Smolder

Smolder is a female dragon, Garble's younger sister, and one of the Young Six who first appears in season eight of the show as a student at Twilight Sparkle's School of Friendship.
==Development==
Smolder has a similar color scheme to G3.5 Whimsey Weatherbe.
On March 25, 2018, Jim Miller was asked "What relations does Smolder have with Ember?" and answered "Just a member of the dragon community. No familial relationship."
==Depiction in the series==
===Season eight===
 In the season eight premiere School Daze - Part 1 and Part 2, Smolder enrolls in Twilight Sparkle's School of Friendship as a student, having been brought to Ponyville by Ember to represent the dragons. Initially, Smolder is bitter about being enrolled at the school against her will, and her attitude is made worse when Twilight's strict adherence to the Equestria Education Association's guidelines causes the school courses to be dull and boring. She also only gets along with Gallus at first due to their similar personalities.
When Smolder later cuts class with Gallus, Sandbar, Yona, Ocellus, and Silverstream, the six hang out together and end up becoming good friends. When they return to school for Friends and Family Day, they accidentally ruin the event and cause damage to the school. Chancellor Neighsay of the EEA perceives their fun and games as an attack orchestrated by non-pony creatures, and the offended tribe leaders pull their representative students out of school, including Smolder.
 Not wanting to say goodbye to each other after the school is closed, Smolder and her friends go into hiding at the Castle of the Two Sisters. Though the six have fun together at first, they soon come under attack by ferocious puckwudgies, and the Mane Six save them. When Smolder and her friends are asked to come back to school, they are reluctant to continue their boring lessons, but Twilight and the others assure them things will be better and more fun than before. After Twilight defies the authority of Chancellor Neighsay and reopens the School of Friendship, Ember allows Smolder to stay.
In Grannies Gone Wild, Smolder, Yona, and Sandbar reluctantly listen to Rainbow Dash gush about the Wild Blue Yonder rollercoaster in Las Pegasus. In Horse Play, she takes part in Twilight's play about Princess Celestia.
In Non-Compete Clause, Smolder and her fellow students are taken on a teamwork field trip by Applejack and Rainbow Dash. The teachers spend most of the trip arguing amongst themselves, confusing some of the students and annoying the others (such as Smolder). When this behavior leads to Applejack and Rainbow Dash becoming trapped over a ravine, Smolder and her friends work together to rescue them. After returning to the school, Smolder and the other students tell Twilight that Applejack and Rainbow Dash's arguing taught them how not to work together, believing it was all part of the field trip.
 In Molt Down, Smolder informs Spike all about the effects of the "molt". She also mentions a brother her family kicked out of their home after he went through the molt.
In Marks for Effort, Smolder appears in Applejack's class playing buckball with her fellow students and later leaving the school with her friends after a test.
In A Matter of Principals, Smolder and her classmates are shown various magical artifacts by Twilight, just before she is summoned by the Cutie Map. When Discord appoints a Dragon Sneeze tree as a substitute teacher, Smolder starts sneezing uncontrollably, spraying fire everywhere. She and her friends are later forced to run laps by Discord, who conjures up a bugbear to chase them. During the "spell-venger hunt", Smolder is paired up with Ocellus, and together they find one of the artifacts. However, both are then chased by a suit of armor that was animated by Discord. She and her friends are present when Starlight Glimmer apologizes to Discord for not including him, and offers him the job of "vice headmare".
 In The Hearth's Warming Club, Smolder shows little enthusiasm for the holiday. After a prank ruins the Hearth's Warming tree, the students are all under suspicion for it, and charged with cleaning up the mess while they are questioned one by one. Smolder insists that she is innocent, and when asked about dragon traditions, she tells her friends about the Feast of Fire, where dragons tell each other stories in hopes of winning a big pile of gems. When the guilty party doesn't come forward, Smolder is accused of being the culprit by Sandbar, who believes she is acting too calm over it. When Gallus confesses that he was the culprit, resulting in him having to stay for friendship lessons over the holidays, Smolder (reluctantly, at first) joins their friends in choosing to stay with him.
In Friendship University, when Smolder and her classmates hear about Flim and Flam's Friendship University, she points out that it is a university, not just a school. In The End in Friend, Smolder and her classmates observe Rainbow Dash and Rarity as part of Twilight's lesson on compromising in friendship. In A Rockhoof and a Hard Place, Smolder is among the students who attend Rockhoof's class and become interested in his stories. She later becomes upset when he disrupts a fire-breathing contest between her and Spike.
In What Lies Beneath, Smolder and her friends start to question whether friendship is in their nature due to comments made by Cozy Glow. They later discover a mysterious cavern beneath the school and encounter a manifestation of the Tree of Harmony. To test their friendship, each student is forced to confront their worst fears, with Smolder's being admitting that she likes cute things. She later helps Ocellus overcome her own fears, and the two reunite with the rest of their friends.
 In Father Knows Beast, Smolder helps Spike as he is learning to fly, and is later surprised when he gives her a pillow as a thank-you gift. After Sludge crash-lands in Ponyville, she helps bring him to Twilight's castle to recuperate. After finding Spike sleeping outside at Sludge's urging, she realizes that Sludge is manipulating him. She later helps Spike to get Sludge out of the castle, and expresses sympathy for him after Sludge admits he is not really Spike's father.
In the season eight finale School Raze, Smolder and her friends go on a field trip to Cloudsdale just before a crisis in Equestria causes magic to start disappearing. After Twilight and her friends leave for Tartarus to investigate, Smolder grows suspicious of Cozy Glow when she claims that Starlight (whom Twilight had made headmare in her absence) suddenly left, leaving Cozy in charge. She and her friends discover Chancellor Neighsay taking over the school, and Neighsay captures them under suspicion of stealing Equestria's magic themselves.
After Sandbar and the Cutie Mark Crusaders help them escape and reveal Cozy Glow's true sinister nature, they try to free a magically-trapped Starlight Glimmer, but Cozy catches them and convinces the students to turn on them. Smolder and the others get trapped with Starlight and are nearly sucked into another realm with all of Equestria's magic, but they are saved by the Tree of Harmony, and they succeed in foiling Cozy Glow's plans.
===Best Gift Ever===
In the holiday special My Little Pony Best Gift Ever, Smolder and the rest of the Young Six appear at the beginning boarding the Friendship Express.
===Season nine===
In Uprooted, Smolder and her friends are contacted by the Tree of Harmony in their dreams. When they return to the school, they learn from Twilight and Spike that the tree was destroyed by King Sombra. After getting permission from their kingdoms to return to Ponyville early, the Young Six each work on their own individual ways of honoring the tree's memory, with Smolder carving a memorial statue for it out of rock. In the end, they agree to form a clubhouse out of the tree's remains. The tree, responding to their friendship, grows anew, forming an even bigger house that grows through the ruins of the Castle of the Two Sisters. After being thanked by the spirit of the tree, Smolder and her friends are joined by Twilight and Spike in exploring the new structure.
Smolder makes a background appearance with Gallus and Silversteam in The Point of No Return.
In She's All Yak, Smolder nonchalantly invites Gallus to join her for the school's upcoming Amity Ball. During the event itself, she and her friends tease Sandbar over Yona going "full pony" to impress him, and show disdain over her new look. They also try to help Yona when she trips while dancing, accidentally wrecking the dance. She and the others later cheer when Sandbar and Yona win the "best pony pals" award, and join Yona in dancing the Yakyakistan Stomp.
 In Sweet and Smoky, Smolder requests to take some time off school to visit her brother. Twilight grants her this, and she is joined by Spike and Fluttershy. Smolder believes Spike will get along with her brother quite well, saying they are both "sensitive". Her brother turns out to be Spike's old nemesis Garble, who picks on Spike whenever she isn't looking. Later, Smolder listens to Garble recite poetry, and Fluttershy finds them, leading to Smolder finding out what her brother's been doing, and she agrees with Fluttershy when she points out that Spike has the strength to be himself, unlike Garble. When Garble openly recites his poetry, making the other dragons laugh enough to heat up and hatch their eggs, Smolder commends him for also finding the strength to be himself.
Smolder briefly appears in Student Counsel as Starlight explains to her that she shouldn't breathe fire wherever she wants. She also appears during CMC Appreciation Day in The Last Crusade.
 In 2, 4, 6, Greaaat, Smolder joins the School of Friendship cheer squad for the school buckball team with Yona and Ocellus, and she is quick to admonish Rainbow Dash for neglecting her duties as the squad's coach. After a disastrous attempt at their routine, Smolder angrily chastises Rainbow for not giving coaching a proper effort and admits that she was actually excited to be on the squad when she learned Rainbow was going to be the coach. The remorseful Rainbow later helps Smolder and the squad improve their routine, guiding Smolder into creating smoke effects for it.
In A Horse Shoe-In, Smolder appears during Dr. Hooves' field trip to his lab, in which he volunteers her to try out his "time machine".
In The Ending of the End - Part 1, Smolder and the rest of the Young Six work together with Starlight Glimmer and Trixie to evacuate the School of Friendship while Cozy Glow, Queen Chrysalis, and Lord Tirek are on the loose. In Part 2, Smolder rallies the dragons of the Dragon Lands to help the ponies in their final battle against the villains, and she helps the Mane Six and Pillars of Old Equestria defeat them.
In The Last Problem, Smolder attends Twilight Sparkle's coronation ceremony. She later appears as an older dragon in future Ponyville and in Rainbow Dash's group shot during The Magic of Friendship Grows.
===Clip show===
Smolder and the rest of her cheer squad appears as Rainbow Dash gives them praise after their performance in as past memory of 2, 4, 6, Greaaat in Deep Tissue Memories.
==Other depictions==
===Friendship is Magic shorts===
In Mystery Voice, Smolder is seen with her friends, attending Rarity's class on how to make traditional Hearth's Warming dolls. In Teacher of the Month, Smolder is seen with her friends in flashbacks showing how Fluttershy earned the eponymous award, and in the present, attending Applejack and Rainbow Dash's "student appreciation day" party. In Starlight the Hypnotist, Smolder appears eating at the school with Gallus and Twilight Sparkle. Smolder and Gallus both get their meals spilt on them when Twilght gets scared by a ladybug.
===IDW comics===
Smolder appears in celebrating Nightmare Night with her friends. In , she appears with Gallus on page 1. In , she plans on presenting a model of the Tree of Harmony for her midterms project, and like the rest of her friends, shows concern when Ocellus overworks herself in an attempt to perfect her own project. In , she and the rest of the Young Six briefly help Rainbow Dash train for the Draytona Breach race. She also appears on the A cover of .
In , Smolder and her friends are shown to be in Canterlot as part of a field trip, and are taken to shelter by Starlight and Trixie before the Knights of Harmony attack. They are later seen having been discovered by the Knights and held hostage in order to force Twilight and her friends to stand down. In , Smolder and the rest of the Young Six join the fight against the Knights of Harmony and help in finally defeating their leader Danu.
In My Little Pony: Feats of Friendship, Smolder and her friends form a team to take part in the titular event, and are joined by exchange student Swift Foot.
In , Smolder takes part in the final battle against Queen Chrysalis' evil changelings and the Decepticons, protecting the Crystal Empire's magical items from Shockwave.
In , Smolder and her friends are transported to Cybertron, encountering Octavia Melody and Vinyl Scratch and being confronted by the Decepticon Soundwave. When Soundwave's attack gets them all trapped, Smolder helps convince Soundwave to work together with Octavia and Vinyl to escape by offering him their magic.
In , Smolder, joined by Spike, is introduced to Grimlock and the Dinobots, and they are then attacked by a mind-controlled Superion. Smolder follows Spike's plan to defeat Superion by turning his component minds against each other, and later commends him for his quick thinking.
In , Smolder and her friends quickly grow to enjoy the lessons provided by their new teachers, to the point of playing mean pranks on their fellow students.
Smolder is briefly seen in the fourth issue of My Little Pony: Classics Reimagined - Little Fillies, attending Jo's class alongside the rest of the Young Six.
====Feats of Friendship description====
*Likes: Winning and gems. No, there's nothing else. No, I don't like cute things, I don't know where you'd get that idea, I totally do not like dressing up, nope—!
*Dislikes: Not winning. And fighting with my friends, I guess. Did I mention not winning?
===Storybooks===
Smolder appears on the cover of the adaptation Meet the New Class.
===Commercials===
Smolder appears in the promotional music video Saved by My Friends.
===Software===
Smolder is one of six playable characters in Budge Studios' mobile game Pocket Ponies.
====My Little Pony (mobile game)====
Smolder and Future Smolder are characters in Gameloft's mobile game, the latter being a prize for completing the What's Hot collection during the She's All Yak event. Smolder first appears in the Molt Down event, has a story role in the School of Friendship event, and serves as an enemy minion and boss battle helper during the She's All Yak and "Reflections of Harmony" events. Her in-game description states, "The School of Friendship's first dragon student, Smolder MAY have been ordered to attend by Ember--but a few friendships later, she feels right at home!" Future Smolder's in-game description states, "It isn't ours to speculate on Smolder's future...but maybe she gets more comfortable with her secret love of fancy tea parties, at some point."
==Appearances==
Starting with The Maud Couple, Smolder also appears in the theme song.
==Personality==
 Among the Young Six, Smolder is portrayed as tough and competitive, similar to most dragons. Like Gallus, she is initially resistant to the idea of friendship, having been brought to the school against her will, and she gets particularly confrontational with Yona. After getting to know some of her fellow students, however, she opens up and becomes much friendlier overall. A promotional photo portrays her as somewhat of a class clown. Also, like other dragons, Smolder has an appetite for gems. It is revealed in What Lies Beneath that Smolder secretly likes cute things, like dresses, makeup, and tea parties.
 In Uprooted, Smolder is shown to be skilled at sculpture, fashioning a memorial statue for the Tree of Harmony out of a large stone using nothing but her claws, feet, and fire breath.
==Merchandise==
Cutie Mark Crew toy.
Enterplay collectible card game Friends Forever #2 U, #20 C, #59 R, and #72 U.
Smolder is featured on a magazine card.
==Quotes==
==Gallery==
==See also==
*
*
*
*
*
*
==References==
de:Smolder
es:Smolder
fr:Smolder
id:Smolder
pl:Smolder
ru:Смолдер
Category:Dragons
Category:School of Friendship students
Category:Supporting characters
Category:Young Six
Category:Featured articles