Ponyville

Ponyville is a town in Equestria, the main setting of the series My Little Pony Friendship is Magic, and home to the leading characters. Ponyville is first featured in the first episode, and is the setting for most episodes.

Geographical location and features
Friendship is Magic is the first episode to show that Ponyville is bordered by the Everfree Forest. In Dragonshy, a mountain is within walking distance of the town.

Canterlot's mountain is visible from the town. A map that Granny Smith shows in the episode Family Appreciation Day portrays Ponyville's location relative to Cloudsdale, Canterlot, and the Everfree Forest. The episode MMMystery on the Friendship Express takes place on a train traveling from Ponyville to Canterlot. In The Best Night Ever, the main characters travel to Canterlot in a horse-drawn carriage.

In a scene in The Mysterious Mare Do Well, the camera pans to show the river that flows through Ponyville. A hydroelectric dam is situated near the edge of a waterfall, upstream of the town.

According to Lauren Faust, Ponyville was originally named "Fillydephia."

History
Granny Smith describes the founding of Ponyville to a class of fillies in the episode Family Appreciation Day. She recounts how when she was just a filly, her family were pilgrims and made a living by "collecting new seeds and sellin' the old". When they came to Canterlot, Princess Celestia granted the Apple Family land near the Everfree Forest, where Granny Smith and her family planted their first orchard. Granny Smith describes how they soon ran out of food because "an orchard don't grow overnight". One night, she ventured into the Everfree Forest by herself to look for food. She discovered "the most incredible" apple trees that bore rainbow-colored apples. When the filly returned home with a bag full of them, she and her father planted the first Zap apple seeds. Drawn in by the jam made from the unique fruit, other ponies started coming to the land, such as Stinkin' Rich, Diamond Tiara's grandfather, who started a small market that sold Zap Apple Jam. Granny Smith concludes the story of the founding of Ponyville by saying, "And before we knew it, we had ourselves a nice little town, bustling with all kinds of ponies."

Because the town was founded by earth ponies, they had to clean up winter by hoof instead of by magic. In the present day, Ponyville still does the "Winter Wrap-up" as a town tradition; in Winter Wrap Up, Twilight says Ponyville has done this for "hundreds of years".

In Magic Duel, Trixie took over Ponyville after exiling Twilight Sparkle. She put up several statues and flags of herself all over town and forced the citizens to do labor for her or face punishment. The town returned to normal at the end of the episode when Twilight beat Trixie in a rematch duel.

Houses
Typical houses are timber-framed with distinct thatched roofs and overhanging upper floors.

Town square and town hall
The town hall is at the center of Ponyville's town square. In the first two episodes, the town's citizens gather in the town hall to witness Princess Celestia raise the sun with her magic at the thousandth Summer Sun Celebration. In the episode Applebuck Season, Applejack's friends and Mayor Mare give speeches on the town hall podium at the beginning of a ceremony celebrating Applejack's contributions to the town. In Griffon the Brush Off, Spike retrieves scrolls from a rack of cubby holes in the town hall.

In The Last Roundup, Rainbow Dash is repairing the building prior to a ceremony honoring Applejack when Derpy "assists" her and further damages the building. Applejack pledges to donate the prize money she expects to win at the rodeo. When her friends find out that she failed to win any prize money, they tell her they'll find other ways to fund the repair of the town hall.

More of the town square is seen from an aerial shot in Griffon the Brush Off. The square has a pool with a sculpture of a rearing Earth pony and several colorful tents pitched around it. A river marks the border of one side of the square, and a bridge crosses it to another tent-filled area.

In Too Many Pinkie Pies, Applejack and her sister Apple Bloom round up the clones of Pinkie Pie and make them sit in the town hall. Twilight Sparkle tests the clones' patience by making them watch a paint-covered wall dry.

Schoolhouse
Ponyville has a schoolhouse that first appears in Call of the Cutie. Exterior shots of the schoolhouse show a bell on the roof, a flag in the front yard, and a sign on the lawn depicting an open book and the silhouettes of two rearing fillies. Classes for foals are taught by Cheerilee; for example, in Call of the Cutie, she gives a lesson on cutie marks and their significance. In Ponyville Confidential, the students work on and print the Foal Free Press paper in the basement.

Hospital
In the beginning of Baby Cakes, the main characters visit the newborn Pound Cake and Pumpkin Cake. When Pinkie Pie starts singing in the nursery, Nurse Redheart shushes her and eventually kicks her out. In Read It and Weep, Rainbow Dash breaks her right wing and stays at the hospital for a period of time. It is also mentioned in Hurricane Fluttershy by Rumble as he tells Rainbow Dash about Thunderlane having the feather flu and being at Ponyville Hospital.

Train station
Ponyville has had a train station and depot since the founding of the town (shown in a flashback in Family Appreciation Day). In The Last Roundup, Applejack boards a train that takes her to Canterlot; and in Over a Barrel, the main characters take a pony-pulled train to Appleloosa. Unlike that train, the trains in Season 2 are powered by steam engines. In One Bad Apple, Babs Seed arrives to Ponyville via train.

At the beginning of Games Ponies Play, the train station is shown to be not far from Twilight Sparkle's home, Golden Oaks Library. The main characters travel by train to the Crystal Empire to participate in a welcoming committee for the Equestria Games inspector.

Ponyville Retirement Village
In Luna Eclipsed, Spike says that he mistook Twilight Sparkle's Star Swirl the Bearded costume for that of a "kooky grandpa from Ponyville Retirement Village".

Ponyville Tower
Ponyville's clock tower is visible from the front of Fluttershy's cottage. The number of marks on its face changes between episodes, having eight marks in A Bird in the Hoof and Putting Your Hoof Down, but twelve marks in Hearts and Hooves Day. In Putting Your Hoof Down, the Ponyville tower is mentioned by a stallion tourist.

Cutie Mark Crusaders Clubhouse
The Cutie Mark Crusaders' clubhouse is first seen in The Show Stoppers, when Applejack takes the three fillies to her old clubhouse in Sweet Apple Acres. She says it's "on a secluded, private part of the farm", but the Crusaders express their dismay at its decrepit state. Apple Bloom fixes the broken shutters, sands off the splinters, rebuilds the roof, and repaints the clubhouse. Later in the episode, the Crusaders practice their talent show routine in the clubhouse. The clubhouse is used again in Hearts and Hooves Day when the Crusaders make a card for their teacher, Miss Cheerilee. In The Mysterious Mare Do Well, Scootaloo heads a "Rainbow Dash Fan Club" meeting, which is attended by at least six ponies. The club house is decorated specifically for that event, with rainbow streamers and posters of Rainbow Dash on the walls.

Marketplace
The marketplace is shown in most episodes, primarily in Putting Your Hoof Down, Applebuck Season, Griffon the Brush Off, Swarm of the Century, Call of the Cutie, and Family Appreciation Day. In Putting Your Hoof Down, Fluttershy purchases vegetables from different stalls run by Earth ponies. Market stalls sell apples, pies, drinks, cooking utensils, books, and vegetables (corn, potatoes, carrots, and tomatoes being the most prominent). Applejack's family run their own stall cart, with at least one adult family member operating it to sell their apples. A stall selling soap is seen in Feeling Pinkie Keen.

Sweet Apple Acres
Applejack, her sister Apple Bloom, her brother Big McIntosh, and her grandmother Granny Smith live and work at Sweet Apple Acres, first seen in Friendship is Magic, part 1. In that episode, Twilight Sparkle meets the farm's residents for the first time and is introduced to the extended Apple family at an Apple family reunion. In Applebuck Season, Applejack attempts to harvest all the apples from the farm's orchards by herself, but becomes tired and disorientated from lack of sleep. In Winter Wrap Up, Ponyville's citizens work together to plant seeds at the farm. In The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000, the Flim Flam brothers arrive at the farm and try to overtake the Apple family's traditional apple cider business, but are kicked out when their automated apple-squeezing machine produces sub-par cider compared to the Apple family's homemade cider. In Spike at Your Service, Spike counts "twenty-four million, five hundred and sixty-seven thousand, eight hundred and thirty seven" blades of grass at Sweet Apple Acres.

Sugarcube Corner
Sugarcube Corner is a confectionery shop run by Mr. and Mrs. Cake and Pinkie Pie. Princess Celestia visits Ponyville in Swarm of the Century and stops at Sugarcube Corner for a banquet of cake and pastries. Diamond Tiara's cute-ceañera takes place in Sugarcube Corner in Call of the Cutie. Although not specified on-screen, Lauren Faust stated that Pinkie Pie is an employee and tenant of the Cake couple, and rents the loft area of the building as her home.

The building's roof resembles that of a gingerbread house; indeed, the building's exterior and interior design are bakery-themed. The two upper stories look like stacked cupcakes and are topped with candle-shaped lights. In Party of One, Pinkie and her friends have a party in the upper floor, which has been decked out with streamers, balloons, confetti, and party decor. The front room on the ground floor is the store area for customers. The bakery's kitchen is in the back of the shop, as seen in Applebuck Season when Applejack is helping Pinkie Pie bake cupcakes. The building's chimneys look like purple rock-candy pillars, and a sign with a picture of a cupcake hangs from one corner of the building.

Day Spa
A day spa, first featured in Bridle Gossip, is apparently run by the spa ponies, one of whom, Lotus Blossom, speaks with an accent. The spa can be seen during long shots as being on the perimeter of the town square, next to the joke shop. In Feeling Pinkie Keen, ponies are seen having their own bath tubs. In Bridle Gossip, Lotus Blossom asks Zecora for her recipe for a bath.

At the beginning of Green Isn't Your Color, Rarity apologizes to Fluttershy for being late to one of their weekly get-togethers, and requests "the usual" regimen from the Spa ponies. The spa makes a brief appearance in A Friend in Deed, when Pinkie Pie brings Cranky Doodle Donkey for a makeover in an attempt to win his friendship. In Ponyville Confidential, the six main ponies and Spike are at the spa when they discuss the latest "Gabby Gums" column in the Foal Free Press.

Golden Oaks Library
The library is the setting for many scenes throughout the series. The library itself is on the ground floor, and Twilight and Spike live on the second floor. In Feeling Pinkie Keen, Twilight brings Pinkie into the library's basement, which is full of test tubes and scientific equipment. Twilight hooks Pinkie up to a machine to measure her brain activity and detect any unusual behavior. The building itself is a large, hollowed-out tree, which Twilight says in Look Before You Sleep is protected from lightning by a magical lightning rod.

Carousel Boutique
Rarity's boutique, in which she makes dresses for customers and friends, also doubles as her home. Rarity does most of her designing in the main workroom on the ground floor of the building. The room is stocked with materials and supplies such as mirrors, dress form mannequins, and movable screens.In the upper floor is Rarity´s bedroom.

Costume shop
During the chase sequence in The Ticket Master, Twilight and Spike disguise themselves and hide briefly in a shop window. The costumes shown include a clown, a hula dancer, and a Christmas themed outfit with a fake beard.

Bookshop
At the start of Griffon the Brush Off, Pinkie Pie comes across Twilight outside a bookshop while looking for Rainbow Dash. The sign above the door is shaped like a closed book, hung with its spine horizontal.

Bowling alley
At the start of The Cutie Pox, the Cutie Mark Crusaders visit a bowling alley in hopes of getting bowling cutie marks. They end up witnessing another foal gain his cutie mark in bowling. The building has the same interior features as a typical bowling alley. Pins, balls, and stars are mounted above the front entrance, and it has a sod roof and pin/ball door posts.

Joke shop
When preparing for a series of pranks in Griffon the Brush Off, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash first visit Ponyville's joke shop, which resembles a jester's hat and has a sign shaped like a laughing pony's head in cap and bells, complete with an "arrow through the head" prop. The shop can be seen in long shots as located along the perimeter of the town square.

Soap stand
In Feeling Pinkie Keen, Twilight stops in front of a soap stand to give Pinkie her opinion on "Pinkie Sense." The crate outside gives Twilight the opportunity to literally stand on a soap box while she stands on her soapbox. The stall is a short walking distance from Sugarcube Corner and the library.

Café
In The Ticket Master, Twilight Sparkle and Spike go to a café for lunch. Plants on the table serve as appetizers. The café has both outdoor and indoor seating in the form of bales of hay and giant-sized mushroom tables. Twilight and Spike are attended by a waiter - Horte Cuisine - dressed in formal attire. The café's menu is adorned with a stylized "H". It appears also in Too Many Pinkie Pies and Magical Mystery Cure.

Quills and Sofas
In Owl's Well That Ends Well, Spike approaches this shop for a quill and points out that the store only sells two things: quills and sofas. The proprietor, "Davenport", tells him that he will not have any more quills in stock until Monday, and asks if he wants a sofa instead. At the beginning of the episode Magical Mystery Cure, when Twilight is singing Morning in Ponyville, she passes by a stallion who just bought a sofa and sings, "There's the sofa clerk selling some quills!" Davenport says, "Morning, kid!"

Hardware store
The Cutie Mark Crusaders visit the hardware store in The Show Stoppers to buy supplies for the talent show.

Mr. Breezy's fan shop
This is another location that the Cutie Mark Crusaders visit while acquiring supplies for the talent show in The Show Stoppers. The Cutie Mark Crusaders promise the shop owner that they'll return the fan.

Jewelery store
First seen in Hearts and Hooves Day when Apple Bloom takes Big McIntosh to select a ring for his marriage with Cheerilee, and then in Ponyville Confidential where the Cake family are shown shopping in there. In its latter appearance, the store occupies the same building as the joke shop.

Arcade machines
Three arcade machines and one arcade claw machine are seen in Hearts and Hooves Day.

Miscellaneous features
Applejack mentions in The Ticket Master that there is a road in Ponyville named Stirrup Street.

In Ponyville Confidential, Rarity describes a newspaper called the Ponyville Express as "boring" when compared to the Cutie Mark Crusader's Gabby Gums column.

Depiction in merchandise
The Ponyville library is the setting for the Discover the Difference game. It is called the "Golden Oaks Library", or variations of that name, by trading cards of the library and of Spike, by the Twilight Sparkle Animated Storyteller's storybook Welcome to Ponyville, by the chapter book Twilight Sparkle and the Crystal Heart Spell, by the picture book Under the Sparkling Sea, by the Stuck On Stories storybook, by the Sparkle World magazine stories Christmas at Canterlot!, Spooky Slumber Party!, and Winter Wonderland!, by Treehouse TV's Friendship Express Train Contest site, by a Hasbro seminar, by the Swedish and German versions of My Sound Book, by a German magazine story, and by Electronic Arts' Hasbro iOS app Monopoly Hotels; the English version of My Sound Book instead calls it the "Golden Eagle Library", and the Club Hub area of The Hub's website instead calls it the "Books and Branches Library".