{{Short description|Fan-made parody of My Little Pony}} {{Infobox television | image = PONY.MOV_banner.webp | genre = [[Parody]]<br/>[[Black comedy]] | creator = [[Max Gilardi]] | starring = Max Gilardi<br/>[[Kira Buckland]]<br/>[[Arin Hanson]]<br/>[[Kimlinh Tran]]<br/>Various voice actors | country = United States | language = English | num_episodes = 6 | runtime = 3–8 minutes | network = [[YouTube]] | first_aired = {{Start date|2011|10|11}} | last_aired = {{End date|2013|02|20}} }} {{My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic sidebar}} '''{{em|PONY.MOV}}''' is a fan-made [[adult animated]] [[parody]] [[web series]] based on the animated television show ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic]]''. Created by [[Max Gilardi]] (also known as HotDiggedyDemon),<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.tvtime.com/show/266570|website=[[TV Time]]|access-date=2025-05-29|title=PONY.MOV}}</ref> the series ran from October 2011 to February 2013 and gained notoriety within the [[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic fandom|''My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic'' fandom]] for its deliberately crude and subversive take on the source material.
The series consists of six episodes, each focusing on one of the main characters from the original show.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2959006/|website=[[IMDB]]|title=Pony.Mov|access-date=2025-05-29}}</ref>
== Overview == ''PONY.MOV'' is a [[Satire|satirical]] reimagining of ''My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic'' that uses deliberately crude and disturbing themes in the style of [[John Kricfalusi]]'s ''[[Ren & Stimpy]]''.<ref name="Blue-2016"/>
Each episodes feature grotesque [[Caricature|caricatures]] of the series' protagonists that invert the original show's values of friendship and harmony in favor of [[graphic violence|violence and gore]], [[cruelty]], [[Recreational drug use|drug use]], and [[dark humor]].<ref name="Blue-2016" />
<ref name="netnews">{{cite web | url = http://netnebraska.org/article/news/brony-fandom-carves-out-space-young-men-enjoy-friendship-and-cartoon-ponies | title = 'Brony' Fandom Carves Out Space For Young Men To Enjoy Friendship ... And Cartoon Ponies | date = 2013-05-13 | access-date = 2013-05-13 | first = Hilary | last = Stohs-Krause | publisher = [[Nebraska Educational Telecommunications]] | archive-date = April 21, 2014 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140421212502/http://netnebraska.org/article/news/brony-fandom-carves-out-space-young-men-enjoy-friendship-and-cartoon-ponies | url-status = dead }}</ref> In Russia, it was translated and voiced by Dmitry Karpov.
== Reception and analysis == [[Ashleigh Ball]], the official [[voice actor]] for [[Rainbow Dash]] and [[Applejack (My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic)|Applejack]] in the original series, described the ''PONY.MOV'' videos as "really twisted and pretty cool" during a May 2012 interview with Everfree Radio.<ref>{{cite interview|last=Ball|first=Ashleigh|date=2012-05-02|title=Interview: Ashleigh Ball|interviewer-last=Draft|interviewer-first=Final|publisher=Everfree Radio|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kj5_DccQ47w|access-date=2025-05-29}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.equestriadaily.com/2012/05/ashleigh-ball-interview.html|website=[[Equestria Daily]]|first=Shaun|last=Scotellaro|date=2012-05-02|access-date=2025-05-29|title=Ashleigh Ball Interview}}</ref>
In a collection of essays on ''Friendship Is Magic'' and its [[derivative works]], author Jen A. Blue analyzed ''PONY.MOV'' as an example of [[Carnivalesque#Carnivalization_of_literature|carnivalization]] within fan culture, arguing that the series functions as a grotesque inversion of ''Friendship Is Magic'''s core values. Blue wrote that the series presents exaggerated versions of familiar characters that retain recognizable traits while being distorted to monstrous extremes, creating what she described as textbook [[grotesque]] art.
Unlike other dark parodies of the franchise like ''[[Friendship Is Witchcraft]]'', Blue argued that ''PONY.MOV'' works as a direct parody of the source material itself rather than fan expectations, with its [[carnivalesque]] approach calling into question the fundamental principles of friendship and harmony presented in the original show.
Blue suggested that the series reflects cultural anxieties about masculinity among the show's adult male fanbase, particularly in its portrayal of violence as masculine and friendship as emasculating. In addition, Blue commented that the companion ''Ask Jappleack'' blog evolved beyond simple parody that ultimately embraces the values of the original series: an "inversion of an inversion" that carnivalizes the entire genre of violent ''Friendship Is Magic'' parodies.<ref name="Blue-2016">{{cite book |last=Blue |first=Jen A. |title=My Little Po-Mo: Unauthorized Critical Essays on My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic Season Three and Derivative Works|pages=222-227|date=2016-01-20 |publisher=Eohippus Labs}}</ref>
''PONY.MOV'' has been described as an example of a [[Elsagate|disturbing YouTube video disguised as a children's cartoon]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://au.lifestyle.yahoo.com/disturbing-peppa-pig-and-pony-cartoons-on-youtue-36324432.html|website=[[Yahoo! Lifestyle]]|date=2017-07-09|access-date=2025-05-29|first=Natasha|last=Lee|title=Disturbing videos masked as kid's cartoons on YouTube}}</ref> Meredith Woerner, writing for ''[[Gizmodo]]'', described the web series as "disgusting... and most certainly [[Not safe for work|NSFW]]".<ref>{{cite web | url = https://gizmodo.com/incredibly-messed-up-short-gives-my-little-ponyss-pinki-5921536 | title = Incredibly messed-up short gives My Little Ponys's Pinkie Pie a sex tape | website = [[Gizmodo]] | first = Meredith | last = Woerner | date =2012-06-26 | access-date = 2025-05-29 }}</ref>
In 2014, ''PONY.MOV'' was given a [[cease and desist]] letter from [[Hasbro]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Strike |first=Joe |title=Furry Planet: A World Gone Wild |date=2023-08-29 |publisher=Apollo Publishers |isbn=978-1-954641-11-2}}</ref>{{Page needed|date=February 2026}}
== See also == * [[List of fan works of the My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic fandom|List of fan works of the ''My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic'' fandom]] * [[Bronyspeak]] * [[Clop (erotic fan art)|Clop]] * ''[[Friendship Is Witchcraft]]'' * [[Music of the My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic fandom|Music of the ''My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic'' fandom]] * [[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic fan fiction|''My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic'' fan fiction]]
== References == {{reflist}}
{{My Little Pony}}
[[Category:American comedy web series]] [[Category:My Little Pony]] [[Category:Brony fandom]] [[Category:Fan films]] [[Category:Fan fiction]] [[Category:Fan fiction works]] [[Category:My Little Pony fan fiction]] [[Category:2011 web series debuts]] [[Category:Web series based on television series]]