Lucky Ponies (1997) - Meritus
Meritus Industries Inc. had several pony trademarks, along with the more well-known Darlin' Dinos. These were themed in a similar way to Hasbro's My Little Ponies, but I think Meritus' Lucky Ponies take the cake in trying to emulate the style of colorful, brushable ponies with symbols. In the fakie pony community, these are often referred to as chubby fakies, named by Ahrian on her now unavailable fakie id site, Ahrian's Fabulous Fakie Guide.
Unfortunately, Lucky Ponies seem to be one of those toy lines lost to obscurity. Justia Trademarks lists the line as 'Cancelled', so it can be assumed they did not run for very long. As to why, I found a thread on here trying to identify another pony toy, and discovered an interesting post by the user Oldmeritusman, claiming to be the son of the company:
http://ghostofthedoll.co.uk/Forum/index.php?topic=1129.15
Now the credibility of this claim should be taken with a grain of salt of course, as it's the only post he's made, but he mentions they had a small pony line that hasbro stopped them from distributing. Whether this line actually
was Lucky Ponies or not remains to be seen.
Was
is certain is that they do resemble my little ponies closely, though slightly more horse-like in their molds.
As their name suggests, they had a horseshoes and clovers theme, many of them featuring the two in their symbols, though not all. Stars were also a common theme. A consistent pattern I've noticed is that symbols always have a palette featuring two colors, sometimes using the body color to add even more contrast.
They came with some accessories, but I have very little information on them. According to Skimble, a reputable fakie pony collector, they came with crowns, brushes and combs.
http://my-little-fakie.livejournal.com/9086.html#comments
Lucky Ponies Accessory Flower Petals Cart by robinharper on Ghost of the Doll
A heart treasure chest cart, missing the rod that secures the flag:
Broken off/missing an end piece?:
Known Accessories (In various pictures above, below and at the end):
Star Hair Ties - yellow and light blue
Star Necklaces - yellow and light blue
Flower Necklaces - yellow
Barrettes - Bow (purple, pink), Hearts w/ Flowers (mint green), Candy Swirl (purple)
Themed Crowns - light blue (star crown, daisy crown), pink*, yellow*
Flower Petals Cart - pink and purple with a yellow sticker flag, pictured above
Heart Treasure Chest Cart - purple and yellow with a yellow sticker flag, pictured above
"Lucky Ponies" Flag for carts - Flower (purple), Heart (purple)
Plain Brushes - yellow and light blue
Combs - Shooting Stars (yellow, light blue, translucent glittery orange)
Small "hair bow" accessory (?) - light blue
*No pictures as of yet
A star hair tie and a star necklace on their own:
by NightGliderSA on Mlp Arena
Yellow and light blue star necklaces:
A barrette with the Meritus logo on the back. Interestingly enough, these appear to read as 1994 instead of 1997. Possibly a recast of an accessory mold they used for an earlier product? Meritus has also reused this barrette accessory for one of their doll lines from 1999, Kool Kids, shown here:
http://ghostofthedoll.co.uk/Forum/index.php?topic=4689.0
by NightliderSA on Mlp Arena
Three clip on barrettes, a small "hair bow"(?) (does not clip on), and three shooting star combs:
Two light blue themed crowns, two yellow and blue plain brushes, and a yellow star hair tie:
Here are the only two back card images I've been able to find, both of which are from this thread, provided by mayanbutterfly:
http://ghostofthedoll.co.uk/Forum/index.php?topic=1073.0
"Hair Styling Fun!"
Edit: On-Card Lucky Ponies have been found!
Source
SourceHorseshoes and ribbons on the front, clovers on the back and some artwork featuring accessories.
Also the five M's forming a star would be the Meritus company symbol. They look like they all were meant to have curly hair, based off of this art and the wavy state I've seen most of their hair in.
The ponies themselves have markings of identification on their bellies, reading:
(C)1997 M.I.I.
MADE IN CHINA
They have painted hooves that match their single-tone hair color, several raised leg poses, some have open mouths while others have closed mouths, and they all have purple painted eyes. The eyes themselves appear to be painted in the opposite direction of the eye mold, which is really weird:
Here are all of the Lucky Ponies I have been able to find so far, though many of these images are not mine so the source is provided:
Purple ponies:Horseshoes symbol
Glittery Hearts symbol by NightGliderSA on Mlp Arena
Glitter Close-up
Circus Balls symbol by Mlp Sunsparkle on Mlp Arena
Yellow Ponies:
Horseshoes and Stars symbol
Ribbons symbol by Mermaid on Mlp Arena
Blue Ponies:
Horseshoes and Stars symbol
Clovers symbol by NightGliderSA on Mlp Arena
(note the necklace)
Pink ponies:
Horseshoes symbol by wildshadow on mylittlefakie.proboards
Stars and Clovers symbol by cody_sunday on Mlp Arena (first img)
(Note the crown, necklace and hair tie accessories)
Glittery Smilie Face and Flowers symbol by NightGliderSA on Mlp Arena
Glitter Close-up
Robin's Blue Ponies:
Glittery Shooting Star symbol by NightGliderSA on Mlp Arena
(note the necklace)
Glitter Close-up
White Ponies: 
Stars and Moon symbol
Glittery Shining Diamonds symbol by NightGliderSA on Mlp Arena
(note the necklace)
Glitter Close-up
Most of these ponies have their symbol all over both of their sides, but some only have it on the flank similar to actual My Little Ponies.
Seeing as these were made in 1997, perhaps they were a response to Hasbro's G2 release?
Locations they have been found:
United States
Australia
Belgium
South Africa
England
Canada
Spain
The Netherlands
That's pretty much all I have on these guys. I'd love to collect them myself, so while this may not be enough to get it properly listed on here, I hope it comes as some help to those wondering about that occasional fakie with an M.I.I. stamp.
If anyone else has images or information, feel free to contribute!
