Bittersweet and Leadwing

Leadwing and Bittersweet are two background ponies, the former a male Earth pony and the latter a female unicorn, who appear in Princess Spike and the IDW comics. Leadwing has a blue coat, deep blue mane, dark blue eyes, and a cutie mark of a pencil with bat wings. Bittersweet has a lime green coat, gold mane, blue-green eyes, and a cutie mark of a speech bubble with a heart inside. They are the respective original characters of IDW Publishing artist Andy Price and writer Katie Cook.

Development and design
Leadwing is an original character of Andy Price, an artist for IDW Publishing. He shares his color scheme with S05E05 Unnamed Pegasus Stallion #1. Bittersweet is an original character of Katie Cook, a writer for IDW Publishing. They are the sixth and seventh original characters to appear in the show, preceded by Holly Dash, Wild Fire, Midnight Strike, Peachy Pitt, and Stellar Eclipse.

An image of Leadwing and Bittersweet's in-show appearance was previewed in an animation image shown at Ponycon NYC on February 16, 2015.

Depiction in the series
In the show, Leadwing and Bittersweet first appear in the season five episode Princess Spike as delegates at the Grand Equestria Pony Summit, Bittersweet being a delegate for DeTrot. The two have no lines of dialogue, but they are among the summit delegates prominently featured. Bittersweet also briefly appears outside the Manehattan train station in Made in Manehattan.

Depiction in the comics
In the IDW comics, Leadwing and Bittersweet appear in Ponyville on page 3/Dynamic Forces cover RE, in a yearbook picture on  cover A, on  page 23, in Canterlot on  page 19, and at Whinny World on  page 20.

Leadwing appears on page 9 drawing a caricature of Big McIntosh, and on  page 21 reading "Canterlot for Morons". Bittersweet appears on page 19 laughing at Cranky Doodle Ryan, on  pages 14 and 16 at the Summer Wrap-Up Festival and Hoedown, and on  page 2.

Leadwing and Bittersweet's appearances in the comics precede their appearance in the television series. In some of her comic appearances, Bittersweet is an Earth pony.

Merchandise
Bittersweet appears on a Hot Topic T-shirt designed after page 19.