What's the weirdest story you have about getting a pony?

[Sweet_Stuff]

I have loads of awesome memories of carbooting with  my sister between about 1995 (when we discovered MLP was not in stores any more) and 2000. My sister was almost 8 when we began carbooting, and small, cute and very clever. So she was always getting things given to her for free. Especially dragons. But we were a hunting team. I remember one carboot sale, she spotted Lightning and Princess Pearl, 2 ponies I had been desperate for since a child. She literally threw her arms around the box and LAY on it so nobody else could get to them first. I still remember her screeching "Princess Pearl and Lightning!" at the TOP of her voice.

So my Pearl and Lightning are thanks to my sister. At that time there was another collector around, and she was at the stall at the same time as we were. Thus Naynie's antics. But because of that, the other collector (who was a brat) got an Italian Heart Throb from the stall. Naynie was in love with Heart Throb at that time, and she wasn't sold in the UK, so finding her here in any form was very unusual. This brat collector waved Heart Throb in her face, and my sister wound up in floods of tears.

So. Roll on to 1998, and this collector sold up all her ponies (or left them to her Dad to sell) at the carboot sale. And believe me, I went through every single box to find that Heart Throb.

Naynie now owns her. Although she has a regular HT as well, now, and a Baby one, that one is special, as she was her reward for Pearl and Lightning that day .

The other weird story also involves my sister. We were on holiday in Wales, and on the beach we found a stranded starfish. We wanted to help it, so we got our bucket and spade and put it in the bucket and took it out to sea. I don't know if we managed to save it, but we tried. Before we put it out into the sea, Naynie named it. She called it "Barnacle" because he was her favourite boy pony, and she didn't have one yet.

That weekend, when we came home, Barnacle was at the Car Boot sale, with his hat and bandana. He is really in excellent condition, his hair still curly. He's also now part of Naynie's pony herd. He's the only boy pony I don't have myself, because, honestly, I can't beat the starfish karma

Say...can I borrow your sister next time I go pony hunting? I'll pay her in ponies and three fancy meals.

 

[Emfen]

Oh oh! I got one really strange, well actually two odd stories or three.
First story is taking place somewhere around 2010, just when FiM was making it's big big buzz on the interwebs. My mom is what you would call a 'Trustee', she handles finances and acts as the legal spokesperson for people w disabilities which she is assigned to help through a program. She have had contact with a woman we can call Chrissy since I was about 2, and that is a really important part of the story because Chrissy always liked me ever since I was a kid, I myself thought she was a really scary person, lol. Anyhow, because of this she would always bring me toys. She would go through the trash station near her care facility and just scavange for toys, and that is how I got Italy Peachy and G2 Skyskimmer.
Story #2 takes part last year somewhere in late winter, my mom went to Spain for a week so I would watch her cats for a week. Because of this I would leave late in the evening and walk to my own place - always passing by the recycling station nearby. One night after arguing with my dad over phone I was in all tears walking home, and in the darkness near the walking path I see plastic strewn about... And something that looks like trolls, could it be? There was G4 Pinkie and Fluttershy!
Story #3 is very similar, one evening I took out some garbage to the recycling station and see something pink sticking out from a bag of fabric dust, and there was G4 Lulu Luck.
That trash story has happened to me at least twice now, found MH, Barbie, MLP and other neat things I clean and donate to charity.

[Jorgito93]

When i see things like that i always wonder how these poor girls arrived here. Like someone said let's bury a pony in the garden , it should be fun?

[Wardah]

Last year, I was at Walmart and bought a Rarity and Princess Luna brushable 2-pack.  This toy was like 3 years old.  The Walmart wasn't just behind on their toys, because everything else was the current stuff and I had been there before and they didn't have this two-pack.  I always wondered how it got there.  Did someone return it after 3 years?  If so, kudos on their receipt keeping skills.

While Walmart is actually very lax about returns without a receipt if you don't mind getting store credit, I don't think it was a return. Every once in a while I will find similarly old toys at Walmart. What happens is when the Xmas season comes they need extra seasonal space. So they shove most of the clearance into the back room or into a trailer. When the holiday season is over they put the clearance back out but sometimes they miss things. These things sometimes end up back on the clearance shelves several years later. I once found a bunch of Moxie Teenz after the line had died out.

[Shimmer Mist]

Found a G1 baby in a box free toys outside of  a second-hand shop. On a whim I asked if they knew if they had any more MLP/horse toys. They replied with "I think there were some in a box we just threw away out back" Needless to say I went dumpster diving and came back with over 5 free G1s that were in pretty decent shape.

Also, a couple months ago I found one of those light-up "Canterlot" Target exclusives randomly sitting on a peg at my local Target. It's not like it had been shelf-warming like some things do. It was just there out of the blue mixed in with the current merchandise. I was flabbergasted to say the least considering how old that line is. She was super-cheap, too, so I came home with a Shine Brite Pinkie Pie.

[Pheasant]

When i see things like that i always wonder how these poor girls arrived here. Like someone said let's bury a pony in the garden , it should be fun?

Maybe they were hoping they'd get a pony tree?

No weird stories here, I'm afraid. My life is pretty boring.

[FiddlePhan]

I've told this story in other posts in years back but for newer members here ya go.

I was doing volunteer work with my aunt and saw Mimic in the living room window of an apartment we walked past.
MIMIC!!!!    I had wanted her for years and regretted not buying her in stores when I had a chance when I was little (picked out She-ra Double Trouble instead).
My mom came into town to visit a few days later and I told her about the pony.  I had written a letter to mail to the homeowner to ask if they'd sell the pony but my mom went over to the apartment herself.   It was an older lady that answered the door and she wanted to give the pony to me.   My mom offered her money but the lady said no.  She worked at the Salvation Army and saw the pony one day and thought she was pretty so bought her and put her in her window.  She decided I'd give Mimic a good home.   My apartment was down the street from where she worked so I popped in one day with a stuffed puppy toy for her.  She was almost crying when I gave her the stuffed animal.   
I'll never part with that Mimic.

[buttonso]

Awww what a beautiful story FiddlePhan!!

[Sweet_Stuff]

I've told this story in other posts in years back but for newer members here ya go.

I was doing volunteer work with my aunt and saw Mimic in the living room window of an apartment we walked past.
MIMIC!!!!    I had wanted her for years and regretted not buying her in stores when I had a chance when I was little (picked out She-ra Double Trouble instead).
My mom came into town to visit a few days later and I told her about the pony.  I had written a letter to mail to the homeowner to ask if they'd sell the pony but my mom went over to the apartment herself.   It was an older lady that answered the door and she wanted to give the pony to me.   My mom offered her money but the lady said no.  She worked at the Salvation Army and saw the pony one day and thought she was pretty so bought her and put her in her window.  She decided I'd give Mimic a good home.   My apartment was down the street from where she worked so I popped in one day with a stuffed puppy toy for her.  She was almost crying when I gave her the stuffed animal.   
I'll never part with that Mimic.

Love stories like this!

[scarletjul]

When i see things like that i always wonder how these poor girls arrived here. Like someone said let's bury a pony in the garden , it should be fun?

Maybe they were hoping they'd get a pony tree?

That's exactly what I was thinking.  Has anyone tried it?  Think it would work? 

Anyhow, my story isn't that exciting *except* for the pony I got out of it:

I went to a garage sale on a whim near my house last year  The seller had a lot of stuff, including some vintage toys - Fisher Price, McDonald's toys and the like.  Nothing that even remotely appeared to be a pony and most of the stuff seemed to be older than the 80s.  More like the 70s.  But she was very nice and she had a ton of stuff to go through, so I kept hunting.

And then I found a completely mint Baby Princess Sparkle.    She'd been on my wishlist since I'd started collecting.  I asked the seller if she had any more but she seemed completely baffled that she even had *one* pony, let alone more.  So, I just brought my prize home.   

[Nonnavlis]

When i see things like that i always wonder how these poor girls arrived here. Like someone said let's bury a pony in the garden , it should be fun?

Maybe they were hoping they'd get a pony tree?

That's exactly what I was thinking.  Has anyone tried it?  Think it would work?     

I was actually one of those kids that used to bury their ponies >////< Only when I was quite young, though. Like, less than seven. I had two and a fakie and I would spend hours just burying and un-burying them behind my house, where we have a large area of sand my parents put in so we could have a playset safely. I always made sure I dug them right back up before moving anywhere, or marked the place where I buried them with a rock, but maybe some other kid wasn't so careful and forget where they buried poor Cotton Candy?

As a side note it was hilarious when I opened the two ponies up as an adult to restore them (they survived the burying just fine!) and they were half-way filled up with sand . It was no wonder they were so much heavier than the rest of them. I had a nice little pile by the time I got them fully emptied.


This isn't really pony luck, but a few days ago I was going through some pony stuff that needed cleaning, and I found a Silkypup I got ages ago in a lot and just kind of set aside because she's not a pony. For some reason or another I decided to forego washing all the ponies and tidy her up instead. Poor thing was so grey, but she came out perfectly, and it made me so nostalgic for when I was a kid and I really wanted a Lady Lovely Locks doll, but was never able to find one. So I set her out nice where I could look at her and went to bed. The next day I'm at the thrift store doing my usual hunt for pony stuff, and _finally_ after goodness knows how many years now, I find a beautiful, minty Lady Lovely Locks doll. I was so excited! And now she and Silkypup have been reunited and are having a nice time on my mantelpiece, aha.

In the same trip I also got some accessories I was missing for that half of the Lullaby Nursery I mentioned before. The funny thing is Silkypup was living in that nursery half the whole time! It was just the weirdest set of coincidences

[Dreamer]

No pony stories here, but stalking this topic! I'm amazed at some of the stories here.

[Sweet_Stuff]

Last year, I was at Walmart and bought a Rarity and Princess Luna brushable 2-pack.  This toy was like 3 years old.  The Walmart wasn't just behind on their toys, because everything else was the current stuff and I had been there before and they didn't have this two-pack.  I always wondered how it got there.  Did someone return it after 3 years?  If so, kudos on their receipt keeping skills.

While Walmart is actually very lax about returns without a receipt if you don't mind getting store credit, I don't think it was a return. Every once in a while I will find similarly old toys at Walmart. What happens is when the Xmas season comes they need extra seasonal space. So they shove most of the clearance into the back room or into a trailer. When the holiday season is over they put the clearance back out but sometimes they miss things. These things sometimes end up back on the clearance shelves several years later. I once found a bunch of Moxie Teenz after the line had died out.

Interesting! That would be cool if Walmart had a 'discount' / surplus area in their stores..
The last pony I ever bought at a store (MOC) was Sparkle Napper, in the early '90s. She was the only pony in the toy area at a 'Big Lots' type mom and pop store called "Discount City" in Jacksonville, TX. Sadly, Discount City shut its door after being a city staple for more than 50 years..

http://www.jacksonvilleprogress.com/news/local_news/discount-city-closing-after-years/article_7664c5a5-dbbc-5922-9522-1cdf51132e7e.html

I was so tempted to keep Napper MOC, but my grabby hands won the internal debate..

[SpaceButtPonies]

Not sure if this is considered odd but I was walking home from work. I normally walk through the mall so I don't have to walk in the heat. Luckily I live near by my job/mall. As I was walking through I saw a small purple pony, near the "sign here and win a free boat!" raffle sign up paper. It was a McDonalds Twilight Sparkle. I looked around and no one seemed to be near it, just sitting there, I even waited to see if anyone forgot her. After 5 minutes I picked her up and took her home.

[kissthethunder]

Well, there was this time my friend randomly found some ponies in her barn. Among them was a very lovely LilTot! Was very weird!


EDIT

OH I just also recalled a time where my daughter won me a baby Racer  at a school family day!