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 mostly the setting in every episode.

History
It is stated in Winter Wrap Up that the town was originally founded by Earth ponies, but members of all three pony races now live there. It is shown as one of the main locations in Equestria, being one of the first-founded Earth Pony towns. In Family Appreciation Day, it is revealed that the Apple family were the first ones to settle in the region of Ponyville when Granny Smith was still young. She and her family one day found themselves in Canterlot and Princess Celestia took notice on them. Princess Celestia gave the Apple family a piece of land near the Everfree Forest, where Granny Smith and her family planted their first orchard. However, they were soon low on food. Granny Smith one day traveled into the Everfree Forest, where she found a numerous amount of Zap Apple trees, when the young filly returned home, she and her Pa 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 with the Zap Apple Jam as a product. Businesses were established by many types of ponies, until the town grew and grew. Soon, Unicorns, Pegasi, and earth ponies alike came together they founded Ponyville.

Features
Public facilities in Ponyville include a large pavilion in the town square which also features a fountain, and a library which is the residence of Twilight Sparkle. An old folks home named Ponyville Retirement Village is mentioned in Luna Eclipsed and shown in The Mysterious Mare Do Well.

Applejack mentions in The Ticket Master that there is a road in town named Stirrup Street. As she is quite pleased that she will win a bet with her brother, in which he will walk down this road in one of Granny Smith's girdles, it can be assumed that Stirrup St. is a well-traveled or main road.

Businesses in Ponyville include the Sugarcube Corner confectionery; a restaurant, the name of which isn't mentioned, with a very proper waiter pony; Rarity's custom dress shop, the Carousel Boutique; a herb shop operated by a pony called Daisy; a costume shop; bookstore; a joke shop; a Quill and Sofa store; a day spa; a fan shop; hardware store; and a bowling alley. Food carts also operate on the streets.

Other businesses mentioned but not shown include a clothes cleaners, and a stationery shop where Twilight and Spike regularly place orders for her parchment and quills.

In the new version of the opening that appeared in the Season 2 episode Lesson Zero, there are additional buildings in the background, as well as a train track with a self-powered steam train and a train depot that appears briefly after the train passes.

The river that runs through town is fed by a waterfall not far out of town, above which appears to be a hydroelectric dam, seen in The Mysterious Mare Do Well.

The unique crop of Zap Apples which jump-started the town means that the town also has the closest proximity to the Everfree Forest and is the last piece of civilization before entering the dangerous place. However, like the Zap Apples, it is a source of many unique plants and animals. A zebra named Zecora has taken up residence in the forest to take advantage of the unique wildlife and the solitude it brings. It is unknown if anybody else resides in the Everfree Forest.

In Ponyville Confidential, it is revealed that Ponyville has at least two local newspapers: a mainstream paper called the Ponyville Express and a school newspaper called the Foal Free Press, which has been one of the main features of the episode. The Foal Free Press is currently headed by editor-in-chief Featherweight; former editor-in-chiefs of the Foal Free Press include Diamond Tiara and Namby Pamby.

The majority of the town's population appears to be female.

Marketplace
The marketplace is shown in most episodes, but primarily in Putting Your Hoof Down, Applebuck Season, Griffon the Brush Off, Swarm of the Century, Call of the Cutie, and Family Appreciation Day. Ponies are seen grocery-shopping, painting, and chatting in the marketplace. Commonly appearing are stalls for apples, pies, drinks, cooking utensils, books, and vegetables (corn, potatoes, carrots, and tomatoes being the most visible). A stall selling soap is seen in Feeling Pinkie Keen.

Farms
The most prominent farm in the show is Sweet Apple Acres, being the central location of Applebuck Season and the first farm shown on the show, where Applejack and her family reside. Other farm land is shown in Winter Wrap Up, when all the Ponyville ponies are seen aiding in seeding the ground, and The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000 when the Flim Flam brothers consider rebuilding Sweet Apple Acres' barn.

Club House
On the edge of a wooded area which is presumed to be part of Sweet Apple Acres, a club house is built up in an apple tree. Originally the club house was used by Applejack, but eventually she passed it on to the Cutie Mark Crusaders. When first seen by the Crusaders it was in poor condition, but it was repaired by Apple Bloom. The club house is now the Crusaders' headquarters and is used for many of their activities, and apparently Apple Bloom continues to add extensions and upgrades.

Sugarcube Corner
A confectionery parlor run by Mr. and Mrs. Cake and Pinkie Pie. The three can be seen making preparations for Celestia's arrival to Ponyville in Swarm of the Century. Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara's cute-ceañera takes place in the shop in Call of the Cutie. Although not specified on-screen, the shows creator confirmed 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 is styled to resemble that of a gingerbread house. Two upper stories house Pinkie's living quarters; they appear as a pair of stacked cupcakes, with candles on the upper one. Posts on either side of the door have red and white candy-cane stripes, a purple rock-candy projection stands up from the roof, and a picture-sign of a cupcake hangs at one corner.

Ironically Sugarcube Corner is a play on the story of Hansel and Gretel.

Day spa
A day spa, featured in Bridle Gossip, is apparently run by the twin Spa ponies, both of whom work there and speak with indistinct accents. It can be seen during long shots as being on the perimeter of the town square, next to the joke shop. As the ponies have their own baths, as seen in Feeling Pinkie Keen, the use of the spa's large hot tub is likely a luxury or for social events. The day spa offers all the usual services. The twins don't seem to object to the use of guests' personal herbs in the baths and in fact in Bridle Gossip, "Lotus" enjoyed it enough to ask Zecora for the recipe to these additives.

Rarity and Fluttershy meet here once a week for an afternoon of beauty treatments, one such afternoon shown at the beginning of Green Isn't Your Color.

The spa is featured again in Ponyville Confidential, where the six main ponies are shown relaxing and discussing the content of the Foal Free Express's Gabby Gums column.

Library
The library is Twilight Sparkle's and Spike's residence in Ponyville. The main reading room is on the ground floor, while an upper-story room serves as living quarters for Twilight and Spike. Additionally, there is a basement where Twilight performs her measurements on Pinkie Pie in Feeling Pinkie Keen. Other than housing books, the library does not fulfill its role on-screen much, except in The Show Stoppers, when the Cutie Mark Crusaders borrow a book titled "Ghosts, Goblins, and Ghoulish Figures". Twilight makes use of the library's books frequently, in search for information, from the very first episode and throughout the series. The library is housed in a large, hollowed-out tree, which Twilight says is protected from lightning by a magical lightning rod in Look Before You Sleep. There is a large beehive hanging from a branch, a candlestick emblem on the front door (sometimes, an actual candlestick figure, depending on individual animation errors), a sign that pictures an open book located out in front, and two balconies, one with a telescope.

The library is the setting for the Discover the Difference game on The Hub's and Hasbro's websites. The Stuck On Stories storybook, the Sparkle World magazine story Spooky Slumber Party!, Treehouse TV's website , a Hasbro seminar , a Swedish book , and a German magazine story refer to it as the "Golden Oak Library" (or a variation of that name), and the Club Hub area of The Hub's website refers to it as the "Books and Branches Library".

Carousel Boutique
Rarity's boutique, in which she makes dresses for customers and sometimes for her friends, also doubles as her home. Her main purchasers seem to be from Canterlot rather than Ponyville itself, as it is seen that ponies from Ponyville don't seem to wear much clothing in the first place, and Applejack rarely cares about anything else besides her 'old duds'. Twilight Sparkle mentions in Winter Wrap Up that Rarity designed each team's jackets. Rarity's true aspirations lie in selling the most extravagant and elaborate gowns to the ponies of Canterlot, who buy her personalized clothing for the Grand Galloping Gala. Hoity Toity, a fashion bigshot from Canterlot, is deeply impressed with her (second) fashion show in Suited For Success, and decides to order her dresses for sale in his boutique.

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, dressform mannequins, and movable screens for privacy when a client is trying on an outfit. Sisterhooves Social reveals that the ground floor also holds a kitchen, a laundry room with clotheslines strung outside, and an "inspiration room" that she uses to rough out designs for new outfits. This last room contains a bed, suggesting that it can also double as a spare bedroom. The upper story houses Rarity's bedroom, which serves as an additional work area for personal projects, as seen in Suited For Success.

The diamond on the lower half of the front door flaps open, presumably for Opalescence's use as a cat flap. The flap is utilized by Sweetie Belle in Hearts and Hooves Day.

Costume shop
During the chase sequence in The Ticket Master, Twilight Sparkle 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 gaining their cutie marks in this sport. The building has the same interior features as a typical bowling alley, while its exterior resembles the other wood-frame houses in Ponyville. Pins, balls, and stars are mounted above the front entrance, and it has a sod roof and pin/ball doorposts. Mr. Kingpin runs the alley, as indicated by Scootaloo's comment that he will probably never let her bowl there again after the mayhem she caused.

Joke shop
When preparing for a long series of pranks in Griffon the Brush Off, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash first visit Ponyville's joke shop, whose architecture resembles a jester's hat and 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. They pick up sneezing powder, disappearing ink, water-soluble paints, washable ink, and the makings for a squirting turtle.

Soap stand
Twilight stops in front of a soap stand in Feeling Pinkie Keen 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
There is at least one café in Ponyville, and it is shown in the episode The Ticket Master; visited by Twilight Sparkle and Spike. The café serves daffodil and daisy sandwiches, and plants on the table serves as appetizers. Spike inquires if they serve gem-stones, but when he gets a look of silent disapproval as an answer from the waiter, he settles for "hay fries." 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 dressed in formal attire and a snooty attitude; Applejack's flashback during The Cutie Mark Chronicles reveals that a unicorn variant of him used to work for her Aunt and Uncle Orange in Manehattan.

Quills and Sofas
As shown in Owl's Well That Ends Well, this store exclusively sells quills and sofas and is owned and operated by Davenport. During the episode, when Spike is looking for a quill, the proprietor states that he will not have any more quills in stock until Monday, then asks if he wants a sofa.

Hardware store
Seen briefly in The Show Stoppers, one of the locations the Cutie Mark Crusaders visit while acquiring supplies for the talent show.

Mr. Breezy's fan shop
Seen briefly in The Show Stoppers, one of the locations the Cutie Mark Crusaders visit while acquiring supplies for the talent show. It is unknown whether this is actually a shop or simply the residence of a pony with a particular enthusiasm for fans, since the Cutie Mark Crusaders promise to bring the fan back, meaning that they have not purchased it, though this is probably due more to a lack of money than anything else.

Railway
Ponyville has had a train station and depot since the founding of the town (shown in Family Appreciation Day during a flashback), and the railway connects Ponyville to Canterlot and Appleloosa. Though railways and trains were shown in a Season 1 episode Over a Barrel, the railway in Ponyville is shown for the first time in Season 2's opening credits.

Unlike the one in Over a Barrel, in which the locomotive was pulled by ponies, the trains in Season 2 are headed by actual steam engines.

Ponyville Schoolhouse
Ponyville has a schoolhouse that first appears in Call of the Cutie. The building sports a flagpole, a tower with a bell that rings to mark the start and end of classes, and a picture-sign on the lawn with an open book and the silhouettes of two rearing fillies. Classes for fillies are taught by Cheerilee. The office/layout room for the Foal Free Press is in the basement.

Hospital
The hospital is first featured at the beginning of Baby Cakes, where the newborn Pound Cake and Pumpkin Cake are visited by the main characters. When Pinkie Pie starts singing at the nursery, Nurse Redheart shushes her and eventually kicks her out. It is featured again in Read It and Weep when Rainbow Dash fractures her right wing and is admitted in as a patient for recuperation.

Jewelery store
First seen in Hearts and Hooves Day when Apple Bloom takes Big Macintosh 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.

Ponyville Retirement Village
While not a full-sized village, a building at least housing Ponyville's elderly residents appears. Spike mentions it in Luna Eclipsed but it isn't seen until The Mysterious Mare Do Well, where Rainbow Dash prevents harm from coming to its residents when a balcony collapses.

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

Town square and town hall
The most prominent feature of Ponyville's town square is the tower-like town hall. The Summer Sun Celebration is held in the hall in the first two episodes, and the large, encircling porch outside served as a stage for Applejack's friends and the Mayor when they give their speeches in her honor in the episode Applebuck Season. Scrolls are stored in a rack of cubby holes in the town hall in Griffon the Brush Off, which Spike gathers and carries outside.

Other features are seen from an aerial shot in Griffon the Brush Off. The square holds a pool with a sculpture of a rearing Earth pony and several colorful tents pitched about. A river runs along one side of the square, and a bridge crosses it to another tent area.

The town hall is in a state of disrepair in the episode The Last Roundup, and while Rainbow Dash works on fixing it up for Applejack's honor ceremony, Derpy is "assisting" her and causing all sorts of damage to the town hall structure. Applejack pledges to use the prize money she expects to win from the rodeo to fix the town hall. Unfortunately she doesn't make first place at any of the competitions in the rodeo and doesn't win any prize money, When her friends find out, they tell her they'll find other ways to fund the repair of the town hall.

Gallery

 * Ponyville image gallery