My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic

"FiM" redirects here. For other uses, see FIM.

This article is about the television series. For the other media in the franchise, see My Little Pony (2010 toyline). For the game, see My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (video game).

My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
Series' logo for the final three seasons
Genre	Fantasy Comedy
Created by	Lauren Faust
Based on	My Little Pony by Bonnie Zacherle
Directed by	Jayson Thiessen (seasons 1–2, 4–5) James Wootton (seasons 1–3) Jim Miller (seasons 4–5) Denny Lu (seasons 5–9) Tim Stuby (seasons 6–7) Mike Myhre (seasons 7–9)
Voices of	Tara Strong Ashleigh Ball Andrea Libman Tabitha St. Germain Cathy Weseluck
Theme music composer	Daniel Ingram
Composers	William Anderson Daniel Ingram (seasons 3–6) Caleb Chan ("A Hearth's Warming Tail") Steffan Andrews (seasons 3–4)
Country of origin	Canada United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	9
No. of episodes	222 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Lauren Faust (season 1, "The Return of Harmony") Beth Stevenson (season 1) Stephen Davis Kirsten Newlands Blair Peters (seasons 1–2) Chris Bartleman (seasons 1–3) Meghan McCarthy (seasons 3–5, 8) Jayson Thiessen (seasons 4–5) Sarah Wall (seasons 5–9) Asaph Fipke (seasons 6–7) Nicole Dubuc (seasons 8–9)
Producers	Devon Cody (seasons 3–9) Sarah Wall (seasons 1–4)
Running time	22 minutes
Production companies	Allspark Animation Studio B Productions (season 1, "The Return of Harmony") DHX Studios Vancouver (seasons 2–9)
Original release
Network	Discovery Family
Release	October 10, 2010 (2010-10-10) – October 12, 2019 (2019-10-12)
Related
My Little Pony: Pony Life (2020–present)

My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (abbreviated as MLP: FIM) is an animated children's television series based on Hasbro's fourth incarnation (also referred to as the fourth generation or "G4" by collectors) of the My Little Pony line of toys and animated works. The show follows a studious anthropomorphic unicorn (later an alicorn) pony named Twilight Sparkle (Tara Strong) and her friends Applejack (Ashleigh Ball), Rarity (Tabitha St. Germain), Fluttershy (Andrea Libman), Rainbow Dash (Ball), and Pinkie Pie (Libman), and dragon assistant, Spike (Cathy Weseluck), who travel on adventures and help others around Equestria while working out problems that arise in their own friendships.

The series is animated in Flash and aired on The Hub (which was renamed as Discovery Family on October 13, 2014) from October 10, 2010, to October 12, 2019. Hasbro selected animator Lauren Faust as the creative director and executive producer for the show. Faust sought to challenge the established nature of the existing My Little Pony line, creating more in-depth characters and adventurous settings; she left the series during season 2 due to hectic production schedules and lack of creative control.

The series became a major commercial success, becoming the highest-rated original production in Hub Network's broadcast history and leading to new merchandising opportunities for Hasbro, including games, collectible trading cards, and comics. Despite the target demographic of young girls, Friendship Is Magic also gained an unexpectedly large following of older viewers in mid-late 2011, mainly young and middle-aged men, who call themselves "bronies". Portions of the show have also formed the basis for a variety of internet memes.

A spin-off franchise, My Little Pony: Equestria Girls, was launched in 2013, running alongside the show for several years. A feature-length film adaptation directly based on the television series, titled My Little Pony: The Movie, was theatrically released on October 6, 2017, in the United States. A spin-off reboot series, titled My Little Pony: Pony Life, premiered on Discovery Family in the United States on November 7, 2020.

Premise

Twilight Sparkle is guided by her mentor, Princess Celestia, to learn friendship in the town of Ponyville. Twilight and her dragon assistant Spike become close friends with five other ponies: Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie. The ponies represent different facets of friendship with magical artifacts called the "Elements of Harmony." They travel on adventures and help others around Equestria while resolving problems arising in their own friendships.

Cast and characters

Main article: List of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic characters

• Tara Strong as Twilight Sparkle, a socially-awkward unicorn who loves to read but initially has a hard time making friends
• Ashleigh Ball as:
  • Applejack, a hardworking Earth pony who owns a farm
  • Rainbow Dash, a fearless, energetic pegasus
• Tabitha St. Germain as Rarity, a glamorous unicorn who owns a clothing store
• Andrea Libman as:
  • Fluttershy, a shy and timid pegasus who loves animals
  • Pinkie Pie, a very energetic Earth pony who loves to throw parties
• Cathy Weseluck as Spike, a small dragon who is Twilight's assistant

Development

Origin

Hasbro, Inc. has produced several incarnations and lines of toys and entertainment related to the My Little Pony franchise, often labeled by collectors as "generations". The animated series My Little Pony Tales, which premiered in 1992, was the toy line's most recent television series before Friendship Is Magic, featuring the pony designs of the first toy line. It was followed by various direct-to-video releases, which featured designs as late as the third incarnation of the franchise. Just as Michael Bay's film had helped to boost the new Transformers toy line, Hasbro wanted to retool the My Little Pony franchise and update it to better suit the current demographic and taste of young girls. According to Margaret Loesch, CEO of Hub Network, revisiting properties that had worked in the past was an important programming decision, which was, to an extent, influenced by the opinions of the network's programming executives, several whom were once fans of such shows. Senior Vice President Linda Steiner also stated that they "intended to have the show appeal to a larger demographic", with the concept of "co-viewing" of parents with their children being a central theme of the Hub Network's programming. Central themes that Hasbro sought for the show included friendships and working together, factors they determined from market research in how girls played with their toys.

Lauren Faust, developer and initial showrunner of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic

Animator and writer Lauren Faust approached Hasbro, seeking to develop her girls' toys property "Galaxy Girls" into an animated series. Faust, who had previously worked on Cartoon Network's The Powerpuff Girls and Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, had been pitching original animation aimed at girls for years but had always been rejected by studios and networks because cartoons for girls were considered unsuccessful. When she pitched to Lisa Licht of Hasbro Studios, Licht showed Faust one of their recent My Little Pony animated works, Princess Promenade, "completely on the fly". Licht considered that Faust's style was well suited to that line, and asked her to consider "some ideas [on] where to take a new version of the franchise".

Faust was initially hired by Hasbro to create a pitch bible for the show, allowing her to get additional help with conceptualization. Faust said she was "extremely skeptical" about taking the job at first because she had always found shows specifically based on girls' toys to be boring and unrelatable. My Little Pony was one of her favorite childhood toys, but she was disappointed that her imagination at the time was nothing like the animated shows, in which the characters, according to Faust, "just had endless tea parties, giggled over nothing and defeated villains by either sharing with them or crying." With the chance to work on My Little Pony, she hoped to prove that "cartoons for girls don't have to be a puddle of smooshy, cutesy-wootsy, goody-two-shoeness" like the original series. To do this, she incorporated many elements that contradicted idealized stereotypes of girls, such as diverse personalities; the message that friends can be different and can get into arguments but still be friends; and the idea that girls should not be limited by what others say they can or cannot do into the design of the characters and the show. Elements of the characters' personalities and the show's settings were based on her own childhood imagination of the ponies' adventures, in part inspired by the animated shows that her brothers would watch while growing up, such as Transformers and G.I. Joe; she considered that she was making Friendship Is Magic "for me as an eight-year-old". Faust still aimed for the characters to be "relatable" characters, using stereotypical "icons of girliness" (such as the waif or the bookworm) in order to broaden the appeal of the characters for the young female audience.

Faust stated that as she provided Hasbro with more of her ideas for the show, she was inspired by their positive response to the non-traditional elements. Faust had initially pitched the show to include "adventure stories" in a similar proportion to "relationship stories", but recognizing the younger target audience, as well as the difficulty of basing complex plots on the adventure elements, she trimmed back this content, focusing more on exchanges between the characters. By the time the show was approved, Faust had developed three full scripts for the series.

Faust began to work out concept sketches, several of which appeared on her DeviantArt page (fyre-fly), including inspirations from ponies of the original series (Twilight, Applejack, Firefly, Surprise, Posey and Sparkler), which later provided the core for the main cast of the show. Hasbro approved the show with Faust as Executive Producer and asked her to complete the pitch bible. In order to do so, Faust brought in Martin Ansolabehere and Paul Rudish, who had worked on other animated shows with her. Faust credits Rudish for the inspiration of the pegasus ponies controlling the weather in Equestria, as well as the character of Nightmare Moon during this period. Faust also consulted Craig McCracken, her husband and also an animator and creator of The Powerpuff Girls and Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends. After seeing the initial version of the pitch bible, Hasbro requested more character designs from Faust's team; subsequently, Faust brought aboard Dave Dunnet and Lynne Naylor to further refine the background and character styles. Within six weeks, she sketched more than 40 pages which rendered "the universe that had existed in her 8-year-old mind." While Faust was initially unsure what Hasbro's theme of friendship meant, she felt "real friendship", which she encountered during her teenage years, was similar to magic.

On completion of the pitch bible, Hasbro and Faust began looking at studios for the animation. Studio B Productions (renamed to DHX Media on September 8, 2010, after its parent company, along with DHX's other subsidiaries) had previously worked on Macromedia Flash-based animations and on shows that featured a large number of animals, Faust feeling they would be a good selection. Studio B requested that Jayson Thiessen be the director, a choice Faust agreed with. She, Thiessen, and James Wootton led the completion of a two-minute short to pitch the final product to Hasbro, resulting in the company's sanctioning the full production. Faust estimated that from being initially asked to develop the show until this point took roughly one year.

Production

A sample storyboard from the episode "Call of the Cutie" boarded by Sabrina Alberghetti, containing rough sketches of the main characters, rendered backgrounds to establish settings, and instructions for the Flash animators, such as the panning shot shown in the second panel.

Faust's initial writing staff at Hasbro Studios included several writers who had worked with her on her previous shows and were approved by Hasbro. These included Amy Keating Rogers, Cindy Morrow, Meghan McCarthy, Chris Savino, Charlotte Fullerton, M.A. Larson, and Dave Polsky. The initial writing process began with Faust and Rob Renzetti coming up with broad plots for each show. The two then held a brainstorming session with each episode's writer, allowing the writer to script out scenes and dialogue. Faust and Renzetti then worked with the writer to finalize the scripts and assign some basic storyboard instructions. Hasbro was involved throughout this process and laid down some of the concepts to be incorporated into the show. Examples of Hasbro's influence include having Celestia be a princess rather than a queen, making one of the ponies focused on fashion, and portraying toy sets in relevant places within the story, such as Rarity's boutique. In some cases, Hasbro requested that the show include a setting, but allowed Faust and her team to create its visual style, and Hasbro then based the toy set on it; an example is the Ponyville schoolhouse. Faust also had to write to the E/I (educational and informational) standards that Hasbro required of the show, making the crafting of some of the situations she would have normally done on other animated shows more difficult; for example, Faust cited having one character call another an "egghead" as "treading a very delicate line", and having one character cheat in a competition as "worrisome to some". Each episode also generally includes a moral or life lesson, but these were chosen to "cross a broad spectrum of personal experiences", and not just to suit children. Because intellectual property issues had caused Hasbro to lose some of the rights on the original pony names, the show includes a mix of original characters from the toy line and new characters developed for the show.

Jayson Thiessen (left), supervising director of the series

Completed scripts were sent to Studio B for pre-production and animation using Macromedia Flash Professional 8. Thiessen's production team was also allowed to select key personnel subject to Hasbro's approval; one of those selected was art director Ridd Sorensen. The Studio B team storyboarded the provided scripts, incorporating any direction and sometimes managing to create scenes that the writers had believed impossible to show in animation. The animators then prepared the key character poses, layout, background art, and other main elements, and sent these versions back to the production team in Los Angeles for review by Hasbro and suggestions from the writers. Thiessen credited much of the technical expertise in the show to James Wooton, who created Flash programs to optimize the placement and posing of the pony characters and other elements, simplifying and economizing on the amount of work needed from the other animators. For example, the ponies' manes and tails are generally fixed shapes, animated by bending and stretching them in curves in three dimensions and giving them a sense of movement without the high cost of individual animated hairs. The storyboard artists and animators also need to fill in background characters for otherwise scripted scenes as to populate the world. According to writer Meghan McCarthy, many of the small nods to the fandom, pop culture references, or other easter eggs were added at this point by the studio. The animation was done by Top Draw Animation in the Philippines, an animation studio that Studio B had worked with in the later part of season one and beyond.

Before the show was approved, Hasbro and Faust had planned for episodes to be 11 minutes long, to which Faust conformed in her first full-length script, "The Ticket Master", which was part of the pitch bible. However, Faust preferred more traditional 22-minute episodes, and Hasbro eventually agreed to this. The initial production stages were very tight, requiring a schedule twice as fast as Faust had previously experienced, and frequent remote communication between the Los Angeles writing offices and the animation studio in Vancouver. At times, the two teams held "writer's summits" to propose new ideas for characters and situations, at which the animation team provided suggestions on visuals, body language, and characterization. Faust estimated that the time to complete one episode was one year; at one point, the team was simultaneously working on various stages of all 26 episodes of the first season, and when the second season was approved, that number rose temporarily to 32. Episodes then aired about a month after completion. Thiessen explained that they had pushed to start work on the second season as soon as the first was completed, to prevent staff turnover.

After the airing of the first season's finale, Faust announced that she had stepped down from her role on the show, and would be credited in the future as Consulting Producer. Her involvement in the second season consisted mainly of story conception and scripts, and the involvement ceased after the second season. Despite leaving, she had high hopes for the staff members, stating: "the gaps I have left are being filled by the same amazing artists, writers, and directors who brought you Season 1. I'm certain the show will be as entertaining as ever". In an interview with New York Magazine, Faust stated her reasons for leaving were a combination of hectic production schedules and lack of creative control she had with the series. According to her husband McCracken, Faust's departure was due to the fact that, as a toy company-driven show, "there were things she wanted to do with that series that she just wasn't able to do", and that there is "still some frustration with" not being able to bring some of her ideas to screen.

Casting and voice acting

The voice casting and production is handled by Voicebox Productions, with Terry Klassen as the series' voice director. Faust, Thiessen, and others participated in selecting voice actors, and Hasbro gave final approval. Tara Strong was given the role of Twilight Sparkle after Faust, who had previously worked with her on The Powerpuff Girls, asked her to help pitch My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic by voicing Twilight, Pinkie Pie and "Applejack or Rainbow Dash". After Faust heard Strong as Twilight, she knew she wanted her to voice the role.

The series is recorded in Vancouver. The voice work is performed as the first step after the writing and prior to the animation, with the animators in the room to help provide direction; according to Libman, this allows herself and the other actors to play the character without certain limitations. Libman noted that for recording her lines as the hyperactive Pinkie Pie: "I learned that I can go as over the top as I want and they [the animators] rarely pull me back." When recording the songs, the actors receive the music before recording and practice it at their homes. The songs are recorded along with the rest of the dialogue.

Music

Daniel Ingram composed the series' songs.

The series' background music is composed by William Kevin Anderson, and Daniel Ingram composed the songs, which are only included if they make sense in the episode's script. The production team identifies specific parts of the episode where they want music cues, allowing Anderson to create appropriate music for each. Ingram works alongside Anderson's compositions to create vocal songs that mesh with the background music while filling out the show's fantasy setting. The composition of the music and songs far precedes the broadcast of the episode; for example, songs for the show's third season that began airing in November 2012 were composed in 2011. Ingram considered that songs from previous shows of My Little Pony were "a little bit dated" and decided to bring more interesting work to the Friendship Is Magic series. Such changes include making songs with more emotional depth than those typical for children's animation, and tending to write songs that can be enjoyed musically outside of the context of the episode. Ingram stated his songs had become "bigger and more epic, more Broadway and more cinematic over time" with Hasbro blessing the effort to try "something groundbreaking for daytime television". Usually, Ingram's songs began with a "simple structure" with a piano and the basic melody. The creative team was sent the song and gave input. Layers were then added, more voices being included as well as the orchestra and instrumentation. The cast recording was the final process. Lyrics and overall musical themes were sometimes suggested by the writers; two examples include songs written by Amy Keating Rogers, who is a self-professed Stephen Sondheim fan. The song "The Art of the Dress" in the first-season episode "Suited for Success" is inspired by "Putting it Together" from the musical Sunday in the Park with George, while the season one finale's song, "At The Gala", is based on Sondheim's Into the Woods. A large musical number in the episode "The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000" paid homage to the song "Ya Got Trouble" from Meredith Willson's musical, The Music Man.

Themes

The central themes of the show are on friendships and working together. At the end of the initial episodes, Twilight writes letters to Princess Celestia in what she has learnt about friendship. The series' primary message is that different personalities are able to get along. Faust was intent on giving the characters diverse personalities and The Federalist noted the "moral wisdom", feeling that the show's presentation of different personalities getting along was much more mature than "adult" shows. According to Den of Geek, the show often "takes on very morally complicated situations [...] that don't seem to have easy answers as opposed to very cut and dried children's messages."

Messages Faust wanted the show to include were that there were many ways to be a girl and they could have different personalities, ambitions, talents, strengths and flaws; find your self-identity and follow your dreams and ambitions, no matter what anybody else says though be aware of others' feelings but not with the price of one's own dreams and goals; one can be very different from their friends and when they disagree, it does not mean a friendship has to end; and girls are able to understand complexity. The show incorporates episodic creatures intended to be frightening to children, such as dragons and hydras, but it places more emphasis on the friendships among the characters, displayed with a comedic tone.

The series features continuity and overall story arcs, with several key elements of the series changing; one such change is the evolution of Twilight, who spends the first three seasons learning about friendship; subsequently, she is granted wings by Celestia to become an alicorn and a princess in the season 3 finale "Magical Mystery Cure", which was a change the show's staff had been planning for since the beginning of the series. In particular, the fourth season had an overarching theme in which the characters collected keys to a locked box, which was found in "Princess Twilight Sparkle", throughout the season and opened the box in "Twilight's Kingdom".

Analogues

Megan Crouse of Den of Geek compared Friendship Is Magic to multiple works of fantasy. She compared the windigos, creatures causing magical winters using ponies' disharmony, to The Chronicles of Narnia and A Song of Ice and Fire. In terms of the characters, she compared Twilight to King Arthur from The Sword in the Stone since she was mostly raised by a magical mentor and was not aware she was destined for royalty until she became a royal; Pinkie Pie to Pippin Took and Merry Brandybuck from The Lord of the Rings as they were jokesters and sometimes had to take on their own serious responsibility; Applejack to Samwise Gamgee from The Lord of the Rings for their loyalty, down-to-earthness and both being farmers; and Rainbow Dash to Aragorn and Conan the Barbarian. The chest in the fourth season was compared to the Holy Grail in Le Morte d'Arthur and the items to the Horcruxes in Harry Potter. The Cut's Lisa Mill drew comparisons between Twilight and Bilbo Baggins, Hermione Granger, Dorothy Gale. She also noted the resemblance to Friends, another television series about unique friends who show loyalty to one another.

Episodes

Main article: List of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic episodes

During the course of the series, 223 episodes of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic aired, including two specials over nine seasons, between October 10, 2010, and October 12, 2019.

Series overview

Series overview

Season	Episodes		Originally aired
			First aired	Last aired	Network
1	26		October 10, 2010 (2010-10-10)	May 6, 2011 (2011-05-06)	The Hub/Hub Network
2	26		September 17, 2011 (2011-09-17)	April 21, 2012 (2012-04-21)
3	13		November 10, 2012 (2012-11-10)	February 16, 2013 (2013-02-16)
4	26		November 23, 2013 (2013-11-23)	May 10, 2014 (2014-05-10)
5	26		April 4, 2015 (2015-04-04)	November 28, 2015 (2015-11-28)	Discovery Family
6	26		March 26, 2016 (2016-03-26)	October 22, 2016 (2016-10-22)
7	26		April 15, 2017 (2017-04-15)	October 28, 2017 (2017-10-28)
Film			October 6, 2017 (2017-10-06)		—
8	26		March 24, 2018 (2018-03-24)	October 13, 2018 (2018-10-13)	Discovery Family
Holiday Special			October 27, 2018 (2018-10-27)
9	26		April 6, 2019 (2019-04-06)	October 12, 2019 (2019-10-12)
Special			June 29, 2019 (2019-06-29)
Clip Shows	6		April 20, 2020 (2020-04-20) (AUS)	May 25, 2020 (2020-05-25) (AUS)	—

Distribution

Broadcast

My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, which is targeted at girls aged 4–7, was one of several animated shows used to premiere on The Hub, a retooling of the Discovery Kids channel of Discovery Communications in United States markets. The block of programming is a joint development of Hasbro and Discovery, designed to compete with similar family-friendly programming blocks on other networks such as the Disney Channel and Nickelodeon. Each episode is 22 minutes in length.

The first episode of Friendship Is Magic premiered on the first Hub broadcast, on October 10, 2010. In March 2011, the show was renewed for a second season to air in 2011–12. In March 2012, the series was renewed for its third season. The Hub renewed the show for a fourth season in March 2013. On May 7, 2014, the series was renewed for a fifth season. From August 4 to August 8, 2014, The Hub aired a 50-hour "mare-athon", featuring every episode from all four seasons of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic as well as specials from the third incarnation of the My Little Pony toyline. In March 2015, Discovery Family renewed the series for a sixth season, which was followed by a seventh and eighth season. On March 8, 2019, the ninth and final season was announced by Discovery Family. During the second half of the season, Discovery Family aired a "Pony Palooza Programming takeover", which began on October 6, 2019, for a week leading up to the series' final episodes. My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic — A Decade of Pony, a behind-the-scenes view of the making of the series, was aired on October 11, 2019, before the show's finale. The 90-minute finale aired on October 12, 2019.

Home media and streaming services

In the United States, episodes of Friendship Is Magic are available for digital download through the iTunes Store. Along with several other Hasbro properties, the show's episodes were added to the Netflix video streaming service on April 1, 2012. In 2015, the series was planned to be dropped from the streaming service along with several other shows due to a disagreement with Hasbro. However, Hasbro and Netflix decided to keep the shows on the latter. A two-episode DVD, "Celebration at Canterlot", was offered to Target stores as an exclusive, packaged with certain toys from the franchise.

Shout! Factory has the DVD publishing rights for the series within Region 1. 23 five-episode DVDs and three six-episode DVDs have been released to date. The first seven seasons of the series have been released in complete DVD box sets. United Kingdom-based Clear Vision has the publishing rights for the first two seasons throughout Region 2, including most of Western Europe and the Middle East; however, the company abruptly entered administration in December 2013. Madman Entertainment had the license for publishing the series via DVDs and digital downloads in Region 4 but Beyond Home Entertainment later took over the license.

Region 1 home video releases

Title	Region 1 Release Date	Episodes	Additional Features
The Friendship Express	February 28, 2012	"Friendship Is Magic" (season 1, episodes 1 and 2) "Over a Barrel" (season 1, episode 21) "A Hearth's Warming Eve" (season 2, episode 11) "The Last Roundup" (season 2, episode 14)	—
Royal Pony Wedding	August 7, 2012	"The Best Night Ever" (season 1, episode 26) "Sweet and Elite" (season 2, episode 9) "Hearts and Hooves Day" (season 2, episode 17) "A Canterlot Wedding" (season 2, episode 25 and 26)	—
Adventures in the Crystal Empire	December 4, 2012	"Sonic Rainboom" (season 1, episode 16) "Luna Eclipsed" (season 2, episode 4) "It's About Time" (season 2, episode 20) "The Crystal Empire" (season 3, episodes 1 and 2)	—
Season 1 DVD set	December 4, 2012	All Season 1 episodes	Sing-alongs Coloring sheets Audio commentaries
Pinkie Pie Party	January 29, 2013	"Feeling Pinkie Keen" (season 1, episode 15) "Party of One" (season 1, episode 25) "Baby Cakes" (season 2, episode 13) "A Friend in Deed (season 2, episode 18) "Too Many Pinkie Pies" (season 3, episode 3)	—
Princess Twilight Sparkle	April 30, 2013	"Lesson Zero (season 2, episode 3) MMMystery on the Friendship Express" (season 2, episode 24) "Magic Duel" (season 3, episode 5) "Games Ponies Play" (season 3, episode 12) "Magical Mystery Cure" (season 3, episode 13)	Sing-along Coloring sheet
Season 2 DVD set	May 14, 2013	All Season 2 episodes	"A Hearth's Warming Eve" live stage reading My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic panel from San Diego Comic-Con 2012 Sing-alongs Coloring sheets
A Pony for Every Season	November 19, 2013	"Look Before You Sleep" (season 1, episode 8) "Winter Wrap Up" (season 1, episode 11) "Too Many Pinkie Pies" (season 3, episode 3) "Wonderbolts Academy" (season 3, episode 7) "Apple Family Reunion" (season 3, episode 8) "Keep Calm and Flutter On" (season 3, episode 10)	Sing-along
Season 3 DVD set	February 4, 2014	All Season 3 episodes	San Diego Comic-Con 2013 Panel Sing-along Printable Equestria map
A Dash of Awesome	March 25, 2014	"May the Best Pet Win!" (season 2, episode 7) "The Mysterious Mare Do Well" (season 2, episode 8) "Read It and Weep" (season 2, episode 16) "Daring Don't" (season 4, episode 4) "Rainbow Falls" (season 4, episode 10)	Sing-along
The Keys of Friendship	July 29, 2014	"Rarity Takes Manehattan" (season 4, episode 8) "Pinkie Apple Pie" (season 4, episode 9) "It Ain't Easy Being Breezies" (season 4, episode 16) "Twilight's Kingdom" (season 4, episodes 25 and 26)	Sing-along
Spooktacular Pony Tales	September 9, 2014	"Boast Busters" (season 1, episode 6) "Stare Master" (season 1, episode 17) "Luna Eclipsed" (season 2, episode 4) "Sleepless in Ponyville" (season 3, episode 6) "Castle Mane-ia" (season 4, episode 3) "Bats!" (season 4, episode 7)	Sing-along
Season 4 DVD set	December 2, 2014	All Season 4 episodes	San Diego Comic-Con 2014 Panel Sing-alongs
Adventures of the Cutie Mark Crusaders	February 24, 2015	"The Cutie Mark Chronicles" (season 1, episode 23) "The Cutie Pox" (season 2, episode 6) "Flight to the Finish" (season 4, episode 5) "Pinkie Pride" (season 4, episode 12) "Twilight Time" (season 4, episode 15)	Sing-along Downloadable Wallpapers
Cutie Mark Quests	June 30, 2015	"The Show Stoppers" (season 1, episode 18) "The Return of Harmony" (season 2, episodes 1 and 2) "The Cutie Map" (season 5, episodes 1 and 2)	Sing-along
Games Ponies Play	September 29, 2015	"Fall Weather Friends" (season 1, episode 13) "Games Ponies Play" (season 3, episode 12) "Power Ponies" (season 4, episode 6) "Equestria Games" (season 4, episode 24) "Appleoosa's Most Wanted" (season 5, episode 6) "The Lost Treasure of Griffonstone" (season 5, episode 8)	—
Friends Across Equestria	March 1, 2016	"Make New Friends but Keep Discord" (season 5, episode 7) "Slice of Life" (season 5, episode 9) "Amending Fences" (season 5, episode 12) "Made in Manehattan" (season 5, episode 16) "The Mane Attraction" (season 5, episode 24)	Sing-along
Friends and Family	June 7, 2016	"One Bad Apple" (season 3, episode 4) "Maud Pie" (season 4, episode 18) "Hearthbreakers" (season 5, episode 20) "Brotherhooves Social" (season 5, episode 17) "The Gift of the Maud Pie" (season 6, episode 3)	—
Season 5 DVD set	July 12, 2016	All Season 5 episodes	Recording of the 2015 San Diego Comic Con Pony Panel Sing-alongs
Soarin' Over Equestria	August 2, 2016	"Griffon the Brush-Off" (season 1, episode 5) "Hurricane Fluttershy" (season 2, episode 22) "Testing Testing 1, 2, 3" (season 4, episode 21) "On Your Marks" (season 6, episode 4) "Newbie Dash" (season 6, episode 7)	—
Everypony's Favorite Frights	August 30, 2016	"Bridle Gossip" (season 1, episode 9) "Owl's Well That Ends Well" (season 1, episode 24) "Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep?" (season 5, episode 13) "Scare Master" (season 5, episode 21) "Gauntlet of Fire" (season 6, episode 5)	—
Exploring the Crystal Empire	February 7, 2017	"The Cutie Re-Mark" (season 5, episodes 25 and 26) "The Crystalling" (season 6, episodes 1 and 2) "The Times They Are a Changeling" (season 6, episode 16)	—
Twilight and Starlight	May 30, 2017	"No Second Prances" (season 6, episode 6) "To Where and Back Again" (season 6, episodes 25 and 26) "Celestial Advice" (season 7, episode 1) "All Bottled Up" (season 7, episode 2)	—
Fluttershy	September 12, 2017	"Green Isn't Your Color" (season 1, episode 20) "Flutter Brutter" (season 6, episode 11) "Buckball Season" (season 6, episode 18) "Viva Las Pegasus" (season 6, episode 20) "Fluttershy Leans In" (season 7, episode 5)	—
Holiday Hearts	October 3, 2017	"Winter Wrap Up" (season 1, episode 11) "Castle Sweet Castle" (season 5, episode 3) "Hearthbreakers" (season 5, episode 20) "A Hearth's Warming Tail" (season 6, episode 8) "Not Asking for Trouble" (season 7, episode 11)	Sing-along
Season 6 DVD set	November 7, 2017	All Season 6 episodes	Recording of the 2016 San Diego Comic Con Pony Panel Sing-alongs
Spring Into Friendship	February 13, 2018	"The Ticket Master" (season 1, episode 3) "Sisterhooves Social" (season 2, episode 5) "Just for Sidekicks" (season 3, episode 11) "Princess Twilight Sparkle (season 4, episodes 1 and 2)	Sing-along
Applejack	May 8, 2018	"Leap of Faith" (season 4, episode 20) "Applejack's "Day" Off" (season 6, episode 10) "The Cart Before the Ponies" (season 6, episode 14) "P.P.O.V. (Pony Point of View)" (season 6, episode 22) "Where the Apple Lies" (season 6, episode 23)	Sing-along
Rarity	July 17, 2018	"Suited for Success" (season 1, episode 14) "A Dog and Pony Show" (season 1, episode 19) "Rarity Investigates!" (season 5, episode 15) "Forever Filly" (season 7, episode 6) "It Isn't the Mane Thing About You" (season 7, episode 19)	—
Pony Trick or Treat	September 4, 2018	"28 Pranks Later" (season 6, episode 15) "Campfire Tales" (season 7, episode 16) "To Change a Changeling" (season 7, episode 17) "Shadow Play" (season 7, episode 25 and 26)	—
Season 7 DVD set	October 9, 2018	All Season 7 episodes	2018 San Diego Comic Con Panel Sing-alongs
Hearts and Hooves	January 1, 2019	"Simple Ways" (season 4, episode 13) "Hard to Say Anything" (season 7, episode 8) "The Perfect Pear" (season 7, episode 13) "The Maud Couple" (season 8, episode 3) "The Break Up Break Down" (season 8, episode 10)	Sing-alongs

Region 4 home video releases

Title	Release date	Episodes	Publisher
Friendship Changes Everything	June 20, 2012	TBA	Madman Entertainment
That's What Friends Are For	June 20, 2012	TBA	Madman Entertainment
Four Seasons of Friendship	August 1, 2012	TBA	Madman Entertainment
Fun, Games & Friendship	October 10, 2012	TBA	Madman Entertainment
Best Friends Forever	December 5, 2012	TBA	Madman Entertainment
Season 1 Boxset	June 19, 2013	All season 1 episodes	Madman Entertainment
The Return of Harmony	June 19, 2013	"The Return of Harmony" (season 2, episode 1 and 2) "Lesson Zero" (season 2, episode 3) "Luna Eclipsed" (season 2, episode 4) "Sisterhooves Social" (season 2, episode 5)	Madman Entertainment
Parties & Pets	July 3, 2013	"The Cutie Pox" (season 2, episode 6) "May the Best Pet Win!" (season 2, episode 7) "The Mysterious Mare Do Well" (season 2, episode 8) "Sweet and Elite" (season 2, episode 9) "Secret of My Excess" (season 2, episode 10)	Madman Entertainment
Friendship to the Rescue	October 2, 2013	"Hearth's Warming Eve" (season 2, episode 11) "Family Appreciation Day" (season 2, episode 12) "Baby Cakes" (season 2, episode 13) "The Last Roundup" (season 2, episode 14) "The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000" (season 2, episode 15)	Madman Entertainment
Helping Out Friends	November 6, 2013	"Read It and Weep" (season 2, episode 16) "Hearts and Hooves Day" (season 2, episode 17) "A Friend in Deed" (season 2, episode 18) "Putting Your Hoof Down" (season 2, episode 19) "It's About Time" (season 2, episode 20)	Madman Entertainment
Royal Pony Wedding	December 4, 2013	"Dragon Quest" (season 2, episode 21) "Hurricane Fluttershy" (season 2, episode 22) "Ponyville Confidential" (season 2, episode 23) "MMMystery on the Friendship Express" (season 2, episode 24) "A Canterlot Wedding" (season 2, episode 25 and 26)	Madman Entertainment
The Crystal Empire	June 4, 2014	TBA	Madman Entertainment
Ponies on the Move	September 17, 2014	TBA	Madman Entertainment
Pinkie Pie Party Time	January 7, 2015	"Sweet and Elite" (season 2, episode 9) "Hearth's Warming Eve" (season 2, episode 11) "Baby Cakes" (season 2, episode 13) "A Friend in Deed" season 2, episode 18)	Madman Entertainment
A Pony's Destiny	February 4, 2015	TBA	Madman Entertainment
Princess Twilight Sparkle	March 2, 2015	TBA	Beyond Home Entertainment
It's an Applejack Hoedown	April 1, 2015	TBA	Madman Entertainment
Sparkle and Shine Collection	April 1, 2015	TBA	Madman Entertainment
Season 2 Collection	May 6, 2015	TBA	Madman Entertainment
Up and Away with Rainbow Dash	May 6, 2015	TBA	Madman Entertainment
Pinkie Apple Pie	June 2, 2015	TBA	Beyond Home Entertainment
It Ain't Easy Being Breezies	June 3, 2015	TBA	Beyond Home Entertainment
Lights, Camera, Rarity!	June 24, 2015	TBA	Madman Entertainment
All a Fluttershy	July 8, 2015	TBA	Madman Entertainment
Season 4 Complete Collection	September 1, 2015	TBA	Beyond Home Entertainment
Equestria Games	September 1, 2015	TBA	Beyond Home Entertainment
Sparkle Beyond Belief!	September 16, 2015	TBA	Madman Entertainment
Season 3 Collection	December 2, 2015	All season 3 episodes	Madman Entertainment
The Cutie Map	February 3, 2016	TBA	Beyond Home Entertainment
Princess Spike	June 1, 2016	TBA	Beyond Home Entertainment
Canterlot Boutique	September 1, 2016	TBA	Beyond Home Entertainment
The Mane Attraction	November 2, 2016	TBA	Beyond Home Entertainment
The Crystal Empire	February 1, 2017	TBA	Beyond Home Entertainment
Spice Up Your Life	June 7, 2017	TBA	Beyond Home Entertainment
Viva Las Pegasus	August 30, 2017	TBA	Beyond Home Entertainment
Where the Apple Lies	December 6, 2017	TBA	Beyond Home Entertainment
Rock Solid Friendship	March 7, 2018	TBA	Beyond Home Entertainment
A Royal Problem	June 6, 2018	TBA	Beyond Home Entertainment
Campfire Tales	August 28, 2018	TBA	Beyond Home Entertainment
Shadow Play	October 3, 2018	TBA	Beyond Home Entertainment
School Daze	January 2, 2019	TBA	Beyond Home Entertainment
Horse Play	March 6, 2019	TBA	Beyond Home Entertainment
Friendship University	June 5, 2019	TBA	Beyond Home Entertainment
What Lies Beneath	August 7, 2019	TBA	Beyond Home Entertainment

Reception

Critical reception

The series has received critical acclaim from critics. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 100% of 10 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 8/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Smart and sweet, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic's [sic] proves that children's entertainment can be fun for adults, too."

Critics have responded positively to the fact the show is enjoyable for broad audiences. Emily VanDerWerff of The A.V. Club favorably noted its "sheer and utter joyfulness" and lack of cynicism, unlike many other shows that garnered a cult following of parents and adults. She complimented the characters' stylized appearance, the stories' relative complexity for children's television, and the solid jokes which make the show enjoyable for parents as well as children. She gave the series a B+. Later, Genevieve Koski of The A.V. Club commented that Friendship Is Magic is an example of a show that, while considered "girly", has been able to tap into the nerd culture to allow it to gain wider acceptance than other comparable forms. Matt Morgan, writing for Wired's "GeekDad" column, praised the show for having "rebooted the long-time Hasbro property while managing to lace it with geeky undertones" and being one of the few "girl-focused shows that a geeky dad can appreciate with his daughter". Los Angeles Times critic Robert Lloyd called the show "smarter and sassier and more aesthetically sophisticated" than any of the previous My Little Pony cartoons, and praised its ability to appeal to both children and their parents, in that it is "smart and sprightly and well-staged, and never horribly cute".

Praise has also been given for the messages of friendships and morals. In her review on Common Sense Media, an organization focusing on the parenting aspect of children's media, Emily Ashby gave the show a rating of four out of five stars, emphasizing its messages of friendship, tolerance and respect, but advised parents to be wary of the "influence the characters might have on their kids' desires, since it's rooted in a well-known product line of books, toys, and just about everything in between." Liz Ohanesian, for L.A. Weekly, said that the show is "absolutely genuine in its messages about friendship but never takes itself too seriously". The show has been critically praised for its humor and moral outlook by Brian Truitt of USA Today. Other praise for the show included its animation style, stories, characterisation and discussion of feminism.

Friendship Is Magic has also been listed as one of the best animated series of all time by websites. TV Guide listed Friendship Is Magic as one of the top sixty animated shows of all time in a September 2013 list. IndieWire ranked the show among the 20 best animated series of the 21st-century in 2019 as well as the best animated series in 2020. On January 4, 2021, Anderson Evans of BuzzFeed ranked the show as number 22 (out of 24) in a list of the best animated shows on Netflix.

The series has not been devoid of criticism, however. Kathleen Richter of Ms. believed that Friendship Is Magic did little to change the nature of older animations for girls, which she considered "so sexist and racist and heteronormative." She suggested that, through the character of Rainbow Dash, the show was promoting the stereotype that "all feminists are angry, tomboyish lesbians." She also considered that the only darker-colored ponies shown to date were in positions of servitude towards the "white pony overlord." Lauren Faust responded to these claims by stating that while Rainbow Dash was a tomboy, her sexual orientation was never referenced and "assuming [tomboys] are lesbians is extremely unfair to both straight and lesbian tomboys", and further stating that "color has never, ever been depicted as a race indicator for the ponies." Amid Amidi, writing for the animation website Cartoon Brew, was critical of the concept of the show, calling it a sign of "the end of the creator-driven era in TV animation". Amidi's essay expressed concern that assigning a talent like Faust to a toy-centric show was part of a trend towards a focus on profitable genres of animation, such as toy tie-ins, to deal with a fragmented viewing audience, and overall "an admission of defeat for the entire movement, a white flag-waving moment for the TV animation industry." Writing for Den of Geek, Ethan Lewis criticized the third-season finale since he felt Twilight becoming a Princess was not appropriate and would make her miserable.

Ratings

Friendship Is Magic originally premiered with an average viewership of 1.4 million per month, but expanded to 4 million per month by the end of the first season, making it the highest-rated of any Hasbro offering at the time. Advertising Age reported that the viewership doubled between the first and the second season. In March 2013, The Hub reported the series had season a triple-digit year-to-year growth in all demographics. In October 2013, Friendship Is Magic was one of the most co-viewed television series and the best-performing show on The Hub along with Littlest Pet Shop. In the first three months of 2014, the show had an American viewership of over 12 million.

The Hub Network reported that "Hearts and Hooves Day", an episode on the theme of Valentine's Day, which aired on February 11, 2012, in the middle of the second season, was the show's most-viewed episode ever, and the second highest of any program of the Hub network; its viewership exceeded 150% of that of the previous year. This was surpassed by the two-part season two finale, "A Canterlot Wedding", airing in April 2012, marking the broadcast as the highest viewership for the Hub Network to that date. The full two-part third-season premiere, "The Crystal Empire", was viewed by 601,000 people aged 2+, marking the series' best-ever season premiere and the third consecutive year of growth in season premieres. "Magical Mystery Cure", the third-season finale, beat The Hub's key competitors, in various demographics, including kids aged 2–11, girls aged 2–11, kids aged 6–11, and girls aged 6–11. The show's "mare-athon" was watched by 4.3 million viewers, earning another triple-digit year-to-year growth in all demographics except for adults aged 25–54, women aged 25–54, and households, which earned double-digit growths. The fifth season premiere, "The Cutie Map", became both the series and Discovery Family's highest-rated premiere in many demographics, including kids aged 2–11, kids aged 6–11, and girls aged 6–11.

Awards and nominations

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Nominee(s)	Result	Ref.
2012	Daytime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Original Song – Children's and Animation	Daniel Ingram (for "Becoming Popular (The Pony Everypony Should Know)")	Nominated
			Daniel Ingram (for "Find a Pet Song")	Nominated
	Leo Awards	Best Animation Program or Series	Sarah Wall, Chris Bartleman, Blair Peters, and Kirsten Newlands	Nominated
		Best Direction in an Animation Program or Series	Jayson Thiessen and James Wootton (for "Party of One")	Nominated
		Best Overall Sound in an Animation Program or Series	Marcel Duperreault, Todd Araki, Jason Fredrickson, and Adam McGhie (for "Read It and Weep)	Nominated
2013	Leo Awards	Best Musical Score in an Animation Program or Series	Daniel Ingram and Steffan Andrews (for "Magical Mystery Cure")	Won
		Best Overall Sound in an Animation Program or Series	Marcel Duperreault, Todd Araki, Jason Frederickson, and Adam McGhie (for "Sleepless in Ponyville")	Nominated
2014	Leo Awards	Best Musical Score in an Animation Program or Series	Daniel Ingram and Steffan Andrews (for "Pinkie Pride")	Nominated
		Best Overall Sound in an Animation Program or Series	Marcel Duperreault, Todd Araki, Jason Frederickson, and Adam McGhie (for "Power Ponies")	Won
2016	Daytime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Original Song	Daniel Ingram and Amy Keating Rogers (for "The Magic Inside")	Nominated
	Hugo Awards	Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form	"The Cutie Map" (directed by Jayson Thiessen and Jim Miller; written by Scott Sonneborn, M.A. Larson, and Meghan McCarthy)	Nominated
	Leo Awards	Best Musical Score in an Animation Program or Series	Daniel Ingram (for "Crusaders of the Lost Mark")	Won
		Best Sound in an Animation Program or Series	Marcel Duperreault, Todd Araki, Jason Fredrickson, Kirk Furniss, Adam McGhie, Christine Church, and Roger Monk (for "Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep?")	Won
		Best Performance in an Animation Program or Series	Ashleigh Ball (for "Tanks for the Memories")	Nominated
	Young Artist Awards	Best Performance in a Voice-Over Role – Young Actor (12–21)	Graham Verchere	Won
2017	Leo Awards	Best Musical Score in an Animation Program or Series	Daniel Ingram (for "A Hearth's Warming Tail")	Nominated
		Best Sound in an Animation Program or Series	Todd Araki, Christine Church, Marcel Duperreault, Jason Frederickson, Adam McGhie, and Roger Monk (for "28 Pranks Later")	Won
	UBCP/ACTRA Awards	Best Voice	Andrea Libman (for "Rock Solid Friendship" as Pinkie Pie)	Nominated
		Best Voice	Nicole Oliver (for "A Royal Problem" as Princess Celestia / Daybreaker)	Nominated
		Best Voice	Vincent Tong (for "Hard to Say Anything" as Feather Bangs)	Nominated
2018	Leo Awards	Best Sound in an Animation Program or Series	Marcel Duperreault, Todd Araki, Jason Frederickson, Adam McGhie, Christine Church, Kirk Furniss, and Roger Monk (for "Shadow Play — Part 2")	Nominated
		Best Voice Performance in an Animation Program or Series	Vincent Tong (for "Hard to Say Anything")	Nominated
	UBCP/ACTRA Awards	Best Voice	Vincent Tong (for "Marks and Recreation" as Rumble)	Nominated
2019	Humanitas Prize	Children's Teleplay	Brian Hohlfeld (for "Surf and/or Turf")	Nominated
	Leo Awards	Best Voice Performance in an Animation Program or Series	Ashleigh Ball (for "Non-Compete Clause")	Nominated
	UBCP/ACTRA Awards	Best Voice	Sunni Westbrook (for "Frenemies")	Nominated
2020	UBCP/ACTRA Awards	Best Voice Performance	Sunni Westbrook (for "The Ending of the End — Part 1" as Cozy Glow)	Nominated
	Leo Awards	Best Voice Performance in an Animation Program or Series	Sunni Westbrook (for "Frenemies")	Nominated

Legacy

Merchandise and other media

Main articles: My Little Pony (2010 toyline); My Little Pony: Twilight Sparkle, Teacher for a Day; My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (video game); My Little Pony Collectible Card Game; My Little Pony (IDW Publishing); My Little Pony/Transformers; My Little Pony: Equestria Girls; My Little Pony: The Movie (2017 film); My Little Pony: Friendship Is Forever; and My Little Pony: Pony Life

Friendship Is Magic is associated with the 2010 relaunch of My Little Pony toy line, having figurines and playsets based on it. A section of the Hasbro website gives information about Friendship Is Magic for children and their parents, including character backgrounds, videos, and interactive games and media. Due in part to the older fans, Hasbro has come to see My Little Pony as a "lifestyle" brand, with over 200 licenses in 15 categories of products, including clothing, houseware, and digital media. The brand grossed over US$650 million in retail sales in 2013, and one billion USD annually in retail sales in 2014 and 2016.

Friendship Is Magic offered Hasbro several opportunities for spin-offs and works based on the series. They released games such as Twilight Sparkle, Teacher for a Day, a Gameloft video game and a collectible card game. Beginning in November 2012, IDW Publishing began to print My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic comics monthly. A cross-over comic between Friendship Is Magic and Transformers was released in 2020 and 2021. Hasbro had seen from the brony fandom for the show that some of the art the fans had produced were humanized versions of the show's characters. They took inspiration from that to develop the My Little Pony: Equestria Girls spin-off series of movies and shorts that ran alongside the Friendship Is Magic show for several years. In June 2019, it was announced that a musical adaptation was in the works. A collaboration between Hasbro and Mills Entertainment, it will feature an original story while retaining the core aspects of friendship. It was slated for a March 2020 launch in North America. My Little Pony: The Movie, a theatrical animated film adaptation of the television series, was released on October 6, 2017, in the United States, distributed by Lionsgate and financed by Allspark Pictures. A clip shows series, titled My Little Pony: Friendship Is Forever, began to be released on April 20, 2020, and concluded on May 25, 2020. Hasbro and Discovery Family announced a subsequent animated series, My Little Pony: Pony Life. The new series is based on the same characters, with most of the same voice actors returning, but feature a new animation style and focus on more slice of life stories.

Cultural impact and fandom

Main article: My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic fandom

Despite Hasbro's target demographic of young girls and their parents, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic has become a cultural and Internet phenomenon, with many male fans between 13 and 35. The response from the Internet has been traced to cartoon and animation fans on the Internet board 4chan, responding to Amidi's negative essay regarding the show and current trends in animation. As a result of the discussion on 4chan, interest in the show spread throughout other parts of the Internet, creating a large fanbase and a multitude of creative works, fan sites, and conventions. The fanbase has adopted the name "brony" (a portmanteau of "bro" and "pony") to describe themselves. The older fanbase had come as a surprise to Hasbro and staff members involved with the show. They have appreciated and embraced the fandom, adding nods to the fans within the show and the toys. The fandom was a meme upon the show's release, but its popularity across the internet gradually faded, despite the show's continuation. Friendship Is Magic as well as the bronies have been described as a phenomenon by multiple sources.

Fifth generation

Main article: My Little Pony: A New Generation

After the show's finale aired, Hasbro began working on a fifth generation which began with a feature film, My Little Pony: A New Generation. To fit Generation Alpha's higher emotional intelligence, Entertainment One Vice President Emily Thompson stated more peer groups would be represented in the core cast. When development began, My Little Pony aimed to expand the namesake franchise's world rather than create a new one, unlike the previous incarnations. Like Friendship Is Magic, the series will be set in Equestria, the production team wanting to further explore the lore and worldbuilding established by the fourth incarnation. However, the fifth incarnation will be set in after the events of the fourth, focusing on different ponies and unexplored parts of Equestria. For Hasbro, this gave them the opportunity to include Easter eggs to the previous incarnations. The fifth generation will also be accompanied by a television series. Both the feature film and the television series will be released on Netflix.

Further reading

• Snider, Brandon T. (2013). My Little Pony: The Elements of Harmony: Friendship is Magic: The Official Guidebook. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. ISBN 978-0-316-24754-2.
• Begin, Mary Jane (2015). My Little Pony: The Art of Equestria. Abrams. ISBN 978-1-4197-1577-8.

External links

• Official website at Hasbro
• My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic at Hasbro Studios
• My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic at Discovery Family. Archived from the original on October 20, 2014.
• My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic at the TV.com
• My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic at IMDb
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