"Get your muzzle out of those books and make some friends!" That's what Princess Celestia tells Twilight Sparkle. She may be the smartest unicorn in Equestria, but Twilight Sparkle gets an "incomplete" in friendship. There's more to life than learning magic, after all -- so she goes to Ponyville on a mission to make friends. There she meets five special ponies who take her on exciting adventures and teach her the most powerful magic of all ... the magic of friendship!
This tv show contains 83 potentially triggering events.
Yes, but never in a hardcore manner, and especially not explicitly in early seasons: remember that this show is meant to be appropriate for young children. Applejack's parents died around the time her little sister was born, which leads to drama with them. Halfway through the show, Diamond Tiara's mother is shown to be neglectful. The only time that child-abandonment is even discussed is in the final season, we learn that Scootaloo's parents left her in Ponyville while traveling the world.
Okay abuser is probably the wrong word here but this is a series that’s pretty infamous for having villains forgiven even for stuff as despicable as starting a brainwashing cult. Fortunately there isn’t as much of this in later seasons
Starlight Glimmer is shown apparently stalking Twilight Sparkle in the background of several Season 5 episodes, presumably to get information for revenge.
Diamond Tiara, a child, is seen as a bully through the first 5 seasons, including being ableist towards another child. This is revealed to be due to her mother's emotional abuse. However, in season 5 she stands up to her mother and is redeemed and remains that way for the rest of the show.
It's a kid's show so it doesn't show up much, but some ponies are implied to be dead (including Applejack's parents, King Sombra after his defeat, and Granny Smith and Grand Pear in the finale).
The lesson for season 5 episode 5, “Tanks for The Memories,” deals with learning how to say goodbye and cope with loss. Tank’s hibernation can be seen as a metaphor for death as Rainbow Dash goes through the 5 stages of loss throughout the episode. Tank is perfectly fine though and he appears in later episodes.
Additionally, in “She Talks to Angel”, Fluttershy forces meat eating animals to be vegetarian while staying at her animal sanctuary despite being seen feeding animals meat in the past. It’s likely she didn’t want the various prey animals at her sanctuary to get hurt while staying there, but it still seemed very iffy as meat eating animals being vegetarian can kill them. However all other cases of animal abuse are clearly shown to be in the wrong.
The Mane 6’s pets have likely died between the events of the main finale and the epilogue. This is due to them being old by the ending. Though Tank is likely still alive, as tortoises can live for over a hundred years… he might even outlive Dashie! It’s not directly stated if they did or didn’t die though, however it is implied.
Many cartoony spiders appear throughout the series. In Castle Mane-ia many spiders called “star spiders” appear in the episode, and are a bit more realistic than other spiders. The appear in many scenes, but their appearances are usually brief.
No, but the character of Zephyr Breeze is heavily attracted to Rainbow Dash and sometimes touches her (e.g. on the shoulder) against her wishes, to her visible disgust. This can be triggering for some viewers.
In Spike at Your Service there’s a scene where Spike makes a giant rock tower and Rainbow Dash knocks it over. There’s a joke where it looks like Spike got crushed by one of the rocks that fell, but he later climbs up on top of the rock revealing he was fine. Nobody ever gets crushed by falling objects, but they do sometimes get stuck under them and are rescued later.
Big McIntosh nearly gets his leg amputated in "Where the Apple Lies" due to a series of lies and misunderstandings, but the mix-up is resolved and he keeps the leg.
In the episode "Read it and Weep" Rainbow Dash breaks her wing and an x-ray is shown of the break.
Also in the episode "Father Knows Beast" there is an x ray of Twilight's heart 'breaking'.
A legend is recounted about a goat-like monster which is killed after falling into a ravine. Its body is never shown, but we do see its skull in the present day.
When characters make promises, they sometimes recite the rhyme "cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye". Twilight accidentally pokes herself in the eye in "Green Isn't Your Color" while making a Pinkie Promise. Granny Smith is poked in the eye with a megaphone in "Sisterhooves Social". Twilight looks directly at the sun through a telescope in "It's About Time" and has to wear an eyepatch for the rest of the episode.
In Dragon Quest, an egg is taken from a Phoenix family’s nest after the phoenixes are scared away and the egg falls, so Spike and Twilight take it home with them to care for. This can be compared to abducting, as his parents are still okay. He’s reunited with them in a later episode.
This happens a LOT, especially during season finales. They're never fatal, and usually boil down to "you escape while I distract <insert enemy here> until they capture me".
I'm going to say no, but it's unclear. The character Derpy Hooves is implied to be disabled and from what I can find, her voice actress is able bodied if that counts. But there is no live action depictions of able bodied actors or actresses portraying disabled characters, because it's an animated show.
Changelings are bug-like creatures that do tend to have some holes in the legs and wings. Not very many, but may still be triggering to some. Other than changelings, nothing I can think of.
The closest thing to this ever happening is in The Last Roundup when they’re on a train and Pinkie has her legs crossed and is shaking because she needs to pee, and once she arrives at their destination she goes into an outhouse to use the bathroom. She doesn’t pee herself and her peeing isn’t seen on screen.
No, but there is a "man in a dress" who is mocked for having an old stallion be attracted to him, rather than the old stallion being mocked for being a creep.
After an accident during her dangerous flight maneuvers, Rainbow Dash has to spend a few days in the hospital. The place is portrayed as boring, but not as threatening.
A bald background character who appears in the hospital in the episode "Read It And Weep" is implied to have cancer. However, this is never directly stated and no major characters have cancer.
A psychiatric patient chases somebody and acts like a dog, but she is harmless and only wants to play. Later on her condition is shown to have improved and she is now living independently in the community.
No, but early on a character with a very distinct voice (that the voice actor stated was based on a neighbor's autistic son) is played for laughs and depicted as clumsy. There was a massive controversy about this character, whose name is 'Derpy', which is construed by some as an ableist slur.
In "It Isn't The Mane Thing About You", Rarity becomes distraught upon losing a large chunk of her mane and becomes obsessed with fixing or hiding it. With the help of her friends, she regains her confidence and finds a way to make it fashionable.
In the episode "A Rockhoof and a Hard Place" Rockhoof requests to be turned to stone because he feels his life is meaningless. He does not go through with it by the end of the episode, however.
Episode 04x24 "Equestria Games." Mute the audio as soon as Spike finishes his song and unmute when the scene changes. You'll miss a humorous gag where Pinkie Pie yells "Nailed it!" but it's not worth being triggered.
Yes, but they are generally brief and/or mild. Some magic spells produce short bright flashes. There are parties with bright lights. There are flashes from photographers' cameras. There are fireworks. Unusual visual effects used during musical sequences can include mild flashing.
The show itself has no antisemitism, but the fandom does. Specifically, there's a fan character named Aryanne, whose entire gimmick is being a Nazi (she has a white coat, blonde hair, blue eyes, and a swastika inside of a heart as a cutie mark) with a sizable amount of fanart of her likeness. Because of this, I'd suggest exercising caution and using filters if you decide to consume fanmade content, (if you decide to at all).
There is an episode where Big Macintosh dresses up in a dress and poses as Apple Bloom’s sister so he can compete in the “sisterhooves social” with her. Everypony sees through his disguise almost immediately.
Yes, the episode "Brotherhooves Social" has Big Mac disguise himself as a mare to compete in the Sisterhooves Social. Several transphobic tropes ensue. Several characters call Big Mac a stallion in a way that can absolutely be triggering to trans women.
An unusually large pony appears briefly as part of a throwaway gag. Her appearance is clearly meant to be comical, but her weight is not the subject of the joke.
Is there aphobia directed towards aromantic or asexual people? No, not in the slightest. Many characters are shown to not end up in any romantic or sexual relationships and live fulfilling lives without being bothered about finding a partner.
However, there is a lot of aplatonic-phobia. There is a LOT of pressure on ponies to make friends from the very first episode, where Twilight wants to focus on her studies but has to make friends instead due to her mentor. Ponies who aren't interested in friendship are either antagonists or convinced to embrace friendship, with one exception.
Infamously, there is an episode ("Over a Barrel", if I recall correctly), where the conflict between Native Americans and European settlers is basically wildly misrepresented in metaphor.
The coat colors of the ponies vary greatly between all colors. The division between white and black skin does not occur in the entire series and is not addressed.
Clarifying what was said in the other comment; Fluttershy and Discord have a large age gap, but they have a platonic friendship with no romantic involvement.
It is known from around the beginning first few seasons that Tartarus exists within this realm, and it acts as a prison to those who are bad enough or dangerous enough
Granted there doesn’t seem to be an equivalent of Santa Claus for Hearth’s Warming Eve. And even then magic is a fact of life in this show (hence the title) so it’s pretty literal
Two parade floats crash in the episode "One Bad Apple". Many go-karts crash in "The Cart Before The Ponies". Nobody is seriously injured in either case, although the vehicles are destroyed.