Manga / My Little Pony: The Manga

My Little Pony The Manga also known by its full title, My Little Pony The Manga: A Day in the Life of Equestria is a three volume original English language manga written by David Lumsdon and drawn by Shiei. It is published by Seven Seas Entertainment. The manga is based on My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic.

Each volume has its own plot though the first volume is more akin to the Slice of Life storylines of the TV show, using each chapter to introduce the reader to the characters, Equestria's world and most importantly, to the concept of alternate worlds, since the entire manga is written around of that.

Volume Two features Pinkie Pie being excited for Great Cake Bake Festival. She can't wait to try out all the events and eat all the desserts that are available. But she wakes up the next day to discover its still the day before the festival and everypony acts like it never happened. At first Pinkie believes its a prank everypony is playing on her but she soon realizes she is stuck in a time loop, repeating the same day over and over again. Can Pinkie find a way out of this mess or is she doomed to repeat the same day for the rest of her life?

Volume Three involves a scavenger hunt set up by Fluttershy. However Discord uses his magic to finish it in a snap. Twilight and her friends scold Discord for doing so as Fluttershy worked her hardest to create it but he is unrepentant. Discord claims scavenger hunts are boring and Rainbow Dash challenges him to come up with a better one to which Discord accepts the challenge. Many moons later Discord reveals his idea of a scavenger hunt, he took the Elements of Harmony from the past, specifically from the girl's battle against Nightmare Moon, and scattered all of them across the Ponyverse. However as a consequence of this, the timeline has been changed so that Nightmare Moon rules all of Equestria turning it into a dystopia. Now the Mane Six must travel to various alternate universes to collect the Elements of Harmony in order to restore their world back to normal.

The first volume was released on June 18, 2019, the second volume on April 7, 2020, and the third volume on March 16, 2021. A Omnibus collecting all three volumes was released on July 6, 2021.

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My Little Pony The Manga provides examples of:

General

• Bonus Material: At the end of every chapter there is a single panel gag usually serving as a Brick Joke. At the end of each volume there is a sketch gallery showing off concept art of various characters.
• Broad Strokes: While it alludes to some elements from the late TV Seasons (Like Twilight and Spike's wings and Discord being set free) it seems to be firmly located during the second TV Season, as it completely ignores the characters, and locations that appeared after that, like Starlight Glimmer, the School of Friendship and the Young Six.
• Chekhov's Gag: Many jokes, casual comments and visual gags later end up becoming vital elements of the story.
  • During volume 1, as Spike travels the multiverse looking for a missing Pinkie Pie, he ends up meeting a time traveling version of Doctor Hooves and Derpy Hooves, presented as just a fandom nod. The characters later end up rescuing Pinkie and fixing all the damage caused by her and Twilight, and then they play a pivotal role during the second volume.
  • During chapter 2, Pinkie Pie is shown to be convinced that Star Dancer is a pony from outer space. Some chapters later the readers are shown that Star Dancer herself created the "space pony" rumors to distract Pinkie because she is actually a Time Pony, is working for a mysterious master and Pinkie's meddling could create problems for their plans. Cue volume 2, where Pinkie's meddling completely ruin their carefully crafted plans.
  • During chapter eight the issue of Granny Smith's comically contrived, yet accurate prophecies is brought up. During volume three her crazy contrived prophecies become a vital part of the story as they cue everyone about what they need to exactly do and when.
• Fandom Nod: The Manga is full to the brim with this, like Pinkie Pie's medium awareness, Celestia's habit of banishing things to the moon and of course, Derpy Hooves and Doctor Hooves being an action couple, going as far as making their time traveling antics an Ascended Fanon by making them a vital part of the first and second volumes.
• The Multiverse: The manga's central element, as every issue involves one or more characters traveling through different paralel worlds.
  • The alternate Doctor Hooves and Derpy Hooves are explicitely described as guardians of the Multiverse, while Professor What's main goal is to conquer every reality in existence.
• The Scottish Trope: Derpy Hooves' name is never mentioned, not even on her sketch gallery entry, where instead of her name the page has the image of a muffin. Instead, the manga refers to her as "Associate" regarding her relationship with Doctor Hooves, while Doctor Hooves himself calls her "My dear".
• Punny Name: Many pages have these. Let's Get Kraken, Sofa So Good, and On a Scale of One to Tan to name a few.
• Writing Around Trademarks: Doctor Hooves is a blatant Tenth Doctor expy, which includes the character's likeness, David Tennant's own character quirks and even has his own Tardis.
• Yonkoma: All of the pages are like this.

Volume 1

• Alternate Self: The Doctor Whooves and Derpy who help find Pinkie aren't the ones from the main Equestria world but rather another versions of them traveling through time and space. ^note Which is rather odd as Slice of Life implied Doctor Whooves was a time lord. But it's likely the author didn't want to complicate things.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: The Dragon's Claw works like this. As Derpy puts it even if you wish for something good the Dragon's Claw will also cause something bad to happen.
• Brick Joke: Chapter One's plot kicks off when Pinkie Pie ends up in an alternate universe when offered to eat dessert by an alternate counterpart of her. Later while searching for Pinkie, Spike ends up in that universe eating said dessert.
• The Cameo: One of the Pinkie Pies summoned by Twilight's spell is her human counterpart, while another is Pinkamena.
• The Chosen One: The plot of one chapter. Granny Smith tasks Applejack with finding the chosen one destined to fufill an ancient prophecy.
• Continuity Nod:
  • The first alternate world Pinkie falls into is a world full of zombie ponies craving cookies. Only this time it isn't a prank and they see everything as cookies, prompting Pinkie to run.
  • Rarity's story is essentially a sequel to "Make Friends But Keep Discord" as the "fashion representative" is really the Smooze and the whole thing was set up by Discord.
  • Doctor Whooves (or another version of him at least) is still partnered up with Derpy for his escapades.
• Cursed Item: Chapter 6 has Derpy rummaging through Zecora's box of used good luck charms and finds the legendary Wish-Granting Dragon Claw among the items for sale. Which is not just a cursed item that grants wishes that backfire horribly, but it also seems to have a will of it's own, as a shocked Zecora explains that she had tossed it away, and yet the cursed claw still found it's way back to her.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: Chapter 2 has Celestia visiting Ponyville, with Pinkie Pie taking Twilight's place as her guide for the day. It doesn't take much for Celestia to drop her formal behavior and engage on simple and honest fun thanks to Pinkie's influence on her.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: Volume 1 does not have an overarching storyline like the other two volumes.
  • Derpy is shown to be extremely clumsy and unlucky, to the point she is feared by everyone because of all the casual destruction she leaves on her path, but this is completely dropped during volume two.
• Exact Words: Star Dancer constantly swears she is not a space pony as the rumors say. And she is not lying, because she is not a space pony but a Future Pony instead.
• Girlish Pigtails: Twilight as a magicial girl has these.
• Humongous Mecha: Twilight along with the help of her friends pilots one to fight Spikezilla.
• Hypocritical Humor: Princess Celestia says it isn't nice to make fun of Twilight while she trapped in stone... before putting a mustache on her face.
  • When Pinkie Pie discovers that Twilight has a magic mirror that allows her to peek at alternate worlds she questions her about why she had the mirror covered with a sheet. Twilight sighs and says it's because the mirror is stuck focusing at an alternate world that looks exactly like their own, and she can't stand the alternate Twilight because she is "sooo boring." Cue to the alternate Twilight's world, where she is saying the exact thing about canon Twilight.
• Japanese Honorifics: As part of the gag during the manga parody, Twilight and her friends address each other in this manner.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: The final story of the book kicks off with Discord noticing the manga format and decides to have some fun by switching the story to parody some popular genres associated with it (Ninja, High School, Kaiju, Magical Girl, Mecha, etc).
  • Pinkie, naturally, likewise notices how lately everything looks less colorful than before (because the Manga itself has no color) and then she notices Discord moving outside the panels. She even peeks outside of the a panel to greet him and ask him what is he doing there.
  • Celestia herself shows at the end of the chapter walking outside of the manga panels to ask a surprised Discod to stop messing around and put everything back as it used to be.
• Magical Girl: In one chapter, Twilight becomes "Magical Pony Sparkle Twilight."
• Medium Awareness: Chapter Eight shows that Discord, Pinkie Pie and Celestia are aware they are in a manga- Discord and Celestia can move outside of the panels, while Pinkie can peek out of them to see what's going on the outside.
• Monster Clown: One appears in a movie Pinkie Pie and Princess Celestia are watching.
• Mythology Gag: One of the Pinkie Pies summoned by Twilight resembles the G1 ponies.
• Ninja: In chapter eight, The Apple Family are reimagined as a ninja clan.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: At first glance, Manga Celestia behaves on a borderline childish and stupid way, but subsequent chapters show it's just a front, as she proves to always know what's going on, knows she's strong enough as to get out of any unexpected dangers and do not even bother worrying about anything that she already knows is going to end just fine.
• Odd Friendship: Chapter 6 reveals that Rainbow Dash and Derpy Hooves are good friends, with Derpy idolizing Rainbow Dash while Dash appreciates Derpy at the point of putting up with the accidents she often causes around and then easily forgives her after Derpy accidentally puts a curse on her.
• Overly Long Name: The name of the mecha the Mane Six are piloting is called "Super Ultra Mega Friendship is Magic Ponyzorg".
  • Doctor Hooves' time and space machine is called "Multi Universal Flux Field Interdimensional Nexus", aka "Muffin"
• The Reveal: Star Dancer isn't a Space Pony but a Future Pony.
• Rhymes on a Dime: The spell Twilight uses to bring back her world's Pinkie Pie.
  Twilight: "Worlds beyond worlds of Earth, wind, and sky... ...Split asunder and return Pinkamena Diane Pie!"
  • Chapter 6 includes Zecora, who narutally talks like that all the time.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Flim and Flam high tail it out of Ponyville when the Crab Apples begin overtaking the town.
• Sequel Hook: Chapter 7 ends with Star Dancer who is revealed to come from the future, contacting her master over an unknown plan. She also was the one who spread misinformaton about herself being a space pony in order to fool Pinkie.
• Stating the Simple Solution: Doctor Whooves points out to Pinkie if she wanted to eat dessert from another dimension she could have simply asked for the recipe.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Both Twilight and Applejack are knocked away easily by Spikezilla. They're two little ponies trying to take on a giant monster.
• Taken for Granite: Chapter two has Twilight accidently turn herself and Spike into stone.
• Toast of Tardiness: Twilight has one during chapter eight, as part of the manga and anime pastiche conjured by Discord.
• Visual Pun: Crab Apples.
• Walking Disaster Area: Derpy Hooves' clumsy nature added to her bad luck makes her break almost everything on her way. She is aware of this and wishes to change it, which kickstarts chapter six.
• Zombie Apocalypse: Pinkie Pie ends up in a world crawling with zombie ponies.

Volume 2

• A Day In The Lime Light: The second volume stars Pinkie Pie as the story revolves around her.
• Been There, Shaped History: Eariler in the volume Twilight spent most of her time trying to solve a mesoponytanian orb. After several loops Twilight with Pinkie's help manages to get it open only to discover a message reading "Look out behind you, Pinkie!" much to their confusion. Later Pinkie learns about the message's true meaning when Professor What attempts to attack her from behind. Eventually Pinkie finds herself in the past when the orb was being created and realizes she is the one who sent herself the message when she poses as a Goddess to a Mesoponytanian Pony.
• Big "NO!": Done Twice by Pinkie Pie. The first time is when Applejack points out if the same day keeps repeating then the Great Cake Bake festival will never come. The second time when Pinkie leaves Ponyville by train to escape the loop. She realizes too late that even if she succeeds she won't make it back in time for the festival.
• Big "WHAT?!": Pinkie gives one when Professor What reveals he meant to perform the time loop on the day of the festival instead of the day before.
• Bittersweet Ending: Professor What is stopped and time is allow to resume, which finally allows Pinkie to enjoy the festival with her friends, while Star Dancer turns herself into the time police to atone for her crimes. However Professor What disappeared once the time distortion was fixed and we see him later busting out Star Dancer from prison to begin work on a new plan.
  • The Great Cake Bake Festival finally arrives, but Pinkie Pie doesn't get to enjoy it because she collapses from exhaustion and falls asleep just as the festivity began.
• The Cameo: In one time loop, Pinkie kidnaps Princess Luna instead of Princess Celestia.
• Chained Heat: Doctor Whooves locks Professor What up with himself to force him to help get back to their own time after they fallen into an alternate universe.
• Delicious Distraction: Time Muffins.
• Ground Hog Day Loop: Pinkie finds herself reliving the same day over and over again.
• Heroic BSoD: Pinkie falls into one when she can't seem to break out of time loop no matter what she does.
• Hyper-Competent Sidekick: Star Dancer is this for Professor What, while both Derpys are this for their respective Doctor Hooves- the time traveling Derpy is specially competent, as she displays an incredible ability to understand advanced equations, always knows what to do whenever there's trouble and is implied to be even better than her Doctor whenever it comes to pilot their time traveling ship.
• Hypocritical Humor: While Pinkie firmly believes Star Dancer is a space pony, she laughs at the idea that she is a time pony.
• Impossibly Delicious Food: Time Muffins are so delicious that Professor What uses them as bait for a trap set in case Doctor Hooves and Derpy try to stop them. And it works.
• Line-of-Sight Alias: While in Equestria's past Pinkie calls herself Pinkiekitty Vasebench or Pink'ty Vazbench as the Mesoponytanian pony dubs her after seeing a kitty, vase and bench in front of her while posing as a Goddess to him.
• My Friends... and Zoidberg: "Previously on the fantastical space-time adventures of Doctor Whooves and (Associate)!!!"
• Never My Fault: Professor What blames Pinkie for damaging his device which Pinkie calls him out on.

  Professor What: "You! This is all your fault!"

  Pinkie Pie: "Me?! But you're the one who shot the sparkly net!"

• Never Say "Die": Averted twice. At one point, Pinkie outright says she could have gotten killed by the guillotine and in a later chapter Doctor Whooves mentions a kill switch to Professor What's device.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Derpy somehow ends up becoming a pirate during the brief time that Professor What's malfunctioning Infinity Drive sent her at a random time and place, but the readers never get to see what she did.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Both Twilight and Princess Celestia are shocked when Pinkie says there is no time for a party.

  Princess Celestia: "If Pinkie Pie is willing to turn down a party, then the situation must be dire indeed."

• Rhymes on a Dime: The Great Cake Bake Festival.
• Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory: Pinkie Pie can somehow retain all memories of the events and actions that happened during every time loop, which is later explained as the result of a minuscule calculation mistake on Professor What's time loop equation.
• The Greatest Story Never Told: Pinkie Pie ends up saving not just Ponyville, but the entire multiverse from Professor What's plans, but nobody will ever know what she did.
• Yank the Dog's Chain: Princess Celestia discovers what is causing the time loop but the day resets itself before she can reveal the answer to Pinkie.

Volume 3

• Added Alliterative Appeal: Somber Twilight says this to Pinkie Pie believing her to be her archnemesis The Pink Piester.

  Somber Twilight: "So! My arch-nemesis The Pink Piester once again threatens Ponyville with a cunningly crafted conspiracy of confectionary crime?"

• Alternate Universe: The plot revolves around these as Discord sends the Elements of Harmony to alternate realities as apart of his scavenger hunt.
• Alternate Self: Naturally involving alternate universes. The Mane Six encounter alternate versions of themselves and other ponies they know as they travel through different universes in search of the Elements of Harmony.
• Bad Future: Due to Discord taking the Elements of Harmony from their battle with Nightmare Moon in the past, this alters the present where Nightmare Moon succeeds in taking over Equestria and rules with an iron hoof.
• Beyond the Impossible: Twilight states Nightmare Moon banished Princess Celestia to the sun and then banished the sun to the moon. Even Twilight isn't sure how she did that.
• Big "NO!": Rarity gives one when she discovers her counterpart is behind the 80s style fashion craze.
• The Cameo: T.J. and Megan Williams have a brief apperance in the manga. At the end the Pony Life Mane Six appear as a result of Discord fixing the timeline.
• Companion Cube: Twilight creates a Stone Spike to speak with as she uses it to cope with being alone as Nightmare Moon's slave.
• Composite Character: In her chapter Twilight plays the role of both her G1 counterpart and Megan Willaims.
• Compressed Adaptation: Twilight going through the G1 pilot is this. When she hears this world's Spike is a prisoner, she immediately rushes off after him as soon as the ponies are kidnapped by the Stratadons. Her meeting The Moochick and the Seaponies are glossed over rather quickly.
• Continuity Nod:
  • The universe Applejack goes to is the manga-verse from the end of the first volume. She even meets her ninja counterpart.
  • We have this line from 80sverse Rainbow Dash.
    Rainbow Dash: "Ehhh... I'd say it needs to be twenty... thousand percent more gnarly."
• Expy:
  • The Apple Lord is a ponified Dio Brando.
  • The Somber Twilight, Spyke, and The Pink Piester are expies of Batman, Robin, and the Joker respectively.
• Irony: The universe where the Element of Kindness ends up is one where Fluttershy is a very popular confident celebrity who is adored by thousands of fans.
• Laughing Mad: Anypony struck by the Pink Piester's pies begin to laugh uncontrollably.
• Let's See YOU Do Better!: Rainbow Dash challenges Discord to come up with his own scavenger hunt after he ruins Fluttershy's scavenger hunt. This ends up turning into a Tempting Fate moment which leads into the events of this issue.
• Mythology Gag:
  • The outfits of the 80sverse Mane Six comes from an event featured in the Gameloft game.
  • At the end Discord attempts to put the Elements back results in the main universe becoming the one from Pony Life.
• Other Me Annoys Me: As it turns out not even Rainbow Dash can stand herself.
• Set Right What Once Went Wrong: After Discord steals the Elements of Harmony from the past, the Mane Six must retrieve the Elements of Harmony and defeat Nightmare Moon in order to restore their time back to normal.
• Sinister Silhouettes: The alternate Fluttershy, Celestia, and Rarity have these as they decide to have prime Fluttershy take the former's place in the talent contest.
• The Comically Serious: G1 Tirek is his intimidating, fearsome self except for the fact he's wearing the Element of Magic crown on his head. Even the G1 ponies think he looks ridiculous.
• Time Skip: The story skips ahead from Fluttershy's scavenger hunt to the future as depicted in "The Last Problem".
• Villain Teamup: Twilight mentions that Nightmare Moon formed an alliance with Queen Chrysalis to take over Equestria.
• Writing Around Trademarks: In order to decide the winner of a fashion contest, an alternate Princess Celestia produces a pair of Rubix Cubes or as she calls them "The Colorful Puzzle Cubes of Eternal Frustration" for the contestants to solve.

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