I used to live in Lakeland!
I miss living there so much, how it would rain after school everyday and those darn egrets in my front yard LOL, catching those cute little anoles (sometimes they fall out of the trees in parks), I could go on! I miss living 40 minutes from the gulf, such beautiful beaches! Aahh the memories.
Back on topic, theres plenty of places to find ponies! Theres Toys R Us stores, walmarts, targets, outlet stores, and Lakeland has the best Goodwill I have ever been to for toys! I know Disney Epcot in Japan World there has a nice anime gift store, I think its possible there could be some G4 merch there.
Definitly take a pony to the beach if you can on a cloudy-ish day (to avoid sunfading from the high UV index) because Pony beach pics are awesome! :-) Im sure they would love a vacay too!