Given its dense Periphery Demographic, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic is swimming with content that appeals to adults, directly and/or indirectly.
- In "It Ain't Easy Being Breezies", the roughly Swedish-accented Breezies thank Fluttershy with a flower "to remember them by"; all Swedish parliament parties use a more or less stylized flower as their symbol, and this flower
◊ is suspiciously similar to the one used by the nationalistic Sverigedemokraterna, "The Sweden Democrats"◊.- The same episode has Doctor Whooves/Time Turner and Rose walking by for about a second, tops, and he's wearing 3D glasses. Nothing like referencing one of the most depressing episodes of Nu Who! Also, his very inclusion in the series counts. The episode reference, however, is rather fitting for the episode it's in, considering the fact that the opening to their home is going to close soon, and they'll be stranded, which is what happens to Rose, although unwillingly.
- More like an Older-Fandom Bonus, a brilliant move given that G1 collectors are now old enough to watch the show with their children. There are dozens upon dozens of references to the G1 cartoon throughout.
- Additionally, the core cast of Ponies are rough successors of the core cast from the G1 series. To wit, Twilight Sparkle is based on the original Twilight, Applejack, is just straight-up Applejack, Rainbow Dash is based on Firelfly, Pinkie Pie is based on Surprise, Rarity is based on Sparkler, and Fluttershy is based on Posey. Twilight Sparkle's mother, Twilight Velvet, is an even more obvious callback to Twilight than her daughter.
- In "Bridle Gossip", Spike nicknames a shrunken Applejack "Appletini". Applejack's name in general also qualifies.
- "Sonic Rainboom":Rainbow Dash: Now, what have we learned?
Fluttershy: Loss of control.
Rainbow Dash: Yes?
Fluttershy: Screaming and hollering.
Rainbow Dash: And most importantly?
Fluttershy: Passion!- The same episode references the stereotype of construction workers making catcalls at female passersby when a group of construction worker pegasi gawk at Rarity's temporary gossamer butterfly wings.
- In the Cold Open for "The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000", Rainbow Dash barges straight into Fluttershy's bedroom to wake her up, and rips the covers off. Fluttershy's reaction? She blushes and covers up her chest with her forelegs.
- "Sonic Rainboom" features a mach cone forming around Rainbow as she tried to perform the title move. However, the angle was far too steep, matching a speed of Mach 5.4 before the boom, not the heavily implied Mach 1. As the Rainboom doubles her speed, this makes her have a maximum speed of Mach 10.8, 8000 mph, over twice the speed of a Blackbird. The engineers in the fandom went wild over this math.
- "Over a Barrel" had a scene where an old, worn out (and blatantly alcoholic) pony is kicked out of Appleloosa's equivalent of a canteen.
- The same episode also featured one from Fluttershy on the train:Twilight: [After Spike walks off in a huff] Well that was kinda huffy...Fluttershy: Huffy the Magic Dragon! ((Everypony laughs))
- Said episode also has Pinkie Pie dancing in a Showgirl Skirt and fishnet stockings.
- The same episode also featured one from Fluttershy on the train:
- As noted elsewhere on the wiki, the Changelings' modus operandi resembles that of succubi crossed with actual fairy changelings.
- In "Hurricane Fluttershy", they slipped in a reference to steroid use and a certain one of its side effects with a white pegasus boasting bulging muscles and rather tiny wings.
- In both "The Ticket Master" and "A Bird in the Hoof", there is a chase scene that mimics the style of chase scene in the British comedy show The Benny Hill Show, complete with similar music.
- In "Owl's Well That Ends Well", Spike falls asleep inside of a punch bowl, which makes Pinkie Pie quip the punch had been... "Spiked."
- In "Mare In The Moon" Twilight refers to Spike as "Casanova".
- Fluttershy's hummingbird friend, Hummingway.
- The opening chase scene of "Griffon The Brush Off" would easily seem very familiar to older audiences.
- This even extends to advertising for the show: one billboard ad for the series is done as a parody of◊ Bridesmaids, a movie aimed at the opposite end of the age spectrum.
- What is the second banner based on? Poltergeist, also aimed at the opposite end of the age spectrum.
- There's also a commercial from The Hub that parodies Apple's There's An App For That ad for the iPhone, with tons of Freeze Frame Bonuses, including a nod to Equestria Daily.
- The Return of Harmony:
- Discord's character can be summed up as "Q as a chimera-like creature". He's even voiced by John de Lancie.
- The 2-parter ends with a near shot-for-shot resemblance to the ending of the first Star Wars movie. Han Solo is replaced by Applejack, Luke by Twilight Sparkle, R2-D2 by Spike and Princess Leia with... well, you can figure it out.
- The whole Daring Do book in "Read It And Weep" is a reference to the Indiana Jones series. Near the end, they even have an overkill death trap of spiked walls closing in, sinking into quicksand, and spiders and snakes entering the room. Of course, Daring finds a way to get out.
- In "Equestria Games", the gems that the crystal mare feeds Spike from a chalice fill the role of grapes or any other bite-sized treat or candy, but his preference for "the green ones" seems to refer to an urban legend about M&M's.
- There is an episode called "Filli Vanilli". Complete with a lip-syncing disaster. How many little girls are gonna catch that one?
- In "A Canterlot Wedding Part 1", Spike (who is a child) says he wants to throw Shining Armor a bachelor party, then asks what a bachelor party is about. The girls are too busy giggling to tell him.
- In "The Last Roundup", Cherry Jubilee's looks, mannerisms, and dialogue regarding Applejack, "I can always use a pony with quick hooves and a strong back", made it seem that she was the madam for a brothel and Applejack had become one of her prostitutes. In reality, she manages a cherry harvesting ranch.
- In "The Cutie Pox", the description of the potion Zecora is making for the rooster sounds like viagra.
- And then there's the joke from "Baby Cakes", where Carrot Cake tries to explain to everyone present—or, perhaps, himself—how he, an Earth pony, could produce a Pegasus foal and an Unicorn foal with his wife, also an Earth pony.
- The episode "Look Before You Sleep" features a book called Slumber 101: All You've Ever Wanted to Know About Slumber Parties (But Were Afraid to Ask), referring to the widely known sex guide Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex (But Were Afraid to Ask).
- While traveling to Yakyakistan in "Party Pooped", Pinkie takes a brief detour to join a traveling band, record some albums, and almost make it big before creative differences tear them apart (yes, all in one afternoon). The band members are clearly based on The Beatles (Pinkie stands in for Ringo Starr) and the photo montage of the event includes visual references to the "Abbey Road" and "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" album covers.
- In "Power Ponies", Apple Jack is given a whip and a gimp-like suit (just imagine a human wearing that) to play up her cowgirl theme. The kicker? Her superhero name is called Mistress.
- "Three's A Crowd" has Twilight and Cadance nearly swallowed by a graboid-like giant worm, which of course has tentacle tongues.
- In Make New Friends but Keep Discord, Discord used a vacuum cleaner to suck some of the Smooze's ooze off of Rarity's dress, which ends up even sucking the dress off of her, and she covers her front side with her forelegs and shuffles away like she's naked◊.
- "Stranger Than Fan Fiction" has Rainbow react rather worried to a Daring Do body pillow showing her tied up. Later, Dr. Caballeron has to take one from one of his minions.
- "Grannies Gone Wild": The title. Also Rick and Morty as ponies.
