My Little Pony: The Movie

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

My Little Pony: The Movie was released in theaters in 1986, based on the toyline My Little Pony, by Hasbro. At Dream Castle, the Little Ponies are preparing a festival to celebrate the first day of Spring. They even go as far as to hold a ballet, which Baby Lickety Split ruins by dancing her way instead of cooperating with the others. After being called on being a show off by the others, she runs away, followed by Spike, the Baby Dragon.

Meanwhile, in the Volcano of Gloom, the evil witch Hydia watches the event via her cauldron and, disgusted by the frivolity, tells her daughters that they must ruin it. Hydia's daughters, Draggle and Reeka, are incompetent at causing mischief and fail utterly at ruining the festival. They return to the Volcano of Gloom in disgrace, where Witch Hydia presents a better plan - they'll make Smooze. The sisters collect a series of disgusting ingredients, but neglect to obtain the Phlume, the prospect of which terrifies them. The spell seems to work regardless, creating a pool of sentient purple lava that gleefully buries Ponyland.

The ponies go to their friend, Megan, and her younger siblings, Danny and Molly, for friend. Who in turn tell them to go to the Moochic, who tells them to go find the Flutter Ponies. Thus begins an epic quest for living slime, weird friendly trolls called grundles, giant sunflowers, living trees, and much more.

The bombed in theaters, but seems to have a healthy shelf life on video.

Not to be confused with the 2017 film based on Friendship Is Magic.

Tropes used in My Little Pony: The Movie include:
  • Answering Echo: There's a song done entirely like this between Baby Lickety Split, who's bemoaning her troubles at a well, and Flutter Pony Morning Glory, who's trapped inside.

No one's in a fix like I am (I am)
No one has the luck I do (I do)
No one's had the set backs I have (I have)
Look where life has led me to (Me too!)

  • All Trolls Are Different: The Grundles. "Aw, Grundlemumf!"
  • Bad Is Good and Good Is Bad: Hydia and her daughters. Among other things, Reeka and Draggle object to being called "cute" by the ponies, and they react with horror to the prospect of being force-fed banana splits by their mother.
  • Big Eater: Reeka, here and in the series.
  • Blob Monster: The Smooze
  • Butt Monkey: Reeka and Draggle, although Draggle gets the bigger share.
  • Doomed Hometown: The Grundles' kingdom of Grundle-Land was wiped out by the Smooze.
  • Fat and Skinny: Reeka and Draggle. Inverted a bit, more so in the series, in that it's the skinny one who is slower. Played straight in that the skinny one is more likable.
  • For the Evulz: It's never really explained why Hydia wants to destroy Ponyland except perhaps because it's sweet and pretty and happens to be there.
    • Hydia does pretty much say that she and her parents lived in the area first.
  • Giant Flyer: Wind Whistler, and every fifteen minutes at that.
  • Giant Spider: Aahg, here and in the series sequel.
  • Hartman Hips: Draggle, here and in the series sequel. She may technically have inherited that from her mother, though her mother looks like a ball with feet now. The other women in the specials (i.e. Katrina) and the series do not have Hartman Hips.
  • Hate Plague: Anyone splashed with Smooze becomes mean and ill-tempered.
  • Hecate Sisters: The witches, here and in the series, invert this trope despite not all being sisters. Reeka has aspects of all three types, Hydia is The Crone and the more manipulating aspects of The Mother, and Draggle is The Maiden.
  • Hey, It's That Voice!: Who would have guessed that a movie apparently made to market a children's toy would star Penguin, Bart Simpson, Carla Tortelli, Frau Blücher (*WHINNY*), and Lili von Schtupp?
  • Hidden Elf Village: Flutter Valley
  • Hilariously Abusive Childhood: Reeka and Draggle.
  • Hollywood Tone Deaf: I'LL GO IT A-LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNE!
  • Hypercompetent Sidekick: Habbit, the Moochick's assistant
  • I'll Never Tell You What I'm Telling You: When Hydia demands Reeka and Draggle tell her what went wrong with the Smooze, Draggle accidentally blabs that she and Reeka neglected to get one of the ingredients.
  • Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: Reeka and Draggle.
  • Inevitable Waterfall: Spike, Baby Lickety Split, and the Grundles go over one at one point.
  • Irony as She Is Cast: After hearing the part of "I'll Go It Alone" where Lickety Split and Spike start trying to sing high notes but just come off as screaming, most people have assumed that Lickety Split has no hope in the music business. In real life, her voice actress, Alice Playten, has done work on Broadway and actually has something of a nice voice.
  • It Makes Sense in Context: Just try to pick any individual scene from the movie and explain it to someone who's never seen it before. See how many "wtf" faces you get.
  • Jumped At the Call: Megan and her siblings. "If those witches want a fight, we'll give them one!"
  • Man-Eating Plant: "Phlume" turns out to be sap from a rather nasty carnivorous plant.
  • Panty Shot: Reeka practically walks in this mode.
  • "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Reeka and Draggle get one from their mother after their first failed attempt to ruin the ponies' celebration. "Maladia over at Nightmare Heights, her daughter made Easter Sunday come out on a Tuesday! What have you done? Zip! A big fat zero!"
  • Riding Into the Sunset: Or rather flying into the sunset!
  • Spotlight-Stealing Squad: The witches, particularly the younger two, feel like the main characters in this movie.
  • Status Quo Is God: Averted. The witches destroy the Dream Castle, and though it's restored, the Ponies live in Paradise Estate for the remainder of the series.
  • Technical Pacifist: Rosedust and the other Flutter Ponies don't want to intervene with the Smooze because it's "not our fight," even though they are the only ones who can stop it.
  • Terrible Trio: The witches from the Volcano of Gloom. Inverted in that Hydia herself actually is a threat who wants the ponies dead.
  • This Is No Time to Panic: Wind Whistler says this just as the killer trees in the Shadow Forest start attacking.
  • Tree Buchet: Megan uses a giant sunflower to get away from the Smooze at one point.
  • Villain Song: "We're Witches", in which Hydia boasts about the long line of evil spell-casters from which Reek and Draggle are descended, and "Nothing Can Stop the Smooze".
  • Weaksauce Weakness: Ahgg the giant spider turns out to be ticklish.
  • What Could Have Been: Buzz Dixon's "punch up" of the film's script would've involved one of the Little Ponies encountering some of the Transformers and G.I. Joes, more specifically, a scene where she meets the Joe sailor Shipwreck.
    • It should be said that this would have been a little confusing to the target audience the first time they saw the film... and totally awesome upon rewatching it as an adult.
      • As for why the scenes were cut...well, considering the aforementioned G.I. Joe scene involved a drunk Shipwreck seeing one of the ponies while drinking, before proceeding to smash his whiskey bottle and start praying to himself, it's no small wonder Hasbro refused. Their exact response? "Very funny... no".
  • When Trees Attack
  • Why Couldn't You Be Different?: "Why can't you be evil like I taught you?"
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