Thrift rescue stories

[Shaz]

A couple that I wonder most about are my Glory and Moondancer. Because neither pony was sold here, they must have come from overseas. So I wonder if they were American? Canadian? From somewhere in Europe? Somewhere else? And they somehow both lost their tails. I wonder how that happened, to have occurred to BOTH ponies, not just one. They came from the same home, but I wonder - were they always together? Did they belong to the same child? Was it even their first home that I acquired them from?

I have some similar questions for our Twilights. My gf found not one but two Twilights in the same charity shop in the 90s. How? Why? Did two sisters go on holiday to America and both buy the same pony?

A lot of my ponies and dolls have impressive stories to tell about their battles with dogs, attacks by scissor-wielding children, and adventures in the great outdoors. I love how some sellers on eBay tell you where the ponies came from, if they were childhood ponies or whatever. I happen to know that my Mexican Dibbles was found at a flea market in Mexico City before she was listed on eBay and purchased by me - but I'd love to know what happened to her before then that caused her to end up with faded hair, faded symbols and no eyes; and of course something must have happened to separate her from her twin. My fascination with my ponies' past lives has led to me keeping a list of where I bought them from and anything I know or have deduced about their previous home.

I will also never understand how Dazzleglow came to be for sale in a vintage shop in Athens. Was she even sold in Greece when new? If not, where did she come from? What languages might she speak?

[Taffeta]

I am pretty sure Dazzleglow should have been sold in Greece. I am 99% sure that the later release ponies they had the same as we did, with the same cards as well. I've seen a lot of ponies from that time period on card from Greek sellers and I've heard someone mention it here as well so I think that's the case. Though someone who knows better, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

I have one pony I got from ebay who has a story kind of like that

Tropical Breeze was my childhood flutter. I still have her and her (repaired) wings but I didn't keep her box. I managed to get a MIB one but the box is French. So when I saw an auction some years back with the UK box in it I was super excited.

But it was being sold from the US.

The seller was listing ponies from her childhood and said so. But only Tropi had the UK box.

I won the auction, and I messaged the seller to ask what the deal was. Apparently Tropi (along with a couple of other UK ponies she had kept) was purchased from Harrods in London during a holiday there in 1987. She bought ponies she hadn't seen back home in the US so obviously Harrods were really quick to getting flutters out that year! In any case, Tropical Breeze was a London pony who travelled across the atlantic once, was a loved toy with an american child and then now has travelled back across the sea to her homeland.

Although I won the auction for the box, which was the only thing I needed, I ended up keeping everything. I felt like it was very cool she had been on such a journey and had made it back again, so she lives with me as part of my small family of Tropical Breezes.

visitors can't see pics , please register or login


In this picture you can see her in the top corner, sitting on top of her UK box, with her new family

[NightGliderSA]

It would be so great if we could find out what happened to our ponies in their previous lives! I have a Gusty with a note inside her, a Big Brother who must have hung out with the Purfume Puffs as he came with his very own leaf. You know, inside him. And a pony who smells like wax crayons. Maybe she enjoyed arts and crafts. Oh, yes, and the pony with ELLA written enormous in marker on each of his legs. I did try sun fading that off but no dice. Gotta find out what brand of marker that was so that I can use it to mark my kids' school stuff.

[strawberrypony]

I love reading all of these stories! <3 I always imagined my house as sort of a home for ponies who have lost their way and can all prance around together when im not watching and swap stories. My most recent haul were filled with mildew so I imagine they had a ton of swashbuckling fun playing pirates, mermaids, and other things in their owner's bathtub! My pony bride and Raincurl have short but tasteful haircuts so I imagine they had quite a stylish life getting hairstyles. My Bubbles has been so dirty and unable to be thoroughly cleaned of all the dirt she has, I imagine she loved playing in gardens. <3

 I rescued a bag of ponies from the trash dump once that someone had thrown out, and I was luckily able to take them home with me and fix them up. I imagine they probably had been well loved and played with then crammed in an attic for years then thrown out by someone who didnt care, but at least now they have a good happy life with my little herd of ponies <3

[Sakuyamon]

Once when I went to a fleamarket, I by some miracle happened to see a Barnacle head poking out from a small purse hanging from a rickety rack. There was quite a few ponies in there. Bought the whole thing. Made me wonder if they lived there due to a previous owner that was always on the go.

[Jorgito93]

I'd absolutely love to hear my ponies about their previous life. I have a bunch of g3 from a garage sale with hearts drawn with various colors of markers, including a Tea Leaf with a pretty sweet haircut, seems like their owner was creative. I'd say the one I'd love to hear the most about is my g3 rainbow dash plush, she had lost a lot of stuffing and has a weird stitch on her butt, probably got a tear and got fixed because her owner loved her. Also she had monster high stickers on her eyes when I got her, so she definitely lived some interesting stuff. Toy story infected my mind ever since I was small, so I love to imagine my ponies discussing about their past when I'm not there.

[invaderhorizongreen]

I would love to ask my wave runner, with working hair how they got the bites on the ear.  When I was washing them I kinda felt a heaviness to them. Like someone called them ugly and horrid names. I said looks dont matter to me, you are welcome here, and as I was washing them it was like that grime fell off in a way.  Sense then this pony has had happy vibes on my shelf. 

[CinnamonOnions]

I wonder these things too, here's some examples why:
 One thing I know for certain is that my Wave Runner was very well loved by someone - she has someones initials on her hooves and she had a tiny self made friendship bracelet like thing around her hoove when I found her.
 And then there's stories like Pesca (italian Peachy), I think the kid who had her or their sibilings must have been pretty violent and harsh on their toys!! She came to me with a dirty brown, cut mane with one hair tuft left and a cut ear.
 Not to mention my one piece of Paradise Estate: first of all, where did the rest three of the four houses go? It also clearly had been in harsh outside play - sunfading, the only window is almost broken, worms poop (ew!), melted decades old candy.. it was a horror to see!
 And my poor Azul Celeste (piggy Blue Belle), not only had she somehow sailed from Spain to Finland, but also she had half of her mane missing without even roots left and odd thick stains resembling house paint. She was already over 30 years old when I found her at a goodwill, I wonder how many owners she had had before me? I'm very curious about what kind of life she had in general before arriving to my loving arms.... I feel like she had been ignored rather than loved by someone. :< Or then someone brought her here, loved her, gave her away, and the next child/children are the reason she was so awful. Her legs still feel oddly rough! (Let's not talk about my dog eating her face open either)
 And the Blossom I already gave away: she was clean inside but had a lot of mold outside and parts of her plastic had turned yellow from mold!!!
 Or white Tootsie - she was the only pony in that flea market table, in a nearly empty cardboard box of junk. She had been enough loved to have had a rubber band around her tail - that then had melted, broken and re-hardened!!! I wish I could know the stories of these toys!

[Cheyennethepony]

One of my ponies, Medley, I got off of eBay. Her mane and tail were trimmed short. But it wasn't a horrible cut, it looked actually fine. I guess she came from someone who gave their ponies haircuts. I know, not the most (thrilling I guess?) of backstories.

[Foxbite]

The weirdest pony I've found at a thrift store is what look like a custom, but it wasn't attractive or complete? It was a brush and grow pony with black hair and it was covered in thick brown paint. I took off the paint to see was was underneath. The body looks died or something. And the hair mechanism works! Well, until I broke off the head after peaking inside out of curiosity.

I found a thrift store custom that was clearly done with cheap nail polish. The polish had started to eat the plastic beneath it and simultaneously slough downward along the body to pool at the feet, giving this poor pony a dystopian mutant of the future look.