My Little Pony: 40th Anniversary Celebration--The Deluxe Edition

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The second story takes place in Generation 5 Equestria; at the Crystal Brighthouse, Sunny Starscout, Izzy Moonbow, and Hitch Trailblazer are bringing Sunny's father Argyle Starshine's old research books out of the basement so that they can learn more about Equestria's ancient history. Among Argyle's books is a very old and unfamiliar book titled My Little Pony: Tales of Dream Valley. As the ponies read more about Dream Valley, Sunny begins to believe they are just stories of fiction. Since Pegasi are also said to have lived in Dream Valley, Sunny, Izzy, and Hitch deduce that there may be more information about it in the Zephyr Heights library. They seek out their Pegasus friends Pipp Petals and Zipp Storm and their mother Queen Haven to find out more. Beyond your work with Hasbro and other networks and shows, you are attached to a nonprofit focused on Web3 technologies. AI isn’t Web3 exactly, but it is an increasingly discussed topic in terms of how it’s used in relation to artists and their rights. In what ways has AI impacted your work? Do you use it at all in your process?

You were clearly trying to tap into the generational diversity of the My Little Pony fan base. How did you find the right sound to represent those generations? Story 1 is "set in the decade that gave birth to the Pony phenomenon: the 1980s. In it, four young girls (plus their G1 Ponies) must bond together and use their imaginations if they're going to save their local stable from closing." The next day, Melanie, Kelly, and Tiffany meet up during recess and discover Julie never showed up for school. Getting the nurse to excuse them from the rest of the school day, the three head over to the barn. There, they find Julie tied up to a chair and their living pony toys magically captured by Hugh Mann and his henchmen. It is revealed that Hugh is originally from Equestria and that he was banished to the human world for attempting to tear down the ponies' homes to build his shopping mall; some of the ponies followed him to the human world and took the form of toys to keep an eye on him. However, when Julie found his spell book, it reactivated his magic and returned the toy ponies to physical form. It’s never going to be the same. For example, I love working with Hasbro because Equestria Girls and My Little Pony, those resonate with all genders, but as a young woman growing up, it obviously spoke to me. So it’s easy for me to pull from within myself when I’m creating for those brands. It feels real, because it is. AI and anything Web3-related —I don’t think anyone’s trying to avoid it, but it should be used as a tool to enhance the creators’ experience in a way that will help them resonate with their audience, or create a better allocation of time. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a replacement of what they do because then we miss out on true art that connects to people. I feel like everything you do should be an extension of your humanity. Everything should come from an authentic place, or else what are we really doing it all for. My Little Pony debuted in a time when toy lines were frequently adapted into TV shows,and before there were more restrictions around marketing to children through the TV. Which is probably why those theme songs feel so catchy —they weren’t just themes, they were toy jingles. Do you feel like the My Little Pony theme embodies jingle elements that make it memorable? If so, what are they?Remixed in size and color after the 1981 My Pretty Pony fell short in inspiring young buyers, the My Little Pony brand took off with the release of some Gen1 ponies in 1983, followed by TV specials, shorts and animated series bearing the toy line’s titular name. By the mid- to late ’80s, the ponies had become a fixture of the children’s media and toy industry. There’s always a certain amount of finesse, intelligence and silliness. Just like any TV show theme or anything that accompanies music-to-picture, you really have to think about whether this supports the narrative. To me, that feels like a paint by number situation. Be fun within the lines. When I wrote the original theme for Littlest Pet Shop, that was for a little bit of an older audience — similar to My Little Pony. I had such a blast doing that, because some of the references were Fitz and the Tantrums. But how do you take Fitz and the Tantrums and make it also universal for kids, for the families that are watching?

It features the unnamed G1 ponies referred to by collectors as Princess Royal Purple and Princess Royal Pink The first story takes place in 1984; elementary school girls Julie, Melanie, Kelly, and Tiffany are best friends that share a mutual love for My Little Pony. During the summer before they start middle school, they regularly visit a nearby barn so they can play with the horses in the stable. While grooming the horses one day, the girls overhear a phone conversation between barn owner Mr. Pine and land developer Hugh Mann; Hugh is offering to buy the barn and surrounding land to build a shopping mall. The Hollywood Reporter spoke to Vaughn, who is a singer-songwriter in her own right, about crafting music that not only captures My Little Pony’s steadfast themes of friendship and magic, but pays tribute to its distinctive eras. She also discusses making music for brands in the social media age, creating music for young audiences, and how Web3 technologies and AI are reshaping the modern music industry.

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My Little Pony #1 • My Little Pony #2 • My Little Pony #3 • My Little Pony #4 • My Little Pony #5 • My Little Pony #6 • My Little Pony #7 • My Little Pony #8 • My Little Pony #9 • My Little Pony #10 • My Little Pony #11 • My Little Pony #12 • My Little Pony #13 • My Little Pony #14 • My Little Pony #15 • My Little Pony #16 • My Little Pony #17 • My Little Pony #18 • My Little Pony #19 • My Little Pony #20 We talked a lot about how we connect to each generation of Pony fans. I was born in the ’80s, so I really grew up on the ponies in the ’90s. I’m actually the one who’s singing on the ’90s girl-pop version because doing a Britney [Spears] theme is easy having grown up on that. But we didn’t want to alienate newer fans that might not be so aware of the ’90s and the ’80s. We wanted them to also be like, “This is silly. This is fun. I want to post about this.” So no matter the style —obviously we are catering to that nostalgia —we worked to not alienate those that might have grown up with different versions of the ponies, and also different eras of music. It was a really exciting project because we got a ton of amazing female creators involved as well as the bronies, the producers that we worked with. We got to do a ’90s pop version, an ’80s remix. It was just a lot of nostalgic moments, as well as some modern touches. But it came about organically. I spoke to the head of music [at Hasbro] and we put our heads together to figure out what would audiences want to interact with. We had the one theme sped up, as that’s what Gen Z kids and younger want, and then a whole reimagined EP. But we are going to be doing some more My Little Pony across a lot of fun generations. AI has already started to make its way into the kids content space, from interactive episodes to cameos. In terms of music, which can become almost ear-wormy for kids, do you see any applicable uses for AI?