bronycurious:

I found some interesting info on our beloved characters.

After Generation 1, Hasbro lost the rights to all the major My Little Pony characters except Applejack and Spike.  That’s why the other classic characters have been absent from Generations 2 and 3, as well as Friendship Is Magic.  Before being informed of this, Lauren Faust created modern versions of six memorable ponies from Generation 1.  Their personalities and some aspects of their appearance were retained, but, besides Applejack, their names and other characteristics were changed to make them legally distinct from their Generation 1 forebears.  This consisted mainly of merging them with Generation 3 ponies.

Somebody made this nifty chart to illustrate the pony evolution.

Submitted by Siryl

I’ve actually seen this before, but its a very interesting read for those interested in exactly where these characters came from!