Sandbar

Sandbar is a male Earth pony and one of the "Young Six" who appears in season eight of the show as a student at Twilight Sparkle's School of Friendship.

He is voiced by Vincent Tong, who also plays Flash Sentry in the series, Mister Yut in Littlest Pet Shop: A World of Our Own, and Muck in Bob The Builder.

Development and design

Sandbar was first previewed in a 2018 "MY LITTLE PONY SERIES" image within Hasbro 2017 Investor Day webcast presentations from August 3, 2017.

Sandbar shares his body type with Star Tracker and young Burnt Oak.

Depiction in the series

Season 8

In the season eight premiere School Daze - Part 1, Sandbar enrolls in Twilight Sparkle's newly opened School of Friendship as a student, and Gallus is the first creature he meets. Along with most of the other students, Sandbar is hopeful about learning friendship and making new friends, but Twilight's strict adherence to the Equestria Education Assocation's guidelines cause the school courses to be dull and boring. He later cuts class with Gallus and other classmates Ocellus, Silverstream, Yona, and Smolder (joining them in hopes of keeping them out of trouble), and the six become good friends. When Sandbar and his friends return to school for Friends and Family Day, they accidentally ruin the event and cause damage to the school, much to the ire of the EEA's Chancellor Neighsay. Neighsay perceives the fun and games as an attack orchestrated by other non-pony creatures, leading them to pull their own students out of the school and Neighsay to shut the school down. Not wanting to say goodbye to each other, Sandbar and his friends go into hiding at the Castle of the Two Sisters, and Sandbar—the only pony in the group—delivers food and supplies for them from Ponyville.

Though the students have fun together at first, they soon come under attack by ferocious puckwudgies, and the Mane Six save them. When Sandbar and his friends are asked to come back to school, they are reluctant to continue their boring lessons, but Twilight and the others assure them things will be better and more fun than before. After Twilight defies the authority of Chancellor Neighsay and reopens the School of Friendship, Sandbar happily returns to school with his friends.

In Grannies Gone Wild, Smolder, Yona, and Sandbar reluctantly listen to Rainbow Dash gush about the Wild Blue Yonder rollercoaster in Las Pegasus. In Horse Play, Sandbar takes part in Twilight's play about Princess Celestia, playing the role of Star Swirl the Bearded.

In Non-Compete Clause, Sandbar and his friends go on a teamwork-building field trip with Applejack and Rainbow Dash. For most of the trip, Applejack and Rainbow Dash's arguing over who will be the next teacher of the month disrupts the planned activities, and ultimately causes them to become trapped over a ravine, with Sandbar and his friends having to work together to save them.

In Molt Down, Sandbar appears on the school's balcony with Gallus and Silverstream, and later in the library alongside Smolder and Yona.

In Marks for Effort, he is among the students attending Fluttershy's class, and later exits the school after a test with the rest of the Young Six. In A Matter of Principals, Sandbar and his classmates are shown various magical artifacts by Twilight just before she is summoned by the Cutie Map. He and his friends are later forced to run laps by Discord, who conjures up a bugbear to chase them. During the Spell-venger Hunt, Sandbar is paired up with Yona, and they get trapped in quicksand by Discord before finding the Shell of Knuckerbocker. He and his friends are present when Starlight Glimmer apologizes to Discord for not including him and offers him the job of "vice headmare".

In The Hearth's Warming Club, Sandbar tries to get his friends into the Hearth's Warming spirit by singing carols. After a prank ruins the Hearth's Warming tree, the students are all under suspicion for it and tasked with cleaning up the mess while being questioned. During the cleanup, Sandbar tells his friends about how his Hearth's Warming doll nearly fell into the fireplace a previous year. When Gallus confesses that he was the culprit, resulting in him having to stay for friendship lessons over the holidays, Sandbar and the others all choose to stay with him.

In Friendship University, Sandbar appears with his friends looking at a flyer for the university. In The End in Friend, he and his classmates observe Rainbow Dash and Rarity as part of Twilight's lesson on compromising in friendship. In A Rockhoof and a Hard Place, Sandbar is one of the students in Rockhoof's class and the first to recognize his status as one of the Pillars of Old Equestria.

In What Lies Beneath, Sandbar and his friends start to question their friendship due to comments made by Cozy Glow. During their studies for an upcoming test, they discover a cavern beneath the school, where the Tree of Harmony interacts with them. As part of a test, the Tree forces Sandbar to confront his dual fears of disappointing the teachers he admires and letting his friends down. After overcoming his fears, he escapes with the rest of his friends.

In the season eight finale School Raze, Sandbar attends a field trip to Cloudsdale with his friends and classmates, and he falls out of the clouds due to Starlight's magic failing. During a study period with his friends, he notices Cozy Glow coming out of the catacombs under the library, and in their investigation of her, they overhear a plot by Chancellor Neighsay to make the school for ponies only and get captured. Upon their capture, Sandbar fakes betraying his friends in order to get help from the Cutie Mark Crusaders, and they discover Cozy Glow's true nefarious plans to take over Equestria.

After Sandbar and the Crusaders help the rest of the Young Six escape, they try to free a magically-trapped Starlight Glimmer, but Cozy catches them and convinces the students to turn on them. Sandbar and his friends get trapped with Starlight and are nearly sucked into another realm with all of Equestria's magic, but they are saved by the Tree of Harmony, and they succeed in foiling Cozy Glow's plans.

Best Gift Ever

In the holiday special My Little Pony Best Gift Ever, Sandbar and the rest of the Young Six appear at the beginning boarding the Friendship Express.

Depiction in Equestria Girls

Sandbar makes a brief non-speaking cameo in the Equestria Girls hour-long special Forgotten Friendship during the first establishing shot of Canterlot.

Other depictions

Storybooks

Sandbar appears on the cover of the adaptation Meet the New Class.

Merchandise

A brushable figure of Sandbar is included in the upcoming Friendship is Magic "Teamwork Lessons" toy set with Rainbow Dash and Tank.

Personality

Among the Young Six, Sandbar is portrayed as the easygoing "straight man" to counterbalance his friends' more eccentric personalities. He is also the most considerate and thoughtful among them, demonstrated when he gives Gallus a replacement quill during the School of Friendship song, defends Yona's love for her heritage, and agrees to cut class with his schoolmates in order to keep them out of trouble.