings back old memories from when she was little. As a foal she wanted to learn magic despite lacking the ability to do so and was laughed and mocked by her friends for it.
• Bifauxnen: While Zecora is clearly female, she has the same squared off muzzle and lack of eyelashes as a male pony. This helps convey her foreign nationality compared to the ponies of Ponyville.
• Black Cloak: Zecora wears an eerie cloak with a face-concealing hood during her debut episode. It can be inferred she wears it for protection, as the road to her hut crosses through a large patch of Poison Joke.
• Character Tic: She mostly speaks her sentences in rhyme, with a few exceptions. Her debut episode also gave her a habit of digging at the ground sometimes, but this seems to have faded out.
• Chuunibyou: Not kidding. She shares elements of this, or at least was perceived as such by her friends when she was younger. Namely, her desire to study magic despite zebras lacking the ability to do so and during this time, developed her habit of speaking in rhyme and even spoke backwards. When she went back, she painted her leaving as her friends not being supportive of her and feeling betrayed. She wasn't entirely wrong there, but her friends also note she stopped hanging out with them in terms of her studied and when try to address the possibility she may fail, she snapped at them.
• Creepy Good: There's no doubt of her good character but her sense of style, where she lives and her habit of speaking in rhyme creeped the local ponies out.
• Cross Cultural Kerfuffle: Her above-mentioned Character Tic of digging at the ground is mistaken by the ponies as a threat posture. If one reflects back over the previous episodes, it's strongly implied that pawing at the ground genuinely is a threat posture amongst ponies (Twilight Sparkle and Nightmare Moon are shown pawing the ground before attacking each other in the second episode). This then leads toinvoked Fridge Brilliance as to why the character tic was dropped; upon being able to talk to ponies, Zecora would have learned that pawing the ground means "I am about to attack you" in pony body language, and would stop doing that in order to stop seeming like she's randomly threatening ponies.
• A Dog Named "Dog": "Zecora" is an archaic word for "zebra" in the Oromo language.
• Evil Sounds Deep: Subverted. While she has a noticeably deeper voice than most ponies and initially comes across as intimidating, she's Good All Along.
• Fantastic Racism: A victim of it in her initial episode; the Ponyvile ponies boarded themselves up when she came to town because she was "strange" and "different". Luckily for her, her début episode is about proving this attitude wrong.
• Fish Eyes: Her molded toy from the Miniature Collection's Spa Pony Set has these.
• Friend to All Children: She leads the foals around on Nightmare Night. This makes sense when you consider the fact that Apple Bloom, who's a filly, was the first to befriend her.
• Glowing Eyes of Doom: Appears to have glowing sinister yellow eyes sometimes when her face is hidden under her cloak, though that could just be the perception of the mane cast seeing her as an "evil enchantress".
• Good All Along: Looked sinister at first, but it all turned out to be a misunderstanding.
• Hartman Hips: She noticeably seems to sport a much larger and rounder butt than her equine friends.
• The Hermit: Lives alone in the Everfree Forest, where few other ponies would dare set hoof.
• Heroic Sacrifice: In a Bad Future where ponies are at war with the Changelings, she goes one-on-one against Chrysalis herself to give Twilight a chance of fixing things (and knows full well that even if she wins the fight, she'll be erased from time if Twilight succeeds).
• I Just Want to Be Special: In the Season 10 IDW comics, we discovered that as a foal, this was why Zecora wanted to learn magic, even comparing herself and her zebra kin to earth ponies and being boring. This was her key motivation in not just learning magic, but also in speaking in rhyme. However, this attitude did alienate her friends (from both sides, namely she stopped hanging out in her pursuit of magic and their well-intentioned if insensitive approach to her trying to do something unheard of made it worse.) It turns out she's a lot more special than she thought: she's another Element of Magic bearer just like Twilight.
• I Just Want to Have Friends:
  • At the end of her debut episode, her wish for friends comes true when the ponies finally befriend her. By the episode "Luna Eclipsed", it would seem that the town has embraced her, as she leads an event on Nightmare Night.
  • The Season 10 comics reveals this was a bit more complicated: She had friends when she was younger, but her desire to pursue magic and Poor Communication Kills from both sides meant that she and her friends parted on sour terms. However, she still desired companionship as seen when she moved to Ponyville and befriended the townsfolk. The difference being that she learned magic and crafted a new identity of sorts for herself.
• Inconsistent Spelling: Closed captions spell her name as "Zakora".
• Intergenerational Friendship: Apple Bloom, the first pony to make friends with her, is still the pony that has the most screentime with her.
• Large Ham: "Beware, BEWARE, you ponyfolk!"
• Magic Cauldron: She uses one of this to work in her potions, in keeping with being a herbalist with ambiguous knowledge of magic.
• Magical Negro: Considering the Fantastic Racism she's subjected to in her debut, she fits this. She can brew potions with all manner of fantastic effects, and she also displays a few abilities that seem to indicate that magic isn't necessarily limited to unicorns. However, unlike classical uses of this trope, that doesn't mean she's an automatic problem solver for things the Mane Six can't handle — she specifically notes she can't do anything to stop a parasprite infestation, for example.
  • Bizarrely enough, the Season 10 comics reveals she actually plays this up. Her magical abilities were basically inspired by that of the story of the earth pony Mage Meadowbrook (another prominent potion brewer), but her rhyming was something she came up with during her studies. Given how her hometown friends mentioned how odd it was, it gives off the impression that she learned how to speak in rhymes to make herself come off as magical.
• Master of Illusion: In "Luna Eclipsed", Zecora tells the fillies about Nightmare Moon and uses green dust to conjure up illusions of her.
• Mentor Archetype:She was meant to be an alternate mentor to Twilight Sparkle but the de-emphasis of adventure stories in the first season (because slice-of-life stories were easier to write quickly) caused the idea to fall through. She finally takes this role in "Magic Duel" where she trains Twilight in magic and being a Guile Heroine for her rematch with Trixie.
• Misunderstood Loner with a Heart of Gold: Though unlike most examples, the townsponies see her every month when she comes into town, but the fact she lives alone in the woods (the Everfree Forest no less) that everypony fears makes everypony unfairly assume she's an evil witch.
• Muggle with a Degree in Magic: Despite being a zebra, which functionally means she has no way to use magic like unicorn characters can, knows an incredible amount about magic. She knows enough to where she can function as Twilight's mentor on the subject, despite that she herself can't use any magic. On several occasions she's used her knowledge to either create potions for the ponies or to give them the information that leads to the episode's solution.
  • Turns our she invoked this, wanting to be the first zebra to learn magic. She would end up learning how to do so much like Mage Meadowbrook.
• National Animal Stereotypes: A zebra portrayed as an African witch doctor.
• Nice Girl: She's a really friendly zebra.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
  • In "A Health of Information", she stops rhyming and Fluttershy realizes her illness is getting worse.
  • In the Season 10 comics, after Applejack says she was thinking of her by bringing her along on their trip to Farasi, Zecora drops her rhyming and snaps at Applejack, calling her out on not knowing anything about her and expecting her to be grateful for bringing her back to her homeland without her consent.
• Only the Chosen May Wield: The Season 10 comics reveal, like Twilight and Gallus, she's worthy of the Element of Magic.
• Out of Focus: The frequency of her appearances in the show has tended to fluctuate, but she has a tendency to not appear or be mentioned for extensive periods of time.
  • She is mostly absent from Season 1, appearing only in "Bridle Gossip" and "Swarm of the Century".
  • Averted in Season 2, as she's had several small roles in several episodes. In Season 3, she plays a major role in "Magic Duel", finally taking her place as Twilight's mentor. She also shows up for some minor roles in Seasons 4 and 5, appearing in a handful of episodes to provide characters with potions and cures.
  • She only appears in two episodes of season 6 ("On Your Marks" and "The Fault in Our Cutie Marks"), both being brief, non-speaking appearances.
  • Season 7 sees her making notable appearances again, appearing in major roles in "It Isn't the Mane Thing About You" and "A Health of Information".
• Poor Communication Kills: When it came to the Poison Joke, if she just told the ponies it was a poisonous plant instead of speaking in cryptic rhyme to an already suspicious and fearful group, then the rest of the episode would have gone a lot differently. It's possibly justified by the fact that she was new in Ponyville, so she was still learning pony language.
• Promotion to Opening Titles: Starting in Season 4.
• Proverbial Wisdom: She gives her pieces of advice in the form of cryptic, proverb-like rhymed couplets.
• Rebel Leader: In the Bad Future where Queen Chrysalis took over Equestria in "The Cutie Re-Mark", Zecora takes this role for La Résistance hiding in the Everfree Forest.
• Repetitive Name: Zecora the Zebra also counts for this.
• Rhymes on a Dime: Particularly impressive in "The Cutie Pox", where she sets herself up to make a rhyme with "tooth" before she sees that Apple Bloom chipped her tooth (from Apple Bloom's posture, it was an easy guess). Although there was a gag in the main MLP comic #9 where she noted (in rhyme, naturally) that she needed a moment to think up a rhyme for her next comment.
  • The Season 10 comics reveal her rhyming is something she did during her time in learning magic.
• Shown Their Work: Her digging habit in her first episode? Zebras in the real world do that to find water. As for why she dropped it? As shown below, when it comes to other species of horse, digging at the ground is a sign of impatience and annoyance. She'd be forced to drop this habit if she wanted the townspeople to be more open to her.
• Solitary Sorceress: Lives by herself in the Everfree Forest.
• Stealth Hi/Bye: How she exits at the end of "The Cutie Pox".
• This Is My Name on Foreign: "Zecora" means "zebra" in the Oromo language of Ethiopia.
• Transflormation: In "A Health of Information", she comes down with Swamp Fever, a disease which slowly turns its victims into trees. By the time Fluttershy and Twilight come back with the cure, she's already started sprouting branches.
• Translation Convention: When alone in her hut, she talks to herself in English, even though her first language appears to be the pseudo-Swahili she yells in when pissed.
• Turn the Other Cheek: A defining trait when it comes to Zecora: she never holds a grudge, quick to forgive, and takes quite a bit to get enraged in the first place. Despite how Ponyville treats her, she never shows any sign of actually being angry with them.
• Verbal Ticked: In "A Health of Information", after she contracts Swamp Fever, one of the signs of how badly her health is declining is when she loses the ability to rhyme on demand.
  Zecora: [coughs] That's marvelous, Fluttershy. I am quite impressed. While you are gone on your journey, I'll try not to be... worried.
  Fluttershy: [gasps] Oh, no. Zecora, you didn't rhyme! You must be getting worse.
  Zecora: Oh. No, no, no, not at all. Something... something... ball? [sneezes]
• Witch Doctor: Fits the mold, considering she's adorable and lives in the Everfree Forest far from civilization and has all manner of magical herbs and exotic decor in her hut. She is knowledgeable in potion-making, strange properties of plants, and odd creatures.

The Spa Ponies

"How can we be of service?"^note From left to right: Lotus Blossom and Aloe, the two most frequently appearing spa ponies.

"Miss Zecora, I would love to get the recipe for this bath. It's simply luxurious!"^note — Lotus Blossom, after Zecora is welcomed to Ponyville in "Bridle Gossip"

Lotus Blossom's Debut: "Bridle Gossip
Other Spa Ponies' Debut: "Green Isn't Your Color"
Speaking Appearance: (Lotus Blossom) "Bridle Gossip", "Slice of Life", (Aloe) "Castle Sweet Castle", "Applejack's 'Day' Off"

Voiced by: Tabitha St. Germain (Lotus Blossom and Aloe)

Four blue-eyed ponies who work at Ponyville's Day Spa. Lotus Blossom, the first one, debuts at the end of "Bridle Gossip" asking Zecora for the bath recipe. She returns in "Green Isn't Your Color", which introduces the other three: Aloe, a Palette Swap of Lotus Blossom; "Quake", a large masseuse; and Roxie Rave, who first appears as one of Photo Finish's helpers and isn't seen working at the spa until "A Friend in Deed", which also features Lotus Blossom and Aloe. Lotus Blossom and "Quake" appear again in "Ponyville Confidential".

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• Always Identical Twins: Lotus and Aloe.
• Curtains Match the Window: Aloe.
• Expy: Lotus Blossom and Aloe appear to be based on the twins of the G1 Surprise Twins Pony and/or on the G2 twins Rose and Lily.
• Flower Motif: Lotus Blossom and Aloe's cutie mark is a white lotus, a flower commonly associated with spas.
• Mythology Gag: Lotus Blossom's accent, if she and Aloe are indeed based on one or both of the Europe-exclusive previous-gen pony twins mentioned under Expy above.
• Suddenly Voiced: Aloe has no clear lines until "Castle, Sweet Castle".
• Unexplained Accent: The show doesn't really reveal or explain much about why Lotus Blossom has that accent.
• What the Hell Is That Accent?: Lotus Blossom's accent seems to be an odd mix of Indian and German. Slavic perhaps?

Twist

Debut: "Call of the Cutie"

Voiced by: Alexandra Carter^{Foreign VAs}Ikumi Nakagami (Japanese)

A friend of Apple Bloom'th from thchool, the'th an earth pony filly with fridhy red hair and glatheth ath well ath a heavy lithp. Like Apple Bloom, Peppermint Twist starts "Call of the Cutie" without having discovered her mark and gets teased for it. She gets her cutie mark in the same episode (off-screen): a pair of candy canes due to her love of making candy.

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• Adaptation Name Change: The toyline refers to her as Twist-a-loo. Presumably, either Twist is short for Twist-a-loo (which would make her full name Peppermint Twist-a-loo) or Twist-a-loo is an In-Series Nickname for Twist; neither explanation is official.
• All There in the Script: Peppermint, the first part of her name, has only been used by Gameloft's My Little Pony game (which doesn't even use it all of the time).
• Cheerful Child: "I've got thome peppermint thticks. I made them myself! They'll make you thmiiile!"
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: She appears to be a good friend of Apple Bloom's in "Call of the Cutie", but ever since Apple Bloom hooked up with the other Cutie Mark Crusaders, poor Twist has only talked to her once since then, and has afterwards been relegated to minor background cameos. This may be due to voice actor Alexandra Carter's move to Philadelphia rendering her unable to voice the character further.
• Demoted to Extra: After "Cutie Pox" she never speaks again and only appears as cameos due to her voice actress moving away and the creators didn't want to replace her.
• Expy: Of G1 Twist. Her appearance has a noticeable resemblance to Pepper Ann.
• Innocently Insensitive: When Twist gets her Cutie Mark, she brags about it to Apple Bloom, unaware that Apple Bloom got devastated and hurt because she felt that she was the only filly who doesn't have one.
• Our Werewolves Are Different: In one of the Ponyville Mysteries books, she's temporarily turned into a candy-obsessed werepony — a pony who turns into a timberwolf under the full moon, not a human who turns into a pony — by eating a rather suspicious candy cane.
• Puppy Love: Surprisingly, the episode "Hearts and Hooves Day" paired her up withinvoked "Truffle Shuffle", much to the chagrin of "Tootsie Flute", who was also interested in him.
• Quirky Curls: She has curly hair, and is a bit quirky too.
• Redheads Are Uncool: She shows several stereotypically nerdy traits, such as a curly red mane and tail, pale coat, large, large glasses, and a nasal speech impediment (she has a hard time pronouncing W's and S's). She is the last one in her class to get her cutie mark before the Cutie Mark Crusaders.
• Sweet Tooth: "Ith it a powdered donut? Becauth that thounds delithouth!"
• Speech Impediment: She has a noticeable lisp.
• Supreme Chef: Her special talent is making candy.
• Trademark Favorite Food: It's uncertain if she loves eating peppermint sticks... ahem; "Peppermint Thtickth" as much as she loves making them.

DJ Pon-3 / Vinyl Scratch

WUB WUB WUB

"Baby you can haul my cart! Yes I'm gonna be a star! Baby you can haul my cart! And maybe I love you! Beep beep'm beep beep yeah!"

Debut: "Suited for Success"
Speaking Appearance: My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (IDW) Issue #9 story Zen and the Art of Gazebo Repair and Issue #10 cover A
Major Role: "Slice of Life"

An off-white unicorn with a two-tone electric blue mane, magenta eyes, and a pair of eighth notes as her cutie mark. Most of her in-show appearances have her, well, act as a DJ, or otherwise listening to music in her headphones. She's very popular for a character with less than a minute (in the first season, only a few seconds) of screentime. She shows up a lot in advertisements and official merchandise, and has multiple toys, even being made 2013 Special Edition Pony. According to her and Octavia's trading card, "DJ Pon-3 feels at home behind her turntable, laying down sick beats and wearing her trademark sunglasses."

An analysis on Vinyl "DJ Pon-3" Scratch is available on the analysis page.

Vinyl has a human counterpart in the Equestria Girls universe that plays a significant part in the second movie; go to the related characters page for tropes pertaining to the Human DJ Pon-3.

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• Ascended Extra:
  • She's one of the seven brushable toys in the Friendship Is Magic Favorite Collection from the Toys "R" Us exclusive Collector Series, and she's even apparently going to be one of Funrise's plush toys. She and Octavia also share a trading card.
  • Her human counterpart appears in the movie My Little Pony: Equestria Girls and plays a bigger role in the sequel. Also, when the official Hub website held a poll for who would be the 7th pony cut-out, DJ Pon-3 was the only background pony who you could vote for.
• Cheated Angle: Her mane isn't symmetrical at all, yet it's always drawn the same way whether she's facing left or right, as otherwise it would cover most of her face half of the time.
• Cloudcuckoolander: When she's into her music she's in her own little world.
• Cool Big Bro: Issues #11 and #12 of the IDW comic (taking place in flashback when Shining Armor and Cadance were in high school) includes a filly Vinyl watching Shining's show and getting her cutie mark atop the back of a white-coated, red-maned (styled similar to Vinyl's) unicorn stallion with a vinyl record-and-note cutie mark; later, he is DJ'ing the school dance under the stage name "33 1/3-LP". Andy Price, the artist, affirmed this was Vinyl's older brother. The fandom has taken the names "Long Play" (what LP expands to) or "Smooth Beat" as his given name, but all agree he's in the same class of cool as Vinyl.
• Cool Shades: Purple ones with black rims that obscure her eyes. Have led toinvoked Fanon and various speculations until "A Canterlot Wedding - Part 2".
• Depending on the Artist: Her eyes outside of the show have gone back and forth between magenta and red. Colorist Heather Breckel gave Vinyl red eyes in her cameo in Rarity's Micro comic as an intentionalinvoked Fandom Nod and commented that if Vinyl ever has a more significant role (where Breckel is the colorist), she'll give Vinyl her canon eye color.
• Do Not Call Me "Paul": Assuming that one takes the Interplay cards as canon, then she prefers DJ Pon-3 over Vinyl Scratch to the point that most ponies haven't even heard of the name. Hasbro's official releases don't use that name at all, and Twilight refers to her as DJ Pon-3 in "No Second Prances".
• Heävy Mëtal Ümlaut: Her "Vinyl Scratch" name has been spelled as "Vın̈yl Scratch" as part of a Shout-Out to This is Spın̈al Tap.
• Inconsistent Spelling:
  • "DJ Pon-3" has been used by Hasbro (on their My Little Pony Facebook and Twitter) and by her and Octavia's trading card, while "DJ-Pon3" has been used by The Hub (in their commercial There's a Pony For That); these two spellings and more have been used by Mighty Fine's merchandise and its various listings.
  • "Vinyl Scratch" has been used by Mighty Fine's online store WeLoveFine, while "Vın̈yl Scratch" has been used at the Las Vegas Licensing Expo 2012 (as part of a Shout-Out to This is Spın̈al Tap).
• Leet Lingo: Her Stage Name "DJ Pon-3".
• Life of the Party: Based on her few appearances, she seems to be just as party-loving as Pinkie is (though not as eccentric and wild as her).
• Music Is Eighth Notes: Her cutie mark is a beam with two eighth notes.
• Nice Girl: She is always partying and having a good time and tries to be helpful to other ponies even if it doesn't always work out. She helps Dr. Hooves and Octavia during "Slice of Life" and Twilight considers her a good backup friend for Starlight in "No Second Prances". She also isn't mad at Pinkie Pie for ruining her Club Pony Party Palace and is much more interested when Pinkie offers her to play music at the opening of Rarity for You.
• Non-Standard Character Design: As described by storyboardist Sabrina "Sibsy" Alberghetti, DJ Pon-3's creation was atypical. The storyboardists would normally pull from a pool of established characters or the otherwise dozen-some background characters if they need to fill a scene. For "Suited for Success", the storyboardist, Mike West, needed to include a DJ of some type which was not yet offered in the pool, and sketched out the preliminary version of DJ Pon-3. The design was cleaned up and made into a character.
• Promotion to Opening Titles: She can be seen in the Season 8 intro when Thorax and Ember fly by her and the Castle of Friendship.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: In fan-designed licensed merchandise, most of which was made before "A Canterlot Wedding - Part 2" gave her a canon eye color.
• Shout-Out: Her Stage Name "DJ Pon-3" is a reference to how DJs often use cool names and Xtreme Kool Letterz as their Stage Names. ^note And originally to deadmau5 in particular.
• Stage Names: Formerly a Sudden Name Change, her two names were eventually officially made a case of this, with "DJ Pon-3" being a stage name and "Vinyl Scratch" being her real name.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: The tomboy to Octavia’s girly girl. She’s a laid-back disc jockey with a short and spiky mane, while her roommate Octavia is a refined cellist with a long and straight mane.
• The Voiceless: Despite having major roles in Rainbow Rocks and "Slice of Life", she never speaks. In the Rainbow Rocks novelization, she even communicates with Rainbow Dash via text message, despite the two of them sitting right next to each other. This has led to fan speculation that Vinyl simply can't talk. According to a convention panel with M. A. Larson (summary here), she was originally going to have a speaking role in "Slice of Life", but "they told him she doesn't talk", so this seems pretty confirmed. She's had two speaking roles in the comics, her page quote coming before her being voiceless became policy, and when she was corrupted by dark water.
• Wolverine Publicity: She managed to hit that rare sweet spot where she's very popular among the fans for her striking design and cool job, and she's popular enough with Hasbro that she gets to appear in a number of places like merchandise and other promotional material. Her human counterpart from My Little Pony: Equestria Girls even made it into the trailer; not even Derpy can claim that. It doesn't end there. She appears as a McDonald's Happy Meal toy, and she appears in place of Applejack.

Octavia Melody

Our Elegant Classical Musician being stoic as usual.

"How am I meant to practice with a monster invading Ponyville?"

Debut: "The Best Night Ever"
Major Role: "Slice of Life"

Voiced by: Kazumi Evans^{Foreign VAs}Asami Yoshida (Japanese)

A classy gray earth pony with a pink treble clef cutie mark. She plays the cello as part of quartet performances at Canterlot's Grand Galloping Gala and garden party, respectively during "The Best Night Ever" and "Sweet and Elite", and also cameos in at least two issues of IDW's Friendship Is Magic comic book series. After her debut, fans loved her classy look and initial deadpan reaction to Pinkie Pie on stage so much that she's become one of the most popular musician ponies. According to her and DJ Pon-3's trading card, "You can find Octavia at garden parties and galas performing prim and proper classical music on her cello."

An analysis on Octavia is available on the analysis page.

She has a human counterpart in the Equestria Girls movies, first appearing in Rainbow Rocks.

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• Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal: She's just not Octavia without that bowtie and white collar.
• All There in the Manual: Octavia's instrument being a cello has also been mentioned byinvoked Word of God and listed in the keywords of WeLoveFine's pages for Mighty Fine's merchandise.
• All There in the Script: The last name "Melody" is based on Hasbro's promotional literature for its 2013 MLP toy line.
• Ascended Extra:
  • She's included in the Card Creator game on Hasbro and The Hub's websites. She and DJ Pon-3 also share a trading card. Octavia also has a plush toy of her available.
  • She appears as a human character in My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Rainbow Rocks, and, as a solo act on her cello, one of the groups involved with the Battle of the Bands and thus a lot of background screentime.
• Elegant Classical Musician: She's certainly got the look of one, and her trading card suggests she's one. She also speaks with a British accent.
• Impractical Musical Instrument Skills: How does she even play her cello with her hooves anyway?
• Lead Bassist: She's the most popular member of the band. She even takes the lead (with the camera focused on her) on their second appearance in "Sweet and Elite".
• Nobody Loves the Bassist: Inverted. So much so that the fandom pays little to no attention to the rest of her band, which has led to her appearing in out-of-show media without any of her bandmates.
• Not So Stoic: Her appearances in the show have thus far show her being mostly calm and professional, only scowling slightly when Pinkie ruins her cello. However, the comics have shown her having fun at a party (which Vinyl Scratch is DJing), being a badass when time calls, and being downright grumpy when the Cutie Mark Crusaders steal her band's cart complete with Red Eyes, Take Warning.
• Odd Couple: In "The Big Mac Question", Discord reveals that Octavia once went on a date with Bulk Biceps, although whether anything else became of it is unknown.
• The Stoic: She is poised, calm, and professional when it comes to music. She only has a prominent frown when Pinkie Pie ruins her cello playing.
• Suddenly Voiced: Her human counterpart in Rainbow Rocks has a line in one scene, which was her first speaking appearance. Before Rainbow Rocks, both the pony and human versions of Octavia have had lines in the comics. She made her speaking debut as a pony in "Slice of Life".
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: The girly girl to her roommate DJ Pon-3’s tomboy. She is a refined cellist with a long straight mane, whilst DJ Pon-3 is a laid-back disc jockey with a shorter spiky mane.
• Wolverine Publicity: For a character with the same amount of screen time as Vinyl Scratch, she also shows up in plenty of promotional materal.
• You Don't Look Like You: Her icon in Gameloft's My Little Pony game uses fanart of her as a filly.

Pipsqueak

^{Click here to see him with his costume:}

Debut: "Luna Eclipsed"

Voiced by: William Lawrenson ("Luna Eclipsed"), Graham Verchere ("Twilight Time", "Crusaders of the Lost Mark", "Marks and Recreation")^{Foreign VAs}Akiko Yajima (Japanese)

A young earth pony colt with a pinto coat and a British accent, he recently moved from Trottingham. He attends his first Nightmare Night ever by dressing up as a pirate.

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• Acrofatic: He's rather chubby despite his small size, but is often seen running very fast, and took part in an obstacle course in "Marks and Recreation".
• Amazing Technicolor Population: One of the few cases of aversion. Despite his pinto coat appearing odd, his coloring is entirely possible◊ in horses and ponies.
• Cheerful Child: He's nearly always happy and friendly as can be.
• The Cameo: First appeared in the Comic-Con 2011 poster/desktop background (he's the rightmost pony in the Twinkling Balloon). He's also a background character in a few episodes.
• "Down Here!" Shot: He's the subject of this gag in "Crusaders of the Lost Mark", the camera having to tilt down to find him.
• Expy: He's a small and rather helpless English boy who is frequently called "Pip", as a Shout-Out to the protagonist of Great Expectations.
• First Friend: He's the first mortal pony in more than a thousand years to warm up to Princess Luna and declares her his favorite princess. She is so touched that she reinstates the newly-cancelled Nightmare Night.
• Intergenerational Friendship: Forms one on Nightmare Night with Princess Luna, who is more than a thousand years old.
• Meaningful Name: He's one of the smallest ponies in the show.
• Nice Guy: Very friendly to just about everypony he meets. His kindness helped convince Princess Luna to reinstate Nightmare Night after cancelling it, and when he is elected Student Pony President, the first thing he does is praise the Cutie Mark Crusaders as his campaign managers. Even his exposing the Crusaders' true intentions in "Twilight Time" came off more as a naive accident than anything malicious.
• Nightmare Fetishist: He says that Nightmare Night is his favorite night of the year and that having Princess Luna come to Ponyville to frighten them is "scary but fun". He's possibly the first pony in history to say that he likes Luna better than Celestia.
• Non-Standard Character Design: He's one of the rare few ponies to have a coat based on a realistic horse pattern and color, rather than the usual pastel tones. He's also noticeably smaller than the other foals of his age group, even the fillies.
• Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: He has a British accent at the start of "Luna Eclipsed", but it doesn't hold up that well in other scenes. Hisinvoked new voice actor in "Twilight Time", on the other hand, maintains it very well.
• Pirate: He dresses up as one for Nightmare Night.
• Promotion to Opening Titles: He appears in the Season 8 intro in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it-shot alongside Cheerilee, Diamond Tiara, Silver Spoon, and a few other foals as Rainbow Dash flies by them to the School of Friendship.
• Spanner in the Works: In "Twilight Time", he accidentally exposes the Cutie Mark Crusader's ruse of becoming more popular through knowing Princess Twilight Sparkle... by telling Twilight exactly that.
• Student Council President: Pipsqueak defeats the incumbent Diamond Tiara to become the Student Pony President in "Crusaders of the Lost Mark". He really ends up getting Authority in Name Only, since he still has to depend on the newly altruistic Diamond Tiara to fund his agenda.
• Tiny Schoolboy: He's much shorter than his peers, most noticeably in "Crusaders of the Lost Mark", when the CMC help him up to higher places a few times.
• Vocal Evolution: Graham Verchere, Pip's second and most prominent voice actor, started out voicing him with a very high pitched voice. But starting with "Marks and Recreation", his voice became noticeably deeper due to age.

Doctor Fauna

Debut: "Secret of My Excess"
First major role: "Fluttershy Leans In"

Voiced by: Nicole Oliver^{Foreign VAs}Ikue Otani (Japanese)

A kindhearted veterinary from Ponyville who finds herself and her clinic swamped with animals who don't want to leave.

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• Ascended Extra: She appears in a minor role for a single scene in "Secret of My Excess", but ends up playing a much more central role in "Fluttershy Leans In".
• The Bus Came Back: She returns with another major role in "She Talks to Angel".
• Friend to All Living Things: She loves all animals, even if caring for them makes her tired.
• Kindly Vet: She gets high marks from Fluttershy for the TLC she provides for animals.
• Meaningful Name: "Fauna" refers to animal life.
• Nice Girl: She loves all animals and is on very good terms with Fluttershy. Even through she is tired because she has to take care of all the animals, she never gets angry or raises her voice.
• Sudden Name Change: She was not named in her first appearance ("Secret of My Excess"), and the collectible card game and Gameloft mobile app named her "Mane Goodall". "Fluttershy Leans In" named her "Doctor Fauna".

Filthy Rich

Debut: "Family Appreciation Day"

Voiced by: Brian Drummond^note according to these two tweets respectively by Trevor Devall and Brian Drummond^{Foreign VAs}Shinobu Matsumoto (Japanese)

Diamond Tiara's father and one of the richest ponies in Ponyville. Every time a Zap Harvest comes around, he collects the first 100 jars of Granny Smith's signature Zap Apple Jam to sell at his store Barnyard Bargains. Apparently, Filthy Rich also has business dealings with the rest of the Apple family as well, as he has been seen talking turkey with Big Mac once.

He has a human counterpart in the Equestria Girls world, who appears in Legend of Everfree.

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• Berserk Button: Being scammed or otherwise having someone else walk out on him.
• Big Ol' Eyebrows: His eyebrows are black and massive compared to most male ponies'.
• Embarrassing First Name: And it's clear he's well aware of it. Cheerilee calls him by his first name in front of her class and quickly corrects herself.
• Full-Name Basis: People call him by his full name even though it's evident that he would prefer just being addressed as Mr. Rich (not hard to see why), but he doesn't get too upset over it and seems used to it.
• Good Parents: If anything, he's aware of Diamond Tiara's rotten personality and it's obvious that he wants to fix it. However, it's implied that his business means he's not home often and thus his wife mainly takes cares of her, which explains a lot.
• Honest Corporate Executive:
  • His family founded Ponyville's equivalent to Walmart, and he improved upon it after he took charge. They did this by forming a partnership with the Apple Family and expanding their products until his store became one-stop shopping. He manages this all while being very respectful to his suppliers, and seems to have a genuinely friendly relationship with Granny Smith.
  • The comics show that he can occasionally act antagonistic when riled, but that it's really only triggered when he feels ponies aren't treating him fairly.
• Identical Grandson: To his grandfather, Stinkin' Rich. The only physical differences between the two are their height — Stinkin' was taller and had longer legs — and mane color — Filthy has a dark gray mane instead of Stinkin's dark brown. Beyond physical appearances, their names are almost synonymous and they even parallel each other's clothing, with Filthy's blue jacket front and red tie mirroring Stinkin's blue denim overalls and red pocket handkerchief. Overall, Filthy Rich largely looks like a shorter, richer take on his grandpa.
• Last-Name Basis: He prefers to be called "Mr. Rich", for obvious reasons.
• Meaningful Name: He's extremely wealthy, and his cutie mark (three money bags) and necktie (marked with a dollar sign) emphasize this fact.
• My God, What Have I Done?: In Issue #3 of the My Little Pony: Spirit of the Forest comic, he says after talking with his daughter who informs him that his overdoing it on the lumber work is damaging the forest and in turn disrespecting his mother's memory of the family's hikes in the past.
• Nice Guy: He is respectful to Granny Smith and seems to dislike Diamond Tiara's cruel behavior.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: He looks just like what Gregory Peck would look like if he were ponified.
• Non-Indicative Name: Despite his first name being "Filthy", he's a stand-up guy.
• Screw the Money, I Have Rules!: Unlike his spoiled daughter, he is quite amicable and respectful, and he doesn't approve of her rude behavior towards the Apple family. (Granny Smith played a key role in launching both the Rich family business and the entire town. As it is, Granny is still his most important produce supplier, so his disciplining of Diamond Tiara at the end of "Family Appreciation Day" obviously is at least partially motivated by his desire to keep Granny on good terms with him for business purposes.)
• Take a Third Option: In the Spirit of the Forest miniseries. After talking with Diamond Tiara, Filthy Rich nearly shuts down the lumber mill but she suggests an alternate solution: namely the mill can stay open but they don't get too rampant with cutting down the trees, limiting themselves to specific smaller areas to do so and replanting the trees they do cut down. While it won't make as much money for him, it'll still keep the forest from being ruined and allow the ponies working at the mill to keep their jobs.
• Theme Naming: Filthy Rich, his grandfather Stinkin' Rich, and his wife Spoiled Rich. Though the last one is an odd example, given that she took her husband's name. Spoiled Rich was originally Spoiled Milk.
• Uncle Pennybags: Don't let his wealth fool you; he's a friendly, down-to-earth guy.
• What Does He See in Her?: He's a good-hearted, honest stallion who's married to Spoiled Rich, a snooty, rude mare who emotionally abuses their daughter. The mind boggles. Of course, it might have been an Arranged Marriage.

Matilda

Debut: "A Friend in Deed"

Voiced by: Brenda Crichlow^note according to this exchange with an anonymous source^{Foreign VAs}Asami Yoshida (Japanese)

A donkey resident of Ponyville, and a good friend of Pinkie Pie. Ends up married to Cranky Doodle Donkey.

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• Chekhov's Gunman: You know when a lady donkey is introduced early in an episode about a grumpy male donkey, that you'll see her again by the end.
• Happily Married: She ends up married to Cranky Doodle Donkey at the end of "Slice of Life".
• I Was Quite a Looker: She is more attractive in Cranky's flashback.
• I Will Wait for You: She seems to have stayed single all her life, waiting for Cranky to find her.
• Love at First Sight: And second sight! Aww.
• Odd Friendship: The changeling that showed up at the wedding in "Slice of Life" is her friend, according to Word of God.invoked
• Official Couple: With Cranky.
• Poor Communication Kills: Matilda wrote Cranky a note explaining why she left and how to find her. He didn't notice it, resulting in years of heartache and separation for them both.
• Promotion to Opening Titles: In Season 8, Rainbow Dash flies by her and Cranky in the intro.
• Walking Spoiler: She's more important than she initially seems.

Cranky Doodle Donkey

^{Click here to see him in his second wig:}

Debut: "A Friend in Deed"

Voiced by: Richard Newman^note according to this tweet by Andrea Libman^{Foreign VAs}Takayuki Sugo (Japanese)

A newcomer to Ponyville, Cranky is an old donkey who just wants peace and quiet after years of wandering around Equestria. Later, he got married to Matilda.

He has a human counterpart in the Equestria Girls movies, who's a teacher at Canterlot High School.

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• Alliterative Name: The last two-thirds of his name, anyway.
• Big Eater: Shown to be surprisingly good at the pie eating contesting in Applejack and the Honest-to-Goodness Switcheroo, winning the contest over resident Big Eater Pinkie Pie and others.
• Butt-Monkey: Poor, poor Cranky is subject to the full force of Pinkie's determination and accidental damage.
• The Cameo: He has a blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo in "Grannies Gone Wild". He's briefly visible in the background of the buffet scene arguing with a ponified version of Gordon Ramsay, referencing Ramsay's annoyed Catchphrase "you donkey!"
• Determinator: He shows incredible perseverance in the face of Pinkie Pie's onslaught of friendship, and later we find out he's been wandering Equestria for decades tirelessly searching for Matilda.
• Deadpan Snarker
  Pinkie Pie: Hmm. "Property of C.D.D." I'm guessing that last "D" is for "Donkey".
  Cranky: Quick as a whip, kid...
• Defrosting Ice King: Pinkie eventually befriends him and inspires him to smile.
• Dodgy Toupee: His original one matches the tip of hair on his tail, but is revealed to be one in a scene of Cringe Comedy. The replacement Pinkie gives him, the Rarity-made "dreamboat special", doesn't match at all, though Cranky himself seems to like it and continues to wear it in later episodes (until he loses it in "Slice of Life", replacing it with a piece of Steven Magnet's moustache).
• Embarrassing Middle Name: "Doodle"
• The Eeyore: And not just because he's a donkey.
• Failed a Spot Check: He could have avoided so much anguish If he had searched Matilda's dressing room a little more thoroughly.
• Flanderization: His Grumpy Old Man tendencies are really dialed up in his later appearances, nearing Screw Politeness, I'm a Senior! levels. You'd think reuniting with the love of his life would have raised his spirits more.
• Foil: A positive example to Pinkie Pie. Unlike Pinkie, who is idealistic, extroverted, chaotic, and energetic, he's cynical, introverted, orderly, and sedate.
• Furry Baldness: He's treated as bald because of his lack of a mane. This despite the fact that he still has a coat.
• Grumpy Old Man: He's an old donkey who's endlessly gruff and sarcastic to the energetic youngster that wants to be his friend.
• Happily Married: He ends up married to Matilda at the end of "Slice of Life".
• Hidden Heart of Gold: He kept his cherished memories of Matilda hidden from everyone until Pinkie Pie found out about them.
• Hero of Another Story: He and Steven Magnet apparently had great adventures together.
• Humiliation Conga: Downplayed Trope as he did nothing to deserve one, and Pinkie Pie caused it totally by accident.
• Intergenerational Friendship: With Pinkie Pie, after she reunites him with Matilda.
• I Was Quite a Looker: He was much better looking as a young donkey.
• I Will Wait for You: He spent his youth searching for Matilda in towns all across Equestria.
• Jerkass Ball: In "A Matter of Principals". When Discord hires him as a substitute teacher for the School of Friendship, he treats the students like his servants, and spits ice tea in Gallus's face three times, due to not liking how he served it.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He seemed genuinely pleased when Pinkie found him a new toupee, and while he was irritated with her, he tolerated her until she accidentally destroyed his scrap book.
• Loners Are Freaks: Subverted. At the end, Pinkie recognizes that some people genuinely like solitude.
• Meaningful Name: He's cranky. Subverted when he's reunited with Matilda.
• Odd Friendship: He's apparently good friends with Steven Magnet of all characters.
• Official Couple: With Matilda. They get married in the episode "Slice of Life"
• Promotion to Opening Titles: In Season 8, Rainbow Dash flies by him and Matilda in the intro.
• Senior Sleep-Cycle: In "A Trivial Pursuit", he repeatedly falls asleep during the Trivia Trot contest, which Twilight uses to get him and his partner Sunburst disqualified.
• Stubborn Mule: Actually a donkey, but they're also known for being stubborn.
• When He Smiles: It makes sense that Pinkie wanted him to be happy, after seeing his reaction to his reunion with Matilda.

Flitter and Cloudchaser

From left to right: Cloudchaser and Flitter.

"What exactly does this machine do?"

Debut: "Hurricane Fluttershy"
Speaking Appearance: "Hurricane Fluttershy" (Both), "Wonderbolts Academy" (Cloudchaser), and "It Ain't Easy Being Breezies" (Flitter)

Voiced by: Cathy Weseluck (Flitter^note according to this tweet by Cathy Weseluck and Cloudchaser in S2E22^note according to this tweet by Cathy) and Ashleigh Ball (Cloudchaser in S3E7^note  according to this tweet by Kelly Metzger)

A pair of pegasus mares with very similar color schemes. The two of them appear together in "Hurricane Fluttershy", and Cloudchaser returns in "Wonderbolts Academy". In "Apple Family Reunion", Cloudchaser appears in one shot at the hoedown, but isn't included in the family photo. Flitter returns with Cloudchaser at the end of "Magical Mystery Cure". The two can briefly be seen in the background as fillies during Cheese Sandwich's flashback in "Pinkie Pride".

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• Ambiguously Related: They strongly resemble each other and are often seen together, especially when they were younger. If they are siblings, other relations, or just friends who happen to resemble each other remains up in the air.
• Astonishingly Appropriate Appearance: Cloudchaser's hair looks like a cool breeze of wind within the clouds.
• Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Spitfire pairs up Cloudchaser and Bulk Biceps as a team in "Wonderbolts Academy".
• Identical Twin ID Tag: Besides Flitter's hair bow and Cloudchaser having thicker eye outlines, they have different mane styles and their color schemes are slightly different. (Due to their similar color schemes and the fact that the two are always seen together in "Hurricane Fluttershy", they are commonly assumed to be sisters, but this has not been officially confirmed.)
• Motif: Both their names and character design are themed after the breezy sky which alludes to their talent of flying and weather control.
• Spiky Hair: Cloudchaser, giving her a more tomboyish look.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: Flitter's pink bow and Cloudchaser's spiky, punky mane suggest they could be this.

Bulk Biceps

YEAH!!!

"YEAH!!!"

Debut: "Hurricane Fluttershy"

Voiced by: Jayson Thiessen^note according to this (in "Hurricane Fluttershy"), Michael Dobson^{Foreign VAs}Hiroshi Shirokuma (Japanese)

An enthusiastic and overly muscular pegasus stallion with tiny wings who appears in several episodes starting in season 2, with his most prominent roles in "Wonderbolts Academy" and "Equestria Games". He works various odd jobs around Ponyville, such as working as a masseur at the town spa (first seen in "Castle Sweet Castle") and running a nut snack cart (first seen in "All Bottled Up"). His cutie mark is a dumbbell.

Before being given an official name, he was one of those ponies who the fanbase never really decided on one Fan Nickname; the most popular include Horse Power, Mr. Big McLargeHuge (from a list of many names for the hero in Space Mutiny), Roid Rage, and most prominently Snowflake, which was what one of the show's staff referred to him as, thus being the closest thing he had to an official name. Katie Cook's MTV parody short at the end of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (IDW) Issue #12 has him as "Rein Astley". His official name was finally given as Bulk Biceps for the official CCG trading card game, and subsequently confirmed in the episode "Rainbow Falls".

He has a human counterpart in the Equestria Girls movies, first appearing in Rainbow Rocks.

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• Absurd Phobia: When he sees a butterfly in the "Hearts as Strong as Horses" song, he runs away in fear.
• Alliterative Name: Bulk Biceps.
• Ascended Extra: Started off as a one-note background character, but became an important character in "Rainbow Falls".
• Bicep Kiss: No surprise this would be an habit of his. He's notably seen kissing his biceps in "Rainbow Falls".
• Big Eater: Issue #63 of the comic shows he can't resist sweets, as he pigs out on them in Ponyville's underground sugar bar.
• Big "YES!": His Character Catchphrase is a Big YEAH!!!
• Breakout Character: He was originally a one-note Running Gag in one episode, but has made a couple of returns in later seasons and is even a Recurring Extra in the comics and the cartoon.
• Bruiser with a Soft Center: He's is loud and shows off his muscles, but he is nice to Rainbow Dash, offering her a brown betty. He is also sensitive at times, when he gets hit in the face with a horseshoe, he sobs.
• Character Catchphrase: YEAH!!! In fact, it's the only thing he says individually at first.
• Creator Cameo: Voiced by the show's supervising director in his first appearance.
• Depending on the Writer: While no character has had consistent power levels in this show, and Bulk's fluctuations might not even be the worst, he's especially noticeable because his two big episodes required him to be an at least decent flyer and an absolutely dreadful flyer, in that order, with no explanation for his drastic drop in performance.
• Dumb Muscle:
  • If thinking that "Rainbow Dash" started with the letter "P", well...
  • He never considered the possibility that his cutie mark (a dumbbell) does not strictly narrow his special trait to lifting dumbbells and only dumbbells. It required the Cutie Mark Crusaders to point that fact out to him.
• Friend to All Children: Willing to humor the Cutie Mark Crusaders in a game of Tug of War. He later seeks the CMC's advice over his cutie mark, and following this he's seen coaching foals into lifting weights.
• Full-Name Basis: In "Rainbow Falls", he's always referred to as "Bulk Biceps" in its entirety.
• Gentle Giant: In "Flight to the Finish", he was terrified of butterflies. He's also quite nice in "Rainbow Falls", remembering to share an Apple Brown Betty with Rainbow Dash and showing concern for her at the hospital.
• Hidden Depths:
  • He apparently works in the Ponyville spa, as of "Castle Sweet Castle".
  • His human counterpart in Equestria Girls plays violin.
  • He also runs a surprisingly successful cinnamon nut cart, as seen in "All Bottled Up"
• Hot-Blooded: He's pretty enthusiastic and pumped up to everything he does.
• Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: He's teamed up with Cloudchaser in "Wonderbolts Academy" and seemingly flirts with Fluttershy in "Rainbow Falls".
• Incoming Ham: YEAH!!!
• Know When to Fold 'Em: As seen in the comics, he encourages ponies to work out with him but doesn't pressure them if they refuse (multiple times, at least).
  Big Mac: Nope.
  Biceps: YEAH!
  Big Mac: Nope.
  Biceps: YEAH!
  Big Mac: Nope.
  Biceps: YEAH !
  Big Mac: Nope.
  Biceps: OKAY THEN, HAVE A NICE DAY.
• Large Ham: He constantly flaunts his strength and yells "YEAH!!!".
• "L" Is for "Dyslexia": He mistook a P for an R once.
• Meaningful Name: His big, bulky biceps are a pretty good indicator. All of his fan nicknames count as well; Big McLargeHuge because he's massive; Roid Rage because fans think he might be on steroids; and Snowflake because he's different from everypony else in appearance.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Fans have noticed he strikingly resembles (almost assuredly by amazing coincidence) a ponified Reb Brown.
• No Indoor Voice: To rival even Mister Torgue High-Five Flexington-every line is DELIVERED AT THE TOP OF HIS LUNGS!
• Non-Standard Character Design: Just look at him! He's nothing like any other pony. Storyboardist Sabrina "Sibsy" Alberghetti stated that his design was a combination of input from several of the other storyboardists, and partially influenced by the animation design of John Kricfalusi.
• Odd Couple: In "The Big Mac Question", Discord reveals that Bulk once went on a date with Octavia, although whether anything else became of it is unknown.
• Paper Tiger: He's surprisingly sensitive, in spite of his brawny physique; In "Rainbow Falls", he starts crying after Fluttershy accidentally hit him in the face with a horseshoe.
• Real Men Wear Pink: He was really happy to wear that frilly uniform Rarity made for him.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Along with his loud voice and bulk, his intense red eyes make him look dangerous, but he's actually quite nice. Played straight in "All Bottled Up", though, where his eyes glow red from being hit by anger magic.
• Ridiculously Small Wings: Is a massively muscular pegasus stallion with foal-sized wings, yet can fly perfectly fine and even competes in the Equestria Games, the country's version of the Olympics.
• Screams Like a Little Girl: Bulk lets out a very high-pitched scream in "A Rockhoof and a Hard Place", when Rockhoof tries giving him a massage. He also Screams at Squick in "Rainbow Falls".
• Ship Tease: With Fluttershy in "Rainbow Falls" and "Equestria Games" (note Fluttershy's pose on his barbells).
• Shrinking Violet: Even he is not immune to Drill Sergeant Spitfire's dominant personality.
• Suddenly Voiced: While his previous two appears included his signature "YEAH!" shouts, Bulk's appearance in "Rainbow Falls" includes more (or less) complete sentences.
• Stout Strength: His muscles are much bigger than those of other ponies, yet he qualified for Wonderbolts flight camp. However, by "Rainbow Falls", his flying skills have atrophied considerably. He does still manage to contort himself enough to pass through a ring barely bigger than him.
• Testosterone Poisoning: His bulging muscles are part of his humor (theinvoked Fan Nickname he was given before his name was actually said in the show was "Roid Rage" to fit his characterization).
• There Was a Door:
  • In "Castle Sweet Castle", he enters by bursting through the wall and then exits by going through the wall again instead of using the nearby door or the first hole.
    Aloe: Ohh, I hate it when he does that.
  • He does it again in "On Your Marks", breaking through the Cutie Mark Crusaders' treehouse's floor several times.
• Top-Heavy Guy: He's a quadruped version of this trope, with an enormous head, neck, and torso tapering down to shins and hooves demonstrably smaller◊ than most of the cast, and even smaller than some of the foals◊. His occasional bipedal moments◊ reveal that he's just as ludicrously proportioned in that stance too. His human counterpart from Equestria Girls averts it, though, his torso being muscular but his legs more correctly proportioned. Ironic given the opposite effect in the standard bodies.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Who knew that he's spooked by butterflies? He seems to have gotten over this by "Rainbow Falls", though.
• Why Do You Keep Changing Jobs?: Apparently splits his time between physical training, operating a successful cinnamon nut cart and working as a masseur at the Ponyville Day Spa. Sounds like the Cutie Mark Crusaders' advice worked better than we thought.

Featherweight

Debut: "Ponyville Confidential"
First Speaking Appearance: "The One Where Pinkie Pie Knows"

Voiced by: Richard Ian Cox^{Foreign VAs}Izumi Kitta (Japanese)

An extremely slender pegasus colt who just earned his cutie mark, which is a feather. He worked as the main photographer and then as editor-in-chief for the school newspaper.

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• Benevolent Boss: When he becomes editor of the school newspaper he isn't as nasty as Diamond Tiara.
• Camera Fiend: "Document everything" indeed. Especially in "Ponyville Confidential", there didn't seem to be any limits in his ability to appear anywhere, at any time, to snap an incriminating picture of an unlucky pony.
• Da Editor: After Diamond Tiara has the position stripped away, he takes over the school paper.
• Extra! Extra! Read All About It!: Briefly dresses as a paper boy to deliver a paper that's part of the scavenger hunt in "The One Where Pinkie Pie Knows".
• Intrepid Reporter: His initial job on the school paper was to take pictures for the CMC's stories.
• Karma Houdini Warranty: Unlike the Cutie Mark Crusaders and Diamond Tiara, he doesn't get called out for his part in the tabloids. Karma catches up for three seasons later when he gets sprayed with ink, just like Diamond Tiara, and then spends the rest of the episode like that until it's finally blown off at the end.
• Meaningful Name: He's thin, light and quick, like a featherweight boxer.
• Noodle People: He's very skinny compared to other ponies.
• Non-Standard Character Design: His ears and head are much bigger than those of the other foals.
• Suddenly Voiced: He gained a voice in "The One Where Pinkie Pie Knows", three full seasons after his first appearance.
• The Voiceless: He didn't have any lines at all until "The One Where Pinkie Pie Knows".

Mudbriar

"Technically, we've already met."

Debut: "The Maud Couple"

Voiced by: Adam Kirschner

Maud Pie's new boyfriend, who likes sticks and met her at a show displaying petrified wood. The two are very happy together, but Mudbriar's and Pinkie's highly contrasting personalities cause a great deal of trouble when the two meet for the first time.

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• Astonishingly Appropriate Appearance: He has a dull color scheme and a dull-as-dishwater personality.
• Birds of a Feather: He and Maud are so alike it's scary. They both have narrow-minded obsessions with rocks and sticks respectively, they both have a dry sense of humor, and they're both Literal-Minded and have No Social Skills. Despite this, the two do have distinct if somewhat subtle differences, such as Mudbriar's Complexity Addiction.
• The Bore: Mud Briar is just as boring and soft-spoken as Maud. Even Pinkie finds him intolerably dull. Appropriately his cutie mark is a stick in the mud with makes due to the character's more rigid personality.
• The Cameo: He is seen with his girlfriend in "The Break-Up Breakdown", chaperoning a date between Boulder and Twiggy.
• Character Development: In "Student Counsel", Mudbriar is much less oblivious regarding how his Literal-Minded nature can annoy others, resulting in a few moments of Verbal Backspace.
• Cloudcuckoolander: He's pretty much just as eccentric as his girlfriend and even "Pinkie Pie" thinks that he's strange.
• The Comically Serious: Like his girlfriend Maud, his deadpan, serious demeanor mixed with his several quirks can make him charming and amusing despite coming across as insufferable.
• Companion Cube: His pet stick, Twiggy.
• Complexity Addiction: In contrast to Maud (who tends to be direct and short with her words), Mudbriar is a bit of a Motor Mouth as he cannot go one conversation without going off on a lengthy tangent about proper terminology. His "vision board" even reflects this, being an elaborate Mental World to recall something rather simple. Ironically enough, he's similar to Pinkie Pie in this regard.
• Establishing Character Moment: His debut in "The Maud Couple" has him delaying for an extended period of time as he chooses whether to tell the clerk at a store "goodbye" or "see you later", since as he puts it "see you later" implies an event in the near future wherein they would see each other again, and "goodbye" expresses good wishes where parting or at the end of a conversation, which greatly frustrates Pinkie as it causes her to miss her chance to shop there before the store closes for lunch. This establishes both his habitual pedantry and sets up his upcoming clash of personalities with Pinkie.
• Expy: He's basically Sheldon Cooper as a pony because of his social awkwardness and his know-it-all attitude. But he also resembles Benedict Cumberbatch's Sherlock when he taps into his "mind palace" and is referenced in Granny Smith's dream as a version of Star Trek's Spock being the logical one.
• Got Me Doing It: His habit of starting sentences with "technically..." starts to rub off on other ponies.
• Grammar Nazi: His first encounter with Pinkie Pie:
  Mudbriar: [to a salespony] Good-bye.
  Pinkie: That's what you've been standing here all this time to say?
  Mudbriar: I was deciding between "good-bye" and "see you later".
  Pinkie: Uh... but they're the same thing!
  Mudbriar: Technically, they're very different. "See you later" implies an event in the near future wherein we see each other; "good-bye" expresses good wishes where parting or at the end of a conversation.
  Pinkie: Yeah, same thing.
  Mudbriar: I will not apologize for speaking with precision.
  Pinkie: In that case, apology not accepted! Goodbye, see ya later, same thing!
• Inconsistent Spelling: Mudbriar's name is revealed to be a single word in the credits, but it's very common to see it rendered as "Mud Briar".
• Insufferable Genius: While he is really a Nice Guy, his tendency to be a stick-in-the-mud that corrects others all of the time gets pretty insufferable.
• Insistent Terminology: He is extremely pedantic when it comes to the proper use and implications of terms. He takes a long time deciding to say either "goodbye" or "see you later" to a shop clerk, for instance, because "see you later" implies an event in the near future wherein they would see each other again, and "goodbye" expresses good wishes where parting or at the end of a conversation, and he wanted to be sure he gave the right parting impression. He also tells Pinkie that her party-planning cave is actually a cavern, due to the speleothems growing from the ceiling, and later points out that her "olive branch" is actually a Quercus branch. He seems somewhat aware that others see his insistence on various terminologies as off putting, but as he notes:
  Mudbriar: I will not apologize for speaking with precision.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He is often rude and annoyingly precise, but he shows some concern for Pinkie Pie when she runs away crying and he wanted to help Starlight and Terramar find Silverstream.
• Literal-Minded: His extreme insistence on proper terminology makes it seem like he takes everything people say to him at face value, without picking up on cues or secondary meanings present in what is said to him. This ends up being subverted near the end of the episode, when he shows that he actually does understand the gesture behind Pinkie's "olive branch", and graciously accepts —- albeit after pointing out that it was actually an oak branch.
  Mudbriar: Technically, this isn't even an olive branch. It's a Quercus — most likely castaneifolia.
  Pinkie: OH COME ON! ... ah... sorry... [keeping it together]
  Mudbriar: [expression changes to a smile] And I love a good Quercus. [extends hoof] Friends?
  Pinkie: [shakes hoof] Friends!
• Motor Mouth: In contrast to Maud. While he does seem awkward and quiet, when he gets going, he can go on with the details and minutae of things.
• No Social Skills: In yet another commonality that he shares with Maud, he has some evident difficulty in picking up on social cues and carrying on conversations with other people. Given his propensity for going into lengthy tangents, he might be this to a greater extent than Maud is.
• Not So Stoic: Despite their similarities, he's actually a lot more expressive than Maud, showing shock when Pinkie Pie uses a piñata stick and actually smiles more often. (Maud only really smiles when around Pinkie and now him.)
• Official Couple: With Maud Pie.
• Taken for Granite: He's briefly turned into stone by a cockatrice in "Student Counsel", but is soon turned back by Edith.
• Took a Level in Kindness: As of "Student Counsel", Mudbriar is much more caring about how his way of speaking annoys others now. In his debut appearance he refused to apologize for speaking with precision even when it was clear Pinkie was annoyed by it. Now, when it is clear that everyone else, including Maud, is not in the mood for his over-correcting he quickly corrects himself to avoid making everyone mad.
• Verbal Tic: He starts a lot of his sentences with "Technically...", before arguing the semantics of any given term he or someone else has brought up.
• Visual Pun: His cutie mark is a stick standing up in a mud puddle — a literal stick-in-the-mud.

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