Characters

Characters in narrative fan labor derived from  typically fall into one of these categories: main characters from the show (like Fluttershy and Twilight Sparkle), supporting characters from the show (including both guest chars like Trixie and recurring ones like Princess Celestia), background characters from the show (like Lyra and Sparkler), and entirely fanmade characters (like Nyx and, as a special case, Surprise).

Characters from the show
Main and supporting characters from the show usually retain their general personalities in fan labor, though specific aspects of their "canon" depiction may be emphasized. Abridged series like The Mentally Advanced Series and Friendship is Witchcraft are a popular exception; telling a different story with slightly different characters is the point of those kinds of videos.

Background ponies, on the other hand, do not have established personalities, since they are basically used as "filler" by the production team. This results in many different interpretations for technically one and the same "character". However, for some ponies, a fairly limited spectrum of characterization has emerged; for instance, Lyra's relationship with Bon Bon and the idea that she is, in some way, obsessed with humans, are so widely accepted within the fan labor community that they have become "fanon", deviations from which are commonly frowned at.

OC ponies and ponysonas
Finally, as happens in most fandoms with sizable fan narrative output, some fans of the show create their own characters from whole cloth. These characters are generally referred to as "OC ponies", a term adapted from other franchises like Sonic the Hedgehog. The abbreviation is variously said to stand for "originally-created" or "original character". Some fan fiction uses almost exclusively OC ponies (like Fallout: Equestria, where most of the characters from the show are dead), but these fanmade characters are more frequently created as supporting characters or, infamously, as main characters who overshadow the Mane Six.

The term "OC pony" is also sometimes used synonymously with "ponysona", a portmanteau of 'pony' and 'persona'. "Ponification" - the creation of images of real-life humans using the design aesthetic of  - is quite common in fan art. The resulting "ponysonas" are frequently used as avatars on message boards and other social websites, and people sometimes invent fictional character biographies to go with their respective pony. These so-called OC ponies are, however, distinct from the fanmade characters as described above, because they are usually not featured in fan fiction or (narrative) comics. Exceptions include Lauren Faust's pony of the same name and Sabrina Alberghetti's OC Wild Fire.

Crossovers
Very occasionally, characters from a different franchise interact with pony ones, as in Turnabout Storm or stories featuring Doctor Whooves; in the former, a human gets stranded in Ponyville, while in the latter case, the humanoid Doctor is rewritten as a pony. These crossovers are more frequent in fan art, especially of the non-narrative kind, than in fan fiction.

Team Fortress 2 is another franchise commonly seen with ponies. This has been expressed through fan fiction, fan art, videos, and even mods that have been programmed to make the characters in-game look like ponies.

List of character pages
''This is a list of characters with articles on this wiki. Please create an article first before adding a name to the list. Ponies with multiple names are marked with an asterisk; very common alternative names are listed in the Notes column. For how to fill in the second column, see this page.''