Franklin Teen Searching for Beloved Lost Ponies Accidentally Donated
A Franklin teen is heartbroken after cherished pieces of her My Little Pony collection were inadvertently donated to a North Attleboro thrift store back on June 9 and she has been unable to get them back.
Alice Kirchthurn said she has a “giant collection” of My Little Pony toys from the fourth generation, which came out between 2010 and 2019, and that over the years she has collected other generations as well, even creating an Instagram account to feature them.
“I obtained a nice little collection of the G1 ponies,” she said, referring to the original My Little Pony toys from the 1980s. “My G1 ponies were very special because they were over 40 years old and they just had this charm that nothing else in my collection did.”
Alice said a lot of those G1 ponies had stories attached to them, which made them extra special.
“Like the time my mom and I hit the Facebook Marketplace jackpot and got a nice lot of the G1 ponies. Those were my first G1 ponies,” she said. “And some of the ponies were birthday gifts.”
Alice just wrapped up her junior year of high school, and toward the end of the school year she had to do a presentation about something that made a cultural impact in the 1980s or ‘90s.
“I instantly thought of doing the original run of My Little Pony, with the (TV) show and the toys from the ‘80s,” she said. “For this presentation, we needed a visual piece, so I thought to bring in some of my most beloved G1 ponies, the five most sentimental ponies in my G5 collection: Moon Dancer, Applejack, Gusty, Locket and Baby Glory. I put them in a Market Basket bag and they went to school with me.”
She said that after her presentation, she left them in her school bag for about a day and then put them on the kitchen table.
“With my ADHD, I kept forgetting to put them upstairs to be reunited with the rest of the collection,” she said. “A week went by and I finally had them in mind while I was cleaning my collection. I couldn't find them.”
When she remembered her mother and brother had gone to Savers in North Attleboro earlier in the day, her heart sank.
“They always donate stuff and I had this gut feeling something terrible happened, and I was right,” Alice said. “I called my mom about my ponies and she instantly went into shock while she told me she donated them. She thought they were fake My Little Ponies and that I wanted to donate them.”
“In my defense, she left them on the kitchen counter for over a week, so I thought they were ponies she no longer wanted so I donated them,” her mother, Lydia, said. “She noticed they were missing and within four hours we were back at Savers, asking for them back.”
However, the crew at Savers couldn’t find them, and now weeks later, they still have no idea where they might have gone.
“(Yesterday) we sent pictures to the thrift store,” Lydia said. “There actually might be a slight chance that they’re still being processed.”
In the meantime, Alice is heartbroken over the loss of her beloved ponies.
“I cry for my ponies like they're my children,” she said. “I know it sounds crazy, but My Little Pony is just so sacred to me, and those G1 ponies just had to be some of the most special ponies to me. I’m still waiting for the day that we're reunited.”
Lydia is already resigning herself to the fact that she may have to start going on eBay and replacing the lost ponies. It will likely get expensive, but she said she feels bad about what happened.
“Her pony collection is her life’s passion,” Lydia said. “She’s 17. She could be spending her money on vaping and alcohol.”
If you happen to see the ponies or know anything about their whereabouts, you can contact Alice via Instagram @alicesponycorner.