Cherry Gold and MandoPony

MandoPony is a male background Earth pony who appears in the season four episode Equestria Games and in two of IDW's comic book series. He has a yellow coat, brown mane, sea green eyes, and a cutie mark of either a pair of cherries or a mandolin.

Development and design
MandoPony is an original character of musician Andrew Stein, known for producing original and My Little Pony-inspired music and for playing mandolin for William Anderson on a short cue for Magical Mystery Cure  that was cut from the final version of the episode.

In late April 2013, Stein stated in response to the character's appearance in "Oh my goodness! What?! When? How?! WHAT ARE WE RUNNING FROM", and in early May 2014 stated in response to the character's appearance in Equestria Games "THAT'S NOT MANDOPONY, IT'S ... uh ... um ... o.O ... 'cherry'pony? ... I got nothing".

Sabrina Alberghetti stated in early February 2013 that the character would never be seen "in the show - it's just not possible. Well, I'm sure it could be, but it's not worth the trouble" and later in the same week stated on the same topic that "all it would need is Hasbro approval."

MandoPony is the sixth original character to appear in the show, preceded by Holly Dash, Wild Fire, Midnight Strike, Peachy Pitt, and Stellar Eclipse. His cutie mark in Equestria Games is the same as that of Cherry Fizzy, "Black Stone", "Cormano", and "Cherry Strudel".

Depiction in the series
MandoPony appears very briefly in Equestria Games, during the titular event at the Crystal Empire. As the frozen-over cloud descends upon the Games stadium, MandoPony is seen as a number of Pegasi fly up to stop it from falling.

Depiction in the comics
MandoPony's appearance in the IDW comics precedes his appearance in the series. He first appears on cover RI of, watching a filly Rainbow Dash fly through the sky alongside MicTheMicrophone and Snowdrop. Here, he has no cutie mark.

He later appears on page 1 of alongside Wild Fire, galloping through Ponyville as the town prepares for the invasion of Nightmare Rarity and the Nightmare Forces. Here, his cutie mark is of a mandolin.