When Princess Twilight started her kingdom of friendship, no one had any idea how far and wide it would expand. Even the show staff probably didn’t foresee it at first. More and more, the show started embracing the diversity that it should have all along.
 
Shining Armor was arguably the first great breakthrough character for the boys. He gives a positive example of how a prince should act. Before Twilight started her kingdom of friendship, Shining Armor and Cadance founded their kingdom of love, though with both Twilight and Spike as crucial actors.
 
Spike himself became a proper breakthrough character in Season 6, though he’d been making headway since he helped save the Crystal Empire. His loyalty and warm heart helped set two of Equestria’s greatest enemy kingdoms — the Dragonlands and the changelings — on the path to reform. Finally, he was as much an ambassador of friendship as his own caretaker.
 
Through Spike, we finally got some celebration of brotherhood as well as sisterhood. The love and loyalty between Spike and Thorax was a crowning achievement in showing friendship between boys. Thorax is like a male Fluttershy. Finally, the boys received a positive example of a male ruler without a female co-ruler.
 
At the same time, Sunburst arrived as another critical breakthrough. Sunburst became essentially the godfather of Shining Armor and Cadance’s baby daughter. Moreover, he is the first major example of a stallion who is friends with mares without any need for romance (thought I love to ship him with Starlight). (Spike is a dragon, so he’s not a stallion.)
 
One of the most underrated characters must be Twilight’s own father. Mrs. Sparkle has official merchandise, but there are no toys of Mr. Sparkle except for an unlicensed toy originating from this site: aniworld4u.com. The only official Sunburst toy appeared in a European magazine. The only toy I’m aware where Spike has his wings is a Happy Meal toy that appeared only in parts of Latin America. I couldn’t even find it on eBay; I had to commission someone to order it for me from MercadoLibre.
 
In Season 8, we finally get a boy pony connected to the Tree of Harmony — along with five other creatures. The notion that dragons are inherently more evil is definitively overturned, with Smolder’s testimony on what dragons are really like. Finally, FIM got rid of the last traces of racist overtones that it had had before.
 
When FIM first came out, its picture of friendship was much like a family photo of the Dursleys: You wouldn’t have known that Harry Potter existed. Likewise, you wouldn’t have known that boys could be an equal part of the friendship. But from Season 8 forward, the picture of friendship is virtually complete.
 
The School of Friendship has been my favorite part of Twilight’s kingdom. I’m so proud to have my own shirt to celebrate it. It was a design that never got released, but I got permission from the artist. Since then, I have supported the artist on Patreon.