The world could use more My Little Pony, collector says

Alexandra Cooke believes the world could use a little more My Little Pony.

"Maybe not necessarily the plastic kind, but the ideals. The ideals are good," the Palmerston, Ont.woman says of the toys and cartoons that have the tagline, "Friendship is magic."

"I think it's the message behind it: Love conquers all," she said. "It's OK just to be happy and to want to be happy and to want to have friends and to want to look after your friends. They never go to war. It's just always good there."

Cooke has more than 500 ponies in her collection, and many of them are on display at the Wellington County Museum and Archives just outside of Elora.

Her first pony was Applejack, a gift from her mom.

But Cookewho isa graphic designer does not have a favourite.

"Oh, I can't choose," she said with a laugh. "I have some that I prefer over others, and I think it's more just because I find the colours appealing."

In honour of her collection and the museum display, there will be ahosting a My Little Pony spa day on July 20.

Other My Little Pony owners can bring in their ponies to get tips on how to freshen up their looks.

Cookewill be on hand to help wash and curl hair and even teach people how to replace the painted design on the pony, which is called acutiemark.

Here's a sample of the ponies in her collection:

Soft, fuzzy ponies.

A pony wearing a ball gown.

These are Big Brother ponies.

There are often many versions of ponies here are three differentBlossoms.

All the colours of the rainbow.

This one Gusty must be Canadian.

Tired of ponies yet?

No?

Good.

This one is ready to go scuba diving.

Shh! Sleepy baby pony needs a nap.

Sassy pony with glasses.

And, of course, ponies to play with.

These ones are outside the cases, and visitors areencouraged to have fun with them.