About

This entry covers a series of memes in which various characters from the show My Little Pony:Friendship is Magic are re-imagined in various humorous ways, with the most popular way being to compare them to similar looking objects. The meme exists mostly in fan-works, with art and exploitables being the most common mediums, though some of the fan-works are based off of lines from the show. Though this meme appears in many forms, its permutations all share the common theme of the Friendship is Magic characters being variously changed or altered in fan-created work.

See also: Trollestia

Scootaloo is a Chicken

Scootaloo is a Chicken is perhaps the first image that started this line of memes. The phrase comes from episode 17: "The Stare Master".^[1] In the episode one of the young fillies called Scootaloo a chicken. This can be seen below.

The fans of the show then intentionally took the phrase literally and began creating images based around it.

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Likewise, in "The Return of Harmony, Part 1," Scootaloo is called a dodo.^[8] This caused debates within the fandom as to whether or not she's still a chicken.

Rarity is a Marshmallow

A screen clip from episode 19: "A Dog and Pony Show" lead to the association between Rarity and marshmallows. The similarities come from her pure white hair colour combined with the peculiarities of the show's art style, which combine to give Rarity the look of a marshmallow. The meme has a somewhat darker twist, as the processed hooves of dead horses are used to make the gelatin that goes into factory-made marshmallows (though it is only necessary when meeting the needs of mass-production, and is not strictly part of the recipe).

Fluttershy is a Tree

Fluttershy is a Tree is based off of the episode 21: "Over a Barrel".^[2] Early in the episode, the ponies are discussing Bloomburg, a tree that Applejack has brought with her during their trip to the town Appleoosa. During the talk Pinkie Pie mistakes Rainbow Dash's sarcastic comment that Fluttershy is a tree for a serious statement, and starts arguing that she isn't. Just before they are interrupted, Fluttershy pipes in that she would, in fact, like to be a tree.

Thus fan art began to depict Fluttershy as a tree and not a pony.

Colgate's Hair is Toothpaste

Colgate is a background pony whose hair looks like toothpaste. She is often seen with dental-related objects in fan-art. Because of her resemblance with toothpaste her mane and tail is often depicted as toothpaste.

Colgate is also popular in combination with the catchphrase "brushie brushie brushie," since this phrase is commonly combined with a toothbrush.

The episode "Nightmare Night", released on October 22, 2011, may have been the first instance of Hasbro recognizing Colgate's character. The episode is a Halloween special, and all of the background ponies were given individual costumes. Colgate appears in the background frequently, and was dressed as what looks like a dentist (though some have said that she looks more like a doctor). If this was intentional, it would be the first canon acknowledgement of this meme.

Dark Matter

Following this meme, it has become common to explain certain physical impossibilities in the show by saying that such-and-such a pony is made of dark matter. This trend comes from a popular video uploaded to YouTube on 20 May, 2011, of a high school student giving a presentation to his physics class in which he shows three physically impossible scenes from the show and then explains why they are impossible using Newtonian physics. The two instances can be found at 5:40 and 8:38 below:

In the video, the dark matter comparison is used to (humorously) justify the seemingly impossible events by suggesting that the parties involved are far more massive than they appear. In popular usage, the comparison is far more loose, and can be applied generally anywhere a physical law has been broken. The usage is therefore similar to how the phrase a wizard did it is used in other fandoms.

"Dear Princess Celestia" Letters

At the end of almost every episode, Twilight Sparkle writes a letter to Princess Celestia, describing what she has learned about friendship that day. She always starts her letters with "Dear Princess Celestia". In fan-art it's popular to change the lesson Twilight has learned that day, or just the complete letter itself. The catchphrase is also commonly used in threads and comments.

The letters usually end with "Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle", where the answers usually start with "To my faithful student Twilight". Other names are also used for a different effect.

Rariquest / Travelling Rarity / Roaming Rarity

Rariquest / Travelling Rarity / Roaming Rarity refers to a series of photoshopped images using an exploitable photo of Rarity when she was still a filly. The image comes from a scene in episode 23: "The Cutie Mark Chronicles", when Rarity tells the story of how she got her cutie mark. In the scene Rarity's horn takes her to what's supposed to be her destiny, but for that she had to travel quite a while first.

The first photoshopped image of Rarity was uploaded on Reddit on August 22^[4], but it spread mostly through Ponibooru. After the vector was uploaded, people started creating images of Rarity's travel, with all the possible places she had to visit first. There is also a Tumblr blog dedicated to Rarity being dragged towards her destiny.^[6]

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Blobs / Bwobs / Chubbies

Blob ponies (calso called "bwobs" or "chubbies") are a trend that began in August 2011 when the DeviantArt user Sectacy^[8] posted a series of three images showing the mane and background characters drawn as blobs – with large, squishy bodies, tiny legs, and simplified facial features.

The art style – which is both enticingly adorable and easy to draw – quickly became popular among fan-artists. Taking a cue from the blobs' infantile appearance, artists began renaming the blob versions of certain characters in a pseudo baby-talk created by changing key letters in the character's name to a W – so "Fluttershy" becomes "Fwuttershy," "Luna" becomes "Woona," and "Discord" becomes "Discowd."

Spread

Since the original image was posted, nearly every character – including background characters like Lyra and Bon-Bon and fan-creations like Nyx – have been rendered in the art style. On Ponibooru, searching for the tag "blobs" currently turns up multiple pages of images.^[9] The art style has also gained popularity through Tumblr blogs such as Ask My Little Chubbies.^[10]

External References