My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic


My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic is an animated television series based on Hasbro's My Little Pony franchise and marking the start of its fourth incarnation. The series follows a studious pony named Twilight Sparkle, her dragon assistant Spike, and her friends Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie. The six ponies, collectively known as the "Mane Six", go on adventures and help others around Equestria, solving problems with their friendships.
Produced by Allspark Animation and animated by DHX Media Vancouver, the series aired on The Hub in the United States from October 10, 2010, to October 12, 2019. Hasbro selected animator Lauren Faust to head the show. In challenge to the nature of My Little Pony and other girl-targeted properties, Faust employed deeper characterization and fantasy worldbuilding, creating a show that resembled how she played with her toys as a child. She left the series during its second season, with other staff taking over from her.
Despite its target demographic of young girls, Friendship Is Magic attracted an unexpectedly large following of older viewers, mainly adult men, known as "bronies". The series became one of the highest-rated productions in The Hub's history and gave Hasbro new merchandising opportunities. A spin-off franchise, My Little Pony: Equestria Girls, was launched in 2013 and ran alongside the series for six years. A feature-length film adaptation based on the television series was released in October 2017 in the United States. A spin-off comedy series, My Little Pony: Pony Life, premiered in November 2020. A live-action adaptation on the franchise by Amazon MGM Studios and Hasbro Entertainment was announced in July 2025.

Premise

In the kingdom of Equestria, its three subspecies of ponies —earth ponies, pegasi, and unicorns—live harmoniously. Twilight Sparkle, a studious unicorn, travels to Ponyville to learn about friendship at the urging of Equestria's ruler Princess Celestia. Twilight and Spike, her dragon assistant, become close friends with five other ponies: Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie. The ponies discover that they represent different facets of friendship, with powerful magical artifacts known as Elements of Harmony. They go on adventures and help others in and around Equestria, solving both interpersonal issues between them, and defeat destructive threats to both Equestria and the wider world.

Cast and characters

  • Tara Strong as Twilight Sparkle, a studious and socially naïve unicorn who loves to read but initially has trouble making friends.
  • Ashleigh Ball as:
  • * Applejack, a diligent earth pony whose family owns a farm.
  • * Rainbow Dash, an egotistical, sporty pegasus.
  • Tabitha St. Germain as Rarity, a glamorous unicorn who owns a boutique.
  • Andrea Libman as:
  • * Fluttershy, a timid pegasus who loves animals.
  • * Pinkie Pie, an energetic earth pony who enjoys throwing parties.
  • Cathy Weseluck as Spike, a small dragon who is Twilight's assistant.

    Production

Conception

has produced several incarnations of the My Little Pony franchise, often called "generations" by the toy line's collectors. With many brands, including My Little Pony, the company uses a multi-generational plan. The 2007 Transformers film inspired Hasbro, since it helped to increase sales of the Transformers toy line; the company wanted to retool the My Little Pony franchise to appeal to the young-girl demographic. According to Margaret Loesch, CEO of The Hub, revisiting properties which had been successful was an important decision; it was somewhat influenced by the network's programming executives, several of whom were fans of the shows. According to Hasbro senior vice president Linda Steiner, the company "intended to have the show appeal to a larger demographic"; the network was trying to create shows that parents and children would watch together. Central themes Hasbro sought for the show included friendship and cooperation, determined from market research in how girls played with toys.
Animator and writer Lauren Faust approached Hasbro to develop "Galaxy Girls", her girls'-toy property, into an animated series. Faust, who had worked on Cartoon Network's The Powerpuff Girls and Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, had unsuccessfully pitched animation aimed at girls for years. When Faust approached Lisa Licht of Hasbro Studios, Licht was uninterested but showed Faust the My Little Pony special Princess Promenade. Licht thought that Faust's style was suitable for the brand and asked her to consider "some ideas where to take a new version of the franchise".
Faust was initially hired by Hasbro to create a pitch bible for the show, enabling her to get additional help with ideas. She was "extremely skeptical" about taking the job, because she thought that shows based on girls' toys were dull. Although My Little Pony was one of her favorite childhood toys, Faust was disappointed by the television shows; the characters "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. Faust incorporated many elements contradicting stereotypes of girlsdiverse personalities, the message that friends can differ and remain friends, and the idea that girls should not be limited by what others sayinto the design of the characters and the series. Elements of the characters' personalities and the show's settings were based on her childhood imagination of the ponies' adventures, inspired by shows such as Transformers and G.I. Joe which her brothers watched. According to Faust, she was making Friendship Is Magic "for as an eight-year-old". Faust wanted the characters to be relatable, using "icons of girliness" to broaden their appeal to a young female audience.
Using her childhood as a guide, she imagined the three types of ponies—unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies—with different cultures and living in different places. Faust pictured the unicorns in the mountains, the pegasi in the clouds, and the earth ponies on the ground. She envisioned them as realistic horses who ate hay, lived in barns, pulled carts, wore saddles, and picked up objects with their mouths.
Faust said that Hasbro's positive response to non-traditional elements inspired her as she gave the company more ideas for the show. Although she pitched a balance of adventure and relationship stories, she de-emphasized adventures and focused on exchanges between characters for pragmatic reasons. The show incorporated creatures intended to frighten children, such as dragons and hydras, but emphasized friendships among the characters which were leavened with humor. When the series was approved, Faust had developed three scripts.

Development

Faust drew concept sketches, several of which appeared on her fyre-flye DeviantArt page. They included ideas about how she envisioned the original series' ponies—Applejack, the cowgirl; Firefly, the "badass"; the bubbly, enthusiastic Surprise; Posey, the kind, shy pony who loved other animals; and Sparkler, the fashion artist—which inspired this series' main cast. Hasbro approved the show with Faust as executive producer, and asked her to complete the pitch bible. She hired Martin Ansolabehere and Paul Rudish, with whom she had worked on other animated shows. Faust credited Rudish with inspiring Nightmare Moon, a villain who appears in the premiere episode "Friendship Is Magic", and the pegasus ponies' control of the weather; she then imagined the ponies as stewards of their world who made weather happen, flowers grow, and animals thrive. She also consulted her husband Craig McCracken, creator of The Powerpuff Girls and Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends. In six weeks, Faust sketched over 40 pages of "the universe that had existed in her 8-year-old mind".
The visual collaboration brought a unique style to Friendship Is Magic. Pennsylvania Dutch design, steampunk fantasy art, European fairy tales, and Bavarian folk art influenced the original pony world. Designing the settings, Faust sent photos to artist Dave Dunnet. Ponyville was based on German cottages, with a fairy-tale quality and equine elements such as horseshoe-shaped archways, hay bales, and troughs. Canterlot was based on castles and cathedrals, giving it a European feel; its location on a mountain and its purple-and-gold palette conveyed royalty and aspiration. Fantasy inspired elements of the series which were modified to suit its setting, story, and target audience. After seeing the initial version of the pitch bible, Hasbro requested more character designs and hired Dunnet and Lynne Naylor to refine the background and characters.
After the pitch bible was completed, Hasbro and Faust evaluated animation studios. Studio B Productions worked on Macromedia Flash-based animations and shows featuring animals. Faust felt that the studio would be a good fit, and agreed that Jayson Thiessen should direct the series. Faust, Thiessen, and James Wootton presented a two-minute pitch to Hasbro, which approved the production. Faust estimated the time between being asked to develop the show and its approval at about one year. The foundation of the series took roughly two years.

Crew

Faust's initial writing staff at Hasbro Studios included several with whom she had worked on other shows and were approved by Hasbro, such as Amy Keating Rogers, Cindy Morrow, Meghan McCarthy, Chris Savino, Charlotte Fullerton, M.A. Larson, and Dave Polsky. McCarthy accepted Faust's invitation due to her dedication. Composer William Anderson presented a blind audition to Hasbro for Friendship Is Magic; the company admired his incidental music, and selected him.
After the first season's finale aired, Faust announced that she had stepped down as executive producer to become consulting producer. Her involvement in the second season consisted primarily of story concepts and scripts, and she left after that season. In an interview with New York magazine, Faust said that her reasons for leaving were a combination of hectic production schedules and a lack of creative control. McCracken said that Faust's departure was due to its being a toy company-driven show, and there was "still some frustration" with being unable to bring some of her ideas to the screen.
Initially scheduled to work on its fifth season, McCarthy gave up most of her work on the series to write My Little Pony: The Movie. After Thiessen also left to work on the film, his co-director Jim Miller became supervising director with animation director Denny Lu taking Miller's spot as co-director. During season 6, layout supervisor Tim Stuby was also appointed as co-director to assist Miller and Lu before leaving during season 7, leading to Mike Myhre taking his spot for the rest of the series.