My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic

My Little Pony is an American-Canadian children's animated fantasy television series created by Lauren Faust for Hasbro. The series is based on Hasbro's My Little Pony line of toys and animated works and is often referred to by collectors as the fourth generation ("G4") of the franchise. The series premiered on October 23, 2010, on The Hub cable channel (which was renamed as Discovery Family in late 2014). 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, to be replaced by Meghan McCarthy as showrunner for the remainder of the series.

The show follows a studious anthropomorphic unicorn pony named Twilight Sparkle as her mentor Princess Celestia guides her to learn about 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. Each of the ponies represent a different facet of friendship, and Twilight discovers herself to be a key part of the magical artifacts known as the "Elements of Harmony". The ponies travel on adventures and help others around Equestria while working out problems that arise in their own friendships.

The series has become a major commercial success, becoming the most highly rated original production in the Hub Network's broadcast history and leading to new merchandising opportunities for Hasbro, including books, clothing, collectible trading cards, and comics. Despite the target demographic of young girls, Friendship Is Magic has also gained a large following of older viewers, mainly young and middle-aged men, who call themselves "bronies". Portions of the show have become part of the remix culture, and have formed the basis for a variety of internet memes.

As of April 2019, the show is currently on its ninth and final season. A feature-length film adaptation directly based on the TV series, titled My Little Pony: The Movie, was theatrically released on October 6, 2017 in the United States. A spin-off franchise, My Little Pony: Equestria Girls, was launched in 2013. The first two films, Equestria Girls and Rainbow Rocks, were shown in limited theatrical screenings prior to television broadcast and home media release.

## Premise

Friendship Is Magic takes place in the land of Equestria, populated by varieties of ponies including variants of Pegasus and unicorn, along with other sentient and non-sentient creatures. The central character is Twilight Sparkle, a unicorn mare sent by her mentor Princess Celestia, ruler of Equestria, to the town of Ponyville to study the magic of friendship. In the show's opening episode "Friendship Is Magic", Twilight resents this assignment, as she is more concerned about the foretold appearance of Nightmare Moon, the evil sister of Celestia. When Nightmare Moon does appear, vowing everlasting night and causing Celestia to disappear, Twilight sets off with five other ponies – Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity – to obtain the Elements of Harmony and defeat Nightmare Moon. Before Twilight can activate the Elements, Nightmare Moon appears and shatters them. In a flash of inspiration, Twilight realizes that each of her new friends represents one of the Elements of Harmony (Honesty, Loyalty, Laughter, Generosity, and Kindness), and that she herself is the final piece, Magic. The magical power of the ponies' friendship reverts Nightmare Moon to a repentant Princess Luna. Celestia reappears, reunites with her sister Princess Luna, and decrees that Twilight shall stay in Ponyville to continue studying the magic of friendship, much to the happiness of Twilight and her new friends.

Later episodes follow Twilight and her friends dealing with various problems around Ponyville, such as interpersonal problems between friends and family, as well as more adventurous stories involving creatures like dragons and griffons, and having to save Equestria from evil villains. At the end of each episode, Twilight sends a report back to Celestia explaining what she learned about friendship from these adventures. This part of the formula is abandoned in "Lesson Zero", the second-season episode in which Twilight is convinced to be less rigid in her perceived duties; after this, all the main characters contribute reports, although the formality is disregarded when appropriate. In the fourth season, with the request for reports no longer applicable, the six resolve to keep a collective personal journal in which they record their thoughts about life for posterity.

Another focus of the show is the Cutie Mark Crusaders, a trio of much younger mares consisting of Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo, who are obsessed with finding their "cutie marks", an iconic symbol that magically appear on a pony's flank once they have discovered their special talent in life. The show regularly features episodes centered on the Crusaders, who have yet to receive their cutie marks and are teased by other young ponies as "blank flanks". In response, they desperately hurry to try to discover their talents and receive their own cutie marks, often doing so in comical fashions.

Although the episodes are designed to stand alone, the series features continuity and overall story arcs, with several key elements of the series changing; one such change is the evolution of Twilight herself, who spends the first three seasons learning about friendship and is subsequently granted wings by Celestia to become an alicorn and a princess in the season 3 finale "Magical Mystery Cure". In the season 4 finale "Twilight's Kingdom", she discovers that she is the Princess of Friendship and starts living in a magic castle after the destruction of her library home by the villain Lord Tirek. Other crucial events impacting the series are the Cutie Mark Crusaders finally obtaining their cutie marks in the season 5 episode "Crusaders of the Lost Mark"; the same season's introduction of Starlight Glimmer, a villain who redeems herself and becomes Twilight's pupil in the season finale "The Cutie Re-Mark"; and Rainbow Dash fulfilling her lifelong dream of joining the elite Wonderbolts flight team in the season 6 episode "Newbie Dash".

Each season typically has a theme and overall story arc: a theme throughout the first season, for example, is ponies' preparation for the Grand Galloping Gala that occurs in the final episode of that season. In season 4, the Mane Six must find six keys to a mysterious box revealed after they relinquish the Elements of Harmony to their original source, the Tree of Harmony, to save Equestria; in the season finale, it is revealed that they had already obtained the keys, in the form of gifts they received during the season from people they helped.

## Characters and Voice Cast

* Twilight Sparkle - Tara Strong (speaking); Rebecca Shoichet (singing)
* Rainbow Dash - Ashleigh Ball
* Fluttershy - Andrea Libman
* Applejack - Ashleigh Ball
* Pinkie Pie - Andrea Libman (speaking); Shannon Chan-Kent (singing)
* Rarity - Tabitha St. Germain (speaking); Kazumi Evans (singing)
* Spike the Dragon - Cathy Weseluck
* Princess Celestia - Nicole Oliver
* Princess Luna - Tabitha St. Germain
* Princess Cadance - Britt McKillip
* Apple Bloom - Michelle Creber
* Sweetie Belle - Claire Corlett
* Scootaloo - Madeleine Peters
* Starlight Glimmer - Kelly Sheridan