Sprout is a male Earth pony in the fifth generation of My Little Pony. He is the son of Phyllis Cloverleaf and the former deputy sheriff of Maretime Bay, serving with Hitch Trailblazer who is the sheriff. He serves as the main antagonist of My Little Pony: A New Generation and a supporting character of My Little Pony: Make Your Mark.
Personality[]
Sprout is depicted as being cowardly, lazy, entitled, boorish, arrogant and opportunistic. He is jealous of Hitch Trailblazer; who became the sheriff of Maretime Bay; instead of him, even though Sprout did become Deputy. But Sprout is incompetent at his job; due to his cowardice and laziness; which often leaves Hitch exacerbated, annoyed and doing most of the real work.
Due to Sprout being spoiled, coddled and misguided; by his mother, Phyllis Cloverleaf; he became insecure, petty and bigoted towards unicorns and pegasi, as he vilified the other pony tribes even as a colt.
Upon becoming the temporary Sheriff of Maretime Bay and; by his mother, Phyllis's poor guidance, Sprout had seized the opportunity to consolidate power; by exploiting the earth ponies' fears of the unicorns and pegasi; due to Izzy Moonbow visiting Maretime Bay and took over his mother, Phyllis's factory, Canterlogic, to produce arms to prepare for war against the unicorns and pegasi, and went mad; with power, going as far as to declare himself emperor.
Regardless, after Sprout's war machine was destroyed and he saw what he had done, he remorsefully listened to Sunny Starscout's words that ponykind had to come together in the name of friendship and harmony or otherwise continue to be separated by fear and distrust. As a result, Sprout appeared to turn a new leaf, although he retains some of his insecurity, as he privately had asked his mother, Phyllis; if he was a good sheriff only for Phyllis to avoid answering the question altogether, leaving him sulking in annoyance.
Sprout is unable to let go the past, move on and accept unicorns and pegasus integration in Maretime Bay, as seen in My Little Pony: A Maretime Bay Adventure. He orchestrates the framing of Izzy, Zipp Storm and Pipp Petals for ruining billboards, then rallies the earth ponies to drive out the other two pony races. Sprout retreats to the Canterlogic factory when his scheme is exposed. He grows flustered when Sunny catches up to him and slams into a billboard. Finally defeated, he breaks down into tears, longing for things to go back to the way they were with only Earth ponies. Luckily, the Mane Five were able to forgive him and offer their hoof in friendship.
In the series, Sprout seems to be getting better. While being sentenced to community service, he seemingly held no grudge, and while still being boastful and annoying, meant no harm or prejustice to everyone. While his out-of-control earth pony magic did cause problems, it clearly was not intended.
Appearance[]
Sprout is a red-coated earth stallion; with a slick blond mane, white fetlocks, maroon hooves and wavy blond tail. He has green eyes, thick, dark red eyebrows and his cutie mark is a purple beetroot.
Media[]
My Little Pony: A New Generation[]
At the start, a young Sprout is quick to divert the "Guardians of Harmony" playtime with Hitch and Sunny into a battle among the unicorn, pegasus, and earth pony figures. When Sunny protests that the three pony kinds were meant to get along, he insists that she's wrong because his mother explained that pegasi and unicorns attacked earth ponies until the earth ponies defeated them in a battle. He and Hitch continue playing roughly with the figures until Argyle suggests the colts should head home, to which Sprout disgruntledly accepts, only to encounter Phyllis at the door. She scolds him for running off without her permission and after she has a small quarrel with Argyle, Sprout assures her that he will keep everypony in line when he becomes sheriff one day.
Go ahead Hitch, I'll stay here.
As an adult, deputy Sprout follows Sunny to keep an eye on her as directed by sheriff Hitch, but he struggles to keep up with her and she never notices him trailing her. By the time Sunny is finally stopped by Hitch in front of Canterlogic, Sprout is exhausted and soon reminds Sunny that she is banned from entering Canterlogic. He takes her smoothie cart to bring the smoothies inside himself. Afterwards, he and Hitch watch the Canterlogic presentation, and Sprout drinks one of the smoothies until Sunny suddenly appears on stage, causing him to do a spit take. However, he simply continues sipping his smoothie while Hitch rushes over to deal with the situation.
.png){kind=link}
Bro your face is SO squishy
When Izzy comes into town, Sprout is horrified and tries to run away, while Hitch takes action. After Sunny frees Izzy and leads her out of town, Hitch orders Sprout to go after them, but he is still too scared and intentionally shuts himself inside one of the unicorn traps. Sprout is next seen hiding behind Hitch while he is trying to arrest Sunny, though Sprout is wearing one of CanterLogic's anti-mind-reading hats. Izzy steps outside and says, "I know what you're thinking", and Sprout mistakenly believes she means she is reading their minds, and he once again flees in terror.
.png){kind=link}
Later, Sprout is in the sheriff's office about to tuck into a pizza when Hitch announces that they need to retrieve Sunny to arrest her. Unwilling to face Sunny's new unicorn friend again, Sprout hastily makes the excuse that he needs to clear his workspace and sort some papers while making a mess of his desk. Hitch concludes that he should go after Sunny by himself after all, much to Sprout's relief. As Hitch leaves, he tells Sprout to try not to start a war, and Sprout proceeds to go on a jealousy-fueled rant until Phyllis comes in and reminds him that Hitch's absence means he is the new sheriff.
.png){kind=link}
Sprout is next seen when Phyllis barges into the sheriff's office again, having been swarmed by a crowd of panicked ponies, and convinces him to go deal with them instead by claiming that they want to hear from him and that it's his destiny. His confidence is boosted, but when he goes outside, everypony is dissatisfied and say they need Hitch instead. His confidence diminishes, but Phyllis pushes him to speak to the crowd. He attempts to comfort everypony by insisting there's no reason to be scared, but they continue panicking about unicorns and ignore him until he validates their fears. He then makes them feel powerful against the potential threat by banding them together during his Danger, Danger song, until the earth ponies are filled with anger instead of fear and uncertainty. With this, Sprout has gained the following of the ponies of Maretime Bay.
.png){kind=link}
It isn't long before Sprout gets the workers at his mother's Canterlogic factory to work for him instead, and she asks when she can have her factory back. He implies that he should still get to have it because the town belongs to him and announces that he is now the "emperor" of the town. He is proud of his plans and tenderly tells his mother it's all thanks to her love and encouragement, but she is worried that his newfound ego has gone too far.
.png){kind=link}
By the time Hitch and Sunny return home, Sprout has fully taken charge and is about to give a speech to the citizens of Maretime Bay. He mocks Hitch and declares that he is going to achieve what Hitch never did--attacking the perceived constant threat to earth ponies. Hitch and Sunny's attempts to explain that there is no threat do not work on Sprout, and he warns his followers that the two of them must have been brainwashed. He then reveals the mech that he will use to attack the unicorns and pegasi, called Sproutacus Maximus.
.png){kind=link}
He begins to drive it to Bridlewood to begin the war, but stops when he sees Queen Haven and Alphabittle, as well as various other unicorns and pegasi, on the path. He ignores Queen Haven, insisting that they're not there to fight, and commands his troops to help him attack, but they run away in fear, and he proceeds to begin the attack himself. When Sunny and her friends head to her lighthouse with a plan to bring back magic, Sprout is determined to prevent this from happening and follows them in his mech. He smashes into Sunny's lighthouse, interrupting her attempt to unite the crystals, and is resistant to Hitch's pleas for him to stop. He launches the mech's splatapults and refuses to listen to his mother when she tells him to get out. Furious, he charges for Sunny's lighthouse again, but Phyllis jumps into his path. He frantically swerves out of the way to avoid hitting her, and the mech crashes right into the lighthouse, causing it to topple.
.png){kind=link}
When the dust clears, Sprout leaves his fallen mech and looks around shamefully, before timidly walking to his mother's side as they both listen to Sunny's speech. After Phyllis, Queen Haven, and Alphabittle put together Sunny's broken picture frame, he walks up to their side and is one of the many ponies to witness her alicorn transformation and the subsequent return of magic. Sprout is last seen seeking his mother's approval by asking if he was a good sheriff, and she avoids the question by distracting him with "a flying dog" and sneaking away to leave him behind to his chagrin.
My Little Pony: Tell Your Tale[]
Sprout has only showed up in the wanted photo in Nightmare Roommate, Foal Me Once, Dragon Dad and Secret Ad-mare-er.
| Season 1 Appearance | |||||||||
| Episodes 1 - 10 | |||||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| Absent | Absent | Absent | Debut | Absent | Absent | Pictured | Absent | Absent | Absent |
| Episodes 11 - 20 | |||||||||
| 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 |
| Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent |
| Episodes 21 - 30 | |||||||||
| 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 |
| Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Pictured | Absent |
| Episodes 31 - 40 | |||||||||
| 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 |
| Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent |
| Episodes 41 - 50 | |||||||||
| 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 50 |
| Absent | Absent | Absent | Pictured | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent |
| Episodes 51 - 60 | |||||||||
| 51 | 52 | 53 | 54 | 55 | 56 | 57 | 58 | 59 | 60 |
| Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent |
| Episodes 61 - 70 | |||||||||
| 61 | 62 | 63 | 64 | 65 | 66 | 67 | 68 | 69 | 70 |
| Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent |
My Little Pony: Make Your Mark[]
Chapter 2[]
In Growing Pains, after the events of the special, Sprout appears doing community service sweeping outside the Canterlogic factory. His plant magic causes a giant glimmerberry to roll through Maretime Bay. In The Traditional Unicorn Sleep-Over, Sprout briefly appears at the beginning when Izzy is chasing Sparky through town.
Chapter 3[]
Sprout showed up in the intro of Winter Wishday, standing on the Maretime Bay town square bridge.
Chapter 4[]
In Top Remodel, Sprout follows Sunny and her friends into the defunct Canterlogic factory, claiming that it still belongs to his family. When he, Hitch, and Pipp find Pegamice inside, he attempts to get rid of them, then departs after failing to do so. After the factory is remodeled into Canterlove Studios, he once again claims that the building belongs to him.
Chapter 5[]
In Cutie Blossom Bash, Sprout appears in a flashback detailing how Hitch got his cutie mark. He refused to let a filly to join in a game with himself and a group of colts, which Hitch defied by playing with her anyway. He was also present during Hitch's Blossom Bash, looking away with resentment. In Mane Smelody, he is among the ponies seen in Mane Melody. In Nightmare on Mane Street, he wears his community service hard hat as a costume for Nightmare Night.
Chapter 6[]
In Roots of All Evil Pt. 1, Sprout is among the ponies of Maretime Bay panicking over Opaline's corruption of the Together Trees. When he loses his cutie mark, he runs to his mother for protection. In Roots of All Evil Pt. 2, Sprout is among the ponies singing in support of Sunny, and regains his cutie mark upon Opaline's defeat.
| Make Your Mark Appearance | ||||||||||||
| "Let's Make Our Mark Together Theme Song" | ||||||||||||
| Absent | ||||||||||||
| Chapters 1 - 3 | ||||||||||||
| C1E1 | C2E1 | C2E2 | C2E3 | C2E4 | C2E5 | C2E6 | C2E7 | C2E8 | C3E1 | |||
| Absent | Absent | Debut | Absent | Absent | Absent | Cameo | Absent | Absent | Non-speaking | |||
| Chapters 4 - 5 (Episode 3) | ||||||||||||
| C4E1 | C4E2 | C4E3 | C4E4 | C4E5 | C4E6 | C4E7 | C5E1 | C5E2 | C5E3 | |||
| Absent | Appears | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Flashback | Absent | Absent | |||
| Chapters 5 (Episode 4) - 6 | ||||||||||||
| C5E4 | C5E5 | C5E6 | C6E1 | C6E2 | C6E3 | C6E4 | ||||||
| Absent | Non-speaking | Non-speaking | Absent | Appears | Non-speaking | Absent | ||||||
My Little Pony (comics)[]
First appear in My Little Pony (comics) Issue 7.
My Little Pony: A Maretime Bay Adventure[]
Sprout is performing sabotage of billboards without any pony knowing to encourage racial hostility towards pegasus and unicorn ponies, and almost succeeds at it until he accidentally confesses to it and Sunny holds a short speech outside Canterlogic to calm the crowd down. Sprout attempts an escape on rollerblades but is chased down by Sunny, with Sunny and her friends forgiving him in the end.
My Little Pony: Mane Merge[]
He was reportedly added in the Berry Burst weekly challenge in update 1.2.
Trivia[]
- While never outright stated, it is strongly implied that the only reason Sprout has a position as Deputy at all is due to nepotism (though Hitch's long-time friendship with him may have helped with this), as his mother is for all intents and purposes the de-facto leader of Maretime Bay despite deferring to Hitch to enforce the town's laws, as Sprout displays absolutely no skill, bravery or serious dedication to his job outside of bullying prior to his power trip when Hitch temporarily promotes him in his absence.
- The video game My Little Pony: A Maretime Bay Adventure features Sprout in a significant plot role that is impossible to reconcile with either the canon of Make Your Mark or Tell Your Tale. The games plot shows that despite his heinous actions in A New Generation, Sprout is inexplicably still in a position of authority that allows him to instigate the conflict. Both Tell Your Tale and Make Your Mark, which premiered afterward, establish that Sprout was immediately fired from his job, went on the lam, and was eventually reduced to doing community service as punishment for his crimes.
- While he is only addressed as Sprout on-screen, however, in the concept art by the designer Celia Kaspar in a now-deleted Instagram post (before the concept art was put on her website), My Little Pony: A Maretime Bay Adventure, and Sunny Starscout's Book of Adventure official guide book, his surname is Cloverleaf.
- The same thing is also happened to Argyle Starshine.
- He is the only male main antagonist in the fifth generation of My Little Pony.
- Sprout is one of the few ponies who never appeared in Tell Your Tale.