Given this show's massive Periphery Demographic, it was probably inevitable that its popularity would eventually start spilling over into other countries.
- The show is very popular in Poland, likely due in part to its very well-done Polish dub (occasional hiccups aside). That it's the first show to be listed if you look on MiniMini+'s website is a good indicator. In fact, it's so popular there that they even have their own Equestria Daily!
- In Japan:
- The Japanese fandom loves Fluttershy, who has a number of similarities with the Japanese archetype of Yamato Nadeshiko (American fans referred to her as "the moe pony" from the beginning). There's even a meme calling her "an honorary Japanese".
- Cheerilee also has a sizeable number of Japanese fans, to the point she was given near-top billing in the Japanese dub. This is most certainly due to her role as the Sensei-chan.
- Applejack is by far the least popular main character in the United States, both in its main audience and its Periphery Demographic, to where she's often the only main character excluded from marketing and some toy lines. However, Applejack consistently places in the top 3 in Japanese popularity polls. This is most likely a combination of her work ethic resonating with the importance Japanese culture places on hard work and a general Japanese love of Westerns and cowboys.
- Coco Pommel is beloved in Japan for being humble, polite, gentle, and most of all cute, yet with just enough confidence to assert herself when necessary. Just like Fluttershy, she's seen as a Yamato Nadeshiko.
- Bushiroad attempted to invoke this with their adaptation – new J-pop-style openings and endings for each season, an excellent dub with some bigger-name voice actors (Miyuki Sawashiro and Kikuko Inoue, just to name two), and a little Variety Show segment at the end. They put so much effort into it that one could easily mistake it for a Japanese production with unusually smooth animation (at least until some of the songs play untranslated). Unfortunately, as mentioned above, it didn't hit with its target demographic of elementary-aged girls, likely due to that market already being saturated with more popular domestic franchises – see Pretty Cure, Hello Kitty, etc. The dub was also criticized for cutting out scenes for time and to use in the new openings, which caused a few plot holes, not to mention leaving a few of the songs undubbed. note
- As it turns out, this trope actually applies to the Japanese dub itself. It may have gotten crowded out in Japan, but it garnered a LOT of attention by anime-loving bronies and anime fans in general everywhere else in the world due to the massive amount of Woolseyisms bringing the show in line with established Japanese media tropes. Equestria Daily regularly reported on new episodes of the dub being released despite its limited success in its country. Since it's highly unlikely the following seasons will be receiving Japanese dubs anytime soon, Japanese bronies and pegasisters have had to settle for watching the show online in English, with or without Japanese fansubs. note
- Oddly enough, an MLP-themed pop-up cafe opened in Japan soon after its premiere, with decor that combines the original G1 artwork with that of Friendship is Magic.
- Just when it looked like it was over, Equestria Girls did receive a Japanese dub that was released on Netflix's Japanese branch, Rainbow Rocks and Friendship Games soon followed and 52 more episodes of the Japanese dub were confirmed to on the way. Sega Toys have also announced they will taking over from Bushiroad as distributors for the toys.
- The Equestria Girls spinoff, beard-growing aside, is still relatively overshadowed in popularity by the main series in it's home territory. In Japan and other parts of Asia, it's the More Popular Spin-Off. While Friendship Is Magic has been considerably slow getting new material released in Japan (Season 3 and beyond is still yet to be released), Equestria Girls was a hit, possibly due to the characters' kemonomimi-like designs, and Rainbow Rocks and Friendship Games were released relatively quickly after the first film and well before their respective Friendship Is Magic seasons were ever aired. However, this move has received a ton of negative backlash from many Japanese fans who prefer the original show, since the first three Equestria Girls movies contain massive spoilers for the last episodes of Seasons 3 to 5 respectively. Despite this, it hasn't stopped Legend of Everfree and the Magical Movie Night special getting dubbed, but has also prevented the movie from getting a Japanese release until 2018 as a Direct to Video release there.
- The Equestria Girls spin-off is also popular in Latin America, and is so huge that Discovery Kids aired Friendship Games and Legend of Everfree a few days before they aired in the United States, and that many of the videos of the Spanish dubs of the films and shorts have over ten million views, with at least three of them having over 40 million views. The Dazzlings in particular are also popular in the country, as many of the most watched videos of Equestria Girls involve them, with two of them being different uploads of the same song ("Welcome To The Show").
- It's also big in the United Kingdom, where there's tons of merchandise tie-ins, it's the highest rated show on Tiny Pop, and a bus tour drew huge crowds. They even aired several episodes and released several toys before the United States got them. It's also worth nothing that while the Brony phenomenon died out in the United States after more recent cartoons became popular, there's still a sizeable amount of Bronies in the UK as of 2018. An early demonstration of this trope in action happened in late 2014, when the Radio Times held a "Kids TV Champ" poll to determine the country's best-loved kids shows from around the world. Friendship is Magic made it through to the round of 32, beating out both The Story of Tracy Beaker and The Magic Roundabout in the process.
- My Little Pony in general is huge in France ever since it began. They are one of a handful of countries where the toys have been sold in stores every year since they came out in 1983. Friendship is Magic is also Tiji's most-aired show and they got all the Equestria Girls movies in theaters.
- Word has it the franchise is also quite popular in Turkey, despite the Turkish dub of Friendship is Magic reportedly skipping a few important episodes due to featuring festivals based on non-Islamic ones. A Princess Luna plushie is even featured in one of the music videos of Turkish pop star Aleyna Tilki.
- The franchise is also big in China, to the point where the movie based on the show was one of the few foreign films cleared for release in 2017.
