Characters / Friendship Is Magic: Supporting Cast – Other Locations

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Main Index The Main Cast: Twilight Sparkle, Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Spike, Starlight Glimmer, the Cutie Mark Crusaders Supporting Cast: The Princesses (Princess Celestia, Princess Luna), Mane Family Members, the School of Friendship, Ponyville, Other Locations, Animal Companions Antagonists: Major Villains (Queen Chrysalis, King Sombra, Lord Tirek, Cozy Glow), Dangerous Creatures, Jerks and Bullies, Redeemed Antagonists (Discord) World of Equestria: Races, Historical Figures, The 2017 Movie, Expanded Universe, Toyline Exclusive, Miscellaneous Minor Characters: One-Shots, Other Characters, Background Ponies (Common Background Ponies, Special Background Ponies, Other Background Ponies) Equestria Girls: Heroines (Sunset Shimmer), Villains, Supporting Cast

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These characters have appeared in multiple episodes and live outside of Ponyville; thus they tend to show up less often.

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Canterlot

Twilight's Canterlot Friends

Common tropes

• Ascended Extra: They were all used as nameless background characters in seasons 1-4. Now they've evolved into their own characters.
• We Used to Be Friends: Twilight assumes this trope is in effect when she realizes that she hasn't talked to them since she lived in Canterlot. When she finally talks to them about it, none of them hold it against her.

Lyra Heartstrings

See her own folder on the Ponyville page.

Moondancer

See her own folder on the One-Shots page.

Lemon Hearts

"I'll give you two bits for that cherry."

Debut: "Friendship is Magic, part 1"
Speaking Appearance: "Green Isn't Your Color", "Putting Your Hoof Down", "For Whom the Sweetie Belle Toils", My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (IDW) story The Fall of Sunset Shimmer, and Pinkie Pie and the Rockin' Ponypalooza Party
Major Role: "Amending Fences"

Voiced by: Tabitha St. Germain ("For Whom the Sweetie Belle Toils"), Ashleigh Ball ("Amending Fences")

A yellow unicorn with a blue mane, raspberry-colored eyes, and a cutie mark of three hearts. She's notably the very first background pony to appear in the series (outside of the opening). According to her collector cards, she "is loving and kind! She always takes time to show her friends how much she cares." According to the Friendship Celebration Collection's box, she and Pepperdance "play together in a band!" It's revealed in "Amending Fences" that she works in Canterlot Palace as an event planner.

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• Ascended Extra: She's had a toy since Blind Bag Wave 1 (long before toys of background ponies became the norm) despite being nowhere near as prominent as Daisy or Rose (the other two background ponies in Wave 1). It's unknown whether this has anything to do with her being the first background pony to appear in the show proper.
• All There in the Manual: Her collector◊ cards◊ reveal that she "is loving and kind! She always takes time to show her friends how much she cares." The Friendship Celebration Collection's box◊ reveals that she and Pepperdance "play together in a band!"
• Color-Coded Wizardry: Her magic aura is shown as light green in "Hearth's Warming Eve" and as light blue in "Putting Your Hoof Down".
• Epic Fail: As a filly, she somehow got her head stuck in an Erlenmeyer flask. Her expression in "Amending Fences" says that she doesn't like being reminded of it.

Twinkleshine

"Moondancer is having a little get-together in the west castle courtyard. You wanna come?"

Debut: "Friendship is Magic, part 1"
Speaking Appearance: "Friendship is Magic, part 1", "A Canterlot Wedding – Part 1", "A Canterlot Wedding – Part 2", and My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (IDW) story The Fall of Sunset Shimmer
Major Role: "Amending Fences"

Voiced by: Nicole Oliver, Cathy Weseluck, Tabitha St. Germain (all three in "Friendship is Magic, part 1")^note according to these two tweets respectively by Cathy Weseluck Tabitha St. Germain [due to an animator's error with mouths], Andrea Libman ("A Canterlot Wedding – Part 1")^note according to this tweet by Andrea Libman, Tabitha St. Germain ("Amending Fences")^{Foreign VAs}Ikumi Nakagami and Yumi Uchiyama (Japanese)

An off-white unicorn with a pink mane, blue eyes, and a cutie mark of three five-pointed stars. She's notably the first background pony to speak in the series, inviting Twilight to a get-together in the pilot episode. According to her brushable toy's box and her collector card, she "dreams about being a famous movie star. Drama. Comedy. Action. She loves it all!" and "loves playing games!" Before the toy line and Gameloft's My Little Pony Licensed Game gave Twinkleshine her official All There in the Script name, she was given the Fan Nickname Twinkle.

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• All There in the Manual: Her brushable toy's box◊ and her collector card◊ reveal that she "dreams about being a famous movie star. Drama. Comedy. Action. She loves it all!" and "loves playing games!"
• Ascended Extra: The first background pony to appear in both the brushable toy line and the Blind Bags, though it came at the cost of being turned very pink like Celestia was (technically even more so, since Celestia's pink toys at least use stock art where she isn't very pink); it's unclear whether or not the pink-coated version was intended to be a different character, but Gameloft's My Little Pony Licensed Game has since referred to the off-white-coated version as Twinkleshine.
• Color-Coded Wizardry: In "A Canterlot Wedding – Part 2", her magic aura is shown to be pink.
• Those Two Girls: With Minuette.

Minuette

"Twilight Sparkle, you old so-and-so!"

Debut: "Friendship is Magic, part 1"
Speaking Appearance: "A Canterlot Wedding – Part 1", "Trade Ya!" and My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (IDW) story The Fall of Sunset Shimmer
Major Role: "Amending Fences"

Voiced by: Cathy Weseluck^note according to this tweet by Cathy Weseluck ("A Canterlot Wedding - Part 1"), Rebecca Husain ("Amending Fences")^{Foreign VAs}Ikumi Nakagami (Japanese)

A blue unicorn^note also appears as an Earth pony in "Friendship is Magic, part 1", "Boast Busters", "Winter Wrap Up", "Fall Weather Friends", ""Suited for Success", and "Green Isn't Your Color"; Twilight Sparkle's flashback during "The Cutie Mark Chronicles" additionally shows her as an Earth pony with a half-gray/half-dark blue mane and an hourglass cutie mark. She was part of the trio of ponies that invited Twilight to a party in the pilot, making her one of the first background ponies to appear in the series and the Ensemble Dark Horse of that little group. While she didn't speak then, she eventually got a few lines in the Season 2 finale. According to her collector cards, she "is always on time with the help of some magic!"

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• All There in the Manual: Her collector◊ cards◊ reveal that she "is always on time with the help of some magic!"
• Color-Coded Wizardry: Her magic aura is shown as blue in the play in "Hearth's Warming Eve" and as pink in "A Canterlot Wedding - Part 2".
• Curtains Match the Window: Her eyes match half of her mane in the show and all of her mane in the Blind Bags.
• Fandom Nod: Invoked several times.
  • In Hasbro's Comic-Con 2011 poster/desktop background, she is seen showing an unique "dentist's smile" not shared by any of the other characters.
  • In "Luna Eclipsed" she wore a pink surgeon's uniform (complete with a head mirror, a stethoscope and a medical mask). It's unknown what type of surgeon she was supposed to be but it's possible that she was dressed as a dental surgeon^note dentists use stethoscopes to check if the patient has any other illnesses or disease so that it won't interfere with the operation or even worse: worsen the patient's medical condition due to lack of foresight.
  • Her series 2 card makes nod to fans' Time Lord portrayals of her (stating "some ponies say she's good enough to lord over time itself"), as well as dental-related portrayals of her (mentioning "her bright, shining smile" and stating "This is one pony you can't just brush aside").
  • In "Pinkie Pride" a blink-and-you-miss-it moment in flashback reveals she wore braces as a filly, the only one to do so.
• Genki Girl: She's VERY upbeat in "Amending Fences" — it's no wonder she and Pinkie Pie are friends...
• Jerkass Ball: She snubs Pinkie and Saffron Marsala's pitch to eat at Saffron's restaurant like her friends. Comes off as more noteworthy since "Amending Fences" establish she and Pinkie are friends so it seems arbitrary.
• Motor Mouth: She's overjoyed to see Twilight again in "Amending Fences" and barely lets her get a word in while catching up. In addition, she has the most spoken lines out of the three.
• Nice Girl: Even when Twilight left Canterlot without a word, Minuette didn't hold it against her, and treats her like a good friend the instant she comes back into her life. Minuette is also unfailingly polite around Moondancer in spite of her antisocial behavior, and constantly does her best to spin awkward moments into lighthearted jokes.
• One Degree of Separation: Twilight Sparkle didn't know that Minuette and Pinkie Pie were already friends. Minuette visits Ponyville often and was a bridesmaid at Cadance's wedding.
• Punny Name: As part of her overall time theme, her name is similar to the word "minute" (fitting her hourglass cutie mark and her punctuality).
• Suddenly Voiced: Minuette has no clear lines until "A Canterlot Wedding – Part 1".
• Vocal Dissonance: Her voice in "Trade Ya!" sounds male.

The Canterlot Royal Guard

^{Click here to see Luna's pegasus guard}

^{Click here to see a Canterlot Library nighttime unicorn guard}

A post-season 8 guardsmare

Normal Pegasus Guards' Debut: "Friendship is Magic, part 1"
Unicorn Guards' Debut: "The Cutie Mark Chronicles"
Bat-Winged Pegasus Guards' Debut: "Luna Eclipsed"
Earth Pony Guards' Debut: "A Canterlot Wedding – Part 1"
Female Guards' Debut: "School Raze – Part 2"

Voiced by: Jayson Thiessen (in "A Bird in the Hoof" and "It's About Time")^note according to these two tweets by Jayson Thiessen, Peter New (Grey Royal Guard 2 in "Princess Twilight Sparkle – Part 1") and Andrew Francis (in "The Crystal Empire – Part 1")

Canterlot's defenders who serve under Shining Armor. These armored stallions show up wherever Canterlot needs extra security and also serve as the Princesses' personal bodyguards. Pegasus guards are usually seen escorting the princesses or as royal flying carriage pullers. Unicorn guards are generally seen around Canterlot and performing some ceremonial procedures. Earth pony guards are hardly ever seen; only a few have appeared.

The guards are composed entirely of stallions for the majority of the show's run, but female guards debut in the Season 8 finale and continue to appear alongside their male counterparts through Season 9.

For your pleasure, there now also is a fictional Forces with Firepower page for the Royal Guard.

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• Audible Sharpness: Their wings. The second season gives us evidence that pegasus wings can be that sharp.
• Bat People: Luna's chariot pullers are a peculiar variant of this, being essentially the bat people equivalent in a world of sapient equines — in their case, they're pegasi with bat wings, tufted ears and slit pupils, and are seemingly associated with the Princess of the Night.
• Bodyguarding a Badass: They are often seen serving as personal guards or armed escort for the Princesses, who are extremely powerful physically and magically and easily outclass them.
• British Royal Guards: They act like this at times. In "A Bird in the Hoof" Rainbow Dash tries to get a couple of them to react, making small talk and funny faces. The guards don't respond to her at all, causing Rainbow to admit defeat (and boredom), noting that they're good — too good. They react instantly, however, when Fluttershy tries to get past them until Twilight Sparkle vouches for her. At the end of the episode, Rainbow Dash convinces Philomena to tickle the guards' noses, finally getting them to laugh.
• The Cavalry: In the Season 8 finale, while they don't stop Cozy Glow's plot, they do stop her from pulling a Villain: Exit, Stage Left, arrest her, and eventually lead her off to Tartarus under Luna's command.
• Color-Coded Wizardry: Yellow-green, light blue, or bright yellow for "normal" unicorn guards, silver gray for the Canterlot Archives unicorn guards.
• Creator Cameo: The Pegasi in "A Bird in the Hoof" and one unicorn in "It's About Time" are voiced by director Jayson Thiessen.
• Dark Is Not Evil: In addition to the bat-winged pegasus guards, the nighttime Canterlot Library guards have darker armor than their gold-armored counterparts.
• Desperately Needs Orders: Downplayed, but in "Princess Twilight Sparkle - Part 1", the first thing they do after Princess Celestia and Princess Luna disappear is ask Twilight what to do. Justified: they may or may not be able to act independently, but if Luna and Celestia suddenly disappear, it would make sense for them to take orders from the next in the line of succession.
• Evil Counterpart:
  • Luna's royal guards and carriage. Although they're just evil-looking rather than genuinely evil.
  • The changelings are genuinely evil counterparts. In "A Canterlot Wedding" and "To Where and Back Again", some of them are shown wearing armor with the same color scheme as the bat-winged guards.
• Good Wings, Evil Wings: The pegasi that brought Luna into Ponyville have bat wings instead of the usual bird wings.
• The Guards Must Be Crazy: Whenever they are seen guarding something (be it pets, archives, the city of Canterlot, the Crystal Empire palace, the Princesses, an empty hallway, etc.), one can count on them failing spectacularly at it.
• Mildly Military: They can't fight their way out of a soggy paper bag and nicking off for a snack in the middle of guard duty is A-O-K.
• Militaries Are Useless: Along with the examples under both The Guards Must Be Crazy and Redshirt Army, it's shown in the Season 4 opener that they're completely helpless order-wise without a Princess to point out their tasks. They don't even have their own command. Possibly averted starting in Season 8; they have a new commander — former Pillar hero Flash Magnus — and even manage to be part of The Cavalry.
• Palette Swap: With the exception of the night guards, who have different manes and armor, the royal guard all use the same Flash model as each other with either wings or a horn added for the pegasus and unicorn guards. Both the pegasus and unicorn models are usually recolored to be either gray-brown with a white mane or white with a blue mane, but other recolors — such as a few all-white guards from "A Canterlot Wedding", the russet, tan and green guards from "Rarity Investigates", and the brown, gray and blue guards from "School Raze" — show up from time to time.
• Praetorian Guard: They serve as the Princesses' personal bodyguards.
• The Quiet One: They only talk when necessary, which is rare in the show.
• Red Shirt Army:
  • They try to subdue Nightmare Moon in the pilot, but are subdued themselves.
  • Again in "A Canterlot Wedding – Part 2" where they are quickly slimed into submission by the changeling army.
  • And again, in the Season 4 finale, where Discord even finds the time to tease them beforehand.
• Serious Business: You will almost always see them wearing a serious face whenever they appear. Ceremonial duty is very important you know. Averted by one of the guards in the Canterlot library who catches Twilight sneaking around in "It's About Time"; he cheerfully greets her and opens a door for her before going on his way.
• Winged Unicorn: One of Twilight Sparkle's flashbacks during "A Canterlot Wedding – Part 1" shows three guards (two light, one dark) with unicorn horns and pegasus wings; storyboard artist Sabrina Alberghetti said that this was a Blooper.invoked
• You ALL Look Familiar: For most of the show, the guards all look identical to one another within a limited number of designs — white pegasi with blue manes, brown unicorns with white manes and grey unicorns with white manes. This holds true for the first eight seasons with minor exceptions but is averted in "School Raze" and Season 9, where female guards first appear and the stallions are often depicted with unique color palettes.

Hoity Toity

Who is responsible for this?

Debut: "Suited for Success"

Voiced by: Trevor Devall^note according to this interview with Trevor Devall^{Foreign VAs}Nobuo Tobita (Japanese)

The owner of the Best of the Best Boutique in Canterlot, Hoity Toity is a rather important figure in Equestria's fashion scene.

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• Brutal Honesty: He absolutely crushes Rarity during her first fashion show.
• The Cameo: He pops up in the audience during Fashion Week in "Rarity Takes Manehattan".
• Caustic Critic:
  • He's appalled by the second batch of dresses Rarity made and makes no secret of it, though Rarity herself considered them the ugliest dresses she'd ever made and was deeply embarrassed with having to show them to him. He's considerably more positive when convinced to give her original designs a chance and exuberantly praises Rarity afterwards and places a rush order for a dozen of each.
  • "Honest Apple" implies that he's normally not like this as he has much more praise for the three up-and-coming designers in Rarity's fashion show.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's merciless if somepony's designs are not up to his standards. However, if he thinks they have legitimate talent, he will do everything in his power to help them.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Based on fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld... white hair in a ponytail, sunglasses, high starched collar and a hand fan for a cutie mark... but with a heavy Long Island Lockjaw inflection to his voice, making him sound like actor Jim Backus.
• Odd Friendship: While not really seen, some sources have said that he and Spike are friendly acquaintances.
• Spell My Name With An S: His name is spelled as "Hoity-Toity" on the cover of a Hoof Beat magazine in the Lone Star Comics variant Cover RE◊ of the upcoming Issue #1 of IDW's comic books.

Sapphire Shores

SENSATIONAL!

First Appearance: "A Dog and Pony Show"
Full Debut: "For Whom the Sweetie Belle Toils"

Voiced by: Rena Anakwe^note according to Rena Anakwe's resume^{Foreign VAs}Nao Fujita (Japanese)

The Pony of Pop, Sapphire Shores appeared at Carousel Boutique one day, having read about Rarity's fashion designs. She was so impressed with a Gem-Encrusted outfit on display that she bought it on the spot and ordered five others similar to it. She has since kept Rarity on retainer as her favorite designer.

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• Alliterative Name: Sapphire Shores.
• All There in the Manual: Her molded toy and collector card◊ reveal her cutie mark and (in the card's case) the facts that she "loves to collect pretty seashells" and "is quietly kind."
• Chewing the Scenery: She's been known to overact at times, primarily when she gets excited.
• Control Freak: She's fair, but she works her crew hard to get the performance just right.
• Dolphins, Dolphins Everywhere: Her spirit animal is one of these.
• Even the Girls Want Her: She has that effect on ponies.
• Expy: Averted; a G3 Sapphire Shores exists only in the toyline, but this one looks nothing like her. (Mind you, her unique design means she looks nothing like her own toy, either.)
• Informed Attribute: Despite being known as the Pony of Pop, she doesn't sing so much as a note during either of her appearances.
• Nice Girl: She's very exuberant and a little self-absorbed, but she does seem to be genuinely friendly.
• The Perfectionist: Wants everything just right for her performance.
• You Don't Look Like You: Her molded toy and collector card◊ (from the fifth wave of the Blind Bags) both depict her as a differently colored unicorn Palette Swap of Twilight Sparkle. This is particularly odd because in the show, she's an Earth Pony.

Fancy Pants

Debut: "Sweet and Elite"

Voiced by: Trevor Devall^note according to this interview with him^{Foreign VAs}Kenyuu Horiuchi (Japanese)

An important and influential business unicorn in Canterlot. He befriends Rarity in the episode "Sweet and Elite" and introduces her to high society life. He makes a small cameo in "A Canterlot Wedding – Part 2", with Rarity, and later appears in Ponyville in "Too Many Pinkie Pies". His next major speaking role is in "Princess Spike", where he's head of the Canterlot delegation for the Grand Equestrian Pony Summit.

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• Blue Blood: Rarity refers to him as the top of Canterlot's elite.
• The Cameo:
  • He makes an inexplicable visit to Ponyville in "Too Many Pinkie Pies".
  • He appears again alongside Fleur during the musical number in "Rarity Takes Manehattan".
  • He's visible in the audience in "Horse Play", sitting in the first row next to Fleur de Lis and Princess Luna.
• Dashingly Dapper Derby: He wears one of these in "Too Many Pinkie Pies".
• High-Class Glass: It makes him look all the more refined; he adjusts it with his unicorn magic.
• Jerkass Ball: A very, very minor example in "Between Dark and Dawn" when he and his committee are told the Mane Six don't need their help for the "Royal Swanifying" ceremony; while Fancy Pants is a bit ruder and snootier than usual, given that he was introduced as a more sensible high society pony who didn't mind more common things, and rudely comments on Rarity's choice of decor. In his defense it's apparently a pretty big event he usually organizes that the Mane Six clumsily kept him out of, and he still basically just gently tells them they aren't expected to do all of this alone.
• Expy: Oh John Cleese.
• Jerkass Has a Point: While he didn't take having his offer of help refused very well, Fancy Pants was right that the Princesses don't do everything themselves, and delegate tasks to other.
• Meaningful Name: "Fancy pants" is a common term to describe members of the upper class.
• Nice Guy: Unlike most high-society ponies, he was quite nice to Rarity the whole time and even complimented the simple dress she made for Twilight. That being said, like any other pony/person, even he has limits, like when Spike accidentally causes trouble in "Princess Spike".
• Non-Indicative Name: He doesn't even wear pants let alone a fancy pair...
• Only Sane Man: Gives off this vibe during "Princess Spike" once he learns that "Princess Twilight" had stopped a bunch of public works he had ordered specifically to avoid having a disaster during the Canterlot summit, the same disaster that caused him to get beaten back by a tidal wave that had accumulated in the meeting hall.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: According to Rarity, he has a hegemony on Canterlot's upper class and most (if not all) of its members look to him for cues. He is the first to acknowledge Rarity's sophistication and this catapults her into the upper class spotlight.
• Sharp-Dressed Man: He always wears a classy suit.
• Stealth Pun: His cutie mark is three crowns, referencing Triple Crown horse racing among other classy things.
• Uncle Pennybags: He finds the Mane Six not named Rarity "charmingly rustic", and he's pretty humble otherwise.

Sassy Saddles

Buttons and bowties!

Debut: "Canterlot Boutique"

Voiced by: Kelly Sheridan

A unicorn Rarity hired as manager of her new Canterlot Carousel shop to help everything get ready for its grand opening. She has a multi-point plan to bring the boutique much business and success. Unfortunately, it comes at a price.

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• Added Alliterative Appeal: Her exclamations tend to be alliterative and related to fashion terms, such as "Buttons and bowties!"
• Alliterative Name: Sassy Saddles.
• The Cameo:
  • She makes a brief appearance in the movie during the song "We Got This Together".
  • She is briefly seen at the Canterlot fashion show in "Fake It 'Til You Make It".
• Control Freak: She spends a good part of her debut episode taking orders, changing dress names, and managing Rarity's boutique without actually consulting Rarity herself. She realizes how this ended up harming the boutique's success in the end, and promises to run the shop by Rarity's rules from now on.
• Expy: Of Emily Blunt, or rather her character Emily Charlton in The Devil Wears Prada.
• Heel Realization: Near the end of "Canterlot Boutique," she realizes that her business structure was wrong because it did not bring everypony happiness. She apologizes to Rarity for all the problems she's caused and Rarity, being the Element of Generosity, forgives her and gives her another chance as branch manager of Canterlot Carousel. In "Rarity Investigates!", she and Rarity are getting along much better.
• Hidden Depths: When Rarity announces she's going to shut down Canterlot Carousel, Sassy laments that she can't be part of "another" failed boutique, implying she's seen this happen many times before. This would explain why she's so desperate for success and so risk-averse.
• Hypercompetent Sidekick: Played with. She does inadvertently push around her employer, but her experience does serve the boutique (mostly) well. And she proves to have input that Rarity can't ignore and displays a showmanship that Rarity is glad to play off at a fashion exhibition.
• It's All About Me: Slightly, but when she takes in another 100 orders for the princess dress and suggests mass producing it, she let's slip it'll be the success of Sassy Saddles' Boutique. To which at that point, Rarity brings her back to reality, correcting Sassy that it's her shop.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Despite overstepping her bounds with her employer in her enthusiasm for the boutique's prosperity, it's clear from the get-go she does want what's best for the store and believes that her methods will benefit Rarity in the long run. When she's proven wrong, she's humbled and willing to learn from her mistakes.
• Noodle Incident: When Rarity announces she’s closing down shop, she panics over being part of another failed boutique.
• Obliviously Evil: While evil might be stretching it — "Obliviously Selfish" might work better — she doesn't seem to realize just how selfish she is and how damaging she can be.
• Promotion to Opening Titles: She appears in the opening of season 8 during Rarity's line.
• Severely Specialized Store: Turns Canterlot Carousel into this as she has Rarity, a celebrated dressmaker, make copies of the same dress two hundred times and relentlessly markets it while ignoring other designs or variations.
• Shout-Out: Her exclamations are specialized versions of Trumpkin's.
• Unusual Euphemism: She seems to like two-word, alliterative ones related to fashion terms.
• Villainy-Free Villain: Sassy isn't exactly a malicious enemy or a serious villain. She is just a hard-to-work-with employee who gets into conflict with Rarity over creative differences on running the boutique.

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The Wonderbolts

In General

First Mention: "Friendship is Magic, part 1"
Full Debut: "The Ticket Master"

The most talented flyers in all of Equestria and Rainbow Dash's idols. The Wonderbolts perform at the Grand Galloping Gala every year and also served as celebrity judges for the Best Young Flyer Competition in Cloudsdale. The organization itself was founded one year after Princess Luna's banishment to the moon. As a result, they have quite a long and storied history.

According to the official guidebook the team has at least twelve members: Blaze, Fire Streak, Fleetfoot, High Winds, Lightning Streak, Misty Fly, Rapidfire, Silver Lining, Soarin, Spitfire, Surprise and Wave Chill. Only eleven have thus far been seen, though.

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• Adaptation Name Change: One of The Hub's alternate stories of how Rainbow Dash got her cutie mark refers to them as the Blue Thunders.
• Badass Adorable: They're the equivalent of a military group in Equestria who also operate as stunt fliers and a rescue team... and are still adorable ponies underneath those flight suits.
• Badass in Distress:
  • Very briefly in "Sonic Rainboom" when Rarity punches them during their attempt to save her from falling to death.
  • Again in "Secret to My Excess", though the situation is somewhat less dire.
• Big Damn Heroes: In addition to being performers, they're Equestria's rescue team as seen in "Sonic Rainboom" and "Secret of My Excess". Too bad they fail in both situations. They finally get a successful chance in "Party Pooped".
• Cool Mask: The headpiece of their uniforms cover most of their face except for the eyes and muzzle; as shown here◊ it is a separate piece than the rest of the uniform.
• Cool Shades: Their dress uniforms come with these.
• Embarrassing Nickname: Many of the Wonderbolts have these, often earned for some screwup on their first day as Wonderbolts. Soarin' is "Clipper". Fleetfoot is "Flatfoot". Misty Fly is "Daisy". Surprise is "Slowpoke". High Winds is "Hoof-in-Mouth". Spitfire's nickname is so embarrassing she refuses to say it out loud.
• The Faceless: Prior to Season 6, most of the team is always seen in their uniforms which cover their faces and their eyes are always covered by their goggles, leaving only their muzzles visible. Only Spitfire, Soarin, and Fleetfoot were seen out of uniform at that point, but the rest of the team has briefly been seen out of uniform now as well.
• Glass Cannon: They are incredibly fast and agile, and at full speed their wings can cut through dragon scales like knife through butter, but a single hit from Rarity was enough to send three of them plummeting to their (almost) death.
• Iconic Outfit: They're instantly recognizable by their blue and gold flight suits.
• Latex Space Suit: What their blue uniforms appear to be.
• Mildly Military: It's implied they're part of Equestria's military force, but never how. The group is inspired by the Blue Angels and the Thunderbirds, and one needs to undergo extensive training to join them. "Testing Testing 1, 2, 3" reveals that the Wonderbolts were originally formed from members of the E.U.P. Guard, an organization formed after Luna's banishment to protect Celestia, and their past leaders bore military ranks. That episode also revealed that entering the Wonderbolts Reserves does not require entering Equestria's military. The closest real world comparison is probably NASA, a civilian organization that has some military personnel and ties.
• Nice Guy: They are superfamous celebrities, but they keep a humble attitude and are openly friendly towards their fans; in fact, they were the only nice ponies around during the Grand Galloping Gala. Besides Rarity, they were the only guests who didn't think themselves were too good for Applejack's apple treats.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: The Wonderbolts are likely based on the US Navy Blue Angels, resembling them in colour scheme, profession and flying style, while their name recalls the Thunderbirds.
• No Name Given: All of them except Soarin, Spitfire, Fleetfoot, Rapidfire, Misty Fly, Blaze and Surprise.
• Opaque Lenses: Their goggles, which appear as solid blue circles that completely obscure their eyes.
• Orange/Blue Contrast: Besides their uniforms, which contrast blue with bright yellow, the color schemes of most ponies in the Wonderbolts focus primarily on orange-spectrum colors, blue-spectrum colors, or both. This is especially visible with Spitfire and Soarin', the two most prominent Wonderbolts and the ones who get most speaking parts. Spitfire has a bright yellow coat and a fiery orange mane, while Soarin's has an icy blue coat with a navy mane.
• Promotion to Opening Titles: Several of them appear during the season 8 opening, flying with Rainbow Dash.
• Put on a Bus: One member, Fire Streak, ended up retiring from the team. This is what allowed Rainbow Dash to finally have a spot.
• Razor Wings: In "Secret of My Excess", a flyby by Blaze, High Winds and Surprise proves their wings to be sharp enough to shave a dragon's spines.
• Running Gag: In most episodes where the Wonderbolts have an important role, there had been somepony falling and needing to be saved; in all these cases, Rainbow Dash had been the rescuer, or part of the rescuers if this is done by more than one pegasus.
• Spell My Name With An S: Whether their name is two words or one. "Wonderbolts" is used in the title of the episode "Wonderbolts Academy", on Spitfire, Misty Fly & Soarin's collector cards◊ (as a trademark), in Enterplay's trading cards (in the front of the Spitfire and Soarin card◊'s case, as a trademark), in Ruckus Media Group's iOS app Twilight Sparkle: Teacher for a Day, in Gameloft's My Little Pony game, on Hasbro's My Little Pony Facebook and Twitter pages and in a response◊ by the company's customer service, on The Hub's Facebook page, in Mighty Fine's merchandise and listings of & advertising for said merchandise, in a tweet by show creator Lauren Faust, as well as in six tweets by writer Amy Keating Rogers, while "Wonder Bolts" is used on the Miniature Collection toy sets' boxes (as a trademark), in the British magazine story "The Ticket Master" (a Novelization of the episode of the same name), by Hasbro's My Little Pony Facebook page, as well as by writer M.A. Larson. "WonderBolts" has been used in a tweet by writer Meghan McCarthy.
• What Happened to the Mouse?:
  • Six Wonderbolts performed an acrobatic stunt before the start of the Best Young Flyer Competition. Three of them (Spitfre, Soarin, and Misty Fly) sat in the stands and were the only ones who tried to rescue Rarity later in the episode. The other three (Silver Zoom, Blaze, and Fire Streak) flew off the top of the screen and weren't seen again.
  • Again in the Season 1 finale "Best Night Ever", we don't see what happens to Spitfire and Soarin after Rainbow Dash catches the statue. There's also all the other Wonderbolts who Rainbow Dash might've had better luck hanging out with, though her focusing on Spitfire and Soarin makes sense in hindsight now that we know Spitfire is the captain and Soarin may be second in command.
• The Worf Effect: For such an elite group, they have an abysmal track record of doing anything useful in dangerous situations.

Spitfire

"Will it be hard? Yes! Will you cry? Maybe. Will you fly so much your wings fall off? That has only happened once."

Well, ain't she hot?

First Appearance: "Sonic Rainboom"
Full Debut: "The Best Night Ever"

Voiced by: Nicole Oliver (in "Sonic Rainboom"),^note according to these two tweets respectively by Kelly Metzger and Jayson Thiessen Kelly Metzger^{Foreign VAs}Yumi Uchiyama (Japanese)

A yellow pegasus mare with a fiery-looking mane, Spitfire is the leader of the Wonderbolts. Brash and abrasive, Spitfire constantly pushes her fellow Wonderbolts and the recruits with the personality of a Drill Sergeant Nasty, as she loves "yelling and blowing her whistle." However, she has a laid-back and easygoing personality when she's not in uniform.

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• Beneath the Mask: Friends Forever 11 shows what Spitfire's like when she's not busy leading the Wonderbolts, and she has some considerable Hidden Depths.
• Broken Ace: Revealed in Friends Forever 11. Spitfire's only method for leading is to shout and criticize her recruits, and when she can't do that (like say, because it's a pack of kids), she has no idea how to command and completely loses her nerve. Rainbow lampshades "everypony's got a few flaws" when Spitfire expresses her regret at having this problem. She also reveals she initially didn't want to leader the Wonderbolts, because leadership sounded boring — she just found out she was good at it via her Drill Sergeant Nasty routine, and she sticks to that because it's all she knows.
• Broken Pedestal: Briefly becomes one for Rainbow Dash in "Wonderbolts Academy" when she seemingly rewards Lightning Dust for her recklessness by naming her The Leader. It doesn't last long, as Spitfire chases after her to give the response that Rainbow Dash (being too angry and frustrated with her at the time) didn't stick around for.
• The Cameo: At the end of "Twilight's Kingdom - Part 2", along with the rest of the ponies who gave the Mane Six their keys.
• The Captain: Of the Wonderbolts, as revealed in "Hurricane Fluttershy".
• Child Hater: Played with. She doesn't hate kids, but she can't deal with them because she can't be her usual Drill Sergeant Nasty self to children. Friends Forever 11 focuses on her and Rainbow teaching a bunch of young pegasi, and Spitfire completely freezes up and has no idea what to do. She eventually does try that routine with them because it's all she knows, and she makes them burst into tears. In "The Washouts", when Rainbow Dash asks her to convince Scootaloo not to join the titular stunt team, she screams in Scootaloo's face for a couple of minutes, not accomplishing much other than freaking Scootaloo out.
• A Day in the Limelight: The Friends Forever comic series not only makes her the protagonist of issue 11, but expands her personality and backstory considerably.
• Design Student's Orgasm: Her cutie mark is unusually complex compared to those of other characters.
• Drill Sergeant Nasty: At the Wonderbolt Academy, she likes to intimidate new recruits. Friends Forever 11 has her tell Rainbow that she acts this way because she knows they can take it, and they know she's only doing it because she wants to make them the best fliers they can be. Which isn't to say she doesn't personally enjoy getting to yell and blow her whistle.
• Dub Name Change: She's named Saetta (one word for "Lightning Bolt") in the Italian dub, starting from Season 5.
• Embarrassing Nickname: Has one that is so bad that it's not said out loud and she instead whispers it in Dash's ear. The popular theory is that it's not appropriate for a show for little girls.
• Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: Spitfire's known to be a hard-nosed Drill Sergeant Nasty on the job, but when she's deceived into believing that her mother is ill with pegasitis in "Rarity Investigates!", she doesn't hesitate to travel in search of a medicinal mountain iris in spite of the plant's extreme scarcity during springtime.
• Fiery Redhead: Generally averted, except when training cadets.
• Flaming Hair: Spitfire's mane and tail resemble blazing flames.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She is generally a nice pony (at least when she's not training potential recruits) but her view of how one should be the best causes her to act questionably at times, such as initially rewarding the sociopathic Lightning Dust for her performances despite her treating her fellow cadets like fodder to do so. Also, Spitfire once outright lied about Soarin's condition to try to get Rainbow Dash to join her team. She is, however, also willing to listen to reason, and if somepony points out that she's crossing the line, then she's quick to see the error of her ways. Revealed in Friends Forever 11 that she's actually a perfectly nice and pleasant pony in private, but when she's commanding, the only way she knows to motivate and lead the Wonderbolts is to be a Drill Sergeant Nasty.
• Large Ham: If you don't think so, you'll be "IN A FULL-BODY WING AND HOOF CAST, DRINKING THROUGH A STRAW!!!!!!"
• Meaningful Name: She is named after the WW2-era Supermarine Spitfire Fighter Plane (perhaps the most iconic plane of the whole war).
• Once a Season: She has a supporting role and speaking lines in at least one episode every season.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Friends Forever 11 has her trying to teach kids how to fly, but she's not used to taking care of kids. Seeing Spitfire of all ponies hiding behind Rainbow Dash and shrinking into corners unable to talk really hammers home how terrified she is of the situation.
• Pride: Downplayed. Her biggest vice is by far her ego, occasionally willing to fudge the rules or outright lie if it means being the best. However, she's quick to reign it in when called on it. As a character trait, even though being a tough but fair commander is part of her job, she admits to enjoying yelling and blowing her whistle.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: In "Wonderbolt Academy", Rainbow Dash can't argue with her logic in making Lightning Dust the leader and her the wingpony ("You'll be an unstoppable team"), but when Lightning Dust reveals her disregard for the safety of others, she demotes Dust and puts the more levelheaded Dash in her place.
• Same Character, But Different: In her appearances during the first two seasons, she appears fairly laid-back and friendly, especially towards Rainbow Dash (who saved her life when they first met in person). In Season 3 she's a tough-as-nails — though still reasonable — drill instructor who throws insults at new Wonderbolt cadets, Dash being no exception. Justified since they are at a boot camp whereas she was more or less off-duty in earlier appearances, so it is just a front she puts up on the job, and Spitfire has no reason to go soft on her savior.
• She's a Man in Japan: She's a stallion in Poland — possibly in the Polish dub. She has a male voice in both "Sonic Rainboom" and "The Best Night Ever", but it might just be an extreme case of Cross-Dressing Voices. In "Hurricane Fluttershy", she is voiced by a woman.
• The Un-Reveal: At the end of "Newbie Dash", the Wonderbolts all reveal their own embarrassing nicknames to Rainbow Dash, but we don't learn Spitfire's because she only whispers it to Rainbow. Though according to them, we don't want to know it and it is the worst of them all.
• Vocal Evolution: After Kelly Metzger takes up the role, her voice goes from relatively mid-pitched in "The Best Night Ever" to higher-pitched and raspy in "Wonderbolts Academy".
• You Don't Look Like You: Her and Soarin's trading card lists her cutie mark as the lightning bolt symbol shown on the female Wonderbolts' flight suits (like how Soarin's cutie mark is the winged lightning bolt symbol shown on the male Wonderbolts' flight suits), but "Wonderbolts Academy" reveals that it's a phoenix-like bunch of flames.
• You Do Not Want To Know: She says this to Rainbow Dash about her own embarrassing nickname, right before whispering it into her ear.
  Rainbow Dash: Whoa! That is way worse than "Crash!"
  Spitfire: Right?

Soarin

He loves pies.

First Appearance: "The Ticket Master"
Full Debut: "The Best Night Ever"

Voiced by: Matt Hill^note according to this tweet by Matt Hill^{Foreign VAs}Yoshiyuki Shimozuma (Japanese)

Despite his goofy personality, Soarin' is one of the best fliers in Equestria. He makes a small cameo in "A Canterlot Wedding – Part 2", dancing with Rainbow Dash and out of his flight suit to boot, instead wearing a uniform that implies he's second-in-command. He's getting a partly-translucent toy◊ in Blind Bag Wave 7.

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• All There in the Manual: His and Spitfire's trading card confirms that pie is his Trademark Favorite Food.
• Art Evolution: A minor bit, but his cutie mark was first shown to just be the same as what's on his Wonderbolts uniform. A later appearance in "Rainbow Falls" updated it to resemble a lightning bolt striking some clouds.
• Big Eater: According to his teammate Spitfire, he always gets hungry after a performance. When he finds Applejack's food cart, he goes absolutely nuts for one of her apple pies. This has led to Shipping between the two. And Soarin literally eats like a horse.
• Big Word Shout: "MYYYYYYYYYYY PIIIIIIEEEEEE!"
• Distracted by the Sexy: Gets into an accident in "Rainbow Falls" due to being distracted by cheerleaders.
• Dub Name Change: He's named Fulmine (one word for "Lightning Bolt") in the Italian dub.
• Embarrassing Nickname: "Clipper", from the time he clipped his wing on a flagpole on his first day as a Wonderbolt.
• Keet: He's extremely friendly and really likes pies.
• Named After the Injury: His team nickname is Clipper due to the fact he clipped his wing on a flagpole during his first day of training.
• Nice Guy: Of the Wonderbolts who've been characterized in the series, he's consistently nice and friendly, and fair when he has to take charge. Meanwhile, Spitfire, while most times a friendly enough mare and a Reasonable Authority Figure, isn't above letting the idea and drives of being the best overtake her until called on it. In contrast, Fleetfoot is just plain smug. His nice guy image is slightly tarnished by giving into peer pressure when Rainbow Dash earned her unfortunate nickname "Rainbow Crash", although this is later reveled to not be malicious, just good-natured ribbing that all Wonderbolts, himself included, went through when they joined.
• Number Two: Soarin seems nice and silly in most of his appearance. However, it was shown in "Rarity Investigates!" that he's capable of taking command when needed and does a good job delegating duties and controlling the situation. He's hinted to be the second-in-command of the Wonderbolts, a position that they don't give to just anyone.
• Overshadowed by Awesome: The comics reveal that he doesn't believe he's that talented, and that he only got as far as he has through hard work. As a result Spitfire trying to replace him with Rainbow Dash during the Equestria Games made him even more insecure, as it made him realize he's now destined to be overshadowed by yet another ludicrously talented teammate.
• The One Guy: Downplayed. While he isn't the only stallion on the team, he's been the only prominent one with a supporting role. Possibly subverted now that Thunderlane's also part of the Wonderbolts as of "Parental Glideance".
• Reasonable Authority Figure: When Spitfire is sent on a wild goose chase in "Rarity Investigates!", the normally laid-back Soarin makes it clear that he will have to ban Rainbow Dash from the Wonderbolts if she is found to be responsible, but at the same time is willing to give her the opportunity to prove herself innocent.
• Spell My Name With An S: His name was originally spelled "Soarin'" with an apostrophe, and this spelling has been used by Enterplay's trading card set and Mighty Fine's apparel, but Hasbro's Blind Bags and Gameloft's My Little Pony game have since spelled it "Soarin" without the apostrophe.
• Sweet Tooth: Soarin has a big one for Applejack's pie, considering how fast he eats it at the Grand Galloping Gala.
• Tuckerization: He was named after Amy Keating Rogers' son Soren. Rogers was the writer for "The Best Night Ever", which featured the Wonderbolts.
• Vague Age: The bags under his eyes make him look middle-aged, but his voice makes it sounds like he's in his early 20s. They could signify his anxiety over his Wonderbolt duties. But given he looks about the same age as Rainbow Dash, Spitfire and Fleetfoot, he's probably middle-aged.
• Vocal Dissonance: He sounds younger than the bags under his eyes imply he is.
• You Don't Look Like You: His toy uses the same mold as the female Wonderbolts' toys, only being indicated as male by sporting the male Wonderbolts' winged lightning bolt symbol rather than the female Wonderbolts' plain lightning bolt symbol.

Fleetfoot

Not everyone can fly with the winners.

First Appearance: "The Best Night Ever"

Voiced by: Andrea Libman

A blue pegasus with a mostly white mane with a streak of light blue in it and a cutie mark of a horseshoe. She's apparently one of the smaller Wonderbolts, but makes up for it with great speed. She wins the derby in "Sweet and Elite". In the comics, she develops a crush on Big Macintosh after being hit by some fireworks and crashing into him at a festival.

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• Art Evolution: She had Twilight’s eye design in her first few appearances, but since "Newbie Dash" she has Rainbow's eye design and color.
• Ascended Extra: She is only briefly mentioned and could only be identified via a Freeze-Frame Bonus in "Sweet and Elite", but shows up in "Rainbow Falls" as a major character.
• Depending on the Artist: IDW Publishing's Friendship is Magic comic book issue #9 reveals her eye color and her cutie mark... which gets subsequently retconned by the episode "Rainbow Falls". Even after this looks the comics published after have retained her alternative green-eyed look.
• Embarrassing Nickname: "Flatfoot". On her first day as a Wonderbolt she misjudged a landing and came down right on Spitfire's hoof.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: How she's identified. In "Sweet and Elite" its announced she's the winner of the race, however it's hard to tell which Wonderbolt is Fleetfoot since they move so fast. Pausing at the right moment reveals she's the blue, white-maned Wonderbolt.
• Informed Attribute: She's describe as small in "Sweet and Elite", but has the same character model as other mares.
• Love at First Sight: In the IDW comic, she instantly falls for Big Mac when she first sees him, though the concussion she got may have helped.
• Ms. Vice Girl: Like Spitfire, she has a real problem with her pride and ego, but not so much that she won't admit if she's screwed up by doing something questionable after being called out on it compared to the regular jerks and bullies that show up in FIM.
• Smug Super: She's one of the fastest Wonderbolts and has no problem showing that off. In "Rainbow Falls", both she and Spitfire are adamant about winning the Equestria Games competition, seeing themselves as natural winners and anyone less skilled as a liability to be dropped as quickly as possible, though Fleetfoot is about five times as blunt about it. Even the comic, which instead plays her up as an adorable Stalker with a Crush, still has a bit of this; Fleetfoot has an Imagine Spot of marrying Big Macintosh and resigning from the Wonderbolts which leads them to disband, the imaginary newspaper headline saying, "There's no point without the best flyer ever!"
• Speech Impediment: Talks with a slight lisp.
• Stalker with a Crush: #10 of the comic portrays her as this to Big Mac.
• You Don't Look Like You:
  • She's playable in Gameloft's My Little Pony game, though her mane is solid light blue, has blue wings, and a white nose and ears. Preview demos had the white, blonde-maned Wonderbolt incorrectly labeled as Fleetfoot, so her model may have been changed late in development to closer match the show's Fleetfoot.
  • The comic and cartoon adaptations notably differ in appearances. In the cartoon she has purple eyes and in the comic they're green. While her cutie mark consists of a horseshoe in both, the cartoon portrays it as a black one diving down and reaching a sonic boom the comic one instead shows it as a yellow one with wings. However, the comics have started portraying her with her TV show look.

Surprise

First Appearance: "The Ticket Master"

Voiced by: Claire Corlett

A white pegasus mare with a yellow mane. She resembles Surprise◊, an early design of Pinkie Pie (based on G1 Surprise) with three purple balloons for cutie mark and purple eyes.

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• All There in the Script: Enterplay's Collectible Card Game eventually gave◊ her the same name, after The Elements of Harmony guidebook listed the name as belonging to a then-unspecified Wonderbolt. She's notably the first Wonderbolt to get a toy, though she's unnamed there.
• Ascended Extra: She's the first Wonderbolt to get a toy. She's even on the banner at Comic Con◊, among main characters and fan favorites with Spitfire & Soarin nowhere in sight!
• Depending on the Artist: In "Secret of My Excess" (her only Season 2 appearance), she has a noticeably darker mane than in her other appearances (in the show, the Expanded Universe, the toy line, and The Merch).
• Embarrassing Nickname: During her first day of practice, she was in an incident that ended up with her earning the nickname "Slowpoke", though we don't know the full backstory.
• Expy: Surprise was a G1 pony.
• Lawyer-Friendly Cameo: Hasbro doesn't have trademark rights to the name "Surprise" anymore, so she can never actually be called that in official products (except the trading card game with some fan input). Notably, in her speaking appearance in "Newbie Dash" she's credited only as "Wonderbolt 1," and when she's seen out of uniform briefly in the episode it's from the top half only due to her sitting up in bed, so her cutie mark is unseen.
• Suddenly Voiced: After five seasons she has a few speaking lines in the 6th season episode "Newbie Dash."

Misty Fly

First Appearance: "Sonic Rainboom"

Voiced by: Kelly Sheridan

A light yellow pegasus mare with a bright electric blue mane. She's the third member of the trio of judges who try to rescue Rarity in "Sonic Rainboom", along with Spitfire and Soarin. She's getting a partly-translucent toy◊ in Blind Bag Wave 7. She's also been featured on a couple of pieces of The Merch; 80sTees has identified her as Fleetfoot, but this appears to be a case of Cowboy BeBop at His Computer.

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• All There in the Manual: This page from the UK comics shows what her eyes look like without her goggles on. The TV series subsequently Josses this.
• Ascended Extra: After being absent for two seasons she not only reappears and is named in "Rarity Investigates!" but gets the most amount of lines after Spitfire and Soarin.
• Demoted to Extra: In the season 1 episode "Sonic Rainboom" she joined Spitfire and Soarin as part of the main Wonderbolt trio judging the Best Young Flier Competition. After that, and for the next few seasons, she was only spotted briefly in the background a few times, while Fleetfoot took over her "trio" spot alongside Spitfire and Soarin. However, Misty Fly finally regains some prominence in the fifth season with a minor supporting role in "Rarity Investigates!".
• Embarrassing Nickname: During her first day of practice, she was in an incident that ended up with her earning the nickname "Dizzy", though like with Surprise we don't know the full backstory.
• When She Smiles: While most of the time she's seen without her goggles on she has an annoyed or sarcastic look on her face, she gives a pretty cute smile when she starts laughing with Twilight at the end of "Top Bolt."
• You Don't Look Like You: Her collector card depicts her as a Palette Swap of Spitfire.

Thunderlane

Debut & Speaking Appearance: "Hurricane Fluttershy"

First major role: "Marks and Recreation"

Voiced by: Trevor Devall

A pegasus stallion from Ponyville and Rumble's big brother, Thunderlane is friendly and a great flyer even if Rainbow Dash is suspicious of him being lazy. He initially works alongside Rainbow Dash on the weather team in "Hurricane Fluttershy", eventually enters the Wonderbolt Academy alongside her, and becomes the second of the recruits to be a full-fledged member by "Parental Glideance".

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• The Ace: He pulls the initial highest "wingpower" of the pegasi in "Hurricane Fluttershy", and part of the reason the tornado doesn't make it is it's losing his 10.7 power. He's one of the Wonderbolt recruits alongside Rainbow Dash in "Wonderbolts Academy", the second new arrival on the team by "Parental Glideance", and later proves to be adept at cooking and many other activities in "Marks and Recreation", making him one of the more noticeable ones outside of the Mane 6.
• Ascended Extra: After mostly appearing in the background and having an occasional line in a few episodes, he ends up playing a major supporting role in "Marks and Recreation."
• Continuity Nod: Thunderlane was seen in Wonderbolt attire for a second in "Parental Glideance". Him joining the team ends up playing a part in Rumble's reason for not wanting a Cutie Mark in "Marks and Recreation".
• Cool Big Bro: To Rumble. Thunderlane clearly cares for him a great deal, and Rumble in turn greatly admires and looks up to his Wonderbolt elder brother.
• Dark Is Not Evil: The only pony among the good guys with a darker coat than his is Luna. Thunderlane, however, is affable, supportive, and friendly in all of his appearances.
• Everyone Went to School Together: According to the comics◊ Thunderlane attended Canterlot High, and was a year below Shining Armor and Cadance along with Soarin and Lyra.
• Foreshadowing:
  • Thunderlane's coughing on "Hurricane Fluttershy". Rainbow Dash thought it was an attempt at skipping the event. It proved to be a disastrous mistake as we later learn that his coughing was actually real. He was infected with a highly contagious disease known as the "feather flu" and it has managed to infect eight other ponies costing Ponyville the prize they were aiming for and almost causing the cancellation of the event itself if it weren't for Rainbow Dash's determination and Fluttershy's timely assistance (however small it may have been).
  • In "Marks and Recreation", it's Thunderlane's comment that sets Rumble up for his philosophy that cutie marks are limiting. When he drops Rumble off at the CMC's day camp, however, Thunderlane doing good at the horseshoe toss is the first instance against that philosophy, as well as he himself needing to gently break the aesop to his little brother by the end of the episode.
• Friend to All Children: He obviously cares for his little brother, but he also gets along very well with the other campers at the CMC's camp, and they seem to enjoy him getting in on the activities towards the end.
• Hero of Another Story: Thunderlane seems to have gone on his own journey of becoming a Wonderbolt like Rainbow Dash did. He starts off training at the Wonderbolts Academy with her, and becomes a full member by the time of "Parental Glidance", the second of their academic cohort to make it on the team.
• Hidden Depths: Besides having a talent for stunt flying and being a Wonderbolt, Thunderlane is also an excellent cook.
• Nice Guy: Thunderlane's easy-going and friendly, supporting Rainbow Dash and the rest of the Ponyville relay team in "Rainbow Falls", a Friend to All Children, and enough of a team player to be selected as a Wonderbolt.
• Lazy Bum: Rainbow Dash spends most of "Hurricane Fluttershy" convinced that Thunderlane's planning to shirk his duty to raise a hurricane. She's wrong this time, but given she works with him on a regular basis, her suspicions may have good grounding.
• Motif: Thunderlane's character design (dark gray coat and a thunder cloud cutie mark) pretty much tells you that something bad's going to happen. Averted later on, when Thunderlane's a pretty nice character and willingly helps out.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: In "Marks and Recreation", once things get out-of-hoof at the CMC's camp due to Rumble, Thunderlane steps in as a guest for the day and gently gets things back on track simply by being a Nice Guy who encourages the defectors to at least try the CMC's camp activities while disproving Rumble's anti-cutie mark philosophy.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom:
  • Eight pegasi — including himself — come down with the Feather Flu because Rainbow Dash thought his coughing was to get out of tornado duty in "Hurricane Fluttershy". Not only does this render Ponyville nowhere near able to break the wingpower record, the tornado is missing the 10 wingpower he alone could have provided, and wouldn't have made it at all if it weren't for Fluttershy stepping in when it looked too late.
  • He accidentally sets Rumble on his anti-cutie mark crusade with an offhand comment about how he can't remain a blank flank forever and a slight misunderstanding of exactly how much his little brother idolized him and wanted to follow in his hoofsteps of being a Wonderbolt in "Marks and Recreation".

Rainbow Dash

See Friendship Is Magic: Rainbow Dash.

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Other Equestrian Residents

Steven Magnet the Sea Serpent

Fabulous

Debut: "Friendship is Magic, part 2"

Voiced by: Lee Tockar^{Foreign VAs}Hiroshi Iwasaki (Japanese)

A large purple-scaled Sea Serpent with orange hair, encountered in "Friendship is Magic, part 2". His thrashing made a river uncrossable, blocking the ponies' progress. He's not a villain, though; he was simply distressed that a "tacky little cloud" had sliced off his perfect mustache. Not about to let such a crime against "fabulosity" go unanswered, Rarity came to his aid and the ponies were graciously allowed to cross. His drama queen antics and metrosexual mindset gave him a notoriety among fans who dubbed him "Steven Magnet" after a hilariously bad YouTube auto-caption, and this Fan Nickname has since become Ascended Fanon due to the toyline making it his official All There in the Script name. Finally, in the Season Five episode "Slice of Life", he introduces himself by that name when first meeting Matilda at the Ponyville Spa.

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• Advertised Extra: Despite only appearing in two episodes so far (the second and the 100th), he's been in 3 different commercials (even saying his "It's so true!" line in the two American ones): the Hub commercial seen here, this commercial, and the British Boomerang commercial announcing the show's UK premiere.
• All There in the Manual: His trading card, the show's script, and a tweet by one of the show's writers all call him a sea serpent/monster, even though he's only shown in the river, though a later tweet by the same writer calls him a river serpent. His trading card also mentions that he has a magnetic personality (referencing his name, which wasn't yet Ascended Fanon when the card was made).invoked
• All There in the Script: The Elements of Harmony Friends◊ character collection set names him Steven Magnet.invoked
• Ascended Extra: He gets a molded toy in an molded toy from an Elements of Harmony Friends◊ character collection set.
• Ascended Fanon:invoked His voice actor adopted his fan name as his actual name, saying it just fit.
• Audible Sharpness: His scales do this if you pluck one off.
• Camp: Steven Magnet is absolutely fabulous. He's pinkish-purple, speaks in an effeminate voice, and cries when his fabulous mustache is ruined.
• Character Development: When we first meet Steven he's crying a river because his mustache was chopped in half. Come Cranky's wedding, he willingly cuts his mustache for Cranky to use as a toupee.
• The Dandy: As much as possible for a naked scaled serpent and something only Rarity understands. Even his name, Steven Magnet, sounds like something out of a gay porno.
• Fashionable Asymmetry: Averted when he only has half a mustache. Played straight after Rarity's assistance; while he does have a whole mustache, one half is orange and straight-haired and the other is purple and curled.
• Felony Misdemeanor: Nopony but Rarity takes his dilemma seriously.
• Gentle Giant: He's massive in size compared to a pony (or donkey), but he sure is friendly.
• Hero of Another Story: He and Cranky apparently had great adventures together.
• Large Ham: His crying is enough to turn the river into an impassable torrent.
• Nice Guy: He is a nice guy, he helps the Mane Six cross the river and he cuts half of his mustache for Cranky to use as a new wig.
• No Name Given: At least in his original episode. The fanbase dubbed him "Steven Magnet" after the product◊ of YouTube's questionable auto-transcribe feature, which became his official name five seasons after his first appearance.
• Non-Mammalian Hair: He's a reptile; why does he have a mustache in the first place?
• Odd Friendship: He's apparently friends with Cranky Doodle Donkey. Close enough to be his best man, erm, sea serpent at the later's wedding.
• Rent-a-Zilla: It's a wonder how he fits into that river.
• Reptiles Are Abhorrent: Inverted, he's a good guy.
• Sea Serpents: He's a classic sea serpent, just in a river instead, and possessing arms and both cranial and facial hair. In "Slice of Life", he even refers to himself as Cranky's "best monster" rather than best man.
• Your Size May Vary: His molded toy from the Elements of Harmony Friends◊ character collection set is on a much smaller scale than the ponies' equivalent molded toys.

Photo Finish

I, Photo Finish, have arrived!

Debut: "Green Isn't Your Color"

Voiced by: Tabitha St. Germain^{Foreign VAs}Rikako Aikawa (Japanese)

A famous fashion photographer obsessed with looking for the next big star in fashion.

She has a human counterpart in the Equestria Girls universe; go to her specific entry for tropes pertaining to the Human Photo Finish.

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• Ascended Glitch: She has the same cutie mark as Twilight Sparkle. This was originally just one of the show'sinvoked Bloopers, but her and Hoity Toity's trading card ran with it. The toyline later corrects her cutie mark to a two-color camera shutter.
• The Cameo:
  • She shows up at the same art show as Rarity in Season 2 during Rarity's song in "Sweet and Elite".
  • She later appears in the opening to Season 4 to take the group photo. She also shows up among the Fashion Week audience alongside Hoity Toity and Sapphire Shores in "Rarity Takes Manehattan" during the same season.
  • She also appears at the very end of "Crusaders of the Lost Marks", once again taking a group photo that is sent to Celestia.
  • She makes an appearance in the beginning of the movie during "We Got This Together", when she becomes one of the Storm King's prisoners, and at the end during Songbird Serenade's song "Rainbow".
• Cool Shades: Never seen without them, much like Hoity Toity. We don't see her push them up once until "Honest Apple", which reveals that her eyes are dark purple.
• Incoming Ham: "I! Photo Finish... HAVE ARRIVED!!"
• Funny Foreigner: Speaks with a vaguely German accent. Either it's a Shout-Out to The Incredibles' Edna Mode or maybe Karl Lagerfeld's accent that Hoity Toity didn't have was transferred to her.
• Large Ham: Every sentence is a declarative statement and often accompanied by cameras flashing.
• Leitmotif: Which plays whenever she's on screen.
• Moe: In-Universe: She is a huge fan of this, as evidenced in her debut episode. All of the pictures she takes of Fluttershy specifically are her looking either shy, downcast or otherwise "I need a hug."
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Her pageboy haircut and sunglasses make her a caricature of Anna Wintour, the famously bitchy and eccentric editor-in-chief of Vogue. Fans calling her "Pony Gaga" can be chalked up to Small Reference Pools. The oversized sunglasses and white mane give her an alarming resemblance to The Fame album cover.
• Palette Swap: Of Twilight Sparkle, sans the lack of a horn. Their manes and tails are styled the same way (except Photo Finish's are entirely gray). This point is reinforced by the fact Photo Finish was accidentally shown to have Twilight's cutie mark in her debut episode.
• Promotion to Opening Titles: Starting with the Season 4 premiere, Photo Finish is the one to take the picture that is sent to Celestia at the end of the opening sequence.
• Punny Name: "Photo finish" is a term originating in horse racing for race finishes that are so close that they take a photograph to determine who won.
• Third-Person Person: Er, pony. She makes a lot of "I, Photo Finish" statements.
• Too Important to Walk: She has a pair of porters who carry her around on a platform everywhere she goes. This is even lampshaded in "Honest Apple" when Hoity Toity is hitching a ride on her platform:
  Hoity Toity: I'm going to have to get one of these!
  Photo Finish: It is the only way to travel!

Sheriff Silverstar

"All right now, I called for a meetin', not a mob scene."

Debut: "Over a Barrel"

Voiced by: Brian Drummond^note according to this tweet by Brian Drummond^{Foreign VAs}Yoji Ueda (Japanese)

An earth pony and the sheriff of the newly-founded town of Appleloosa.

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• Alliterative Name: Counting his title, he's Sheriff Silverstar.
• Face Death with Dignity: In the climax of "Over a Barrel", when Chief Thunderhooves is charging him down and he's all out of pies, he simply takes off his hat and closes his eyes, calmly accepting his apparent fate.
• Hat of Authority: He wears a black cowboy hat with a red band. It's very visually distinctive among the other Appleloosans, who either go hatless or have more generic hats or bonnets, and makes it easy to pick him out as the authority in charge of the town.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: He's the leader of the town of Appleloosa and its main upholder of the law, and appears to be a voice of reason among his townsponies. In "Appleoosa's Most Wanted", he's the one who tells the other Appleloosans to calm down when they go for the Torches and Pitchforks upon hearing Troubleshoes' around, and he's skeptical at first of Applejack and Braeburn's claim that Troubleshoes kidnapped the CMC — supposed criminal he may be, but he'd never done anything that bad. In the end, he still sets out to catch him when he decides he doesn't want to gamble with three fillies' safety and the goodwill of a supposed criminal.
• The Sheriff: He's the chief law enforcer and authority figure for a small, Wild West type frontier town. He's got the star-shaped badge to go with it — it's his cutie mark, too — and even if "Sheriff" isn't part of his actual name, "Silverstar" is quite a fitting name for a Wild West sheriff.

Cherry Jubilee

Debut: "The Last Roundup"

Voiced by: Sylvia Zaradic^note according to this tweet by Jim Miller^{Foreign VAs}Fumi Hirano (Japanese)

An enterprising earth pony who owns Cherry Hill Ranch, a cherry orchard and processing factory in the town of Dodge Junction. Evidently a fan of rodeos, as this is where she met Applejack.

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• Benevolent Boss: Her introduction scene is her bragging on Applejack's behalf of how many ribbons Applejack won. Also, we can assume she wasn't too mad about the mess that the Mane Six caused.
• Expy: We've heard the name before, with G1 Cherries Jubilee.
• Meaningful Name: Cherry Jubilee farms and sells cherries.
• Nice Girl: One of the more friendlier mares in the Ranch especially to Applejack.
• Sleepy Head: After pulling an all-nighter to count all the cherries in her latest shipment, she falls asleep as her carriage is headed for a ravine. Luckily Pinkie is there to stop it, though not before throwing water on her face and banging on a pot both fail to wake her up.
• Toyless Toyline Character: She has yet to receive a toy release in any form.

Daring Do

Rainbow Dash's favorite pony besides the Wonderbolts.

Debut: "Read It and Weep"

Voiced by: Chiara Zanni^{Foreign VAs}Minami Takayama (Japanese)

Daring Do is an archaeologist pegasus with yellow fur and a grayscale mane who is the heroine of the adventurous tale of Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Stone as well as many other titles, a series of books anypony can enjoy.

Daring Do is actually a real pony, as shown in "Daring Don't". Her adventures actually happened and she recounts them in her novel series under the pen name (or maybe it's the other way around) "A.K. Yearling".

There's also a highly detailed fictional Daring Do work page if you are interested.

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• Adventurer Archaeologist: Considering who she's an Expy of, it comes with the territory. "Another day, another dungeon."
• Adventurer Outfit: Complete with pith helmet.
• Alliterative Name: Daring Do Dazzle.
• All There in the Script: She is called "Daring Do Dazzle" in the toyline; specifically, in the Miniature Collection's Daring Pony Story Set.
• Ambiguous Situation: It's never been made clear whether Daring Do is her true identity and A.K. Yearling is just her writing pseudonym, or if she actually is A.K. Yearling and Daring Do is a cover she uses while adventuring.
• Badass Adorable: This is a given considering she's a Palette Swap of Rainbow Dash.
• Badass Bookworm: An archeologist and author that can battle several big cats at once.
• Brought Down to Badass: In Quest for the Sapphire Stone, she loses her ability to fly and becomes Indiana Jones. Flying and she would be almost too good to work as an adventurer archaeologist.
• Character Name and the Noun Phrase: How the titles of her books work.
• Charles Atlas Superpower: Her adventurous lifestyle had made her much tougher than the average pony; she recovers quite fast from most injuries, and when she can't escape a death trap by skill, she can do it by sheer strength and determination.
• Create Your Own Villain: It is briefly discussed that Dr. Caballeron originally wanted to join her on her adventures as her partner, but she told him no. This resulted in him becoming one of her Arch-Enemies and growing to hate her instead. The exact details of how or why she refused his offer are not explained, but given her old I Work Alone attitude, it is likely she was not very gentle with her rejection.
• Destructive Saviour: Her adventuring helps the greater good by keeping relics of great magical power out of the hooves of those who seek to misuse them, but it does come with a substantial amount of collateral damage to the local region.
• Determinator: Nothing's going to stop her from getting the Sapphire Relic.
• Escape Artist: She's extremely good at escaping death traps. Even when Rainbow Dash had to help her escape from one, Daring was already half-way out.
• Expy: Ponydom's answer to Indiana Jones mixed with a bit of Lara Croft. Interestingly, a even more blatant pony version of Jones appears in "Shadow Play". After the events of "Daring Doubt", she also has a bit of Nathan Drake in her being a thief who steals less for the sake of the artifacts and more for her own ego.
• Foe Romance Subtext: She invokes this in one of her encounters against her enemy Ahuizotl to mess with him. When he angrily demands she give him the Ring of Destiny, she mockingly starts flirting with him, acting like it was a marriage proposal and the ring he is demanding is their engagement ring. Rainbow Dash gets a chuckle out of it.
  Ahuizotl: The ring, Daring Do! Give it to me!
  Daring Do: Now, Ahuizotl, you know I love you, but I can't give you the ring till I've properly proposed.
• Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal: Bush shirt and pith helmet, but that's it.
• Handicapped Badass: In Quest for the Sapphire Stone, her right wing was injured in a crash, rendering her unable to fly.
• Heroic BSoD: She suffers one for most of "Daring Done?" when she realizes how her adventuring has damaged other ponies lives, nearly giving up adventuring because of it. She manages to get over it when Dr. Caballeron puts Rainbow in danger, and resolves to take more responsibility for the damages she causes during her adventures.
• Hero Insurance: Apparently Daring Do doesn't have it, which is what causes the conflict in "Daring Done?" when the residents of a village her adventures took her to got fed up with her wrecking their property and statues while fighting the bad guys. She ends up deciding to pay for the damages herself.
• Hero of Another Story: Literally. She's the author of an autobiographical series that happens usually separately from the main show.
• Hero with Bad Publicity:
  • In "Daring Done?", she is treated as a menace in the village of Somnambula for the trouble and mayhem she brings with her, such as destroying a statue of Somnambula herself. Of course, Dr. Caballeron takes advantage of this by framing Daring Do for stealing glowpaz gems and the citizens find no reason to doubt him.
  • "Daring Doubt" completely ruins Daring Do’s reputation in the public eye once again when Dr. Caballeron starts publishing novels about her adventures that emphasize the destruction she tends to inflict on the sites she visits, in addition to revealing that she keeps the treasures she "rescues" locked up at her house.
• I Work Alone: Her attitude to Rainbow Dash at first, but she warms up in the end.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Daring comes across as aloof, cynical, and distrusting of others, but at the end, she does warm up a bit to Rainbow Dash.
• Meaningful Name: She is a Doer of Daring Things. Also, probably a pun on derring-do, which she is prone to.
• Palette Swap: Of Rainbow Dash, down to leaving a greyscale rainbow trail behind her when she flies.
• Pen Name: Either Daring's pen name is A.K. Yearling or Daring is just her alias.
• Real After All: Her adventures are actually autobiographical and not a work of fiction.
• The Reveal: "Daring Doubt" contains two major revelations about Daring Do's character.
  • The first is that she doesn't donate the treasures she finds to a museum, but instead locks them up at her home in a private collection.
  • The second reveals that she was, however inadvertently, stealing artifacts from Ahuizotl, who was charged with protecting them from thieves, rather than being a heroic Adventurer Archaeologist. In her defense, Daring Do really stopped Caballeron from selling several of those dangerous relics to ponies that would have used them for evil.
• Shout-Out: A. K. Yearling, author of a popular series of novels, sounds suspiciously like the author of another famous series of novels...
• Spell My Name With An S: "Daring Do" is the trademarked^note (in Real Life, not In-Universe) spelling used on her and Mare Do Well's trading card, the Another day, another dungeon trading card, on the shirt Daring Do, and G.M. Berrow's The Daring Do Adventure Collection book set but "Daring-Do" is the spelling used on the cover of Quest for the Sapphire Stone (shown in legible form on her and Mare Do Well's trading card and on the shirt Daring-Do Cover).
• Thematic Rogues Gallery: Downplayed, but implied; our encounters with her enemies in the series imply a "South American" motif to her usual opponents — her nemesis is Ahuizotl (an Aztec river monster), her villainous rival is Dr. Caballeron (a name which at least sounds "Spanish", and Spanish is the primary language in South America), and season 6 has an encounter with the Cipactli (another Aztec water monster) who guards a treasure.
• Tomboy: Much like Rainbow Dash; she is a fierce Adventurer Archaeologist always ready to leap into action.
• Took a Level in Kindness: In "Daring Don't", she's rather abrasive and doesn't want help even when Rainbow Dash is offering help in dire straits. By the time of "Stranger than Fan Fiction", she is okay both with Dash's fangirl status and with working with her and Quibble Pants to escape from Dr. Caballeron. By "Daring Done?", Daring even notes Dash is her friend and willingly accepts (and is thankful for) her help in clearing her name.
• A True Story in My Universe: About as explicit as they come. Daring Do writes about her own adventures under a pen name and publishes them as a novel series in-universe.
• Villain with Good Publicity: Downplayed, but The Reveal from "Daring Doubt" is that Ahuizotl was never actually the bad guy, but the rightful guardian of the various magical treasures — Daring Do just decided she had the right to steal them, because she was a pony and Ahuizotl was some kind of monster, and her semi-fictionalized accounts of her actions made Equestrians think of her as a hero.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: "Daring Doubt" shows that she was actually the bad guy all along in her conflict with Ahuizotl, but the magical truth-telling necklaces confirm that she genuinely believed she was saving magical artifacts from a monster who planned to misuse them. She also sincerely believed that hoarding what she recovered in her own home was the best possible way for her to keep guard over them, since she didn't trust Equestrian museum security to properly look after them.

Ms. Harshwhinny

First Mention: "Just for Sidekicks"
Debut: "Games Ponies Play"

Voiced by: Veena Sood

The Head of the Equestria Games, who also acts as its official inspector and judge.

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• Art Evolution: At least within "Flight to the Finish", the animators spent extra time to give her more exaggerated mouth movements to accent her proper enunciation and Stuffy Brit mannerisms.
• Being Personal Isn't Professional: Her raison d'être; she makes other ponies who work with her follow the same mindset. Thankfully, she's not immune to breaking her own rules.
• Butt-Monkey: In "Games Ponies Play", she gets passed over in favor of a stranger who happens to fit the very vague description of her. Then she gets splashed by a sidewalk puddle twice, while carrying her heavy luggage.
• The Comically Serious: She's a serious mare, which makes her funny when surrounded by silliness.
• Iron Lady: She takes her job very, very seriously. However, the Mane Six, the CMC, and Spike have managed to draw out her more friendly or fun-loving side on separate occasions.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She's stuffy and no-nonsense most of the time, but is also easily moved by how hospitable the Mane Six were to Ms. Peachbottom, and is considerably less stern to Spike during the closing ceremony of the Equestria Games.
• Last-Name Basis: She repeatedly addresses other characters by their last names, if they have last names (e.g., Rainbow Dash is "Miss Dash", Spike the Dragon is "Mister the Dragon").
• Meaningful Name: She's a pony, so when she speaks, she technically whinnies. She's also a very grouchy and surly Deadpan Snarker.
• Not So Above It All: In "Flight to the Finish", she tries to keep Rainbow Dash from geeking out over her role as Equestria Games coach, only to do exactly the same when she first sees the CMC's flag-carrying routine.
• Power Hair: It is close cut.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Despite being unintentionally humiliated by the Mane Six's antics in "Games Ponies Play", and even knowing who's responsible, she still takes their kindness towards a complete stranger into consideration in her decision to name the Crystal Empire the host of the Equestria Games.
• Stuffy Brit: Speaks with an exaggerated Received Pronunciation accent.

Coco Pommel

Debut: "Rarity Takes Manehattan"

Voiced by: Cathy Weseluck

A rising star in the Manehattan theater community and formerly the long-suffering assistant to fashion designer Suri Polomare, Rarity's rival during Fashion Week.

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• '20s Bob Haircut: Manehattan being at least somewhat based on '20s-'40s New York, it's fitting.
• Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal: The below-mentioned hair clip and (unusually for a female character) a collar.
• Beleaguered Assistant: Suri is abrasive and ungrateful of all the work she does on Suri's behalf.
• The Cameo:
  • At the end of "Twilight's Kingdom – Part 2", along with the rest of the ponies who gave the Mane Six their keys.
  • She can also be seen in one shot attending the Equestria Games.
  • She is also seen in the movie during "We Got This Together" and at the end during Songbird Serenade's song "Rainbow".
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: After her last major appearance in "The Saddle Row Review", she was relegated to the background.
• Curtains Match the Window: Blue eyes and a blue mane.
• Distaff Counterpart: Being a put-upon and highly competent assistant to another character, she's basically Spike the dragon as a female pony, except with a much meaner boss. They even share a voice actress.
• Heel–Face Turn: Quits working for Suri after seeing the Mane Six's friendship and deciding Suri's "every pony for herself" attitude is wrong. She's rewarded by being given a job working for Rarity's costume designer friend on his next project.
• Heel Realization: She's touched by how generous Rarity and her friends are towards each other, inspiring her to quit her job.
• Hypercompetent Sidekick: She's actually the one doing all the work Suri got credit for.
• Important Hair Accessory: Her flower-shaped hair clip, which was given to her by her old mentor Charity Kindheart for her work in community theatre as a filly.
• Innocent Blue Eyes: They show her inner goodness and naivety. They also match her mane.
• Literal-Minded: In "Made in Manehattan", when Rarity and Applejack are offering to help her.
  Applejack: You bet your boots we will!
  Coco: Oh, I don't wear boots. I find they chafe my calves when I walk.
  Applejack: It's just an expression.
• Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: All that abuse certainly contributed to the Heel–Face Turn.
• Nice Girl: Outgoing, friendly, and very considerate.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Her name is a reference to designer Coco Chanel... and the Chanel estate took notice.
• Puppy-Dog Eyes: During her time as Suri's assistant, she was often seen with a face that makes her look like a kicked puppy.
• Shy Blue-Haired Girl: A retiring young mare with a cyan mane and tail.
• Sick Episode: Although it's not the focus, Coco spends her appearance in "The Saddle Row Review" battling a nasty cold.
• Sudden Name Change: A slight one. In "The Saddle Row Review", Rarity addresses her as Miss Pommel rather than Coco. Jim Miller tweeted that the change was made for "legal reasons" — most likely because of the Coco Chanel take-off noted above.
• Tareme Eyes: Just like Fluttershy, they reflect how kind-hearted she can be.
• True Blue Femininity: Her mane and tail are cyan with light cyan strands and is a soft-spoken fashion designer.

Cheese Sandwich

The super-duper party pony, that pony is ME!

Debut: "Pinkie Pride"

Voiced by: "Weird Al" Yankovic

The self-proclaimed "super duper party pony" who travels Equestria to throw the biggest, most spectacular parties wherever they're needed. He shows up in Ponyville in "Pinkie Pride" where he unintentionally runs afoul of Pinkie Pie, the town's resident party planner, and returns in "The Last Laugh" when Pinkie visits his newly-opened gag factory.

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• The Ace: He's a party pony who manages to out-party Pinkie Pie and manages to instantly befriend all of the ponies in Ponyville.
• Always Someone Better:
  • This is how Pinkie Pie feels about him. It turns out that he also feels this way towards Pinkie to a certain extent, as she's the type of party-planner he aspired to be in the first place.
  • "The Last Laugh" also reveals that, while everyone still considers him the best Party Planner, Cheese openly admits that Pinkie is funnier than even him.
• Anti-Villain: To call him a villain at all would be a stretch, as his cheerful and pleasant demeanor are genuine, and he shares Pinkie's creed of sharing the joy he experienced as a colt to others, albeit on a grander scale. Pinkie butts heads with him merely because she's afraid his charisma will lure her friends away from her, and the only reason he agrees to Pinkie's "goof-off" at all is because goof-offs are Serious Business. That, and she called him "boneless".
• Ascended Fan: Is this to Pinkie Pie. He went from being inspired by her to become a party pony, to becoming good enough to rival her in it, to becoming one of her friends, to eventually becoming her husband.
• Babies Ever After: In the series finale, he has a foal with Pinkie Pie.
• Badass Cape: Being a Clint Eastwood parody, he has the poncho to boot.
• Break the Comedian: In the final season, he's lost his sense of humor entirely after leading a company that specializes in manufacturing gag items, due to the monotony of seeing the same joke over and over again, and Pinkie is tasked with helping him get it back. She succeeds.
• Broken Ace: His back story reveals his ability to make great parties came from a young Pinkie Pie who inspired him to break out of his shyness and eventually make friends.
• The Bus Came Back: After having a non-speaking cameo in "Twilight's Kingdom — Part 2" and The Movie, Cheese Sandwich finally returns with a speaking role in "The Last Laugh".
• The Cameo:
  • At the end of "Twilight's Kingdom – Part 2", along with the rest of the ponies who gave the Mane Six their keys.
  • He also makes a brief appearance in the movie during "We Got This Together".
  • In "The Last Problem", he is seen with Pinkie riding on top of Gummy.
• Companion Cube: He has a rubber chicken named Boneless, who he talks to regularly. It was one of the rubber chickens Pinkie Pie dropped during her juggling act at one of her parties when they were both young. He also has a backup chicken named Boneless 2 after giving Boneless 1 away to Pinkie.
• The Drifter: When not in "party mode", he's a parody of this archetype. It's no coincidence he's introduced just leaving Appleloosa, Equestria's version of The Wild West.
• Friendless Background: His own overwhelming shyness as a colt prevented him from making friends and was depressed until he saw one of Pinkie Pie's parties. Plus, his only companion was his rubber chicken.
• Friendly Rivalry: He and Pinkie Pie respect each other's talent as party ponies and get along quite well by the end of "Pinkie Pride", in contrast to many of the Mane Cast's other rivals.
• Fun Personified: He gives Pinkie Pie a run for her money as being the super-duperiest partying-est pony of all, by Pinkie's own admission.
• Ham-to-Ham Combat: His "goof-off" with Pinkie consists of them constantly trying to one-up each other with a series of escalating, over the top cheery songs and party shenanigans.
• Happily Married: In the finale, he and Pinkie are married and they have a foal together.
• Hero Antagonist: He's a nice guy genuinely trying to make people smile like Pinkie does, but his Innocently Insensitive actions end up inadvertently undermining Pinkie's self-esteem.
• He's Back!: After spending most of "The Last Laugh" in a deep, humorless funk, Cheese recovers his true nature after inadvertently making a worker laugh with a Spoonerism.
• Infinite Supplies: You really gotta wonder what kind of budget Cheese has to throw his massive parties. Or really where he keeps it all.
• Ink-Suit Actor: Cheese Sandwich isn't merely "Weird Al" Yankovic in voice; he also has the curly brown hair (more in line with Al's "classic" look), the lanky stature, the dimples, the colorful shirt, the accordion, etc. Even his colt self has the huge, thick glasses Al wore when he was younger before getting corrective eye surgery.
• Innocently Insensitive: He doesn't mean to outshine Pinkie Pie at party throwing; he's just great at doing what they both love and gets swept up in all the attention.
• It's All My Fault: In #94-95 of the comics. After he and Pinkie explore a newly-formed sinkhole, Cheese accidentally brings a sound-nullifying moss up to the surface, which spreads like wildfire, rendering all of Canterlot silent. Cheese blames himself for all of this
• Keet: He claims to have been this ever since he was a colt, which raised some of his peers' eyebrows until he threw his first pony party. In truth he was actually a Shrinking Violet with a Friendless Background who resolved to change his life around after he attended his first party with Pinkie.
• Large Ham: He's either deadpan serious while still narrating about parties, or goofy and off-the-wall, enough to rival Pinkie.
• Leitmotif: In his "serious" persona, he's accompanied by Ennio Morricone Pastiche background music.
• Literal-Minded: In Issue #94 of the comics. When Pinkie suggests they stay away from anything "strange or magical", Cheese covers his eyes, telling Pinkie that she herself is strange and magical.
• More Dakka: Not only is his Cheese Supreme Cannonball Surprise bigger than Pinkie's party cannon and mounted on a tank, in The Movie he helps Pinkie build the gigantic Easy Bake Confetti Cake Cannon.
• My God, What Have I Done?: His reaction when he finds out he's upsetting Pinkie Pie and making her feel unneeded.
• Nice Guy: He's great with kids and adults, even letting a foal keep some free party decorations, and immediately sets to make amends with Pinkie when she becomes convinced Cheese is more welcome as Ponyville's party planner than she is.
• Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: He's half a parody of The Man With No Name, half an Ink-Suit Actor of "Weird Al" Yankovic... as a pony. He adds another half in "The Last Laugh" by being a parody of Steve Jobs.
• Nobody Calls Me "Chicken"!: "Right, Boneless?"
• Official Couple: In the series finale, he marries Pinkie Pie.
• Poor Communication Kills: In his defense, the info he withholds from everypony seems like a touchy subject matter for him to talk about, but had he sooner revealed to Pinkie Pie that she was his childhood idol and that he was hoping to impress her, she wouldn't have gone through so much grief thinking he was trying to take her place in Ponyville.
• Quirky Curls: He has a curly, bouncy mane and tail, making him look like his voice actor "Weird Al" Yankovic. It also gives him a certain resemblance to Pinkie.
• Reality Warper: Like Pinkie, he can break the laws of physics. He's shown stopping in midair, then later jumping into a picture during his introductory song, and he can move around off-screen faster than realism allows.
• The Rival: Pinkie declares him to be hers at party planning when he replaces her as the headliner for Rainbow Dash's birthday party.
• Rivals Team Up: After they work out their differences, he and Pinkie join forces to make an even bigger and better party than ever.
• Sad Clown: After extensively touring Equestria as a party pony in "The Last Laugh" he runs a factory to keep up with the demand for party favors, and has forgotten how to laugh. Pinkie helps him rediscover his laughter; after telling jokes to factory workers and mixing in some spoonerisms, he puts Sans Smirk in charge of the factory, bringing joy to ponies through personal interaction.
• Shout-Out: He's initially a parody of The Man with No Name.
• Spear Counterpart: He's a male Pinkie Pie in practically every aspect: both have similar curly manes, a passion for throwing parties, and a love of random silliness and music. He even has a "Cheesy Sense" that lets him sense whenever a party is being planned, much like Pinkie's Pinkie Sense. Justified as it was Pinkie herself who inspired him to be more like her as a colt.
• Spider-Sense: Just like how Pinkie has a Pinkie Sense to predict vague and immediate events, Cheese has a Cheesy Sense to detect where a party is needed and how epic it's going to have to be.
• Stepford Smiler: To a certain extent. It's clear that he still carries around some insecurity from his lonely childhood, which he lacks the confidence to be honest about until the situation demands it.
• Sugar-and-Ice Personality: He shifts between being, well, "Weird Al" Yankovic to a hardened Clint Eastwood-type character straight out of a certain Spaghetti Western film series at the drop of a hat. Even funnier is that he never stops talking about throwing parties while in his "Ice" personality.
• Superior Successor: After Pinkie admits he's the funniest party planner, she decides to let him take her place. It becomes a more literal trope when he reveals Pinkie was his original inspiration.
• The Unsmile: In "The Last Laugh", a depressed Cheese's attempt to smile ends up being a forced grimace whose only resemblance to an actual smile are that the teeth are bared and the corners of his mouth are pointing generally upwards.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: In comics Issues #94-95. When he and Pinkie decide to explore a newly-formed sinkhole in Canterlot, he accidentally steps in some of the Muffletta Moss and brings it up to the surface, where it grew out of control, nullifying all sound around Canterlot.
• Vague Age: While the real Weird Al is solidly into middle-age by the taping of "Pinkie Pride", Cheese Sandwich is very near in age to the Mane Six... although the Mane Six aren't given definite ages, either.
• Walking the Earth:
  • He roams Equestria looking for places in need of parties where he'll gladly lend his assistance. Naturally, he sets off on his way when his job in Ponyville is done.
  • In "The Last Laugh", it's revealed that he's settled down to open a gag factory. He eventually realizes that despite the factory's success, he's become miserable because he can no longer see ponies laugh at his gags firsthand, and at the end of the episode he goes back to roaming Equestria again while Sans Smirk runs the factory in his stead.

Equal Ponies

From left: Sugar Belle, Party Favor, Night Glider, and Double Diamond (after their restoration)

Debut: "The Cutie Map – Part 1"

Voiced by: Brian Drummond (Double Diamond), Samuel Vincent (Party Favor), Rebecca Shoichet (Sugar Belle and Night Glider)

A whole town full of ponies. They were once ordinary, but Starlight Glimmer made them give up their cutie marks — essentially their unique identities — and convinced them to adopt a lifestyle of mediocrity and sameness.

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• All There in the Script: Night Glider, the name of the dark blue pegasus who tells the Mane Six about the Staff of Sameness, is only given in the show's credits.
• Ascended Extra: Sugar Belle is given more focus than the others from Season 7 onwards, due to her relationship with Big Mac and eventual marriage to him. She even appears in the Season 8 intro.
• Big "NO!": In the movie, Party Favor wails out a long and heartfelt "no" when... Tempest Shadow's airship lands on one of his balloon animals.
  Party Favor: Brian, nooo!
• The Cameo:
  • Party Favor has a single speaking line in the 2017 movie. When Tempest's airship lands in Canterlot and flattens a balloon animal under its ramp, he briefly runs on screen to hammily mourn its loss.
  • Aside from episodes that focus on her specifically, Sugar Belle makes brief appearances in "It Isn't the Mane Thing About You" (outside Sweet Apple Acres with Big Mac), "Marks for Effort" (greeting Big Mac as he arrives for a date), and "The Washouts" (exiting the Washouts' show with Big Mac).
  • Party Favor makes a brief background appearance at the beginning of the Rainbow Roadtrip special, talking to one of the spa ponies in Ponyville.
  • Double Diamond, Party Favor and Night Glider briefly appear at the end of "The Big Mac Question", attending Big Mac and Sugar Belle's wedding.
• Chekhov's Gunman: The four pictured to the side in particular; Double Diamond is at first Number Two to Starlight, while the other three are ordinary townsfolk, albeit ones who secretly want their marks again. All four of them play pivotal roles in getting the mane six's cutie marks back and getting rid of Starlight.
• Demoted to Extra: They played a starring role in their debut, having equal if not greater role than the Mane Six in foiling Starlight Glimmer, with their later appearances being key parts of Starlight's redemption arc. Afterwards staring in Season 7 they, except Sugar Belle, only appeared as non-story important cameos.
• Demoted to Satellite Love Interest: Inverted for Sugar Belle. Starting with "Hard to Say Anything", the closest she gets to development is "in a relationship with Big Mac" which is still gave her far greater screentime, relevance, and development than the other Equal Ponies by that point.
• The Dog Bites Back: Starlight had them brainwashed, stole their talents and cutie marks, preached about how they should all be equal, locked them in a room whenever they showed hints of wanting to have their marks back... and then found herself on the receiving end of some payback when their marks are returned, her plan is foiled, and she gets run out of town.
• Edible Ammunition: While chasing Starlight down to get back the Mane Six's cutie marks, Sugar Belle magically forms a pie out of snow and hurls it at her.
• The Evils of Free Will: In their first appearance, Starlight has brainwashed them into believing that the individuality represented by Cutie Marks leads to conflict and broken friendships.
• Feminine Women Can Cook: Sugar Belle is the town's baker.
• Hammerspace: Party Favor gets his supply of balloons from the same place as Pinkie Pie.
• Heel–Face Turn: Double Diamond turns against Starlight along with the rest of the town when they discover she still hasn't removed her own cutie mark.
• I Choose to Stay: After running Starlight out of town, they decide to stay since it's the only home they have now.
• Lethal Chef: Sugar Belle is this without her cutie mark, causing Pinkie Pie, a proud Big Eater, to go green after eating her muffins. Once she recovers her original talent (baking delicious sweets), she becomes a Supreme Chef at the town-wide celebration.
• MacGyvering: Party Favor's talent is the ability to make seemingly anything out of balloons, and have them function just like the real thing.
• Meaningful Name: All of them, as normal, though Double Diamond's may be a bit obscure: in skiing, a double diamond route is the most difficult type and is only recommended for experts. His "Feel like an air drop?" line refers to a maneuver that only skiers good enough to run a double diamond course can pull off.
• Number Two: Double Diamond to Starlight Glimmer. He's the first to greet the Mane Six, personally monitors them during their visit, and carries out her orders out of town.
• Official Couple: Sugar Belle is this with Big Mac beginning in Season 7. They get Happily Married late in season 9.
• Promotion to Opening Titles: Sugar Belle is included in the intro sitting alongside Big Mac in Season 8.
• Quirky Curls: Party Favor and Sugar Belle have thick, curly manes and tails, somewhat like Pinkie Pie.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Sugar Belle calling out Starlight as the latter runs into the mountains carrying the Mane Six's cutie marks.
  Starlight Glimmer: Are you really so willing to give up everything because of these strangers?
  Sugar Belle: We gave up everything for you! Because we thought you were our friend!
• Second Love: Sugar Belle to Big Mac after Cheerilee, and she is the one who he officially wins over.
• Secret Police: Before his Heel–Face Turn, Double Diamond is a one-pony version of this as he watches the Mane Six behind his newpaper.
• Similar Squad: While lacking a few members, they have some similarities to the Mane Six after they get back their cutie marks. Night Glider bears more than a passing resemblance in role and looks to Rainbow Dash, while Party Favor is basically a male Pinkie Pie (which includes some logic-defiance with his balloons). While less obvious, Double Diamond and Sugar Belle draws parallels to Applejack and Rarity, with the former being the strong ones of the group while the latter being the ones who take pride in their work.
• Stepford Smiler: They constantly wear creepy, overly wide smiles when first introduced, tipping Pinkie off that something is seriously wrong with them.
• Supreme Chef: Sugar Belle's special talent is baking, but while equalized, the only things she can make are muffins that taste like cardboard. After being reunited with her cutie mark, she prepares a table of delicious pastries for the celebration at the end of "The Cutie Map — Part 2".
• Sweet Baker: Sugar Belle is kind, friendly, and, according to Big Mac, "sweeter than everything in her bakery".
• Yes-Man: All of them are forced to agree with Starlight on everything.

Spearhead

Debut: "Rarity Investigates!"

Voiced by: Brian Drummond (Rarity Investigates!), Jason Simpson (A Flurry of Emotions)

A pegasus friend of Shining Armor's from the Royal Guard. He was originally posted in Canterlot Castle, and has since become an artist after retiring from service.

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• Cloudcuckoolander: Judging by some of his comments about his work, he's a little off.
• Delicious Distraction: In "Rarity Investigates!", Wind Rider draws him and the other guards away from their post with a chocolate cake, so that he can plant the evidence he needs to frame Rainbow.
• The Guards Must Be Crazy: What kind of guard accepts a chocolate cake while on duty and abandons his post to eat it? At least "Rarity Investigates!" tried to justify it by saying that guard duty is boring and thankless with few to no breaks, making the idea of breaking to eat a cake someone gave him very tempting.
• Karma Houdini: Like the other guards in "Rarity Investigates!", he doesn't seem to have gotten in any trouble for abandoning his post to eat cake, which is what gave Wind Rider the time he needed to enact his sabotage and framing.
• Nice Guy: His interactions with Shining Armor and Princess Cadance are friendly, and even through his art isn't the best, he still hopes it will touch somepony.
• Surfer Dude: After leaving the Guard, he develops a distinct tendency to use surfer speak when he talks, speaking in a distinct North Californian accent and using a lot of the associated euphemisms.
  Spearhead: How are the new 'rents? Gimme some hoof.
• True Art Is Incomprehensible: Shining Armor and Cadance are confused by his work, with the former at one point mistaking a trash can for an exhibit.
• Uniformity Exception: He deviates from the standard Royal Guard design usually seen in the series: he has a brown coat rather than the typical white coat all the other guards have, although he still has the same blue mane and tail. This is accentuated in "Rarity Investigates!", where the two other guards he's with have a light brown coat with a red mane and tail and a green coat with a purple mane and tail.

Big Daddy McColt

Debut: "The Hooffields and McColts"

Voiced by: Peter Kelamis

The patriarch of the McColts, one of two feuding clans inhabiting a valley in the Smokey Mountains.

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• Big Ol' Unibrow: He sports one among plenty other facial hair, not helping his already gruff appearance.
• Friend to All Living Things: His affinity and care for animals of all kinds makes him the only construction expert capable of making Fluttershy's dream of building an animal sanctuary a reality. Presumably this even includes the Hooffields after Fluttershy and Twilight resolve the feud.
• Gale-Force Sound: At one point, he shouts loudly enough to knock down the Hooffield farmhouse from across the valley.
• Ironic Name: His name is rather non-indicative, in case you couldn't tell.
• The Long List: Rattles off one involving pumpkin dishes that they have to make using the pumpkins the Hooffields throw at them.
• Miniature Senior Citizen: Big Daddy McColt is a midget elderly pony, a fact that is made fun of from his very introduction with a "Down Here!" Shot.
• The Napoleon: Patriarch of the McColt clan and shortest member, and wears a gigantic ten-gallon hat to boot.
• The Patriarch: Of the McColt clan. He's one of its older members, and very much in charge. He's even called Big Daddy.
• Suddenly Shouting: He has a tendency to raise his voice without warning during conversations, mostly each time he says "the Hooffields".
• Took a Level in Kindness: He's still gruff and taciturn, but more pleasant to be around after the feud is resolved.
• With Us or Against Us: When Twilight says she and Fluttershy aren't going to pick sides.
  Big Daddy McColt: If you ain't fer us, yer agin' us.

Sunburst

First Appearance: "The Cutie Re-Mark – Part 2"
Full Debut: "The Crystalling – Part 1 & 2"

Voiced by: Ian Hanlin

Starlight Glimmer's childhood friend, who left to study magic in Canterlot when they were foals. In the present day, he lives in the Crystal Empire. Sunburst isn't that magically powerful for a unicorn, but his knowledge of magical theory is second to none.

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• Absent-Minded Professor: He's shown to get so distracted by his magical research that he doesn't notice his surroundings. A mailpony rolls his eyes when approaching Sunburst's door, knowing it's going to be a headache in trying to get his attention.
• Ascended Extra: He has a prominent role in the Legends of Magic comics, serving as both a Framing Device and the Narrator of each issue's tale. Within the show itself, he started as a voiceless one-scene character in Starlight's backstory, but over seasons 6 and 7 he developed into a supporting character of some nominal importance in his own right.
• Badass Bookworm: Despite his thorough knowledge of magic on paper, he is a poor spellcaster. However, his Encyclopaedic Knowledge still winds up saving the day.
• Childhood Friends: With Starlight. They were very close when they were foals, but drifted apart after he went off to magic school.
• Competition Freak: He's revealed to be this in "A Trivial Pursuit", being intent on preserving his right answer percentages in the Trivia Trot contest — to the point where he keeps Twilight from attempting to answer any questions herself, and even tries to get her disqualified.
• Court Mage: His immense knowledge of magical theory, his status as Flurry Heart's Crystaller, and implication that he will also be her magic teacher effectively make him this trope for Cadance's court in the Crystal Empire.
• Cynicism Catalyst: His being sent to magic school and drifting away from Starlight after getting a cutie mark in magic is the very reason that Starlight resented Cutie Marks and became a villain in the first place.
• Disappeared Dad: Even though his father was shown in the Season 5 finale and the Season 6 premiere, he doesn't appear in the Season 8 episode "The Parent Map".
• Encyclopaedic Knowledge: Though Sunburst's own magic isn't any greater than the average unicorn's, his knowledge of magic is superior than even the Princesses. He even recognized at a glance Twilight's reconstruction of the Spell of Relic Reconstitution. More than this though, his talent seems to be applying this knowledge in abstract or theoretical ways (compared to Twilight who is very straightforward when it comes to the use of magic she learns). That is he is able to use his knowledge of how magic works on ancient and powerful objects to realize that no one spell can fix the Crystal Heart, and that various spells must be combined in a certain way.
• Hard Work Hardly Works: Despite having greater magical knowledge than even the Princesses, he's unable to actually apply it himself, even though he's implicitly spent years practicing. However, in the end, his advice alone is impressive enough for Shining and Cadance to promote him to practically the Crystal Empire version of Star Swirl the Bearded.
• The Hermit: It doesn't seem like he gets out much, and he didn't even notice the storm outside his window.
• Heroes' Frontier Step: During the Season 7 finale "Shadow Play", Sunburst assists with freeing the Pillars of Olde Equestria from Limbo, and takes part in the final confrontation with the Pony of Shadows, helping to free Stygian from the shadow creature's grip.
• Hero Worship: Like Twilight, Sunburst idolizes Star Swirl the Bearded, and is just as eager to free him and the other Pillars from Limbo.
• Hidden Depths: During the course of "Uncommon Bond", Sunburst shows a passion for antiques, proves to be fluent in "Old Ponish", demonstrates a knack for stage magic, and shows a keen knowledge of geology.
• Inept Mage: Played With. While he is indeed a unicorn and can cast spells, his magic skills are on the level of a common unicorn who's never studied spellcasting. But his knowledge is far greater, as he's even got magical prodigy Twilight Sparkle beat in terms of magical theory, though he still considers it an embarrassment that he can't actually use his knowledge. He saves the day in "The Crystalling – Part 2" with his magic knowledge — he identifies the exact combination of obscure spells needed to avert the arctic apocalypse, though he has to rely on others to cast them.
• Innocently Insensitive: In the Cold Open of "The Parent Map". Due to being engrossed with one of his magical history books, he barely acknowledges the Crystal Empire mailpony, to the point of closing the door in his face without even giving him a tip.
• Irony: Sunburst was shipped off to Canterlot due to his apparent great magical talent, which caused Starlight's descent into villainy until she was talked out of it by Twilight. When Starlight finally meets up with him again, it turns out Sunburst's talent is average despite earning a cutie mark from it (albeit this is a misunderstanding, as his real talent is learning about magic rather than actually performing magic spells), further proving her old philosophy wrong.
• Jerkass Realization: He has one of these in "A Trivial Pursuit" after he almost intentionally gets Twilight disqualified.
• Messy Hair: Like Moondancer, he seems to have put aside grooming in favor of studying.
• New Jobs As The Plot Demands: In "A Horse Shoe-In", Sunburst agrees to become the new vice-headmare at the School of Friendship. When asked about his Crystaller position, he points out that since Flurry Heart is older, he isn't needed as much up at the Crystal Empire.
• Nice Guy: He's a pretty sweet guy.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: In "To Where and Back Again", he somehow figures out that Cadance, Shining Armor, and Flurry Heart have been replaced by changelings and manages to smuggle Thorax out so he can get help, all offscreen. Also, he didn't appear in the finale being freed from the changelings like all their other captives, implying that he somehow was able to avoid being captured after sending Thorax to get help.
• Old Shame: invoked Sunburst couldn't confront Starlight after so long because he didn't want her to know that he really wasn't all that powerful. Turns out his special talent is in magical theory, not magic itself.
• Platonic Life-Partners: With Starlight, though that doesn't mean Ship Tease doesn't occur.
• Red Is Heroic: Has red hair and helps save the Crystal Empire.
• Ship Tease: He has plenty of this with Starlight.
  • In the fourth issue of My Little Pony: Legends of Magic, Starlight shows up upset about his ignoring her messages and not spending time together (in a similar vein to a girl whose boyfriend missed a date). When she hears that Sunburst is reading never-before-heard legends, she proceeds to park herself on his bed, telling him "You may proceed". The issue even ends with the two going out to dinner together.
  • In the final panel of the 2017 holiday special comic, he and Starlight are shown standing side-by-side, gazing at each other while sharing a very sweet smile.
  • In "The Parent Map", Sunburst is nearly reduced to tears when Starlight answers "no" on whether she's excited to go on a mission with him. She near-instantly realizes how that sounded and quickly reassures him that while she is excited on going with him, her reluctance is because of where, their old hometown (to where Sunburst also does not look forward to going). The two of them also have some easy-going, affectionate contact throughout the episode.
• Shout-Out: He has some similarities to Rincewind, being a red-haired magic user with a scruffy beard who knows how magic works, but not how to use it, had a hard time at magic school, and even though he considers himself a failure, still wears the traditional wizard garb.
• The Smart Guy: He becomes the local magic expert for the Crystal Empire, with theoretical knowledge rivaled only by the sum total of the royal library.
• Smart People Wear Glasses: He is very smart and knowledgeable about magic and wears glasses. However, spellcasting is not his forte.
• Spear Counterpart: To Moondancer, as they're both unicorns who have dedicated their lives to magical studies, living in relative isolation despite residing in a big city each, and having a very low opinion of themselves; also, a lot of their current issues come from an old, close friendship falling apart, and, in the end, they get much better once rekindling with their respective old friend.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Had he not left Starlight after getting his Cutie Mark, let's just say Equestria wouldn't have gone through seven different apocalypses.
• Walking Spoiler: To know of his existence is to know of Starlight's Freudian Excuse, hence the unmarked spoilers.
• Weak, but Skilled: As an adult, his magical ability is a lot more limited, but he has a lot of magical knowledge through years of research. In "Student Counsel", however, he proves capable of firing an offensive energy beam out of his horn in a moment of panic (powerful enough that Starlight ducks to avoid it).
• Wizard Beard: Downplayed and then subverted; he has a longish goatee, but it turns out he's not a wizard.

Quibble Pants

Debut: "Stranger Than Fan Fiction"

Voiced by: Patton Oswalt

A nerdy stallion Rainbow Dash meets at a Daring Do convention. At first, he seems to like Daring Do as much as Rainbow does, only for her to learn that he only likes the first books and disavows the later series as having too much impossible action. Much to his surprise, he soon becomes entangled in a real Daring Do adventure.

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• And You Thought It Was a Game: He thinks the adventure is an advertised Daring Do "adventu-cation" being offered at the convention, only to learn much later it isn't.
• Affectionate Nickname: In "Common Ground", his girlfriend Clear Sky calls him "Q".
• Arbitrary Skepticism: Where to begin. He lives in a world where a pair of princesses are responsible for raising the sun and moon every day, a Reality Warper almost destroyed the kingdom before being stopped by six ordinary ponies (one of whom he's talking to), magic is commonplace, and he thinks that a series of adventure novels are unrealistic.
• Athletically Challenged: In "Common Ground", Rainbow Dash tries to help Quibble Pants connect with the daughter of his girlfriend by training him to be more sporty. The attempt is a disaster; Quibble runs slower than a snail, can't kick a ball rolling slowly towards him, or lift more than two books at a time.
• Be Yourself: In "Common Ground". As Clear Sky is consistently saying to Quibble Pants, pretending to like buckball when he very clearly doesn't is making things harder to bond with Wind Sprint. It's only when he stops trying to be so sporty that he manages to get closer to Wind Sprint, bonding with her over stats and numbers of the sport.
• The Bus Came Back: He returns in the Season 9 episode "Common Ground", with a special somepony named Clear Sky.
• Complaining About Rescues They Don't Like: When Rainbow and Daring Do see a way out of the flooding temple in the roof, all he asks is if Daring ever doesn't escape out of the top of a temple, which Rainbow and Daring glare at him for. He also says he told for them to go around the Cipactli, not over it, after they escape.
• Cosplay: He's cosplaying as Daring Do at the convention, including fake wings the first time we see him. As such, it's not entirely clear if the grayscale of his mane and tail is his natural color, or if he dyed them to look like Daring Do. Though they're still that color in his second appearance.
• Damned by Faint Praise: In "Common Ground", Quibble's opinion of Rainbow's plan to get Wind Sprint to like him by arranging an exhibition match against the Ponyville Buckball team is that maybe it "isn't the absolute worst idea ever".
• Epic Fail: Quibble's efforts throughout the Training Montage in "Common Ground". He is unable to hit a buckball that is slowly rolling toward him, barely gets anywhere after running at top speed, and can't even lift two books over his head.
• Fan Boy: Of Daring Do, though kept rather realistic if a bit radical. He's basically what real-life fans are like, complete with liking a rather unimportant side character and writing lots of fanfiction.
• Fanon Discontinuity: In-universe and lampshaded example: He says all the books past the first three of the Daring Do series are beneath him and he refuses to acknowledge their continuation of the plot.
• First Installment Wins: In-universe example. He only likes the first trilogy and puts the rest of the series in Fanon Discontinuity.
• Flat-Earth Atheist: The main reason Quibble Pants doesn't like anything later than the first trilogy is that he doesn't consider the later works' fantastical elements and impossible feats to be realistic, even though he is a talking pony in a High Fantasy setting where magic, monsters, ancient evils and epic adventures are common and hard-to-miss things and events.
• Genre Savvy: Much to his chagrin, as the predictability of recent Daring Do novels sail beneath his intellect, souring his love for the series. He even manages to be this once he's caught in the midst of a real Daring Do adventure, nonchalantly solving a puzzle for Daring Do and then criticizing the simplicity of it.
• Gretzky Has the Ball: He knows absolutely nothing about sports, which becomes a problem when he tries to impress his girlfriend's sports-loving daughter.
• Immediate Self-Contradiction: Quibble's reaction to Rainbow's plan to make him into a sporty pony.
  Quibble Pants: Look, I'm not saying it's a terrible idea, but it's a terrible idea!
• Ink-Suit Actor: His hairstyle, facial features, and mannerisms are a dead giveaway for his actor.
• Insufferable Genius: Quibble Pants is clearly a very intelligent pony and very capable in situations where problem-solving skills and cleverness are required, but his confidence in his own intelligence and insight leads him to be very arrogant, tactless and snarky at the same time.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He is way too arrogant and stubborn at first, but in the end, he realizes that different ponies just have different opinions. He also wants to be a good father figure to Wind Sprint, even if he struggles with it at first.
• Meaningful Name: To quibble is to argue about trivial matters. The "Pants" at the end is similar to its alternate British definition of rubbish or nonsense. His cutie mark is even a speech bubble reflecting his penchant for criticism.
• The Millstone: In "Common Ground", he is a complete liability in the halftime show against Ponyville. He can barely do anything athletic, even in spite of Ponyville's players intentionally going easy on him. The one time Quibble manages to actually buck the ball, he scores for the wrong team, causing his team to lose.
• Nice Guy: In "Common Ground". Despite his feelings for Clear Sky, he is unwilling to continue ther relationship if Wind Sprint, Clear Sky's daughter, is not okay with it.
• Oh, Crap!: His reaction on seeing the Cipactli and finally getting it into his head that the whole escapade is real.
• Poor Communication Kills: In "Common Ground", Quibble is freaked out that Clear Sky is going to break up with him because he is unable to bond with her daughter over sports. She tells him they "need to rethink things". He finds out at the end, that she had no intention of breaking up with him, she just meant that they would have to rethink things like the plan to make him appear to be good at sports when he's not. He's understandably relieved, and finds a different way to bond with Wind Sprint.
• Reality Is Unrealistic: He falls into this a few times when believing that the whole adventure is a Daring Do LARP, like dissing Caballeron's accent as "all over the place".
• Rules Lawyer: In "Common Ground". When Quibble accidentally scores for the other team, he tries to argue that since the official rulebook doesn't specifically state which goal the ball needs to go in to score a point, his team should get that point.
• Shout-Out: His rants about Daring Do mimic elements of his voice actor's rants about Star Wars.
• Tempting Fate:
  • He complains of the "adventu-cation" and claims the only thing it needs is some giant monster. Cue the Cipactli rising up behind him.
  • Before that, he remarks that if he were really in a Daring Do adventure, he'd step on the wrong plank of the Rope Bridge at exactly the wrong moment, which he does (before he even finishes his sentence).
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: In-Universe, this is Quibble Pants' opinion of every Daring Do book after the first trilogy, thinking that they're Actionized Sequels that overlook puzzles and problem solving in favor of gratuitous and (to him) unrealistic action scenes.
• This Is Reality: Like most everypony else at the convention, Quibble Pants believes the Daring Do adventures are fiction. He's extremely skeptical of Rainbow's claims to the contrary, to say the least, even when they're kidnapped by Caballeron and his thugs, get stranded in a jungle, and explore an ancient temple, thinking they're in an elaborate reenactment... until they encounter the Cipactli. And then he meets the real Daring Do.
• Too Dumb to Live: He gets dragged into a real Daring Do adventure and spends more than half of it believing it is just a lame "adventu-cation", thinking the real Caballeron has a bad accent and any traps are because of bad safety. He doesn't even realize when he sets off a temple's deadly traps when he's busy ranting and ignores Rainbow and Caballeron when they try telling him to stop. This almost gets him killed a couple times.
• Wrong Genre Savvy: He is thoroughly familiar with every single trope used in Daring Do books (and indeed action-adventure books in general) but he believes they only exist in fiction. The episode is quick to prove him wrong. He becomes normal savvy after meeting Daring Do, and becomes useful.

Cattail

Debut: "A Health of Information"

Voiced by: Doron Bell

A descendant of the healer Mage Meadowbrook, who watches over the family's ancestral home in Hayseed Swamp. He assists Twilight and Fluttershy in finding the cure for Swamp Fever.

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• Arboreal Abode: He lives in his family's ancestral home, which happens to be a hollow tree.
• The Cameo: He briefly appears in "A Rockhoof and a Hard Place", at Meadowbrook's re-opened clinic.
• Early-Bird Cameo: His first appearance was technically in Issue 58 of the comics, which came out before "A Health of Information" aired.
• Fantasy Counterpart Culture: Much like his ancestor Mage Meadowbrook, he comes from an area clearly inspired by Cajun culture and other groups and traditions of the rural Gulf Coast.
• Famous Ancestor: As mentioned above, the famous wandering healer Mage Meadowbrook was his ancestor.
• Nice Guy: He doesn't mind the fact that Twilight and Fluttershy essentially broke into his home, instead welcoming them warmly and offering his assistance in their quest.
• Single Line of Descent: Averted. Cattail is referred to by Fluttershy as "one of Meadowbrook's descendants", implying there are more out there.

Professor Fossil

Debut: "Shadow Play – Part 1"

Voiced by: Kelli Ogmundson

An earth pony who takes her job as an archeologist very seriously.

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• All There in the Script: Her name isn't spoken in the episode, but is shown in the credits. It is eventually revealed in "A Rockhoof and a Hard Place".
• Arbitrary Skepticism: In her first appearance, she believes the story of Rockhoof to be a legend, claiming the idea of a pony doing such amazing things is just impossible. She is proven wrong when Applejack saves her and several other ponies from being crushed by a giant boulder by stopping it with her hind legs (and kicking it into the horizon for good measure).
• Irony: In her debut appearance, she didn't think Rockhoof actually existed. When we next see her in "A Rockhoof and a Hard Place", Rockhoof has joined her archeology team.
• It Belongs in a Museum: When Rockhoof is part of her team, he repeatedly treats the things they unearth in his old village the same way he did back in the day, rather than as the ancient and fragile relics they now are, to her annoyance. She even invokes this trope verbally while admonishing him for his actions.

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Other Locales

Grampa Gruff

"It was the best thing to ever happen to us griffons! I'll tell you the whole tragic tale... for a couple of bits."

"Well tough tailfeathers! No refunds!"

Debut: "The Lost Treasure of Griffonstone"

Voiced by: Richard Ian Cox

One of Gilda's acquaintances who lives with her in Griffonstone. He recounts the legend of the Idol of Boreas to Pinkie and Rainbow Dash. He also has a secret recipe for Griffon Scones.

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• Abusive Parents: Is Gallus's legal guardian and thus the closest thing the little griffon has to a parent. "A Horse-Shoe In" implies he's only this because no one else in Griffonstone is qualified for the job rather than actually caring about him all that much, and much of his behavior at the parent-teacher conference comes off as rather emotionally abusive. Even Trixie thinks he's a terrible guardian.
• Ascended Extra: He began as a one-off character in Season 5, and was seemingly just an old griffon that knew about griffon history. Come Season 8 he became a recurring character and was established as the leader of Griffonstone.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Gilda seems to see him as this, and indeed he comes off as a bit senile.
• The Cloudcuckoolander Was Right: Gilda dismisses the Idol of Boreas as a legend and thinks he's crazy for believing it, but it turns out that it was indeed real.
• Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Everyone calls him "Grampa Gruff", never just "Gruff", which makes it hard to tell who his family actually is or if "Grampa" is really part of his name or an official title he has. As of "The Hearth's Warming Club", it's revealed that it is just his name, and he's not anygriff's actual grandfather.
• Eye Scream: His left eye is blind, with a long scar running across it.
• Glory Days: He constantly reminisces about and longs for the days when Griffonstone was a great and mighty empire.
• Greed: Just like all griffons, he will only help others if he receives monetary gain from it.
• Grumpy Old Man: A very curmudgeonly, surly old griffon.
• Hidden Depths: Came to the School of Friendship as a representative of the griffons and Gallus's guardian for the trip, indicating that he is a figure of relatively high rank back in Griffonstone. Perhaps the equivalent of a town elder and one of the few authority figures Griffonstone retained after the monarchy collapsed. A threat he makes even implies him to have the authority to mobilize a griffon army if necessary.
• His Name Really Is "Barkeep": In "The Hearth's Warming Club", Gallus reveals that Grampa Gruff's first name is "Grampa", and that he isn't actually anygriff's grandfather.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold:
  • Implied given the way Gilda talks about him, and how he does give in to Gallus's plea to remain at the school.
  • He's reasonable enough to be part of The Cavalry that arrived to assist the Mane Six in the Final Battle (even though he doesn't actually get involved).
• Large Ham: Gets rather dramatic when talking about the Idol of Boreas.
• Lethal Chef: His scone recipe looks even worse than equalized Sugar Belle's muffins. Though a little baking powder makes it turn out good.
• Mr. Exposition: Explains the history of the griffons, and describes to the main characters the fate of the MacGuffin and its location.
• Our Gryphons Are Different: He has the standard "half-lion, half bird" setup, but his bird half looks more like a vulture than an eagle (though he might just have gone bald). He even makes recognizable vulture sound effects a few times (and griffon vulture sounds no less).
• Parental Neglect: He is not exactly happy of the idea of having to go to Ponyville from time to time to check on Gallus's progress. He still cares enough to expect reports from Gabby, however.
• Parental Substitute:
  • Possibly for Gilda, seeing as we never see her parents.
  • Jim Miller has stated that he is Gallus's official guardian.
• Pride: A trait of all Griffons, though he seems to be the only one who still believes in it.
• The Storyteller: He tells Dash and Pinkie Pie the legend of the Idol of Boreas and Gilda implies that he does that a lot (to the point where she flawlessly mimics his gestures as he talks about it).
• Wasteland Elder: His position in Griffonstone.

Prince Rutherford

"If things not perfect Yaks get mad! Yaks always get mad when things not perfect!"

Debut: "Party Pooped"

Voiced by: Gary Chalk

A Yak prince from northern Yakyakistan. He and his escorts were invited to Ponyville to form an alliance between Yakyakistan and Equestria. To say that the prince is... particular about things is an understatement.

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• "Ass" in Ambassador: He and his fellow yaks are willing to declare war on Equestria just because they aren't having a good time there.
• Boisterous Bruiser: Speaks at the top of his voice at all times, his favorite past time is smashing stuff, and gives huge, bone-crushing hugs to his friends.
• Dark Secret: Played for Laughs in the special My Little Pony: Best Gift Ever. When Pinkie asks him how she can find the best gift ever, he takes her into his hut, and quietly tells her that there is one thing yaks aren't the best at: giving gifts.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Music is a lie? YAKS DECLARE WAR!
• Hair-Trigger Temper: His fuse is incredibly short, and he is prone to going on violent rampages when incensed.
• Hulk Speak: Yaks don't speak English good.
• Interspecies Friendship: He forms one with Pinkie by the end of his first appearance, and makes her an "honorary yak" in his second.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's proud, sensitive, and has a very short temper, but once you earn his trust he's very friendly.
• Large Ham: Yaks are many things. Subtle is not one of them.
• Meaningful Appearance: His shaggy fur completely obscures his eyes, highlighting that fact that, while not necessarily dimwitted, he's not exactly the most thoughtful and rational character around. On those occasions when he's genuinely, extremely pissed, Prince Rutherford's bangs will part to the sides, giving a full view of his eyes and face to show off his angry expressions.
• Odd Name Out: He's so far the only named yak whose name doesn't start with "Y".
• Pride: He and his fellow yaks take great pride in their heritage and culture.
  • During his first appearance, he gets angry when the ponies' attempts at reproducing yak food and culture do not match how the yaks themselves make them, and are therefore not "perfect".
  • In "Not Asking For Trouble", he adamantly refuses to ask for help after Yakyakistan is buried under a mountain of snow, believing the yaks can survive until the snow melts.
  • When he brings Yona to the School of Friendship during "School Daze", he claims that her presence will make the school "better".
• Prince Charmless: He's pretty direct when expressing his displeasure, and is pretty rude and condescending to the ponies. However, once they've reached an understanding though, he's more of a Jerk with a Heart of Gold.
• Secret-Keeper: Best Gift Ever reveals that he (and every yak prince before him) is in possession of a map that leads to the Gift Givers of the Grove. Since Pinkie is an "honorary yak", he gladly gives the map to her.
• Third-Person Person: Like the other yaks, he tends to refer to himself and yaks as a whole in the collective third person, using "Yaks" instead of his given name or any sort of pronouns.
• Took a Level in Kindness: In "Not Asking for Trouble", he comes across as more respectful than in his debut (though he's still just as smash-happy as ever).
• Your Answer to Everything: Food not up to standards? Hay not yak hay? Piano plays music by itself? YAK SMASH!

Ember

Brains over brawn.

Debut "Gauntlet of Fire"

Voiced by: Ali Milner

Dragon Lord Torch's daughter, Princess Ember ran the Gauntlet of Fire against her father's wishes to become the new Dragon Lord, teaming up with Spike along the way.

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• Abnormal Allergy: She claims in "Triple Threat" to be "allergic to feelings". And being a dragon, her Breath Weapon-sneezing can be quite destructive.
• Affectionate Gesture to the Head: Her response whenever Spike hugs her is to pat him on the head.
• Armor-Piercing Response: In a twist, she accidentally does it to herself in "Triple Threat" — when Thorax asks her what happens to a dragon when they fail a challenge, she boastfully answers that the losers feel so humiliated that they want to crawl under a rock... which causes her to deflate when she realizes she's been unintentionally alienating her subjects and making them feel worthless and lonely.
• Blue Is Heroic: Her scales are colored blue and she is one of the good guys.
• Blush Sticker: She blushes through her scales when Spike hugs her towards the end of "Gauntlet of Fire".
• Badass in Distress: Early in the Gauntlet, Ember almost drowns because of her heavy armor and has to be pulled to safety by Spike.
• Beware My Stinger Tail: The piece of armor on her tail has a spike at the tip, as well as four more spikes.
• Breath Weapon: As a dragon, she naturally can breathe fire. As confirmed in "Triple Threat", her breath weapon is bright pink. She can do impressive feats with it, like blasting a boulder she just threw in the air into rubble.
• Changed My Mind, Kid: After ditching him earlier, Ember returns to help Spike in the end, after realizing they are friends and their friendship really is important.
• Eat Dirt, Cheap: Just like Spike and other dragons, Ember can eat gemstones for nourishment. In "Triple Threat", when visiting Ponyville, she assumes the crystal walls of Twilight's castle are food and proceeds to eat a substantial portion of its dining room while ignoring the regular food also present.
• Entertainingly Wrong: She consistently gets things wrong about pony culture, even though her observations lead her towards "solid" conclusions. Since Twilight's castle is made of crystal, and dragons love eating gems, Ember comes to the conclusion that covering walls with things your friends like to eat is a friendly thing to do... which leads to her smooshing a muffin into wall since Ditzy Doo/Derpy likes muffins.
• Flight: Her wings aren't for show. She's a fast and strong flier, notably still able to fly in full armor.
• Full-Body Disguise: Ember paints herself green and dons full-body armor in order to compete in the Gauntlet without being recognized.
• Genius Bruiser: Emphasizes wit over brute force, yet is still able to run a Death Course inside an active volcano and hold her own in a fight with a larger, male dragon. Her father eventually admits this:
  Dragon Lord Torch: I was wrong, Ember. You might not be big, but you are strong — and smart — and perhaps that counts for more than I thought.
• Good Is Not Soft: She accepts friendship, but she doesn't get mushy about it. "Triple Threat" also shows she has a hard time just talking about her feelings, preferring to act them out.
• The Good King: Rather, The Good Dragon Lord. While she's not perfect, she clearly values the dragons and strives to be a worthy leader for them and resolves to correct her poor decisions when they're pointed out to her.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: She's very quick to anger, and frequently raises her voice or even shouts the moment someone disrespects or questions her.
• Hidden Depths: Ember acts tough like most dragons but is far more open and friendly, a concept that even she considers rare among dragons. It's because of this that Spike easily warms up to her and is unconvinced when she says it's every dragon for herself.
• I Am X, Son of Y: Ember introduces herself to the Ponyville townsponies as "Ember, Daughter of Torch".
• I Just Want to Be Special: Ember wants to be more than simply a princess — she wants to be Lord of the Dragons. With Spike's help, she eventually gets her way.
• Innocent Bigot: Played for Laughs; while she doesn't hate ponies like other dragons, she clearly doesn't understand them and her behavior towards them lapses into a sort of casual, oblivious speciesism. She remarks on meeting Starlight that pony names have "lots of lights and shiny things" in them, and she has trouble telling Starlight and Twilight apart because they look the same to her; purple ponies with purple manes and shiny things for cutie marks.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Very stern and rough around the edges; "Triple Threat" shows that she thinks the best way to deal with a problem is to outdo her opponent in a competition and humiliate them. That said, she does become friends with both Spike and Thorax, and shows that she does honestly wants to try to learn about friendship.
• The Lad-ette: Loves doing "death-defying dragon stuff" like using her fire breath, breaking rocks apart, and humiliating other dragons in competition.
• Made Myself Sad: When Thorax asks what happens when a dragon loses a competition, Ember proudly boasts that the loser feels so humiliated that they feel like crawling under a rock... which makes her realize that she's been unintentionally isolating her own subjects all this time.
• Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy:
  • She has this dynamic with Spike. Ember has many traits traditionally associated with males; she's loud, outspoken, aggressive, competitive, determined and very capable in a fight. Spike, by contrast, has a number of traditionally feminine traits; being more emotional, passive-aggressive, kinder, cooperative and people-oriented.
  • In "Triple Threat", Ember and the terminally passive Nice Guy Thorax have a similar relationship.
• Now Allowed to Hug: Played with a bit. Though she is the first dragon beside Spike who is open to friendship, she shows to initially be uncomfortable with some of the more "mushy" parts of it. When Spike first hugs her, she is confused by it and states she doesn't think she likes it, and this continues in her later appearances showing shock or annoyance whenever Spike or someone else hugs her. However, despite her initial discomfort over it, she always allows Spike to hug her and always gives him an Affectionate Gesture to the Head in response to it. By the time of Season 8, she seems to have now gotten used to hugs completely, no longer complaining about it like she used to and showing little to no signs of visual annoyance at it.
• Offered the Crown: Ember is given the Bloodstone Scepter by Spike, becoming the Dragon Lord.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Despite being only about a head taller than the average pony, Ember can easily lift a giant boulder over her head while flying, and once physically tosses another dragon who is bigger than her across a large cavern while wearing heavy armor.
• Promotion to Opening Titles: She appears during the season 8 opening, flying outside Twilight's castle and school.
• Protocol Peril: Ember stumbles into a few cultural misunderstandings when visiting Ponyville.
  • First, when unicorn trumpeters welcome her with a fanfare, she covers her ears in pain and gets into a hostile stance in response, clearly believing she's under attack, until Spike distracts her.
  • Later, as part of a bombastic dragon-style greeting, she breathes fire toward the sky, which scares all the ponies around. She says that usually, when she does this, other dragons are eager to meet her.
• Rebellious Princess: She ran the Gauntlet of Fire, despite not being as big or strong as other dragons, against her father's wishes, since she believes intelligence can make up for brute force.
• She Is the King: After her Awesome Moment of Crowning, she receives and maintains the title of "Dragon Lord".
• Ship Tease: She gets a few moments of these with Spike.
  • Spike immediately notices her in "Gauntlet of Fire", despite her being right next to her giant father Torch, and she stands up to her father for him when Spike tries to back out of the contest.
  • After Spike saves her from drowning, the two of them begin their friendship with Ember covering for Spike's friends, the two of them helping each other throughout the gauntlet, and Spike insisting to his friends she is a good person.
  • Ember always allows Spike to hug her, even when she is shown a bit uncomfortable with it at first, and always gently pats his head in response to it. The first time it happens she gets a Blush Sticker and an awkward smile, but overtime she is shown now being used to it, having genuine smiles whenever he does it.
• Shorter Means Smarter: Except for Spike, she's the smallest dragon competing in the Gauntlet of Fire; and, just like Spike, she's much smarter than the average dragon.
• Sneeze of Doom: Her sneezes trigger uncontrolled fire-breathing, which can be somewhat destructive, as seen in "Triple Threat". It doesn't help that she claims to be "allergic to feelings".
• Technicolor Fire: Her fire breath is a hot fuchsia-pink.
• True Blue Femininity: She's bright cobalt blue and is one of the relatively few female dragons seen in the series.
• Tsundere: Ember is a classic Harsh type, putting on a strong front in public but still being nice and friendly in her own way to her friends.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: By G5, Spike has been the new Dragon Lord for several centuries and there is no mention of where she is or what became of her.
• What the Hell, Hero?: In "Triple Threat", both she and Thorax chew Spike out for making wrong assumptions about them and being dishonest with them.
• What You Are in the Dark: During the Gauntlet of Fire competition, when Garble smells Twilight and Rarity nearby and almost discovers them, Ember goes out of her way to cover them and stop Garble from discovering them. Note, she just met Spike and his pony friends, not knowing who they are or caring that much, but she still protects them despite having nothing to gain from it. This is the basis of her friendship with Spike, since he notes himself she helped him even though she didn't need to.

Thorax

^{Click here to see Thorax's original form}

First Appearance: "The Crystalling – Part 2"

Full Debut: "The Times They Are a Changeling"

Voiced by: Kyle Rideout

A changeling who defected from Queen Chrysalis. Hiding out in the Crystal Empire, all Thorax really wants in life is to make friends. As of the Season 6 finale, he has returned to the changeling hive and become its leader after ousting Chrysalis and convincing the other changelings to share love instead of stealing it, leading to their transformation into colorful, more solid forms and his own into a changeling monarch.

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• Affectionate Gesture to the Head: He gives a head rubbing to Ocellus, a changeling student of the School of Friendship, in "School Daze".
• All of the Other Reindeer: Thorax considers himself "different" from other changelings, even from when he was first hatched. The attack on Canterlot led him to realize he wanted real friends, not just to feed on love. It's eventually subverted when he's able to prove to his kind that they don't need to steal love and can survive by sharing it with friends. This results in him becoming their king.
• Anger Born of Worry: In "Uprooted", he is deeply angry at Ocellus for going to Ponyville during school break without telling anyone, mostly because the last time she and her friends did that, their nations almost went to war over it.
• Apologetic Attacker: Being around love and kindness, due to literally suffering from emotional starvation, causes him to hiss and growl at anyone around him. Whenever that happens he immediately begins apologizing.
• Awesome Moment of Crowning: The end of Season 6 finale ''To Where and Back Again" sees him physically transforming into a royal changeling after learning to share love and overthrowing Chrysalis without bloodshed, and becomes king in the process.
• Bad Liar: As "Crystal Hoof", he's not very convincing when confronted by Twilight along with Spike, being obviously very nervous and sweating a lot. He does a better job tricking Queen Chrysalis with Starlight Glimmer's appearance; of course being nervous is perfectly in-character in this situation, as both he and Starlight Glimmer are confronting a powerful changeling queen.
• Bears Are Bad News: In "Triple Threat", he changes himself into a large grizzly bear to protect Spike against Ember, who he assumed was a threat.
• Beauty Equals Goodness: Applies to him and the other changelings after the Season Six finale, where they shed their withered forms after learning to share love instead of forcibly stealing it, and turned into majestic and colorful deer/insect-like ponies. It's especially telling with Thorax, whose form as a Changeling King resembles a alicorn-like stag deer/beetle.
• Beware the Nice Ones: He's a very kind changeling, but he can still kick flank if he has to. He's more willing to fight back against Chrysalis after gaining his Changeling King form, and when he thought Ember was a threat to Spike, he changed himself into a bear as he prepared to fight her.
• Big Little Brother: Thorax is Pharynx's younger brother, but now towers over him after he becomes King. Even after Pharynx transforms, Thorax is still taller than him.
• Bishōnen Line: Heroic example: his transformation into a Changeling King results in him shedding his withered, hole-filled form and gaining a more majestic, colorful, and pretty one. That, judging by him throwing Chrysalis clear across the room and into her throne with enough force to crack it in the process of transforming, also came with a massive power-up.
• Blue Is Heroic: While not in his physical appearance, his magic aura is colored blue rather than the Sickly Green Glow of his fellow changelings, marking him as a good changeling. He's also the one who, with Starlight Glimmer's help, teaches his race how to share love which allows them all to pull a Heel–Race Turn.
• Cain and Abel: "To Change a Changeling" is about a conflict with his brother, who prefers the way Chrysalis did things (i.e. forcibly feeding love from other creatures instead of sharing it with them) under the mistaken belief that it allowed them to survive.
• The Cameo: He and the rest of the hive briefly appear near the end of Best Gift Ever celebrating Hearth's Warming Eve.
• Chekhov's Gunman: His appearance in "The Times They Are a Changeling" sets him up to take the stage as a main protagonist in "To Where and Back Again".
• Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Thorax has a teal green dorsal carapace to differentiate him from the usual navy blue changelings. Also his magic aura is blue, unlike the usual Sickly Green Glow of the changelings, and he has teal eyes, rather than the Icy Blue Eyes of his kin. His dorsal carapace is a subtle hint that he isn't the same as the normal mook changelings, as the only other one with a teal carapace is Queen Chrysalis.
• The Coup: With the help of Starlight Glimmer, he leads one against Queen Chrysalis by overpowering her via shared love, achieving a permanent Metamorphosis that basically crowns him king of his own race. And once the other changelings learn to do the same thing, they waste no time siding with him and making Chrysalis their enemy. The awesome thing about it is, the entire thing happened completely without bloodshed.
• Cute Little Fangs: In a flashback, he's shown with a small pair of fangs when he emerged from his egg as aninvoked Ugly Cute newborn. Awwwww!
• Dark Is Not Evil: Despite being a changeling, Thorax only wanted to experience friendship and love. It's later revealed that his normal appearance wasn't his final form either. His true changeling form resembles a majestic, colorful mix of pony and stag beetle with full-bodied crystalline wings.
• Defector from Decadence: Thorax was a member of Chrysalis's massive changeling army during her attack on Canterlot, but upon seeing the Mane Six's friendship and desiring it for himself, he defected.
• Distaff Counterpart: After his older brother transforms, he can be seen as a counterpart to Celestia. While the younger sibling, he stands taller and has a bright color, more playful compared to their siblings. Especially once you notice that Pharynx has a similar design to Thorax, with the prominent horns on his head.
• Early-Bird Cameo: The black speck on the background flying towards the Crystal Empire at the end of "The Crystalling"? That's him.
• Emotion Eater: As par for his race. Thorax feeds on love, but because of his grotesque appearance (and pony society's fear of changelings since "A Canterlot Wedding"), he's forced to disguise himself in order to feed. He later learns to feed on mutually shared love instead of forcefully stealing it, which ultimately results in him undergoing a permanent Metamorphosis into a benevolent Changeling King.
• Extreme Doormat: Even after becoming King of the Changelings, he's still ignored or pushed to the side an awful lot. It happens to him quite a bit in "Triple Threat", and it was the basis of him needing advice from Spike since the changelings won't listen to his commands since he's so unassertive. Thankfully, Ember helps him see what he needs to do.
• Fangs Are Evil: Subverted, at least with the "Evil" part of the trope. He did participate in the siege of Canterlot in the "A Canterlot Wedding", but defected after seeing the Mane Six's friendship and wanting to experience it for himself. Since then, he has been trying to learn the concept of friendship, though his being a changeling makes it difficult to integrate with pony society. Later averted in the Season 6 finale, where after learning to share love and using it to overpower Chrysalis, he undergoes a final metamorphosis that ditches the fangs completely and gives him a more pony-like form.
• Flight: Like all changelings, he uses diaphanous insect wings to propel himself through the air with a buzzing sound. Even his bigger form post-Metamorphosis is still perfectly flight-capable.
• Foreshadowing:
  • He mentions in "To Where and Back Again – Part 1" that he hadn't felt hungry since making friends with Spike and the others, which was a clue to the solution for the changelings' perpetual, love-based Horror Hunger.
  • He is also the only changeling who gains glittery wings, and has a teal-colored carapace that only Chrysalis has. Come "To Where and Back Again – Part 2", he transforms into a Changeling King after learning, and teaching his fellow changelings, how to share love, thanks to Starlight Glimmer.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: Towards the end of "The Crystalling – Part 2", as the final shots of the train leaving the Crystal Empire are played, you can see a small dark figure flying towards the Empire. Zooming in on it reveals that it's a changeling — most likely to be Thorax arriving there prior to the events of "The Times They Are a Changeling" and Foreshadowing that episode.
• Furry Reminder: A subtle example in "Triple Threat" — he becomes almost hypnotically glee-struck with a large decorative flame on display in Ponyville. Thorax is clearly meant to be part-insect, and insects have a tendency to be attracted to bright lights and flames. Fortunately, he doesn't fly right into it, and maintains enough presence of mind to eventually turn his attention away.
• Glamour Failure: Thorax struggles and fails to hold his disguised form of "Crystal Hoof" when so close to the love given off from Flurry Heart and the other ponies. This because Chrysalis's teachings left him literally starving for love, so transforming for longer periods of time is impossible.
• Good Costume Switch: Although not a costume, strictly speaking, in "To Where and Back Again" Thorax has new wings that shine like crystal, something that both Starlight and Thorax himself notice. Taken even further in the second part, where Thorax undergoes a metamorphosis upon actually sharing love.
• The Good King: Overthrows Chrysalis and becomes the new Changeling King. His metamorphosis also makes him close to Celestia's height with stag beetle-like horns along with his normal one, implying he physically became a royal changeling in the process. His rule as king is also what sets him apart from his predecessor, as he feeds on shared love by establishing friendships with other beings instead of forcibly taking it from them. That being said, despite his efforts, he's still a changeling drone suddenly thrust into leadership, and struggles to deal with his position's burdens and anyone who might find fault with his methods.
• Good Wings, Evil Wings: Has the typical rotted, holed wings of his fellow changelings, though he is a good person. In the Season 6 finale, after learning how to share love, his wings start taking on a crystalline appearance. His final metamorphosis into a Changeling King in the end gives him full-bodied crystalline wings.
• Hate at First Sight: Subverted in "Triple Threat"; While Thorax does perceive Ember as a threat at first and vice versa due to Spike trying to keep both sides from knowing about the other, once they actually get to meet each other, they become fast friends.
• Hero of Another Story: Just like Gilda (and Gabby after him), he's now trying to introduce the concept of friendship to his whole race, which is even harder in this case due to Chrysalis's actions during the Canterlot wedding. Apparently he succeeded, as by Season 7, he and a few (transformed) changelings can be seen talking casually with the ponies attending Starlight Glimmer's graduation ceremony without problems.
• History Repeats: Thorax's redeeming of his brother harkens back Celestia and Nightmare Moon/Luna, except it's the younger sibling doing it rather than the older sibling.
• Horror Hunger: Like all changelings, Thorax has a nigh-bottomless appetite for love and feeds on it by siphoning other sentient beings, like ponies. This is revealed in the Season 6 finale to be the result of constant and deliberate starvation by Queen Chrysalis, who perpetuated the belief that all changelings need to steal love to maintain her position, so when he gains friends and learns to feed on shared love, Thorax doesn't feel hungry anymore. Later, with Starlight Glimmer's help, he cures his race's perpetual love hunger problem by teaching them the same thing, allowing them all to achieve a final (and permanent) Metamorphosis.
• I Just Want to Have Friends: The main concept of his debut, which was hard due to the last encounter with changelings. Eventually, he gets them.
• Just the First Citizen: It should be noted he's never called "king" of the changelings in the show itself after his Metamorphosis; he and the other changelings only ever use the term "leader" — probably to avoid some of the negative connotations that "king" could inspire after the undisputed reign of Queen Chrysalis.
• Large and in Charge: His Metamorphosis into a Changeling King causes him to double in size, putting him almost on par with the alicorn princesses like Celestia. His fellow changelings don't grow as much with their own transformations.
• Late-Arrival Spoiler: His role as the new Changeling King is immediately given away by any of his appearances after Season Six - in fact, his appearances after his metamorphosis outnumber those before.
• The Leader: Becomes king of the Changelings as of the Season 6 finale, for teaching his race how to share love instead of stealing it, and ousting Queen Chrysalis from power.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: He's kind and rather timid when it comes to run a kingdom, but if his friends are in danger then he'll do everything to protect them, including turning into a bear.
• Licked by the Dog: How he ultimately earns the heroes' trust in "The Times They Are a Changeling". Flurry Heart, a newborn alicorn, is perfectly at ease around him.
• Locked Out of the Loop: Alongside Ember, he was made this by Spike in "Triple Threat", who did everything he could to stop them from meeting under the assumption that war will start if the two ever should meet each other. Fortunately, they got along quite well once they got to know each other; the only one for them to get mad at was Spike.
• Lovable Coward: The changeling hive was the last place he ever wanted to see again, and when forced back in the Season 6 finale, he's rather terrified. Much like Trixie, once inside the hive he's trembling and hyperventilating most of the time. Despite this, he courageously distracts Queen Chrysalis by taking Starlight Glimmer's appearance.
• Love Redeems: He leaves his Hive during the "A Canterlot Wedding" two-parter after seeing the Mane Six's friendship and wanting to experience it for himself. It's not until after he befriends Spike and learns how to share love that he becomes a full-on good guy. In the end, that same love physically redeems him by giving him a truly majestic final form that's a mix of pony and stag beetle.
• Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: This dynamic is shown in "Triple Threat" when Ember shows up; he's a passive, friendly changeling who feeds on shared love and rules through kindness, while Ember controls the other dragons through shows of brute force and strength.
• The Marvelous Deer: His final Changeling King form at the end of the Season 6 finale resembles an antlered adult male deer with wings and the ability to use magic in addition to resembling a stag beetle.
• Metamorphosis: This is what he undergoes in the Season 6 finale for learning to share love instead of stealing it. After he willingly gives Chrysalis all his love, he is enveloped by a radiant chrysalis and shortly emerges as a colorful and elegant hybrid of pony and stag beetle with full-bodied crystalline wings, a very far cry from his black, grotesque, holey, and withered form.
• Monochromatic Eyes:
  • His previous form had teal-colored eyes instead of the usual icy blue of his fellow changelings.
  • His final metamorphosis into a Changeling King gives him dark purple eyes with white pupils.
• Mook–Face Turn: In his backstory. According to Thorax, he was part of the attack on Canterlot by Chrysalis and her army, but upon seeing the friendship of the Mane Six and desiring it for himself, he decided to change.
• My Instincts Are Showing: When Spike asks Thorax if anypony had showed him kindness before, the latter responds with a ravenous hiss, saying that "kindness like that sort of brings it out". This comes back to bite him hard when he can't control himself around Flurry Heart. The fact that he's been starving for a long time doesn't help.
• Nice Guy: For a changeling, he is surprisingly kind to everyone, especially towards Spike. Even after becoming King, he still tries to rule with a kind hoof. However, as explained by Ember in "Triple Threat", it's deconstructed when he tries keeping his approach in ruling; he ends up becoming so unassertive that not everyone respects his approach and prefer Chrysalis's rule instead. In "To Change a Changeling", he is at odds with Pharynx, who while well-meaning thinks his kindness makes him weak and wants him to toughen up, and when he refuses to banish Pharynx from the Hive for being set in his ways, the other changelings get mad at him. While he's gradually getting better, he's still struggling to balance his compassion with the assertiveness needed to rule effectively.
• No Infantile Amnesia: Thorax can remember the day he was hatched with great clarity.
• Not Evil, Just Misunderstood: Ponies had a hard time accepting him at first on the basis that he's a changeling. He was also constantly starved for love due to Queen Chrysalis's malicious and self-serving teachings. As of the Season 6 finale, this applies to his entire race as well.
• Only Sane Man: During "School Daze", he's far and away the most reasonable of the world leaders and the only one unwilling to threaten war when things go south.
• The Power of Love: Weaponized; in the Season 6 finale, at Starlight Glimmer's suggestion, Thorax willingly shares all his love with Chrysalis, overpowering and defeating her. The result turns him into a Changeling King.
• Promotion to Opening Titles: He appears in the season 8 opening, flying outside Twilight’s castle and school.
• Rags to Royalty: From a lowly changeling drone who's an outcast of pony society and traitor to his own Hive, to a hero with lots of friends and a benevolent Changeling King by the end of Season 6.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: During the "School Daze" two-parter, he is the only leader not to hold Chancellor Neighsay's words against the ponies, saying that he knows not every pony will accept the changelings the way Twilight and her friends have. And when the others are threatening war between each other over their missing students, Thorax is more worried that the changelings won't be able to survive such a conflict.
• Redemption Promotion: His Mook–Face Turn and becoming friends with ponies triggers a metamorphosis that ultimately causes him to evolve into a Changeling King.
• Shrinking Violet: As the newly crowned leader of the changelings, he struggles with the burden of leadership as well as learning to become more assertive; nevertheless, he refuses to banish his brother Pharynx for not participating in the Chamgelings' therapeutic activities, since Pharynx stood up for him and Pharynx is the one badass enough to help the villagers become more assertive in confronting the maulwurf.
• Stranger in a Familiar Land: In "To Where and Back Again", Thorax is terrified of returning to the changeling hive, stating he has hoped to never see that place again.
• Then Let Me Be Evil: Thorax tries to do this after Spike betrays him due to peer pressure, calling himself an "evil changeling". However, it doesn't last long and he once again saves Spike from falling off a cliff.
• Token Heroic Orc: Thorax is, as implied by both previous appearances of changelings and his own flashbacks, a very rare genuinely friendly member of the changeling species... until their species-wide Heel–Face Turn, at any rate.
• Toy-Based Characterization: Thorax is an uncommonly gentle and pacifistic changeling, as opposed to the rest of his race who are vicious predators. "To Change a Changeling" shows that when he was a grub, he liked to play quietly and gently with his dollies, while all the other grubs loved nothing better than tearing apart training dummies.
• Took a Level in Badass:
  • He ends up going all the way from the Black Sheep of his entire kind in "The Times They Are a Changeling" to their new leader in the Season 6 finale "To Where and Back Again" — complete with an Metamorphosis on top of it. When the assembled ponies stand up to Chrysalis, Thorax is shown gathering magic in his new stag-beetle horns, showing he's very willing to fight if she makes a move.
  • He takes another one in "Triple Threat" after Ember confides that he really needs to be more assertive. This enables Thorax to tell Spike off after ditching the both of them all day.
• Uniformity Exception: Aside from his uniquely colored carapace, Thorax stands out from other changelings due to having rounder eyes, and differently-shaped ears. His transformed state is close to Celestia's height, has a slender build that's similar to an alicorn's, and has stag beetle-like horns in addition to his normal one, setting him further apart from other changelings.
• Visual Pun:
  • His King form incorporates elements from a male deer, with antlers resembling mandibles, and retaining aspects of his beetle-like former self. In other words, he's a stag beetle.
  • Before turning into a Changeling King, he can be seen encased in a literal, floating chrysalis after sharing love with Chrysalis. Part of his transformation, and by extension his fellow changelings', involves shedding their Chrysalis (i.e. learning how to share love instead of forcibly stealing it as was taught).
• Vocal Dissonance: In his regal-looking King Thorax form, he has the same nasal voice that his changeling form had, making it slightly hard to take him seriously.
• Voices Are Mental: Zig-zagged; when he takes the shapes of specific individuals (as seen with Twilight or Starlight), the change is complete down to the voice. However, when whatever he changes into isn't expected to have a specific voice (like a generic crystal pony, or a bear) he keeps his usual voice.
• Voluntary Shapeshifting: Thorax, as a changeling, is capable of this, even disguising himself as a rock at one point. To date, he's been seen impersonating Spike, Crystal Hoof (a crystal pony), Twilight Sparkle, Trixie and Starlight Glimmer. He also turns himself into a huge bear in "Triple Threat".
• Walking Spoiler: His ascension to becoming the king of the changelings is spoiled by all of his appearances after Season 6. It's also the reason for all of the leader tropes in his section.
• What the Hell, Hero?:
  • In "Triple Threat", he calls out Spike for disregarding his feelings and being dishonest with him about Ember, a dragon, especially since Spike's actions were based on completely incorrect assumptions about their personalities, the very things both Thorax and Ember sought help for from Spike.
  • In "To Change a Changeling", Thorax calls out Starlight for her not-well-thought-out-at-all plan of trying to lead the maulwurf to the changeling hive so his brother Pharynx could beat it and earn the respect of the reformed changelings. While it does work out at the end, Thorax doesn't sugarcoat the fact that Starlight put everybody in danger due to her terrible plan.

Gabby

Debut: "The Fault in Our Cutie Marks"

Voiced by: Erin Matthews

An enthusiastic griffon from Griffonstone, Gabriella (or Gabby to her friends) travels to Ponyville to seek out the Cutie Mark Crusaders and obtain both a purpose in life and a cutie mark.

She reappears in "Dragon Dropped", having struck up a long-distance friendship with Spike.

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• Absentee Club Member: Gabby was accepted as a member of the Cutie-Mark Crusaders in "The Fault in Our Cutie Marks", but she's never been seen since then.
• The Ace: While trying to find out her special talent, Gabby is extremely good at everything she tries.
  Cutie Mark Crusaders: She's so good at things, it's frightening.
• All Animals Are Dogs: A minor example. While she was waiting for the Cutie Mark Crusaders at their club house, she scratches herself with her back leg just like a dog or a cat would, even though she has talons that she could have used just as easily.
• Bad Liar: It seems the only thing Gabby can't do is lie convincingly.
• The Bus Came Back: After having non-speaking cameos in the previous season and "The Last Crusade", she returns with a speaking role in "Dragon Dropped".
• The Cameo: She briefly appears in "The Hearth's Warming Club" during Gallus's story about the Griffon holiday.
• Commonality Connection: She and Spike became fast friends due to both being sensitive, friendly members of species who aren't the nicest creatures around, and due to both being in the mail delivery business.
• Cuddle Bug: Gabby is quite... demonstrative in her affections, and catch all three Crusaders in a Bear Hug several times.
• Distaff Counterpart: To Thorax. They're each the Token Good Teammate of their respective species, both of which have a very bad reputation among ponies. They also befriend the young Famed In-Story heroes of two pony communities where they are both well liked at the end of their introductory episodes (The Crystal Empire for Thorax and Ponyville for Gabby). Plus they both promise to promote the values of pony society (specifically friendship) among their respective species. Also they were both shaped from watching events that happened earlier in the series; Thorax saw the Mane Six fighting the changelings with the power of their friendship, and he decided that he wanted true friendship; on the other hand, Gabby was present when Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie were in Griffonstone spreading friendship and noticed their cutie marks glowing which caused her to decide that she wanted a cutie mark.
• Dream-Crushing Handicap: Gabby wants a cutie mark. As she and the Crusaders find out, it doesn't matter how badly Gabby wants it; griffons simply can't get cutie marks.
• Dudley Do-Right Stops to Help: Gabby just can't stop herself from helping others, even if they reject her kindness (as it happens with the other griffons) or if she's in a hurry to leave herself, as she should have done to avoid the Cutie Mark Crusaders finding out the truth about her "cutie mark".
• Expy:
  • In many ways, she's the griffon version of Derpy; they're both messengers/mail workers, nice and cheerful girls, and with problems to fit with their peers, Derpy being a Walking Disaster Area and Gabby being the Token Good Teammate for the whole of Griffonstone.
  • She can be considered a griffon version of Pinkie Pie as well; Genki Girl, with No Sense of Personal Space, and her whole life is dedicated to helping others and making them happy.
• Friendless Background: Gabby felt out of place among most other griffons, who are mostly a bunch of foul-tempered loners who'd reject her attempts to be friends with them all. It's downplayed because the griffons treat everyone they meet with equal disdain, so they don't single her out for being different.
• Genki Girl: Gabby's default mood is energetic and delighted, and it takes a lot to bring her out of it.
• I Just Want My Beloved to Be Happy: A platonic version occurs in "Dragon Dropped"; while Gabby is clearly upset over Spike being unable to hang out with her, she encourages him to go to the Power Ponypalooza convention Rarity invited him to.
• Large Ham: She can get quite dramatic during her Genki Girl moments.
• Lying to Protect Your Feelings: She lies to the Crusaders, saying that she got a cutie mark, in order to make them think that they succeeded, all to make them feel better.
• Meaningful Name: "Gabby" means talkative, and she can certainly get pretty chatty.
• Mix-and-Match Creatures: While she, like the other griffons, claims to be half lion and half eagle, her bird head and general color pattern resembles a peregrine falcon's... one of Earth's fastest birds, perfect for a quick-messenging/mailing job.
• My Species Doth Protest Too Much: Gabby is a Nice Girl living in a Jerkass society.
• Nice Girl: A griffon who only wants to help people, no matter what.
• No Sense of Personal Space: She loves getting into people's faces and giving bear hugs, as the Cutie Mark Crusaders repeatedly experience.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: In "Dragon Dropped" Gabby is shown being genuinely angry for the first time when she believes Spike lied about not being able to spend time with her so he could hang out with Rarity instead. She quickly breaks off their friendship (intentionally dropping the thermos of soup she brought for him on the floor), and later snarks at how Rarity seems to be apologizing a lot when she comes to try and smooth things over.
• Out-of-Character Moment: In "The Hearth's Warming Club", she is seen being grumpy like other griffons during Gallus's story about the holiday. However, even during this she can still briefly be seen with her usual happiness shining through.
• Renaissance Man: She has demonstrated a broad range of talents from music to math and from ship-building to cake-baking.
• Verbal Tic: She has a tendency to repeat words for emphasis.

General Seaspray

Debut: "School Daze – Part 1"

Voiced by: Christopher Gaze

A general of the hippogriff navy, Seaspray is sent to accompany Silverstream to the School of Friendship.

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• Commonality Connection: In "A Rockhoof and a Hard Place", he empathizes with Rockhoof's situation, as the hippogriffs also know what it's like to return to the world after spending a long time trapped somewhere.
• Fantastic Rank System: Seaspray introduces himself as the "general" of Queen Novo's "navy". A more apt title for a leading figure in a navy would be "admiral".
• Mundane Object Amazement: Much like Silverstream, he seems to be fascinated by the concept of stairs, having spent a good part of his life underwater as a seapony. Since they could just get around by swimming, and as hippogriffs by flying, they never needed them.
• Not So Above It All: A stern and serious hippogriff naval officer who is as fascinated as the hyperactive Silverstream is by stairs.
• Our Gryphons Are Different: He's a hippogriff, creatures described as half pony and half eagle. His mammalian and avian traits are fairly well blended together, including feathered fetlocks, a mane and tail of colorful feathers, and mammalian ears on his avian head.
• Rugged Scar: When he returns in "A Rockhoof and a Hard Place", he has a number of scars on his face, with no explanation as to how he got them.
• Shout-Out: He shares a name with a Generation 1 Transformer, Seaspray, who was designed for naval combat in parallel to the hippogriff Seaspray being a leader of the hippogriff navy.
• Strange Minds Think Alike: Silverstream dumbfounds her friends when she is fascinated by stairs, of all things. At the end of the episode, General Seaspray turns out to be just as fascinated.

Terramar

As a hippogriff ^{As a seapony}

Debut: "Surf and/or Turf"

Voiced by: Cole Howard

A young hippogriff and Silverstream's brother, Terramar is trying to decide whether to live on land as a hippogriff or in the sea as a seapony.

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• Beware the Nice Ones: When he finds out that Starlight might have been the reason behind his sister going missing, he becomes highly furious.
• Child of Two Worlds: Since everygriff else has already chosen to be either a hippogriff or a seapony, and he has close family on both sides, Terramar feels pressured to choose one or the other. Downplayed, since both like all other citizens of Mt. Aris he wears a fragment of the Pearl that allows him to switch back and forth whenever he wants.
• The Cameo:
  • He briefly appears in "Uprooted", as Silverstream tells him and their parents about wanting to honor the destroyed Tree of Harmony.
  • He also appears in "The last Crusade", as one of many the Cutie Mark Crusaders have helped.
• Embarrassing Old Photo: Ocean Flow offers to show baby pictures of Terramar and Silverstream to Princess Twilight. Terramar is appropriately embarrassed by the idea; Twilight thinks it's adorable.
• Guest-Star Party Member: In "Student Counsel", he joins Starlight's group of friends as they search for the missing Silverstream.
• Meaningful Name: The two halves of his name, "Terra" and "Mar", are derived from the Latin words meaning "land" and "sea", respectively, and his debut episode is about his love of both life on land and under the sea.
• Nice Guy: He is very nice and polite to everyone around him.
• Our Gryphons Are Different: He's a hippogriff, with equine hind legs and an eagle front half. He's stuck deciding whether he wants to remain as this, as his father and sister have done, or permanently become a seapony like his mother has.
• Our Mermaids Are Different: The other half of his choice. He can turn into a mermaid-like seapony with his magical necklace, and spends as much of his time in this form as he does as a hippogriff. This is the form he meets Twilight and the CMC in, leading to Apple Bloom becoming confused about how a hippogriff like Silverstream can have a seapony brother.
• Poor Communication Kills: In the beginning, he keeps his doubts to himself and doesn't talk to his parents about them or indicate that he's going through this sort of issues. As his parents proved extremely understanding when they learned what was going on, being open from the beginning would have resolved his issues much more quickly.
• Take a Third Option: His eventual choice, after being comforted by his parents, is to keep doing what he has been doing, traveling back and forth between both places and enjoying them both, rather than permanently choosing one or the other. Before that, when he gives up over both places, he compromises by climbing up a tree.
• Voluntary Shapeshifting: Like all hippogriffs, he has a necklace made from a shard of Queen Novo's magical pearl, which grants him the ability of shifting between his hippogriff and seapony forms. He makes use of this much more than other hippogriffs and seaponies do, regularly shifting between one form and the other as he tries to choose between living on land and in the sea.
• What the Hell, Hero?: In "Student Counsel", Terramar angrily asks Starlight what kind of counselor turns away a student with a problem, after Starlight mentions how she didn't listen to Silverstream earlier that day. He soon lets this go, however, and later thanks Starlight for helping to find Silverstream.

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