My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic (sometimes abbreviated to Friendship is Magic, MLP:FiM, or just FiM) is an animated television series based on the long-running Hasbro toy franchise My Little Pony, adapted for television by Lauren Faust. It is designated as the 'Fourth Generation' of My Little Pony, and is therefore also sometimes referred to as G4, especially when discussing the franchise as a whole.

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic has been a critical success among its target demographic of young girls, but is also known for having attracted a surprising periphery demographic of young adult males, known as the brony fandom. As a result, it has become the subject of a large volume of fanfiction, fan art, websites, and has a thriving convention scene.

The first episode first aired on The Hub on October 10, 2010, as one of the channel's flagship shows. Season 2 premiered on September 17, 2011. Season 3 premiered on November 10, 2012. Season 4 premiered on November 23, 2013, and Season 5 premiered April 4, 2015, and took an unexpected hiatus after July 11, 2015. Season 6 premiered on March 26, 2016. Season 7 premiered on April 15, 2017. A theatrical feature-length movie based on the series was released on October 6, 2017, and grossed 65 million dollars at the box office. Season 8 premiered on March 24th 2018. The final season, Season 9 premiered on April 6th, 2019.

Plot
The show takes place in the magical land of Equestria, populated by a variety of magical creatures, including the titular ponies. In the opening episode, we are introduced to Twilight Sparkle, a highly intelligent but also rather sheltered unicorn pony, who is concerned about a prophecy predicting the imminent return of the evil Nightmare Moon. Despite her warning, her mentor Princess Celestia refuses to take her seriously, and instead sends her to the nearby town of Ponyville with the task of making some friends.

Although she fails in this task at first, the return of Nightmare Moon sets in motion a chain of events that unites her with five other ponies - Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash - who band together to defeat the villainess. The six discover themselves to be the embodiments of the six Elements of Harmony, and after this, become firm friends. The show largely focuses on these six (referred to as the 'Mane Six' by fans).

The show is largely slice-of-life, with intermittent "adventure" episodes. Episodes typically revolve around problems faced by one or more of the characters, and the moral lessons that they learn in the attempt to find a solution. In seasons 1 and 2, these morals would be presented quite directly as letters dictated by Twilight (and later by other characters) to Princess Celestia at the end of each episode. In seasons 3 and 4, this has been largely dropped. As of Season 5 and beyond this format has been shafted and replaced with "journal entries." The show's format has also changed with a new subplot called "The Cutie Map" which was set up in the Season 5 premiere. A mysterious map emerges from Princess Twilight's castle that notifies the Mane 6 that a mission is prevalent by their cutie marks glowing. The map will combine 2 characters (sometimes 6) to go on a journey to solve a friendship problem. It is apart of Princess Twilight's role to "spread the magic of friendship across Equestria."

Races
Equestria and its surrounding territories are home to many different sentient races:


 * Pony - Equestrian ponies are often brightly colored, and all receive a unique, distinguishing magical mark (a 'cutie mark') on their flanks when they discover what makes them unique. There are several races (sometimes called tribes) of pony:
 * Earth pony - a 'normal' pony without horn or wings. Implied to naturally possess great strength and stamina, as well as an innate talent with plants, animals, and rocks.
 * Pegasus - a pony with feathered wings. Capable of flight, and with an innate ability to manipulate clouds and weather. Pegasi can naturally walk on clouds, and many live on them; there is an entire pegasus city called Cloudsdale, high above Equestria.
 * Unicorn - a pony with a single horn on its forehead. Unicorns can use their horns to perform magic. All unicorns can perform simple telekinesis, using their magic to levitate and hold objects in the air. Unicorns can also cast other magic spells, generally ones related to their special talent. Despite the mythological origins of the unicorn, Equestrian unicorns are considered equine, and aside from the horn have a normal pony body.
 * Alicorn - a winged unicorn pony. Considered to be a combination of earth, pegasus, and unicorn ponies, with the abilities of all three. Alicorns in Equestria are extremely rare - only four are known to exist - and are revered by the populace. It is possible for an ordinary pony to become an alicorn through a form of ascension. Alicorns appear to automatically have royal status in Equestria, and all known alicorns are princesses.
 * Bat pony - similar to a pegasus, but with slitted eyes and bat-like wings. Bat ponies have only been seen in one episode and have never been named or identified, but have a following among fans.
 * Crystal pony - a pony with a crystalline body, but which otherwise seems to be identical to an ordinary Equestrian pony. Crystal ponies have three tribal variations: crystal earth pony, crystal pegasus, and crystal unicorn. They inhabit the Crystal Empire but have been seen visiting other locations.
 * Griffon - half eagle, half lion hybrids. Griffons appear to have their own society but nonetheless intermingle with ponies on rare occasions. In the fandom, they are popularly assumed to have their own country, the Griffon Kingdom.
 * Changeling - an insectoid pony-like creature with the ability to disguise itself as any pony, and which feeds off of love. There appears to be a very large population of changelings, but they have only been seen once in the series so far. Changelings have a bee-like social structure, with a queen who rules the hive.
 * Zebra - one zebra, Zecora, is a secondary character in the show. Zebra are explicitly stated not to be ponies and mostly live in a far off land (heavily implied to be the Equestrian equivalent of Africa).
 * Minotaur - a species of bipedal bull with fingered hands.
 * Dragon - Equestria is full of dragons of many different varieties, although the winged western variety is most typical. Dragons can grow to enormous sizes and are known for their greed and hoarding habits. They appear to be impervious to high temperatures and can breathe fire.
 * Diamond dog - a bipedal species of dog which lives underground and mines for gemstones. They appear to have a culture, military organization, and trade economy.
 * Donkey - a species which lives among the pony population. Little is known about them, but they appear to be treated like any other pony.
 * Cow - known to be sapient (one is known by name, and is seen entering a shop), but at other times, are herded like cattle.
 * Horse - horses are briefly seen in one season 3 episode. They appear to have their own territory (Saddle Arabia) and are closer to real horses than Equestrian ponies. Ponies also often use horse-related metaphors (eg. 'hearts strong as horses'), suggesting that the two races have been close in the past.

The "Mane Six"

 * Twilight Sparkle - a purple unicorn (and later alicorn) pony. Extremely studious, highly intelligent, but somewhat socially inept at first. She joined Ponyville as their new librarian, before later becoming a princess. She represents the Element of Magic.
 * Applejack - an orange earth pony. A hardworking apple farmer with country mannerisms. She owns the Sweet Apple Acres farm and has a large extended family all over Equestria. She represents the Element of Honesty.
 * Rainbow Dash - a blue pegasus pony with a rainbow-striped mane and tail. She is athletic, tomboyish, and a very talented flyer who dreams of joining the world-famous flight team, the Wonderbolts. She represents the Element of Loyalty.
 * Pinkie Pie - a pink earth pony. She is incessantly cheerful, hyperactive, and loves to throw parties. Infamous for her tendency to break the fourth wall and perform cartoon-like feats that baffle even her friends. She represents the Element of Laughter.
 * Fluttershy - a yellow pegasus pony. She is very timid and soft-spoken, and a poor flyer, usually preferring to remain on the ground. She has a talent for understanding and communicating with animals. She represents the Element of Kindness.
 * Rarity - a white unicorn pony with a stylish purple mane and tail. She is a self-made fashionista who runs her own business and dreams of being a part of high society. She represents the Element of Generosity.

Other main characters

 * Spike - a small baby dragon, he is Twilight Sparkle's assistant and sidekick. He can breathe fire, and also has the magical ability to teleport items using his fire breath. This ability is commonly used to send messages to Princess Celestia (and can be used in reverse, to receive messages back).
 * Princess Celestia - an white alicorn pony. Ruler of Equestria, who raises and lowers the sun at dawn and sunset. She is thousands of years old, and Twilight Sparkle's personal mentor.
 * Princess Luna - a dark blue alicorn pony. The sister of Princess Celestia and co-ruler of Equestria. She raises and lowers the moon at sunset and dawn. She is also the guardian of pony dreams, and can freely enter a pony's dreamscape while they are asleep. She was formerly banished to the moon for 1000 years when her jealousy turned her into the evil Nightmare Moon.
 * Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo - three fillies collectively known as The Cutie Mark Crusaders. None of them have yet discovered their special talents, and so lack their cutie marks. As of Season 5 and onward, the Cutie Mark Crusaders now have their cutie marks and have dedicated their lives to helping others find their special talents or help ponies rediscover them.
 * Sunset Shimmer is the protagonist of the "Equestria Girls" series and is a former antagonist as well. In Equestria, she was a unicorn, but she currently resides in the human world through a magical portal. She is a loyal friend with a big heart and is always willing to listen and help her friends. She is the leader of the Mane 6 in the human world and she is one of the school's top students.
 * Starlight Glimmer is also a former antagonist and Twilight Sparkle's pupil. She is a unicorn who once lead a village that believed in "Cutie Unmarking" a practice that involved taking a cutie mark from a pony and replacing it with an equal sign. Starlight was eventually exposed as a fake who still had her cutie mark, and left the village, plotting revenge on Twilight Sparkle. She returned to get revenge, which involved going back in time to stop Rainbow Dash from performing a Sonic Rainboom, which was the event that led the mane 6 to get their cutie marks. The reason she hated cutie marks so much was because of a former friend named "Sunburst" who got his cutie mark before she did, and left Starlight alone after he was sent to Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns. Starlight never made a friend again and decided to make a village where cutie marks were not allowed. She was later reformed to be taken in by Twilight, and now lives in Twilight's castle learning about friendship. As of Season 6, she has a new hairstyle and while she tries hard to learn about friendship, she sometimes slips back into her original antagonist form.

Supporting/recurring characters

 * Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon - a pair of rich fillies who used to bully the Cutie Mark Crusaders. In Season 5, they eventually become friends with the Crusaders after they got their cutie marks
 * Snips and Snails - a pair of colts, known for their stupidity.
 * The Apple Family - a large family of ponies including siblings Applejack, Apple Bloom, their brother Big Macintosh, and their grandmother Granny Smith, among others. The siblings' parents never make an appearance, but in Season 7, they are revealed in a flashback story.
 * Mr. and Mrs. Cake - a couple who operate the bakery where Pinkie Pie lives, and later give birth to twins Pound Cake and Pumpkin Cake.
 * Zecora - a zebra who lives in the nearby Everfree Forest and always speaks in rhyme.
 * Mayor Mare - the mayor of Ponyville, who officiates in matters pertaining to the running of the town.
 * Ms. Cheerilee - the local school teacher for young ponies.
 * Shining Armor - Twilight's brother and leader of the Royal Guard. He is married to Princess Cadance, Celestia's niece. He has a baby named "Flurry Heart"
 * Princess Cadance - a pink alicorn. Twilight Sparkle's former babysitter, and leader of the Crystal Empire. She has a baby named "Flurry Heart"
 * Spitfire - leader of the Wonderbolts, Equestria's top pegasus flight team.
 * Gilda - A female griffon who first appeared in Griffon the Brush Off as a old school-friend of Rainbow Dash. In the episode, she was depicted as rude and snobbish. She continued to pull “Pranks” that continually increased in hurting ponies' feelings. She appeared again in The Lost Treasure of Griffonstone and the book Twilight Sparkle and the Crystal Heart Spell. She makes a brief cameo in Magical Mystery Cure and Equestria Games.
 * Derpy Hooves - (also known as Ditzy Doo and Muffin) a gray pegasus pony with a blonde mane. Recognizable by her eyes, which are wall-eyed (facing in opposite directions). Originally an animation error, she quickly became a fan favorite and was brought back several times by the animators for background roles. She was canonized in both the Season 2 episode Feeling Pinkie Keen and again in the Season 5 episode A Slice of Life. In season 2, she was given a speaking role, which proved highly controversial as some complained that it was insensitive to the disabled. This resulted in Derpy being given a long absence from the show, but she was eventually brought back in season 4. She is widely considered to be the mascot of the brony fandom.
 * Dr. Whooves - (also known as Dr. Hooves, Time Turner or Clockwork), is a male Earth pony with an hourglass cutie mark. The character is based on Dr. Who, the main character of the BBC programme(s) of the same name. With the same fan back-up as Derpy, this character was adopted as canon by the show's crew. Derpy sometimes is with Dr. Whooves, which fanon has made him the Doctor's companion, as well as a pony with a Rose cutie mark that follows him around (Rose Tyler, an actual human companion on the BBC show). In the Season 5 episode Slice of Life, he was canonized as an intelligent inventor who is friends with Derpy.
 * Rose - Rose is a pony that briefly appeared with Dr. Whooves in a few episodes, one most notably when Dr. Whooves appeared with 3D-Glasses (another shout-out to the Dr. Whooves Fanon.) Rose was Canonized in the Season 5 episode Slice of Life
 * Minuette - (also known as Colgate due to her color scheme) is a background pony that was canonized in the season 5 episode Amending Fences. She is a blue Earth Pony.
 * Lyra Heartstrings and Bon-Bon - Two ponies who are often seen together. In the episode Slice of Life, it is reviled that they are close friends that live together. Bon-Bon's real name was to be reviled as “Secret Agent Sweetie Gumdrops” and was recruited to serve in Ponyville undercover to prevent future attacks by a creature known as a Bug Bear. Lyra Heartstrings is a green Unicorn, and Bon-Bon is a tan-colored pony with a pink and purple mane.
 * DJ P0n-3 - (also known as Vinyl Scratch) is a unicorn who first appeared as the DJ in the Season 2 Finale A Canterlot Wedding. Vinyl often wears purple sunglasses and DJs. She was canonized in the Season 5 episode Slice of Life.
 * Octavia Melody - Frequently seen with DJ P0n-3, Octavia is a cellist. She was canonized in the Season 5 episode Slice of Life, showing that she lives with DJ P0n-3. She is an Earth Pony with a brown coat and black mane.
 * Sunburst  - a friend of Starlight Glimmer who lives in the Crystal Empire. He is a magical apprentice who studies magic in his home and is reunited with Starlight after their long estrangement. Sunburst is described as Starlight's longtime best friend), which is possibly the reason she became embittered and jealous when he left her alone in their childhood.
 * Sugar Belle - A young pink unicorn and a baker who lives in Starlight Glimmer's old village. She used to be her cutie mark-less follower and after Starlight left, she regains her cutie mark back. She reappears in Season 7 as Big Macintosh's love interest and eventually, with the help of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, they fell in love with each other. She also had three friends, Party Favor (a blue unicorn with similar traits to Pinkie Pie), Night Glider (a dark blue pegasus and a skilled flyer), and Double Diamond (a white and much older earth pony)
 * Twilight Velvet and Night Light - Twilight Sparkle and Shining Armor's parents.

Awards
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic has won the following awards and nominations:


 * Ursa Major Awards
 * 2011 - winner, "Best Anthropomorphic Dramatic Short or Series"
 * 2012 - winner, "Best Anthropomorphic Dramatic Short or Series"
 * 2013 - winner, "Best Anthropomorphic Dramatic Short or Series"
 * 2014 - nominee, "Best Anthropomorphic Dramatic Short or Series"
 * 2015 - winner, "Best Anthropomorphic Dramatic Short or Series"
 * 2016 - winner, "Best Anthropomorphic Dramatic Short or Series"
 * Leo Awards
 * 2012 - nominee, "Best Program", "Best Direction", "Best Overall Sound"
 * 2014 - winner, "Best Overall Sound in an Animation Program or Series" (for "Power Ponies" episode)
 * Daytime Emmy Awards
 * 2012 - nominee, "Outstanding Original Song--Children's and Animation" (for "Becoming Popular (The Pony Everypony Should Know)" and "Find a Pet Song")

Bronies and pegasisters
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic has found a strong following among adults and older teens, despite the target audience being young girls. This has been attributed to a variety of factors, most often the quality of writing and animation on the show.

Some adult fans of the show are known as bronies, a portmanteau of the words bro and ponies, for male fans, and pegasister, a portmanteau of the words pegasus and sister for female fans, though use of this latter term has been criticized and the term is typically seen as gender-neutral. Most self-identified bronies are probably male due to the origins of the term from 4chan.

Fans of older "generations" of My Little Pony did/do not have such a term, and their conventions and online presence are typically different than that of bronies, many of which do not like older incarnations of the show.

Acknowledgement of bronies
The show's development team has, on multiple occasions, made reference to the brony fandom and the Internet memes it has created.

Ditzy Doo
Fans of the show on 4chan noticed in the pilot episode a grey pegasus pony who, due to animation error, appeared to be strabismic. She quickly became a fan favorite, with many fans speculating on her personality and referring to her by the name "Derpy Hooves", after the slang term "derp". Her primary characterization was that of an accident-prone, foolish pony who loves muffins, with a fan-made catchphrase, "I just don't know what went wrong!"

After this, the character began to appear (still in the background) with this "wall-eyed" effect purposely added. In the episode The Last Roundup, the character makes her first voiced appearance, and seemed to match the popular fan characterization, including the phrase "I just don't know what went wrong!". In this episode, Rainbow Dash originally refers to her as "Derpy", but this was later removed after complaints about the name and its use as a slur against people with physical and or mental disabilities.

The pony is now referred to in various official media as "Ditzy Doo", "Muffins", and "Everypony's favorite". In official merchandise, her name is often replaced by a picture of a blueberry muffin. An additional fan name for the character is Bubblecup, due to her similarities by an older-generation pony of the same name.

Fanon phrases
The fanon has created a large amount of phrases for characters. These have often found their way into official merchandise. In the fan series My Little Pony: Friendship is Witchcraft, a robotic version of SweetieBelle (named Sweetiebot by its own fans) calls the “Cutie Mark Crusaders” the “Cutie Mark Acquisition Program”. This phrase can be found on the official SweetieBelle trading card.

The Lost Treasure of Griffonstone
In the season 5 episode The Lost Treasure of Griffonstone, the long fanonized Griffon Empire became canon. The episode is not depicted as it is in fanon, however, and shown to be poor and run-down, much to the ponies' surprise.

Slice of Life


In the hundredth episode of the series, Slice of Life, a number of characters popular with the brony fandom became canon: Dr. Whooves, Lyra Heartstrings, Bon Bon, Octavia Melody, Vinyl Scratch, and a multitude of others. This episode was written by M.A. Larson, who has long been a “friend” to the brony fandom. The episode continues to drift in and out of fanon, showing Dr. Whooves as an intelligent inventor rather than a timelord, and derpy as less of a klutz. Trotstep was also canonized for the first time. Hitherto, dubstep songs were not included in the show, but some auto-tuned songs were. In M.A. Larson's original draft, more characters were going to be canonized, including Flash Serenity, Coco Pommell, and a number of members of the Royal Guard. These segments were cut for time, however. The reception of this episode was taken very well. On twitter, M.A. Larson made a number of tweets thanking the brony fandom for years, saying he could not have done this with out the characters they invented. The brony fandom was very thankful for this episode. The episode had the following canon scenes:

Dr. Whooves and Derpy

 * The Doctor and Derpy are canonized in this scene. Dr. Whooves is shown to be an inventor, who is annoyed by the easiness that comes from magic spells. Derpy is a companion to this inventor, speaking with a Boston accent. Derpy was supposed to make invitations for the wedding of Cranky Doodle Donkey and Matilda but rushed them. All the invitations give the wrong date, which is the date of the episode. Derpy leaves to speak with the Doctor to ask for advice. Dr. Whooves is too busy with other things. At the mention of the wedding, he remembers that he needs his suit tailored. He leaves to speak with Rarity about the suit. Asking Vinyl Scratch for help, she leads him to a bowling alley. He ends up playing a quick bowling game with what is known as The Big Lebowski Ponies due to their similarities with the cast of The Big Lebowski. After playing, he wins the suit of Jeff Letrotski.

Lyra Heartstrings and Bon Bon

 * Lyra Heartstrings and Bon Bon are preparing a church for the wedding of the donkeys. It is relieved that they are very close friends, but that Bon Bon was actually Secret Agent Sweetie Gumdrops, sworn to protect the Equestrian Nation from what is known as a BugBear. Lyra is surprised that her friend could hide this for so long. At the end of the episode, they make up, continuing to be friends with this new-found secret out in the open.

Matilda and Stephen Magnet

 * Matilda is being pampered in the Ponyville spa, and meets the metrosexual sea serpent is known as Stephen Magnet. Stephen Magnet reveals that he is close friends with her fiancé, to the surprise of Matilda who had never heard of him before. They have a long conversation about the adventures he and Cranky Doodle Donkey went on, also a surprise to Matilda. This is the first time since Episode 1 that Stephen Magnet is shown.

Vinyl Scratch and Octavia Melody

 * These two ponies are shown to live together and play music together, despite their opposite genres. Together, they play a classical trot step remix, which they play on the road down to the wedding, picking up a number of ponies on the way. In this scene, Pinkie Pie's pet lizard Gummie is given a dark monologue where he contemplates what his life is. The scene then resumes, showing the various characters at the wedding. Shining Armor is crying, and Princess Luna and Celestia are complaining to each other about how they forgot to bring their gift.

Amending Fences
In Amending Fences, the episode released the week after Slice of Life and also written by M.A. Larson, more fan-liked background ponies are made into more important characters, including Minunette, and the lesser-fanonized Lemon Hearts and Twinkleshine. It also reveals that Twilight Sparkle had been friends with these characters for a long time, and Pinkie Pie had been as well (without Twilight's knowledge).

Hasbro and bronies
A number of fandom artists and animators have been taken down due to Hasbro claiming violation of intellectual copyright:


 * Ask Princess Molestia, a pornographic blog that portrayed a version of Princess Celestia as a rapist, was taken down in 2014 due to copyright claims, though not until after concerted effort of fans, who organized under the name "Down With Molestia", which was founded by Pinkie Posh. Ask Princess Molestia was popular in the brony fandom, with Equestria Daily reporting over 68,600 followers.


 * In 2013, the popular abridged series My Little Pony: Friendship is Witchcraft and My Little Pony: The Mentally Advanced Abridged Series was taken down. Friendship is Witchcraft returned in 2014 under the name Horse Women.


 * Jan Animation Studios, despite having several videos not relating to My Little Pony in any way, was taken down in response to a cease and desist order claiming to come from "counsel for Hasbro, Inc. and Hasbro Studios LLC".

As a result of the legal actions, FiMFlamFilosophy, creator of Rainbow Dash Presents, posted a video reaction explaining the failure of modern copyright laws, and in particular, criticism of YouTube, calling the way the site handles copyright "complicated, dangerous, and full of mines".

MLP:FiM and furry
The creators of the show have reciprocated the feelings of the fandom, referencing bronies in the Equestria Girls promo and even marketing directly to the adult demographic. Probably the most significant call out came in the canonization of the character Derpy, whose name and personality was collectively created by the fandom. Other fan names have become canon outside of the TV shows such as the name Lyra being adopted in the toy line. Derpy - along with other fan favorites Doctor Whooves, Octavia, Carrot Top, Berry Punch, Colgate, Vinyl Scratch/DJ Pon-3, Lyra and Bon-Bon - appeared on the poster distributed at San Diego Comic-Con International 2011.

The brony fandom has a significant crossover with the furry fandom. According to the 2014 State of the Herd Report, 21% of bronies consider themselves furries as well. Many furry artists have branched into pony art, and several of the brony fandom's celebrities are or have been involved in the furry fandom in the past.

Many things familiar to furries have equivalents in the brony fandom:


 * An extremely active art scene - one of the best-known and most active image boards is Derpibooru.
 * Costuming - ranging from simple ear bands and tails to full pony fursuits.
 * Meetups - similar to furmeets, and varying from casual get-togethers to gatherings of hundreds of people.
 * Conventions - many take place every year, all over the world.
 * Avatars - like fursonas, many bronies have a ponysona to represent them in the fandom.
 * Vocabulary - like the furspeech of the furry fandom (or indeed, most fandoms) a vocabulary of fandom-specific words exists. Some of the terms are taken directly from the show, such as "anypony" (anybody), or "fillies and gentlecolts" (ladies and gentlemen). Others derive from memes (for example: 'plot' to mean a pony's backside).
 * An adult scene. Sexuality is explored in the brony fandom as freely as in the furry fandom, and some aspects of the vocabulary reflect this: most notably, "clop" being the brony equivalent of yiff, which is also used as a euphemism for adult material..
 * Trolls - sometimes nicknamed parasprites in the brony fandom.
 * A writing community, mostly organized on Fimfiction, with a few also using Fanfiction.net.
 * Roleplay - this generally takes place on forums and IRC. The most popular brony IRC networks are PonyChat and Canternet. A large number of forums exist, such as Red Light Ponyville, an adults-only forum, and MLPForums, a forum supporting a variety of age groups.
 * News sites - Equestria Daily is the biggest and most active. Other sites include the satirical Horse-News, which lampoons some of the fandom's current events, and Derpy Hooves News, which serves as a news site for My Little Pony, as well as a number of other popular cartoons that have attracted a fandom.
 * Imageboard BBS sites molded after 4chan, such as Ponychan.

There are also a few differences between the scenes:


 * A heavier emphasis on music. Although there are a number of furry musicians, the brony fandom's musical output is comparatively more popular among members of the fandom, and music is regarded as important as visual art by most. There are a large number of brony musicians who create new music and remixes regularly, often releasing entire albums. The most popular brony song as of 2014 is The Living Tombstone's Discord remix, which has more than ten million views on YouTube. The majority of brony music is a genre known as Trotstep, a “Ponified” version of Dubstep.
 * Cosplay (that is, specifically costuming as canon characters) is more widespread, as the show contains a very large number of characters.
 * Younger demographic - the brony fandom's age demographic is skewed well toward youth, with a large proportion in their teens or even younger. As a result, there are efforts to keep the fandom child-friendly and to segregate the adult and non-adult sides. Many of the major conventions are family-friendly, and encourage children and parents.

In 2014, Lee Tockar, a voice actor on the show, was a Guest of Honor at Anthrocon 2014.

Conventions

 * North America:
 * Canada:
 * BronyCAN website, Facebook, Tumblr and Twitter (British Columbia, 2013-2018)
 * BronyExpo website, Facebook and Twitter
 * CANterlot website, Facebook and Twitter (Ontario)
 * Vanhoover Pony Expo website, Facebook, and Twitter (British Columbia)


 * USA:
 * Bay Area Brony Spectacular (BABSCon) website and Twitter (California)
 * Big Apple Ponycon (New York)
 * Brony Fan Fair website and Facebook (Texas)
 * BronyCon convention website (Maryland)
 * DerpyCon South website, Facebook and Twitter (Louisiana)
 * Equestria LA (California)
 * Everfree NorthWest (Washington state)
 * Fiesta Equestria, Facebook, Tumblr and Twitter (Texas)
 * Grand Brony Gala website, Facebook, Tumblr and Twitter (Florida)
 * Midwest Bronyfest (Missouri)
 * MLP-MSP (Minnesota)
 * My Little Pony Fair website, Facebook and Twitter (Tennessee)
 * Nightmare Nights Dallas website, Facebook, Tumblr and Twitter (Texas)
 * PON3 Con (Nebraska)
 * Ponyville CiderFest website, Facebook, Tumblr and Twitter (Wisconsin)
 * Running of the Leaves Convention (Colorado)
 * TrotCon (Ohio)
 * Whinny City Pony Con website and Twitter (Illinois)
 * Asia:
 * Japan: JapanPonycon website, Tumblr and Twitter
 * Philippines: PHPonyCon
 * Thailand: Thailand Pony Con website, Facebook
 * Europe:
 * European Pony Convention Union (EPCU)
 * Finland: Crystal Fair website, deviantART Facebook, Tumblr and Twitter
 * France: Bronydays website, Facebook and Twitter
 * Czech Republic: Czequestria website and Twitter
 * Germany:
 * GalaCon website and Twitter
 * Lunafest website, Facebook, Tumblr and Twitter
 * Netherlands: Hearth's Warming Con website and Twitter
 * Poland: My Little Konwent Facebook (mlk2014.pl forwards to Facebook)
 * United Kingdom:
 * BronyScot website, Facebook and Twitter
 * BUCK website, Summer Sun Celebration Minisite, Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, Google +, Youtube, BUCK Forum, Mascot Ask Blog, Mascot deviantArt
 * Oceania:
 * Australia:
 * PonyCon AU
 * Sydneigh website, deviantART, Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter and YouTube

ru:My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic