My Little Pony

**My Little Pony** (interest code: **B-MLP**), or **MLP** for short, is an American children's media franchise and major Betsic interest. The franchise is owned by Hasbro and has five main generations, as well as a transitional one each before the fourth and the fifth.

While each main generation has new characters and a new setting, the focus throughout has remained on creatively coloured and mostly female ponies, each with a different personality and special talent, inhabiting a fantasy setting. A pony's talent is represented by a symbol on their flank, known as a cutie mark, that relates to it. For example, the character Pinkie Pie's special talent is throwing parties, so her cutie mark is balloons.

The three main types of ponies are Earth ponies (which have neither wings nor a horn), pegasi (which have wings) and unicorns (which each have a horn on their head). Other types have also been featured, such as alicorns (which have wings, as well as a horn on each of their heads) and seaponies (which are aquatic).

## Generations

### Generation 1

My Little Pony began in 1981 as My Pretty Pony and was a more realistic horse doll. After the name had been changed, the ponies gained fantastical colours as well as cutie marks. The original six, all of whom were Earth ponies, were Blossom, Blue Belle, Butterscotch, Cotton Candy, Minty and Snuzzle.

Earth ponies were the first type to be introduced, followed by pegasi and unicorns. Episodes were part of the My Little Pony n' Friends animated series, which also featured other Hasbro properties, such as Glo Worms and Potato Head Kids. The first generation also included the original My Little Pony: The Movie.

In 1992, this was replaced by My Little Pony Tales, a slice-of-life animated series with a main cast of seven Earth ponies - Starlight, w:c:mylittleponytales:Sweetheart:Sweetheart, Melody, Bright Eyes, Patch, Clover and Bon Bon.

### Generation 2

The second generation of My Little Pony did not have a television series, with the only tie-ins for the merchandise line being a video game and a comic series. It was unpopular in the United States, and was mainly sold in Europe and the United Kingdom

### Generation 3

The third generation of My Little Pony saw a return to the United States, as well as several direct-to-DVD specials and episodes. It eventually established Pinkie Pie, Scootaloo, Toola-Roola, Rainbow Dash, Sweetie Belle, Cheerilee and Starsong as its main characters. All of the main characters were Earth ponies, except for Sweetie Belle (a unicorn) and Starsong (a pegasus). All ponies in this generation were female.

### Generation 3.5

My Little Pony's transitional generation between the third and fourth was a direct continuation of the third, only with an art style closer to that of G4. There were still no confirmed male ponies, but two with no eyelashes were seen in background shots.

### Generation 4

   The fourth generation of My Little Pony saw the release of the wildly successful animated series My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. The protagonist of this generation was Twilight Sparkle, who started as a unicorn before becoming an alicorn when she was crowned Princess of Friendship. The other main characters were earth ponies Pinkie Pie and Applejack, pegasi Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, unicorn Rarity and dragon Spike. The series gained an adult following, due to its more intricate stories, comedy and worldbuilding than previous generations.

This generation also spawned the theatrical release of the second My Little Pony: The Movie, as well as the My Little Pony: Equestria Girls franchise, which revealed a parallel universe with teenage human equivalents for the six main ponies.

### Generation 4.5

My Little Pony's transitional generation between the fourth and fifth had the same main characters as the fourth, but with a different art style and a reimagining of some locations. For example, the bakery Sugarcube Corner used to have a standard location on a Ponyville street, but in this version, the building was redesigned and located on an island in a pink ocean, accessible via a bridge.

### Generation 5

Set far in the future from the fourth generation, the fifth generation of My Little Pony saw the release of the film My Little Pony: A New Generation, as well as the YouTube series My Little Pony: Tell Your Tale and TV series My Little Pony: Make Your Mark. The main characters are now earth ponies Sunny Starscout and Hitch Trailblazer, pegasus sisters Zipp Storm and Pipp Petals, and unicorn Izzy Moonbow.

## Gallery

Alternative logo as recognised by my Interest World