Family and relatives

This article details the family and relatives of characters in the show. For other relationships explored in the series, see relationships.

Applejack

 * See also: Apple Bloom, Big McIntosh, Granny Smith, and Bright Mac and Pear Butter

Mr. and Mrs. Cake
Carrot Cake and Cup Cake are husband and wife, respectively.

Pound Cake and Pumpkin Cake
Pound Cake and Pumpkin Cake are introduced in the episode Baby Cakes. The main six are shocked to learn that Pound Cake is a Pegasus while Pumpkin Cake is a unicorn, though Mr. Cake explains it away as due to distant familial relations in both his and Mrs. Cake's lineages. They appear again in A Friend in Deed, where Pinkie fails to make them laugh with her routine, until the very end, when she sits on some jacks. Their third appearance comes in Ponyville Confidential, where they throw a tantrum, and are featured for it in one of Gabby Gums' articles. Pumpkin Cake appears briefly without her brother in Magic Duel, and in Magical Mystery Cure, Pound Cake can be seen in Pinkie's flashback. Both twins appear in Pinkie Pride as their names were mentioned during a musical number.

Relatives
In Baby Cakes, Mr. Cake mentions his great-great-great-great grandfather, a unicorn, and Mrs. Cake's great aunt's second cousin twice removed, a Pegasus.

Princess Celestia and Princess Luna
Four of the mentioned members of the royal family are Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Prince Blueblood and Princess Cadance. Multiple episodes state that Luna is Celestia's younger sister; The Ticket Master states that Blueblood is Celestia's nephew, though his trading card lists his family link to Luna and Celestia as being "far removed"; various promotional materials state that Cadance is Celestia's niece, and the chapter book My Little Pony: Twilight Sparkle and the Crystal Heart Spell specifies that Celestia adopted her as a niece.

On My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic comic book issue #5 page 16, after Luna says that something she had hoped would never come to pass is happening, Pinkie Pie attempts to guess what it is, with one guess being "Realize your mom was right about everything?!"; Luna responds to each guess with "No." The picture book My Little Pony: Under the Sparkling Sea shows a sea lion called King Leo, who rules the underwater city of Aquastria and its seaponies and mermares; the book's dust jacket states that King Leo "sits on the Cosmic Council alongside his cousin, Princess Celestia." One of the illustrated stories in the official My Little Pony magazine in France shows Celestia having a four-year-old cousin called Léon, an Alicorn who shares Blueblood's color scheme and cutie mark and Rainbow Dash's base character model. The magazine story's narrative does not fit into the animated series.

Lauren Faust, the show's creator, stated that Celestia does not have parents that outrank her, that Luna and Celestia have no siblings and no children, and that Blueblood is "the great great great great great great great great great great great (and probably even more greats) nephew on Celestia's and Luna's mother's side, about 52 times removed, roughly speaking." Early drafts of My Little Pony The Movie were going to introduce Cosmos, a brother for Celestia and Luna, but the character was eventually reworked into Tempest Shadow.

Cloud Chaser
In Enterplay's collectible card game, Cloud Chaser mentions her parents in her quote on her Enterplay collectible card game card's Gen Con Indy 2013 demo version and α #11 R version.

Cockatrice
Fluttershy refers to the cockatrice's mother in Stare Master.

Coriander Cumin and Saffron Masala
Coriander Cumin and Saffron Masala are a father and daughter who appear in Spice Up Your Life as owners of a Canterlot restaurant called The Tasty Treat.

Crackle
In Dragon Quest, one of the teenage dragons says that he thinks the dragon-costumed pony trio is Crackle's cousin.

Daring Do
Daring Do and the Eternal Flower features Daring Do's uncle, Gallant True.

Discord
In April 2013, The Hub jokingly referred to Discord and the Predaking from Transformers Prime: Beast Hunters as "long-lost twins?" on Twitter and Facebook.

DJ Pon-3
In Shining Armor's flashback in the IDW comics' Friendship is Magic Issue #11 story neigh anything..., DJ Pon-3 appears as a filly atop the unicorn stallion 33⅓-LP, who is modeled after her. In response to speculation of 33⅓-LP being a parent of DJ Pon-3's, artist Andy Price has stated "I think more big brother, considering the high school setting" and "considering the high school setting, more of a big brother, I would think," and colorist Heather Breckel has referred to 33⅓-LP as not being DJ Pon-3's father.

Emerald Green
In Enterplay's collectible card game, α #12 C, a card of Emerald Green, gives him the description "Emerald is sometimes confused for his winged cousin in Cloudsdale. He doesn't really seem to mind."

Flim and Flam
Flim and Flam are twins, with the only differences between them being their voices, their cutie marks, their hairstyles, and Flam having a mustache. They make their first appearance in The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000, with the intention of driving the Apple Family out of business. They appear again in Leap of Faith and Viva Las Pegasus.

Fluttershy
Fluttershy's parents Mr. and Mrs. Shy and brother Zephyr Breeze appear in the season six episode Flutter Brutter. Mr. and Mrs. Shy are shown to be as soft-spoken and timid as their daughter, but Zephyr Breeze is loud, narcissistic, and lazy. He often freeloads off of his parents, who reluctantly allow this behavior, but this is revealed to be out of a crippling fear of failure.

On page 7 of the My Little Pony: Equestria Girls Holiday Special comic, Rainbow Dash says to Fluttershy, "You know, I don't think I've ever met your family."

Gilda
Gilda's grandfather Grampa Gruff appears in The Lost Treasure of Griffonstone.

Gizmo
In Shining Armor's flashback in the IDW comics' Friendship is Magic Issue #11 story neigh anything..., Poindexter says "My mom is going to get really mad if I get grass stains on her new turtleneck..."

Hoops
In Fluttershy's flashback in The Cutie Mark Chronicles, colt Hoops taunts filly Fluttershy by saying that his baby brother can fly better than her.

Mage Meadowbrook
In A Health of Information, Twilight and Fluttershy meet Mage Meadowbrook's descendant Cattail. Meadowbrook's mother also appears in flashback.

Moon Dancer
Moon Dancer has a sister in Amending Fences and also mentions an unnamed father who worked for the Canterlot Historical Society in Princess Twilight Sparkle and the Forgotten Books of Autumn.

Night Glider
In the Defenders of Equestria expansion set of Enterplay's collectible card game, card #8 C mentions Night Glider's mother.

Queen Novo
In My Little Pony The Movie, Queen Novo and her daughter Princess Skystar are featured. In School Daze - Part 1, Silverstream is introduced as Queen Novo's sororal niece. In Surf and/or Turf, Novo's sister Ocean Flow, brother-in-law Sky Beak, and sororal nephew Terramar are introduced.

Pinkie Pie

 * See also: Igneous Rock Pie and Cloudy Quartz, Limestone Pie and Marble Pie, and Maud Pie

King Bullion
In the episode Hearth's Warming Eve and in The Journal of the Two Sisters, Princess Platinum is stated to be the daughter of the unicorn king Bullion.

Rainbow Dash
In Games Ponies Play, during her flashback as a filly, Rainbow Dash is shown standing on the back of Rainbow Blaze, an adult Pegasus stallion with a similarly rainbow-colored mane and tail. Her relationship to Rainbow Blaze is not explicitly referred to. Next to Rainbow Blaze is Rainbowshine, an adult Pegasus mare with exactly the same eye color as Rainbow Dash but no similar coat or mane colors. In the Enterplay collectible card game's expansion set Canterlot Nights,, a card of Rainbow Blaze, lists the quote "Of course Rainbow Dash is a good flier. I taught her everything she knows!"

When asked of the possibility of exploring Rainbow's family, Jim Miller replied "as long as the show stays on the air, anything is possible!"

Parents
To promote The Cutie Mark Chronicles, The Hub's website gave users three potential stories for how Rainbow Dash got her cutie mark. Rainbow Dash's parents are mentioned in one of the alternate stories as "loving, supportive parents" who tried to help Rainbow Dash find her mark.

Rainbow Dash's father Bow Hothoof and mother Windy Whistles are formally introduced in the season seven episode Parental Glideance. They are portrayed as overenthusiastic and very supportive of their daughter, constantly celebrating her accomplishments no matter how minor. Because of their fanatical and embarrassing way of showing support, Rainbow initially doesn't tell them she's a member of the Wonderbolts.

Siblings
When asked about whether or not Rainbow Dash has any siblings, Miller responded that "maybe you'll find out someday!"

Sweetie Belle
Sweetie Belle is introduced as Rarity's little sister in Stare Master. In both Stare Master and in Sisterhooves Social, Rarity gets frustrated with Sweetie Belle's attempts to help her.

Hondo Flanks and Cookie Crumbles
Rarity and Sweetie Belle's mother and father are introduced in Sisterhooves Social, but their names are not mentioned in the show. Rarity's mother is visibly a unicorn, while Rarity's father often wears a hat that obscures his horn. They sport Upper Midwest American/Canadian accents and a questionable fashion sense. The mother has the same body design as Mrs. Cake. Rarity's mother strongly resembles the G3 unicorn Garden Wishes. Her looks are also similar to a G1 unicorn named Buttons and a toy named Ribbon Wishes, but has a different eye color than the latter. Rarity's father is enthusiastic enough about Sweetie Belle's burnt cooking that he asks for Rarity's untouched plate. He later makes a background appearance in One Bad Apple, sitting on a jetty and fishing, with burnt food and a glass of burnt drink next to him. Both parents appear in Inspiration Manifestation with the father's horn and the mother's cutie mark both shown for the first time in the series. Rarity's father's cutie mark is a set of three American footballs and he is voiced by Peter New; their mother is voiced by Tabitha St. Germain who also voices Rarity. Lauren Faust, the show's creator, was interviewed by M. A. Larson in a panel in Equestria LA 2015, where she said Rarity's parents were made "on the fly" without prior planning. Rarity's mother's cutie mark is obscured by her pants in Sisterhooves Social, but is shown to be three cookies, two of them whole and one with a bite taken out of it, in Inspiration Manifestation and on page 145 of Little Brown's My Little Pony Friendship is Magic official guidebook My Little Pony: The Elements of Harmony. On the same guidebook page, Rarity's father is shown wearing different clothing, revealing his horn. In the Enterplay collectible card game's expansion set Canterlot Nights, and, cards respectively of the father and of the mother, give them the respective names Hondo Flanks and Cookie Crumbles, each with a trademark symbol. Both parents also appear on page 16 of the IDW comics' Friendship is Magic Issue #9. Rarity's parents are available as playable characters in Gameloft's mobile game. The game gives her father the name Magnum and her mother the name Betty Bouffant.

Scootaloo
In the chapter book Ponyville Mysteries: Riddle of the Rusty Horseshoe, it is revealed that Scootaloo lives with her Aunt Holiday and Auntie Lofty and that her parents are away "most of the time". They are confirmed to be a lesbian couple by writer Michael Vogel.

On the topic of Scootaloo's family, Faust "did not have specific plans for what her family deal was" and confirmed at Equestria LA 2015 that she does have parents, but the topic of it was never brought up. Faust later clarified over Twitter that, according to her vision for the show, Scootaloo indeed has parents, but they both have demanding jobs and that Scootaloo is good at evading her babysitter.

Silver Spoon
Babs Seed refers to Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara's mothers in One Bad Apple.

Smolder
In Molt Down, Smolder mentions having a brother who was kicked out of the house when he went through the molt.

Snips and Snails
After the Foal Free Press prints a Gabby Gums column about Snips and Snails in Ponyville Confidential, Snips mentions that his and Snails' mothers always told them they'd end up in the papers someday.

Spitfire
Spitfire's mother Stormy Flare appears in Rarity Investigates! to watch her daughter perform.

Starlight Glimmer
Starlight Glimmer's parents were discussed in separate Twitter conversations with Jim Miller from late May 2016 through early August 2017   and with Josh Haber on October 23, 2017;  they are being introduced in season eight, her father Firelight's introduction being in the episode The Parent Map.

Stygian
The season seven finale Shadow Play and the IDW comics story arc From the Shadows respectively feature Stygian and his descendant Shadow Lock.

Sugar Belle
In The Break Up Break Down, Sugar Belle mentions that her cousin looks after her bakery while she apprentices under Mrs. Cake in Ponyville.

Sunburst
Sunburst's mother and father appear in flashback in The Cutie Re-Mark - Part 2 and The Crystalling - Part 1, and his mother Stellar Flare appears in the present time in The Parent Map.

Chief Thunderhooves
In Over a Barrel, Chief Thunderhooves mentions his father, grandfather, great-grandfather, great-great-grandfather, and great-great-great-grandfather. In the Gameloft mobile game, Little Strongheart's description identifies her as Thunderhooves' daughter.

Rumble
Both Thunderlane and his brother Rumble are introduced in Hurricane Fluttershy, when both are seen standing together during tornado duty training. During the final event, Thunderlane doesn't show up and Rainbow Dash asks Rumble, "Where's your lazy brother?" Rumble tells Twilight and Rainbow Dash that Thunderlane has fallen sick with the Feather Flu.

Rumble appears next to Thunderlane at the beginning of Inspiration Manifestation. The brothers are also featured in the episode Marks and Recreation.

Scorpan
Tirek and his brother Scorpan once planned to steal the magic from Equestria. Scorpan betrayed Tirek after learning of friendship and befriending Star Swirl the Bearded, and Tirek was imprisoned in Tartarus for his crimes. Tirek later refers to his brother as "weak minded" and "worthless."

King Vorak
Tirek's centaur father is the king of an unnamed land in. He is suspicious of his son's lust for power, so he restricts the time he spends outside the castle.

Queen Haydon
Queen Haydon is Tirek's and Scorpan's gargoyle mother. She is the wife of King Vorak.

Trixie
Trixie's mother, alternatively named 'Spectacle' or 'Showcase' by IDW comics writer Ted Anderson, appears on page 4 accompanying Trixie to her first day at Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns.

Trixie's father Jack Pot appears as a Las Pegasus stage magician in the season eight episode Grannies Gone Wild. He is identified as Trixie's father on page 169 of the reference book The Ultimate Guide: All the Fun, Facts and Magic of My Little Pony.

An unnamed ancestor of Trixie's appears in.

Twilight Sparkle

 * See also: Twilight Velvet and Night Light, Shining Armor, Princess Cadance, and Flurry Heart

Twist
The Smile Song in A Friend in Deed was to have introduced Twist's mother, who would have been named Shimmy Shake. Writer Amy Keating Rogers "thought that since The Twist is a dance, it would be cute if Twist's mom had a dance name too!" The scene was ultimately cut from the final version.