History ShownTheirWork / MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic

* Pinkie Pie's behavior in "The Cutie Map: Part 1" is exactly how an angry/scared horse would behave; she stands with her front legs locked and slightly splayed, her head slightly lowered and ears pinned (snaking) and when Starlight Glimmer moves behind her, Pinkie lifts a hind leg and glares at her, which is equine body language for, "Get the hell away from me or I'll kick you across the street!"

* Pinkie Pie's behavior in "The Cutie Map: Part 1" is exactly how an angry/scared horse would behave; she stands with her front legs locked and slightly splayed, her head slightly lowered and ears pinned (snaking) and when Starlight Glimmer moves behind her, Pinkie lifts a hind leg and glares at her, which is equine body language for, "You have two seconds to back off, or I ''will'' kick you!"

* Pinkie Pie's behavior in "The Cutie Map: Part 1" is exactly how an angry/scared horse would behave; she stands with her front legs locked and slightly splayed, her head slightly lowered and ears pinned (snaking) and when Starlight Glimmer moves behind her, Pinkie lifts one back leg and glares at her, which is equine body language for, "Back off right now or I ''will'' kick you!"

* The Kilin are represented as calm creatures, but when angered, they burst into flame. The mythological Kilin was indeed a peaceful creature, but would use holy fire if someone ever got it angry enough.

* In "Somepony to Watch Over Me", the chimera's snake head tells her sisters to speak up because she can't hear them very well. Reptiles have vestigial ears that can only listen to vibrations and low-frequency airborne sounds. As for her siblings, the goat head again has rectangular pupils and the tiger head is based off of saber-toothed cats. Not only does she have their signature oversized fangs, but also possesses a stocky build like larger sabretooth species such as ''Smilodon'' (although in "School Raze - Part 2" the sabretooth part of her has a long tail, which suggests she's probably a ''[[SeldomSeenSpecies Machairodus]]'').

* The Windigos in "Hearth's Warming Eve" are represented with frightening accuracy as spirits of famine and cold that feed off hatred and in-fighting. The "famine and cold" part is correct, but many Wendigo myths involve ''cannibalism'' more than hatred and in-fighting. Though this could be Justified with it being a kids' show and all, [[Fanfic/{{Cupcakes}} despite what the fandom says]].

* The ponies usually pin their ears back when angry or frightened. For some reason G4 is the first generation that actually bothered putting it in as part of a character's expression, whereas G1-G3 kept their ears fixed in one position no matter what.

* Those aren't {{Wimp Fight}}s that the Cutie Map shows Twilight in the Crystal War timeline from "The Cutie Remark, Part 1"; that's how horses really fight. Granted, it can get pretty brutal if they're ''really'' angry since they have powerful hind legs and strong teeth to wail on each other with, but it still might look awkward to someone who doesn't spend a lot of time with horses.

Someone on staff knows their animals. Storyboardists Sabrina "Sibsy" Alberghetti and Raven Molisee attribute this to Creator/LaurenFaust; her series bible had both real horse pictures and anatomy next to her pony drawings to compare anatomy and how limbs and other parts would bend. The storyboardists also had similar pictures to work from. Lauren had insisted they avoid making the ponies perform actions that would be too much like a humans' action (bending a hoof like a hand, for example).

* In many episodes (one of the more obvious examples is at Gummy's birthday party in "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E25PartyOfOne Party of One]]"), the ponies are shown shoving each other around with actions like [[UseYourHead headbutts]] and {{Ass Kicks|You}}, with the targets of these actions typically shrugging them off without so much as an annoyed look. This isn't {{Slapstick}}; RealLife horses are known for being very rambunctious when at play, which is why such roughhousing is sometimes called horseplay.
* Horses will sometimes raise one of their front legs in a kicking motion when nervous, which is what Fluttershy does when she encounters Twilight Sparkle in the first episode.
* Similarly, horses flick their tails in annoyance to shoo away flies and the like. You can see this happen several times in the series when a pony character is annoyed (e.g. Rainbow Dash looking non-nonplussed when the three bullies taunt her during "Sonic Rainboom".)
* Twilight also uses her tail to swat at parasprites in "Swarm of the Century".
* When Applejack pokes Big Macintosh in the ribs in "Applebuck Season" he responds by raising a haunch and glaring at her. That's an actual threat display by a horse about to kick.
* The way the ponies move in general is very well done. When not being exaggerated for comedy, their joints bend in the same places and directions a real horse's would, and they have correctly animated gaits (walk, trot, canter, gallop) consistent with how fast they're moving.
* The ponies move their ears back and snort when angry or frightened, just like real horses do.

* Zecora's digging goes unexplained, but real zebras dig for water in the same fashion. The same behavior by a ''horse'', however, is another threat display, so the scene actually makes MORE sense -- Zecora was probably just nervous and a little thirsty, but the ponies around her misinterpreted her body language as grumpy and hostile.
* In the song "The Art of the Dress" many references are made to actual equine anatomy...and then appropriate parts of the dress are shown being designed and constructed for them, [[ShownTheirWork making it clear]] the writers didn't just grab random words from a "Parts of the Horse" chart.
* While [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} Pinkie]] may be a little strange, in the episode "Feeling Pinkie Keen", she is shown rolling around in the grass. That's not her being strange; real horses and ponies will roll around in the grass like that.
* Pinkie Pie removing wet pie filling from her face by covering it with molten chocolate, letting it dry and chipping it off is how some animals remove wet residues from their face using mud. The problem is, animals that usually do this are [[CarnivoreConfusion carnivores removing blood.]]
* In "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E23TheCutieMarkChronicles The Cutie Mark Chronicles]]", filly Fluttershy is drawn differently from most other fillies, having proportionally longer legs than her adult self. This is the correct body proportion for young equines. It also applies to other quadrupeds like deer and antelope, too. Other fillies were drawn in what would be more "human" baby proportions.
** Although it may have just been a ContinuityNod to "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E5GriffonTheBrushOff Griffon The Brush Off]]" when Fluttershy told Pinkie Pie that she was one year older:
** It also makes her look like an awkward teenager.
** It ''also'' is fairly common for future models to be exceptionally tall and gawky during their early teens. And Fluttershy does have, after all, [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E20GreenIsntYourColor ze magics]].
* In "The Return of Harmony Part 2", once the ponies capture [[spoiler: brainwashed Rainbow Dash]], she starts to snort and flare her nostrils, an activity consistent with real-life horses under duress. Earlier in the first part, [[spoiler: a brainwashed Fluttershy]] swats Twilight with her tail, this is also something horses will do when particularly annoyed.
* The ponies' mindsets are also very accurate. Horses are incredibly skittish creatures due to being a prey animal; as a result, they often freak out and panic at anything that frightens them, which shows up as background ponies freaking out.
* In "Hearth's Warming Eve", when Princess Platinum, Chancellor Puddinghead, and Commander Hurricane grew impatient they began stamping their hooves on their ground just like real horses when they're annoyed.
* The clicking noise Pinkie makes in "Baby Cakes" when she thinks Pound Cake has wandered off is a real sound that horses are trained to respond to.
* In "[=MMMystery=] on the Friendship Express", Pinkie Pie scratches herself behind her ear like a dog. Actual ponies and foals will do this when they're young, but are unable to do this once they become fully grown adults.
* From "The Cutie Pox": it's easy to miss, but every step of Twilight's buck when she dumps Spike (for a lame joke in a serious situation) is exactly how a real horse would dump its rider, including her pinned ears and leading with her front legs first to put the "snap" into the whole motion.
* Those aren't {{Wimp Fight}}s that the Cutie Map shows Twilight in the Crystal War timeline from "The Cutie Remark, Part 1". That's how horses really fight.
* These ponies are noticeably the most expressive ones of the franchise, making all sorts of facial expressions to convey their emotions some of which border on outright bizarre. [[https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2015/08/horses-capable-humanlike-facial-expressions Real-life horses]] possess a [[http://funnyexpo.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Picture-2-2.jpg rich]] [[http://funnyexpo.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Picture-10-2.jpg variety]] of [[http://funnyexpo.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Picture-26-2.jpg expressions]] to communicate.

* Fluttershy greeted the Manticore cat-style, leaning forward with her nose for a moment.

* The loon in Fluttershy's fantasy in "The Ticket Master" has a red outline on its eye. Red eyes are a distinguishing characteristic of loons.
* In the episode "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E7Dragonshy Dragonshy]]", Fluttershy is shown falling over stiff-leggedly with fear on several occasions... accompanied by the sound of a goat bleating. This may be a reference to [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fainting_goat fainting goats]], a breed of goat which stiffens and falls over when startled.
* Little Strongheart from "Over A Barrel" is the correct size and colour of a young bison.
* The goats from "Putting Your Hoof Down" have oblong pupils, just like real goats.
* In "Somepony to Watch Over Me", the chimera's snake head tells her sisters to speak up because she can't hear them very well. Real snakes have vestigial ears and can only listen to vibrations and low-frequency airborne sounds. Likewise, the goat head has oblong pupils, and the tiger head is apparently based on saber-toothed cats. Not only does she have the elongated canines the family is known for, but also possesses a stocky build like the larger sabretooths such as ''Smilodon'' (although in "School Raze - Part 2" the sabretooth part of her is shown to have a long tail, which suggests she is a ''[[SeldomSeenSpecies Machairodus]]'').
* As Fluttershy points out in "Tanks For the Memories", some species of tortoises do borrow into the ground and brumate for the winter. Plus Tank's digging motions when he prepares for brumation is accurate for real chelonians, including the pauses between strokes. The only incorrect part is that the episode still refers to this as hibernation, which is similar but not exactly the same, but that could fall under the category of "simplifying things for the target audience".
* In "Surf and/or Turf", a bald eagle that briefly appears with Sweetie Belle during the song "Your Heart is in Two Places" lets out the cry of an ''actual'' bald eagle, rather than the [[StockSoundEffects screech of a red-tailed hawk]]. This is refreshing since "May the Best Pet Win!" made that mistake.

* It could just be a coincidence, but it [[http://img32.imageshack.us/img32/7096/1294009768004.jpg would appear]] that potato chips and soda can indeed produce something that could be mistaken for a muffin. (The main problem in that picture seems to be the effects of the melted gummy worms.)

* Dragons are routinely shown hoarding treasure and eating gemstones. In many myths dragons ingest precious stones in order to fuel their fire.
* A rock Rarity is looking at is broken by the effect of [[spoiler:Rainbow Dash's Sonic Rainboom]]. In real life, sound waves can break rocks, and they've actually been used to break kidney stones. Also, the writers have shown their geology. Large rocks that are filled with gems when split open? They're called geodes.

* In another mythology example: The first time Iron Will, who is a Minotaur, is encountered in a maze. In Greek mythology, the Minotaur lived in a maze constructed by Daedalus [[note]]of Icarus fame[[/note]] under the order of King Minos.
* In "Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000" they show a lot of work: Cider season is a very real thing and lasts only a few weeks; cider has no meaningful shelf life and so must be made fresh daily, the cider press shown is a real (and very old-fashioned) model, and the eponymous machine would indeed outperform the Apples' old method by about five to one, as claimed.
* While the Chimera from "Somepony to Watch Over Me" has a few minor differences (the lion head has been replaced by a tiger, likely to distinguish her from the show's manticores, and the goat head has been moved next to the tiger head), she's otherwise very faithful to her mythical counterpart, having three heads and lacking wings. Her home, the Flame Geyser Swamp, may even be based on [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Chimaera Mount Chimaera]], a mountain in Lycia notorious for its constant burning fires which is believed to be the origin place for the myth of the chimera. This area is believed to be [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yanarta%C5%9F Yanartas]], a geographical site of fire and methane eruptions found on Turkey. Her next appeareance, in the "School Raze" two-parter, also shows her goat head as being able to breathe fire.

* Coriander Cumin and Saffron Masala, the father-daughter pair from "Spice Up Your Life", have a [[FantasyCounterpartCulture culture based on India]]. Their restaurant's dishes seen on-screen are actual Indian cuisine such as naan (flatbread) and thukpa (spicy flat noodle soup).

* In the song "The Art of the Dress" many references are made to actual equine anatomy...and then appropriate parts of the dress are shown being designed and constructed for them, [[ShownTheirWork making it clear]] the writers didn't just grab random words from a "Parts of the Horse" chart. "[[AddedAlliterativeAppeal Parts of the Pony]]," by the way, would be an excellent song in MLP.