Zephyr Heights
Home of the pegasus ponies, Zephyr Heights is a high-tech city built on the peak of a tall mountain. The pegasus living there are distraught at having lost their ability to fly, and look up to the royal family for still being able to — or so it seems... open/close all folders
General
- Broken Pedestal: The pegasi of Zephyr Heights were despondent at having lost the ability to fly and looked up to the royal family for still being able to, clinging onto them as their one sliver of hope. Then it is revealed they faked flying via wires and lighting tricks. This sparks an immediate revolution and Haven's arrest.
- Fake Wizardry: The royal family of Zephyr Heights uses wires and strategic lighting to make it appear as if they can still fly, all to provide a small sliver of hope for the grounded pegasi.
- Fantasy Counterpart Culture: While they are overall just as modern as everywhere else, their army and architecture is vaguely Roman-inspired. The series gives Zephyr Heights aspects of London, showing that it's a gaslit metropolis famous for its shopfronts and fashion.
- The Guards Must Be Crazy: All of the pegasi guards are generally incompetent with their jobs, often leaving their dungeon cells unguarded and neglecting their duties, like going on their phones or paying more attention to Pipp's performance. Zigzagged starting part-way through the movie as they act swiftly to arrest Queen Haven when the royal family's duplicity over being able to fly is revealed. Then they somehow manage to let her escape, though they are hot on her heels and manage to keep up with Haven all the way to Bridlewood. During the Final Battle they are of virtually no help against Sprout's giant robot, panicking and galloping all over the place trying to avoid its attacks along with most other ponies.
- Hope Bringer: The royal family are this to the rest of their people, being the only pegasi that can fly, from which they derive their legitimacy. Sadly it is a lie, and they can't really fly. In fact, they never could. The only reason they pretended was so it could give hope to their people.
- Luxury Prison Suite: The pegasi have a dungeon to detain ponies, but it's less of a "prison" and more of a luxurious hotel stay, complete with a massage chair and fountain.
- Motivational Lie: Some commoners know that the royal family is flightless- they're the ones who set up the wires and stages. They Maintain the Lie anyway.
- Orphaned Etymology: Haven refers to her daughters as "angels", and Wishentine celebrations involve choirs of foals dressed in white, things which accidentally imply there is some form of Pony Christianity.
- Royalty Superpower: The royal family are the only pegasi that still have the ability to fly. Subverted when it's revealed that they just faked it with wires to give their people hope.
- Secret-Keeper: The technical staff of Pipp's concerts seem to be the only pegasi aware of the fact that the royal family can't really fly, and keep this fact to themselves.
- Spark of the Rebellion: The Reveal that the royal family faked flying to their subjects is such a Broken Pedestal moment for the pegasi that they overthrow their monarchy that very same night, arresting Queen Haven and putting out a warrant for her daughters.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: The MYM short "Moon Festival" features the debut of a show flying group known as the "Aerobats", who bear similarities to the Wonderbolts.
- This Just In!: The ZBS newscast in Zephyr Heights when breaking the news that the royal family had deceived their subjects and Queen Haven had been overthrown.News Anchor: [hoofed a note] This just in: Queen Haven has been arrested for being a phony pony full of baloney!
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: As bad as it is that the royal family's power is a lie, they weren't doing it out of malice. They only wanted to bring hope to pegasi that they could all fly one day, like the royal family could. When the charade is exposed, the consequences of their actions catch up to them immediately.
- Wings Do Nothing: Without magic, pegasi can't fly nor walk on clouds, forcing them to build their city and kingdom upon a series of mountaintops. This left them rather distraught, and the royal family's ability to fly with their wings made them adored by their subjects up until it was revealed they were faking it via wires. With the restoration of magic, however, now the Pegasi can fly once more.
Royal Palace
Queen Haven
Voiced by: Jane Krakowski (film), Amanda Martinez (series)
The queen and leader of the pegasus ponies living in Zephyr Heights.
- Absurdly Youthful Mother: She looks pretty good for the mother of two adult daughters. Flashbacks and portraits of the royal family show that she looked exactly the same when Pipp and Zipp were foals.
- Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: In the Tell Your Tale short "Sisters Take Flight". While throwing a citywide send-off party for Zipp and Pipp, she shows off pictures of the two as fillies, on giant screens. While Pipp doesn't mind, Zipp is downright mortified.
- Bad Liar: Everypony can recognize Haven in her Manesquerade mask, just like Pipp has always known her "homemade" soup was store-bought. However, she cares so much about her image (of being a brilliant master of disguise in the first situation, and a good cook in the second) that everypony just goes along with it. (She was better at lying about flight, but she also had her family and an entire stage crew to help her do that.)
- Broken Pedestal: Queen Haven and her daughters were beloved by their subjects, but as soon as the Pegasi of Zephyr Heights discovered that none of the royal family can actually fly and that they had faked it before their subjects with wires, they turned on her for deceiving them.
- Cardboard Prison: Despite being overthrown and arrested by her subjects for deceiving them over being able to fly, she manages to escape in time to reunite with her daughters in Bridlewood, her former guards hot on her heels.
- The Coup: She ends up on the receiving end of one after the pegasi discover that none of the royal family can actually fly, and merely pretend to be able to by wires, leading to them being overthrown by their shocked and outraged subjects. Her own guards arrest her, and they chase her all the way to Bridlewood when she escapes her cell.
- Death Glare: She gives an impressive one to Pipp and Zipp in the TYT short "Mare Family, Mare Problems" when they are unwilling to let Alphabittle join them on their Mares' Day celebrations.
- Determinator: Following her overthrow and arrest, Haven breaks out of her cell and makes her way all the way to Bridlewood — with no one but her winged dog Cloudpuff guiding her and with her former guards hot on her heels — just to find and reunite with her daughters Pipp and Zipp.
- Diving Save: During the climax, she pushes Alphabittle out of the way of Sprout's war machine when it backs up, saving both him and the critters he was trying to shield from the splatapult.
- Easily Forgiven: Despite being deposed for lying about the royal family having the ability to fly, she's shown to still be ruling Zephyr Heights after magic has been restored. Evidently the princesses helping to actually give the pegasi the ability to fly was sufficient to forgive the deception.
- Empty Nest: Chapter Four of Make Your Mark has Haven admit that she feels lonely now that her daughters live in Maretime Bay.
- Glamorous Single Mother: No husband or father to Pipp and Zipp is shown, yet Queen Haven and her daughters, being royals, aren't struggling whatsoever.
- Good Parents: According to Pipp, Haven once spent an hour getting a candy apple out of Pipp's mane. In the present day, she readily accepts Zipp's desire to have a non-royal career, has brunch with her daughters every week, and makes time to support their friends.
- Graceful Loser: Having been overthrown and with the promise of having all sins forgotten if they help restore magic (including Pegasi flight) to Equestria, Haven hoofs over the Pegasus Crystal in sync with Alphabittle and the Unicorn Crystal without protest when Sunny asked for them a second time after having located the Earth Pony Crystal.
- Hero of Another Story: She manages to escape from prison and track her daughters all the way from Zephyr Heights to Bridlewood off-screen.
- I Will Only Slow You Down: After she is overthrown and arrested by her former subjects, she calls her daughters on a live newscast to forget about her and save themselves, then poses for her mugshot.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She can be snooty and vain, but she does genuinely love her daughters, urging them to escape Zephyr Heights when it is discovered that their flight abilities are a lie and a warrant is sent out after the entire royal family. She also later overcomes her bigotry when she agrees to Sunny's plan of reuniting the three pony races and restoring magic.
- Laughing at Your Own Jokes: In "Portrait of a Princess". When Sunny discusses her plans for a community garden in Maretime Bay with her, Haven jokes that she knows little about such things, which is why she has a royal gardener. She promptly laughs uproariously at her own humor.
- Lethal Chef: She's revealed to be a terrible cook in "A Little Horse", which is why she buys Pipp's Special Sick Day Soup from The Souper Ladle Food Cart and passes it off as her own cooking. Pipp is aware of this, but she still appreciates Haven's effort in cheering her up while she's sick.
- Like Mother, Like Daughter: "Portrait of a Princess" reveals that she's an excellent singer, just like Pipp.
- Meaningful Name: She's responsible for giving her subjects safe haven from fear and doubts.
- Never Bareheaded: Inexplicably, she quite literally never takes off her crown, sleeping, showering and even swimming with it. This greatly complicates matters for the heroes as the Pegasus Crystal is the centerpiece of that crown and they need it to return magic to Equestria.
- Noble Fugitive: Royal Fugitive, technically, but this is what she and her daughters became after she manages to escape prison following her overthrow, and was still running from her former guards when she met up with her daughters in Bridlewood.
- Not So Above It All: For all her royal poise and grace, one of her secret favorite activities is to do cannonballs off the high-dive board into her private swimming pool.
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Managed to break out of prison on her own.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: She attends a masquerade ball in mask but still wearing her royal regalia and sits on the throne in the ballroom, but is legitimately surprised when ponies recognize her.
- Parental Favouritism: Downplayed; while she loves both her daughters equally, she feels closer to Pipp for being more open with her, and disapproves of Zipp's suggestion that they tell their subjects the royal family can't fly.
- Parents as People: While it is clear that she loves both her daughters, she favors Pipp and forces Zipp to be part of a lie she doesn't like.
- Parent with New Paramour: "Mare Family, Mare Problems" reveals that Haven has entered into a relationship with Alphabittle (to Pipp and Zipp's initial dismay).
- Proud Beauty: Queen Haven is quite gorgeous and proud of it, posing for photos whenever given a chance, even her own mugshot after she was overthrown and arrested.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: She becomes this after the events of the movie, being willing to make concessions for her daughters and their friends when needed.
- Slave to PR: All members of the royal pegasus family are this, but the Queen is the one who enforces it on her daughters. It backfires once their biggest PR stunt — that only the royals could fly with their wings — turns out to be faked via wires, causing her subjects to turn on her. Humorously, the live newscasts revealing her overthrow and arrest has her posing for the cameras as she is led away by her guards, and then posing for her own mugshot immediately after calling on her daughters to run and save themselves. Ruling or not, she still cares very much about her image.(Ex-)Queen Haven: [In the middle of being arrested and led away] No comment, and no photos! [Beat] Okay, one photo! [Poses gorgeously as camera flashes]
- Technologically Blind Elders: A Running Gag in Make Your Mark depicts Haven as having great difficulty using various features of her cell phone, such as video calls and texting.
- Utopia Justifies the Means: Queen Haven justifies lying to her people about their ability to fly because it gives them hope that even if it's just the Royals, the pegasi haven't lost their magic completely. It's hard to argue with her when compared to the splendor and high level of technology Zephyr Heights has, the earth ponies live in a state of constant fear and the unicorns are overcome with depression and apathy.
- Velvet Revolution: The pegasi's overthrow of Queen Haven once they discovered none of the royal family could fly proves surprisingly bloodless, with Haven being placed under arrest but otherwise unharmed.
- What You Are in the Dark: She readily admits that her "homemade" soup is store-bought so Sunny will be able to enjoy it. It causes her great shame; fortunately, nobody cares.
Cloudpuff
The Zephyr Heights royal family's pet winged dog, Cloudpuff plays a small but notable role in several scenes of the film.
- Advertised Extra: Promotional material for the movie listed "the world's cutest flying Pomeranian" as one of the features of the characters' adventure. In the movie, while Cloudpuff does play an important role in a specific part of the story, he's ultimately far less prominent than the advertising made him out to be.
- Affectionate Nickname: Sometimes referred to as "Cloudy," "Puffy," or "Puff."
- Antiquated Linguistics: "The Jinxie Games" suggests that he speaks like this, as Hitch translates his barks in a very bombastic manner.
- Continuity Snarl: The Tell Your Tale series shows Cloudpuff having joined Pipp and Zipp when they moved to Maretime Bay. However, Make Your Mark shows him still living at Zephyr Heights with Queen Haven.
- Hidden Depths: He recognizes Sparky's egg as a dragon egg on sight.
- Informed Species: Aside from his tiny size, he's so stylized that it's a little difficult to tell whether he's a white Pomeranian or a Samoyed puppy, especially with his nose being wider than the average Pom's.
- Meaningful Name: Thanks to his poofy white fur, Cloudpuff resembles a puff of clouds.
- Ridiculously Cute Critter: When he isn't angry, Cloudpuff is absolutely adorable.
- Scarily Competent Tracker: How Haven is able to track down her daughters all the way to Bridlewood: Cloudpuff gets their scent, particularly that of Hitch, and chases them all the way there to return Hitch's missing badge.
- Spanner in the Works: Cloudpuff's interference, along with that of Hitch later on, ruins what could had been the perfect caper by Sunny, Izzy and Zipp to get Queen Haven's crown (and the Pegasus Crystal which forms the centerpiece) while everypony is distracted by Pipp's performance at the royal showcase. To be fair to Cloudpuff, the loyal winged canine was just trying to chase off perceived intruders and return the stolen Pegasus Crystal to his owner.
- Undying Loyalty: Even when all of Zephyr Heights turns against the royal family after their duplicity over being able to fly is exposed, Cloudpuff remains loyal to Haven and her children. Cloudpuff also extends this to Hitch, owing to his uncanny ability to invoke unconditional admiration and adoration of animals anywhere.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Cloudpuff, together with Hitch, not only ruins The Caper of Sunny, Izzy and Zipp but causes a chain of events which leads to the truth of the pegasus royal family's ability to fly exposed (namely, they've been faking it via wires and trick lighting), leading to their outraged subjects overthrowing Queen Haven and reducing Zipp and Pipp to being fugitives from their own people.
- Wings Do Nothing: Like the pegasi and even the winged mice of Zephyr Heights, Cloudpuff's wings don't allow him to fly. This changes after Sunny returns friendship and magic to Equestria.
- Youkai: Hard to believe, but there actually is a Flying Winged Dog in Japanese Folklore: known as the Hainu.
Thunder Flap and Zoom Zephyrwing
Zoom on the left, Thunder on the right.
Thunder Flap voiced by: Arturo Hernandez (film), Jonathan Tan (series)
Zoom Zephyrwing voiced by: Gillian Berrow (film), Athena Karkanis (series)
Two guards who are always seen together. Thunder is a stallion, Zoom a mare.
- Alliterative Name: Zoom Zephyrwing.
- All There in the Script:
- Zoom Zephyrwing's name is never spoken in the film, only given in the credits. Her first name is eventually mentioned in the follow-up media (both series and Maretime Bay Adventure), but her last name continues to appear only in credits and merchandise.
- The film and series dialogue only refers to Thunder by that single name. His full two-part name — Thunder Flap — is given in the toyline.
- The Guards Must Be Crazy: Played straight with Thunder but averted with Zoom. Zoom is seemingly the only decently intelligent guard in Zephyr Heights. She is much more competent than her partner or the other guards, easily calming Thunder down before placing Izzy and Sunny under arrest, telling him not to tell them anything in case they are spies, and leading the other guards in pursuing and recapturing Haven after she escapes.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Zoom is much more abrasive than Thunder, telling him to not answer any of Sunny's questions and telling Izzy "Move it" when entering the castle. She is still shown to be a decent pony at heart, still defending Queen Haven when the unicorns disrespect her despite her now Broken Pedestal status.
- Lovable Coward: Thunder is much more cowardly than Zoom, panicking when he sees Sunny and Izzy for the first time. However, he's shown to be less abrasive than her and willing to make conversation with Sunny until Zoom tells him to stop.
- Nice Guy: Thunder is willing to make conversation with Sunny and Izzy despite them being intruders and his fear of them. He also helps set up fireworks for Pipp and Zipp to surprise Queen Haven for Mare's Day in "Queens for a day".
- Not So Above It All: Zoom joins in on excitedly cheering "Pipp Pipp hooray!" during Pipp's first scene, proving that even she has a fangirlish side to her.
- Number Two: The Tell Your Tale episode "Queen for a Day" reveals that Zoom is the one who runs Queen Haven through her royal to-do list and schedules appointments for others to see her. This, along with her and Thunder constantly accompanying her, seems to indicate that she's Haven's attendant and right-hoof pony.
- Rookie Male, Experienced Female: Zoom is much more professional and competent than Thunder, who panics when he sees Sunny and Izzy for the first time and even admits he didn't read the "guard guides".
- Small Role, Big Impact: They are only in a few scenes in the film, but they are the ones who arrest Sunny and Izzy when they enter Zephyr Heights, arrest Queen Haven after her Motivational Lie is revealed, and lead the other guards in pursuing Haven to Bridlewood.
- Those Two Guys: They are rarely seen apart, and have matching chess-piece cutie marks — a rook for Zoom and a knight for Thunder.
- Tiny Guy, Huge Girl: Downplayed, but Zoom is noticeably taller than Thunder.
- Vocal Evolution: Zoom sounds only slightly raspy and low-voiced in the movie, but is considerably scratchier and a bit lighter in the series.
Other Citizens
Dazzle Feather
Voiced by: Heather Langenkamp (film), Amanda Martinez (series)
A pegasus newscaster in Zephyr Heights.
- Laughing at Your Own Jokes: She does this a lot in Tell Your Tale. In "Neighfever", she laughs when says Maretime Bay became a town under sneeze and in "My Bananas" she laughs when she calls Sunny Sunny Slidedown.
- Rhymes on a Dime: She announces that Queen Haven has been arrested for being a "phony pony full of baloney".
- Those Two Guys: She's usually seen along with her co-worker, Skye Silver.
Skye Silver
Voiced by: Will Friedle (film), Jonathan Tan (series)
Another pegasus newscaster in Zephyr Heights.
- Alliterative Name: Skye Silver.
- Those Two Guys: He's usually seen along with his co-worker, Dazzle Feather.
Electric Blue
Debut: Bridlewoodstock
A famous pegasus rock band and one of the headliners for Bridlewoodstock.- Ambiguous Gender: Arpeggia never talks, has a feminine name, and is intentionally androgynous due to their Glam Rock makeup. But they're likely a male just like their other two bandmates, making them an example of Dude Looks Like a Lady.
- Glam Rock: They're all covered in flashy, androgynous, Ziggy Stardust-esque makeup.
- Paparazzi: Due to their massive fame, they're constantly hounded by paparazzi. This gets even worse when they're approached by Zipp, who is literal royalty.
- Rock Trio: Fretlock (lead vocals and guitar), Jam Donut (bass), Arpeggia (drums).
- Surfer Dude: Their lead singer talks like this.
Ruby Jubilee
Debut: Bridlewoodstock
Voiced by: Sofia Wylie
A Pegasus singer and one of the headliners for Bridlewoodstock.
- Chekhov's Gunman: She decorates her stage with a lot of rubies, which prove to be the key to dealing with the Troggles.
- Ink-Suit Actor: Her design is based on her voice actress, Sofia Wylie.
- Meaningful Name: A “ruby jubilee” is a term used to mark a 40th anniversary. Ruby debuted in Bridlewoodstock, which marked the 40th anniversary of the My Little Pony franchise
- Writer's Block: She initially declines to perform in the festival due to being unable to write a new song. Izzy and Pipp help her to work through it.
