Animals

Counterparts to both wild and domestic animals are visible about Ponyville, with probably the greatest variety depicted in the episode Winter Wrap Up. Most of these animals are usually shown incidentally, with a small role or appearance. Some of these animals, much like ponies, are also capable of speech and socializing.

Bat
After being scared in Winter Wrap Up, Twilight Sparkle backs into a den before rushing out again, chased by these flying mammals. In The Ticket Master, a surprised Pinkie Pie squeals about bats on her face. In the episode May the Best Pet Win!, a bat with the same design as some of the ones from Winter Wrap Up is one of the contestants in Rainbow Dash's contest to see who will be her new pet. In Luna Eclipsed, Princess Luna's cloak is made of bats.

Bear
A bear makes an appearance in Lesson Zero at Fluttershy's home. Twilight Sparkle sees the bear apparently fighting with Fluttershy, who is unafraid. It turns out that Fluttershy is giving the bear a massage. Bears had previously been mentioned in Party of One, as part of an elaborate excuse by Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash to avoid coming to Pinkie's party. A bear is also shown in the Ruckus Reader interactive storybook Things That Go Bump in the Night. It appears in the imagination of Pinkie Pie, who refers to it as a "mean bear". It uses the ursa minor design, resized and recolored to fit the appearance of an ordinary bear.

Bee
Bees make several appearances throughout the series, most often associated with a hanging nest. One such nest hangs from the tree that houses the library Twilight Sparkle lives in. Swarms of bees assault Twilight Sparkle in Feeling Pinkie Keen and Winter Wrap Up. They also chase Rainbow Dash in the episode Fall Weather Friends. Granny Smith can be seen interacting with bees twice in Family Appreciation Day. She explains that befriending bees gives their honey the right taste as an ingredient for zap apple jam.

Bird
The show depicts a wide variety of birds living in Equestria. Some take after real bird species, while others, like the phoenix, are mythical creatures. They are prominently featured in episodes one, three, and thirteen. In The Ticket Master, Fluttershy specifically named loons, toucans, bitterns, hummingbirds, buzzards, blue jays, red jays, green jays, pink jays, and pink flamingos. Some birds go south for winter and are brought back by Pegasi during Winter Wrap Up. While birds still lay eggs and raise families, it seems they do not build their own nests, as the ponies are seen building nests for them. It's also likely that they do not find their own food, as Fluttershy is frequently seen feeding animals which are supposedly capable of foraging and hunting for themselves. Fluttershy's astonished (nearly horrified) claim that animals in the Everfree Forest "care for themselves" in Bridle Gossip lends credence to this theory that ponies see animals as less than capable of surviving without them. Domesticated chickens are seen in Fall Weather Friends and Stare Master. A few kinds of birds including a falcon, eagle, and humming bird are shown in May the Best Pet Win! In Family Appreciation Day, a large flock of crows congregate around an orchard of zap apple trees, heralding the bloom of zap apple blossoms.

Elizabeak
Elizabeak is one of Fluttershy's chickens. She first appears in Stare Master, where she escapes from her pen when Sweetie Belle sings an overly loud lullaby and ventures into the Everfree Forest. Sweetie Belle and friends sneak out of bed and go to find her. She is turned to stone by a cockatrice, and later restored when Fluttershy convinces it to undo what it had done. Her name is a pun on the name "Elizabeth".

Hummingway
Hummingway is one of Fluttershy's animal friends who appears in A Bird in the Hoof, a hummingbird whom she helps when he gets sick. She introduces him to Philomena, trying to cheer her up, and they seem to take to each other quite well. Hummingway likes to sing with Fluttershy. His name is a play on the name "Hemingway", the surname of a famous writer.

Buffalo
Buffalo are first seen in Over a Barrel when Applejack delivers Bloomberg to Appleloosa in order to be planted. However, the buffaloes oppose this since their sacred stampeding grounds had recently been used to plant an apple orchard. Buffaloes are seen briefly in The Return of Harmony Part 2, where they are transformed by Discord into mindless ballerinas.

Butterfly
Normally seen fluttering around setting shots in most episodes, butterflies occasionally are used to cover the transition to a new scene. They take a more important role during a flashback in the episode The Cutie Mark Chronicles in which a swarm of them catches Fluttershy before she hit the ground.

Cattle
Cattle are a large domestic species. Many cows are seen living in a barn in Ponyville in the episode Boast Busters, and two males are seen pulling a cart through Ponyville in the episode Hearts and Hooves Day. A cow stampede is featured in Applebuck Season, after which one of the cows speaks with Applejack and apologizes for the stampede, stating that her skittish friend Mooriella started it after being startled by snakes. The white cow with brown splotches and a curly hairdo speaks with a stereotypical Wisconsin accent, referencing the fact that Wisconsin is well known for its dairy production.

The same white and brown cow appears again in A Friend in Deed, with Pinkie Pie revealing her name to be Daisy Jo.

Donkey
Donkeys are another major species residing in Equestria who are capable of speech and socializing. The first donkeys in the series appear in A Friend in Deed, the first being Matilda, a female donkey residing in Ponyville, and Cranky Doodle Donkey, a male donkey and a newly moved in resident in Ponyville. Cranky Doodle Donkey had been traveling across Equestria searching for his lost love who, in the end, turns out to be Matilda, with whom he reunites thanks to Pinkie Pie. Donkeys appear to be capable of mating with ponies as mules also exist in Equestria.

Frog
Equestria's frogs, which appear in Feeling Pinkie Keen, seem cheerful and silly. Fluttershy decided there were too many in Ponyville's pond, so she transferred some of them to Froggy Bottom Bog. Pinkie Pie claimed to interpret one of the frogs' croaks for Twilight, though it is unclear whether frogs actually speak. Later, one appeared to point the way for Fluttershy.

Goat
A goat can be seen in Fluttershy's home in May the Best Pet Win! Two goats with headsets appear in Putting Your Hoof Down as Iron Will's sidekicks. They communicate with Iron Will by bleating, not talking.

Lion
Lions appear in The Cutie Pox, where a group of them is tamed by Apple Bloom after her Cutie Pox cause her to receive a lion-taming cutie mark. Manticores, lion-like creatures with bat wings and scorpion tails, also appear in the series, residing in Everfree Forest.

Mouse
Fluttershy cares for a wheelchair-bound mouse in A Bird in the Hoof, who is joined by his loved ones as he wheels into their hole in the wall of Fluttershy's cottage. In The Last Roundup, a white mouse snacks on a cherry while sitting on a beam near the ceiling.

Mule
A mule appears in a single shot in Applebuck Season as a sight gag when Twilight Sparkle chastises Applejack for being stubborn. Unlike other incidental animals in Equestria, this mule is capable of speech. The mule, voiced by James Wootton, was able to express the fact that he was not offended by Twilight's statement. When Rarity is mistreated in A Dog and Pony Show, one of her grievances is for being called a mule. She appears to be deeply offended, genuinely or not, for being called a mule, and likens it to being called ugly. This mule returns in the cold opening of Hurricane Fluttershy after Rainbow Dash says "Be cool or be mule"; this time meaning boring, before flying down to the mule to say "No offense". The mule responds with the same voice line as his previous appearance. Despite Ponyville's local mule's mild mannerisms, mules in Equestria are also capable of performing intellectual tasks, as portrayed by Mulia Mild's culinary skills of making chocolate mousse in the form of a life-like moose in the episode MMMystery on the Friendship Express.

Owl
Owlowiscious, Twilight Sparkle's pet and junior assistant, is an owl. He is introduced in Owl's Well That Ends Well, returns in May the Best Pet Win!, and is featured on a trading card.

In Stare Master, an owl in the Everfree Forest is shown in the foreground. In May the Best Pet Win!, a similar-looking owl is one of the contestants in Rainbow Dash's contest to see who will be her new pet.

Two owls have appeared as toys. The first owl is included with Twilight Sparkle in the first three waves of Playful Ponies, and has artwork that is included as a cardboard cutout in other toy sets' packaging. The second owl is included behind flap 4 in the Advent Calendar.

Pig
Pigs are domestic swine who are kept by ponies as pets or farm animals. They first appear in the The Show Stoppers, where the Cutie Mark Crusaders try to earn their Cutie Marks through different means; one of them tries to feed the Apple family's pigs their slop, but this is clearly not their special talent, despite the pigs being grateful. Pigs reappear in The Return of Harmony Part 2. When the evil spirit Discord escapes his stone form and takes over the land, he alters everything in sight, including the pigs, and gives them wings. Luckily, they are returned to normal upon Discord's imprisonment. Pigs appear again in Sisterhooves Social, where they are entered in a special contest of the Sisterhooves Social for best pigs; two are seen there belonging to Golden Harvest and Amethyst Star, and both had won blue ribbons. Even though ponies do not eat meat, Lauren Faust explains the reason why pigs are raised is because the pigs "needed a place to stay" and might be used for finding truffles.

Rabbit
A large number of rabbits are seen in Applebuck Season. They are incapable of speech and seem to require Fluttershy's care for food and shelter. She also organizes an annual rabbit census of newborn bunnies, and keeps one bunny, Angel, as a close companion, going as far as consulting with him about getting the extra gala ticket in The Ticket Master.

A rabbit is also suggested by Fluttershy as a pet for Rainbow Dash in May the Best Pet Win!

Sheep
Sheep are domestic ruminants, and a large herd of them are shown to be kept at the Apple family's farm in the episode Sisterhooves Social. In the episode, Applejack and Apple Bloom worked together to round them up back in to their pen; however, it is revealed that sheep (like most hoofed creatures in Equestria) are capable of speech and complain that if the Apple sisters wanted them to go back into their pen they could've just asked. Their request goes unheeded and they are ignored. In Dragon Quest, Spike rides a sheep up a mountain. In the episode that the Ballad of the Crystal Ponies is from, Fluttershy leads a trio of three tiny ewes, one pink, one blue, and one purple.

Squid
A large blue squid is seen in the episode The Show Stoppers, where it is shown that these angry mollusks reside in a lake near Ponyville. When the Cutie Mark Crusaders are trying to find different ways to earn their Cutie Marks, they try scuba diving in the lake, but their swim is quickly cut short by an angry and territorial squid who chases them out of the lake. Although its one visible eye appears angry, it isn't being terribly aggressive and is not attacking the foals. Unlike in the real world, squids appear capable of surviving in the fresh water lake.

Miscellaneous

 * Beavers are seen in The Cutie Mark Chronicles. Pinkie Pie also dresses like a beaver in A Friend in Deed.
 * Caterpillars are shown in Baby Cakes, where a large group is mentioned by Applejack to be on their way to eat many of the apples in the farm.
 * Cats can be heard yowling in the background when objects or ponies crash. Fluttershy holds out a cat in May the Best Pet Win!, and a cat of the same design is encountered by Daring Do in Read It and Weep. Rarity also has a pet cat featured in several episodes named Opal.
 * A pair of chipmunks are seen briefly during the opening sequence of Dragonshy.
 * Ducks are seen in Griffon the Brush Off as Fluttershy leads them across a road and is then knocked by Gilda. They are also seen in The Cutie Mark Chronicles, once again being led across a road by Fluttershy and nearly being hit by Scootaloo on her scooter.
 * Although meat eaters in the real world, a pair of ferrets were very happy to receive a basket of vegetables in Winter Wrap Up. Fluttershy also gives fish to a similar pair in Dragonshy, more befitting of their diet. A ferret also appears among the group of animals comforting Fluttershy in Hurricane Fluttershy.
 * A badger is among the group of animals comforting Fluttershy in Hurricane Fluttershy.
 * Fluttershy pink flamingo S1E 03.png flamingo is seen in Fluttershy's imagination in The Ticket Master and in The Best Night Ever, and also as a potential pet for Rainbow Dash in May the Best Pet Win!.
 * Leaping fish appear in several episodes. Fish are seen in Griffon the Brush Off poking their heads out of the water and approaching Fluttershy, who is standing on the shore.
 * Hedgehogs are woken up in Winter Wrap Up.
 * Wallaroos reside in the royal garden in The Best Night Ever.
 * Spider Monkeys reside in the royal garden in The Best Night Ever.
 * In the episode Read It and Weep, mosquitoes are mentioned in the book Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Stone. Four of them can be seen in the following portrayal of the story.
 * Fluttershy is seen visiting a den in the episode Winter Wrap Up, home to a pair of small porcupines. Once awake, they play out the old gag of poking each other with their quills during a hug.
 * Raccoons are seen eating the cotton candy in The Return of Harmony Part 1.
 * Twilight Sparkle ends her failed attempt to help Fluttershy in Winter Wrap Up by encountering a family of skunks.
 * Twilight unwittingly wakes a den of snakes in Winter Wrap Up, and later jumps into a tree when Fluttershy awakes a different den of them. Snakes are also seen in Read It and Weep, as obstacles for Daring Do.
 * There are two squirrels, in separate dens, awoken during the song in Winter Wrap Up.
 * Once the ice is melted, turtles are seen swimming in a pond in Winter Wrap Up. A turtle can be seen in Griffon the Brush Off approaching Fluttershy as Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash prepare a prank squirting turtle.
 * A wasp was a pet candidate for Rainbow Dash in May the Best Pet Win!
 * Earthworms are featured in Applebuck Season and Dragonshy. Applejack added some earthworms to the "baked bads" she and Pinkie Pie created in the former, and in the latter Fluttershy tossed a trio of worms to a trio of waiting birds and then, because she carried them in her mouth, spat and blushed.
 * Spiders are created by angered Princess Luna by transforming miscellaneous items into them.
 * Tiger, Cheetah, Jaguar and Lynx are seen chasing Daring Do.
 * Sea Swirl has two dolphins as her cutie mark, indicating they exist in Equestria.
 * A snail is seen crawling over a petrified Twilight Sparkle's face in Stare Master. Snails has a snail as his cutie mark.
 * A brown beetle is seen very briefly on one of the hydra's necks just after Fluttershy releases the frogs to the wild.
 * In The Best Night Ever, Twilight transforms mice into a mixture of a mouse and an equine which is clearly not a pony, but looks more like a common horse.
 * Pinkie Pie's pet, Gummy, is a baby alligator.
 * Applejack's pet, Winona, is a dog.
 * A dragonfly is seen flying in the Froggy Bottom Bog.
 * While corrupted by Discord, Applejack was to have mentioned a pod of whales in a line that was cut from either The Return of Harmony Part 1 or The Return of Harmony Part 2.