Same-Sex Couple Will Appear In Season 9 Of 'My Little Pony'

The writers of "My Little Pony" have confirmed that the latest season of the show will see two new characters – Aunt Holiday and Aunt Lofty. The first episode that includes the same-sex couple will air on June 15, right in the middle of Pride month.

When a photo of the characters was tweeted by a fan account, "My Little Pony" writer Michael Vogel commented on the image: "What a cute couple!!!!!"

A fan then raised the question — are the two rainbow ponies in the photo romantically involved? "Well they aren't sisters so...." Vogel responded. When the fan asked for clarification, Vogel explained, "When I say 'cute couple' I'm saying that Aunt Holiday and Auntie Lofty are a cute couple. Yes."

Some fans pointed out that the couple exists in the "My Little Pony" books, but had not been included in the animated show — until now.

Vogel then included his fellow writers, Nicole Dubuc and Josh Haber in the conversation. "Hey hey!!! @NicoleDubuc, @joshhaber and I doin what we can to bring more EQuality to EQuestria!! #PrideMonth" he wrote.

After the tweets started getting widespread attention online, the writers began sharing the media coverage. "I get more and more proud of season 9 with every episode. Way to go," Haber wrote. Aunt Holiday and Aunt Lofty make their debut on the show in the season's 12th episode.

"Man... Lyra and BonBon are gonna be PISSED about all this coverage," Vogel joked about the other characters in the animated children's show.

The addition of LGBTQ characters in "My Little Pony" follows the inclusion of a same-sex marriage in "Arthur" last month. 

The premiere episode of the 22nd season revealed Mr. Ratburn is gay. In "Mr. Ratburn and the Special Someone," Arthur's beloved teacher gets married to a man.

However, the episode did not originally air in one state, as Alabama Public Television (APT) chose ban it.

The decision was made back in April when the local PBS station was notified about the content of the episode APT programming director Mike Mckenzie told AL.com.