My Little Pony Friendship is Magic

My Little Pony Friendship is Magic is an animated series airing on The Hub, currently in season 2. This incarnation of the popular Hasbro franchise is referred to as the fourth generation, or G4, of My Little Pony. The show was developed for television by Lauren Faust, who is known for her work on two of Cartoon Network's popular and critically-acclaimed franchises, The Powerpuff Girls and Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends.

The series stars a unicorn pony named Twilight Sparkle, a pupil of Princess Celestia who is the ruler of the magical land of Equestria. Seeing the young pony buried in books, the princess gives her the task of making friends and sends her an assistant, a young dragon named Spike, to Ponyville. There, she meets some interesting ponies, including tomboyish Rainbow Dash, glamorous Rarity, hard-working Applejack, timid Fluttershy, and hyperactive Pinkie Pie. Together, they go on adventures, solve various problems, and learn of the magic of friendship.

Characters

 * See also list of characters

Ponies
The series has a main cast of six ponies, and a large number of supporting and background characters. As ponies mature, they gain cutie marks on their flanks, which represent their purpose or calling in life.

Pony kinds
There are three pony kinds:

Outside of the three kinds, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna possess both wings and a unicorn horn. They and they both possess extraordinary magical power, allowing them to raise the sun and the moon.
 * Earth ponies - regular ponies. The founders of Ponyville were among this race. They are closer to nature than other ponies and are frequently seen performing manual labor.
 * Pegasus ponies - ponies with wings, giving them the ability to fly. They can also walk on clouds. They are frequently seen tending to the weather.
 * Unicorn ponies - ponies who possess more pronounced magical abilities, represented by a glow around their horn when used. Their primary ability appears to be telekinesis, but they can learn other magic as well.

Age and sex
The show's ponies may be grouped by age and sex into colts, fillies, mares, and stallions. A pony's sex can be ascertained by the shape and size of their muzzle: stallions' muzzles are angular, squared off and larger, while mares' muzzles have a more rounded appearance and are much smaller than a stallion's. Another way to determine a pony's sex is by their eyelashes. Mares and fillies will have eyelashes, while stallions and colts don't.

While in previous My Little Pony generations, young ponies were often called "baby ponies", in Friendship is Magic they are simply called "fillies", or "young ponies", and are grouped under foals.

Main characters

 * Twilight Sparkle: A unicorn pony with a light violet body and an indigo mane and tail with pink and purple streaks. Her spirit represents the element of magic.
 * Applejack: An earth pony with an orange body and blonde mane and tail. She is down-to-earth and dependable, always willing to help anyone in any matter. She also comes from a large family of apple-name related members who oversee an apple orchard and run an apple business. She wears a cowboy hat. Her spirit represents the element of honesty.
 * Rainbow Dash: A tomboy pegasus pony with a sky blue body and a multicolored mane and tail. Very brave and bold, she could also be mischievous and proud. She has the ability of speed and clearing the sky out of clouds. Her spirit represents the element of loyalty.
 * Pinkie Pie: An earth pony with a pink body and magenta mane and tail. She has a funny demeanor, is very talkative, and a bit air-headed. She also enjoys singing and playing pranks. Her spirit represents the element of laughter.
 * Fluttershy: A pegasus pony with a yellow body and a pink mane and tail. She could be very shy around others most of the time but has a great love and care for animals. Her spirit represents the element of kindness.
 * Rarity: A unicorn pony with a white body and a royal purple mane and tail. She is very stylish and interested in fashion. Often desiring to be a center of attention, she could also be a bit judgemental. Her spirit represents the element of generosity.

Episodes

 * See also the list of episodes

Season one
Season one opened with a "preview", an early screening of the entire first episode five days before the series "officially" started. The introduction of the characters and the plot revolving around Nightmare Moon span over the first two episodes, which together comprise the only two-parter of the season. Episode three introduces the Grand Galloping Gala, which is where the season's final episode takes place.

The show's developer, Lauren Faust, served as executive producer for this season. While Faust would have preferred the show to have an ongoing storyline, Hasbro required that the episodes be able to be shown in any order.

Season two
Faust announced that she has been less involved in the making of the show for season two, focusing mostly on story conception and script. She is credited under "Developed for Television by" and "Executive Producer" for the first episode, which was produced in the first season's production span. She is expected to be credited as "Consulting Producer" for the rest of season two.

According to Top Draw's website, there will be 26 episodes, 22 minutes in length. The animation is expected to be complete in December 2011. Several minor characters return in this season, including Derpy Hooves. Luna and "Gramps" have been mentioned by crew memebres to be scheduled to appear in the new season. The five main school-age ponies make a brief appearance in the first episode, along with Cheerilee and the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

The season started airing on September 17th, 2011. Like the first season, it opened with a two-parter with the ponies questing for the Elements of Harmony.

Season three
Pinkie Pie's singing voice performer, Shannon Chan-Kent, has begun recording for a future third season.

But according to song writer Daniel Ingram on his FaceBook page, who writes all the musical numbers for the show, no third season has been planned as of yet. It can be assumed Chan-Kent was confused or that a third season is in the works but staff have been asked to keep it secret.

Cast

 * See also credits

Voice Talents

 * Ashleigh Ball as Rainbow Dash and Applejack
 * Claire Corlett as Sweetie Belle
 * Michele Creber as Apple Bloom
 * Andrea Libman as Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy
 * Nicole Oliver as Princess Celestia
 * Madeline Peters as Scootaloo
 * Tabitha St. Germain as Rarity and Princess Luna
 * Tara Strong as Twilight Sparkle
 * Cathy Weseluck as Spike the Dragon

Singing Voices
Most of the voice cast consists of Canadian voice actors. They are from Ocean Productions in Canada and the voices are recorded in Vancouver, Canada.
 * Shannon Chan-Kent as Pinkie Pie
 * Kazumi Evans as Rarity
 * Rebecca Shoichet as Twilight Sparkle
 * Michele Creber as Sweetie Belle

International broadcasting
Hasbro is currently in the process of localizing their Generation Four My Little Pony toy line in many countries. Whilst granted many countries are currently receiving G4 products, as of 2011 those same countries are still persisting with the G3.5 products as well. So far, only a handful of countries outside the United States had converted to G4 entirely, or even began receiving G4 toys and merchandise officially.

As for the broadcast of the television series itself outside the United States, thus far it is currently airing only in English for the English Canadian audience on Treehouse TV, and on Boomerang for audiences in the United Kingdom.

Originally, although no defined date was stated, there was an announcement for other television debuts of the show roughly during the summer of 2011 in other countries such as Denmark, the Middle East, Norway, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. This had been done via a deal Hasbro made with Turner Broadcasting System Europe to distribute this show, as well as other shows based on Hasbro's intellectual properties, throughout various channels they own in those regions, such as Boing (Spain), Boomerang, Cartoon Network (Denmark, Middle East, Norway, Sweden), and Cartoonito (UK). More recently, the UK release of the series had been clarified further, adding that the series will debut in the end of July 2011 on Cartoon Network, along with the full, official release of the G4 line of toys. However, unlike prior reports, the first season eventually premiered earlier in the UK on Boomerang instead, starting on July 4, 2011, and broadcasting once every weekday afterwards. The European Spanish dub had been confirmed to debut in September 2011 via Boing. There has been various unofficial reports that the Polish dub is to debut on MiniMini, but nothing has been clarified so far. The European French dub was confirmed to be coming to the preschoolers' channel TiJi. The Italian dub had made its debut on Italia 1 starting August 29, 2011. The German dub was confirmed to debut on Nickelodeon starting September 17, 2011. The Dutch dub started airing on Nickelodeon/Nick Jr. early September 2011, and was largely unnoticed by not being shown in most tv-guides or even on Nickelodeon's own sites.

Since its first airing on Boomerang in the UK, the show has been moved to an earlier timeslot (3PM to 7AM), and has picked up sponsoring by Tesco. However, it has yet to show any episodes after Fall Weather Friends, instead airing the first thirteen episodes multiple times.

Language dubs
There is little information about the non-English dubs of the series, however My Little Pony Friendship is Magic is known officially in the following languages as:
 * Czech - My Little Pony Kouzlo přátelství
 * Danish - My Little Pony Venskab er ren magi - not to be confused with the Norwegian title.
 * Dutch My Little Pony Vriendschap is betoverend - also applies to the Dutch Belgium (Flemmish).
 * Finnish - My Little Pony Ystävyyden taikaa
 * French (Canada) - My Little Pony La Magie de L'amitié
 * French (France and Belgium) - My Little Pony Les amies c'est Magique
 * German - My Little Pony Freundschaft ist Magie
 * Greek - My Little Pony Η Φιλία είναι Μαγική
 * Italian - My Little Pony L'amicizia è magica
 * Norwegian - My Little Pony Vennskap er ren magi - not to be cofused with the Danish title.
 * Polish - My Little Pony Przyjaźń to magia
 * Portuguese (Brazil) - My Little Pony Amizade é pura Magia
 * Portuguese (Portugal) - My Little Pony A Amizade é Mágica
 * Slovak - My Little Pony Prijateljstvo je čarovnija - this is the show's title as printed on the Slovak logo currently on Hasbro's Slovak website, however, the spelling is questionable because it generally is incorrect. It should be spelled as Priateľstvo je čarovné.
 * Spanish (Mexico and Spain) - My Little Pony La Magia de la Amistad - albeit the Mexico and Spain versions share the same title, they have completely different dubs performed by different voice actors.
 * Swedish - My Little Pony Vänskap är magiskt
 * Turkish - My Little Pony Arkadaşlık Sihirlidir

More language dubs are expected to be announced before the end of 2011. Other than the titles, virtually all the characters' English names had been retained by default.

Typeface
The series uses a typeface named Generation B for its subtitle and various opening credits.