The 1986 Set in Europe: European Earth Ponies (Pony Friends).

In 1986, the UK had the set which included Hopscotch, Honeycomb, Cherries Jubilee with dark symbols and straight hair, magenta-tulip Posey, Snowflake and Gypsy. This set was also exported to Hungary, and possibly Israel.

In other parts of Europe, a modified set was made available. Gypsy and Honeycomb were not sold in most of Europe.

There were eight pony characters involved in the European Earth Pony version of the set. These eight are, in no particular order:
Posey with magenta tulips (same as UK)
Cherries Jubilee (Darker symbols, curly hair)
Lickety Split (Darker symbols, paler pink body)
Hopscotch (same as UK)
Tootsie (white)
Snowflake (same as UK)
Applejack (Collectors Pose, as sold in UK in 1985)
Bowtie (Collectors Pose, as sold in UK in 1985

Although the set seems to have included the same ponies, how they were sold differs from area to area.

Version 1: Sold on the same card as the Groom & Style ponies in the UK in 1985.

Snowflake mint on Groom & Style Card
Released in Sweden, Norway, probably also South Africa

The ponies sold on this card were not pictured on it, but the card still bore their name in blue text under the rainbow, and their story on the reverse. The artwork included ponies from the previous year, not all of which were part of this set. The Tootsie pictured on the card was green, but the pony sold with the set was white. The cards were in English.

Version 2: Sold on the same card as the 1985 Earth Pony release in North America, but translated into French and Dutch.

White Tootsie on Benelux card.
Image from Shivhae.

Hopscotch, Mint on Danish Card, circa 1986
Image from Leikin

Denmark's pony releases were not always the same as in Norway and/or Sweden. Although it seems that the same set was available across all of Scandinavia, the Danish release used a different card, first seen with the North American unicorn and pegasus set from 1984-5. Though the rainbow has not been translated, the rest of the card is in Danish. Hopscotch is not named on this card, nor is she pictured. This release had an additional Danish assortment number (92500) alongside the main assortment number of #4855.


Version 4: Unique card sold in Germany, France, Spain

The first three examples feature ponies made in Hong Kong, but there were also versions of most of these ponies (again, not Gypsy or Honeycomb) made in Italy or Spain, and sold in countries like Germany, France, Spain, Belgium and probably others as well. The Italian made ponies were often on an amended 1986 card, featuring white Tootsie and Lickety Split instead of Honeycomb and Gypsy.

Italian Hospcotch on German Card

The German card denotes this release "Pony Freunde", and the French insert image above refers to them as "Poneys Jolis". This name was also used on the French cards, as can be seen below:

Spanish Cherries Jubilee on French Card
 

A green version of Tootsie made in Spain was also available on Spanish or French card as part of this set, although white Tootsie was pictured. (Ironically, an Italian version of White Tootsie was sold in France in the previous release, on a card featuring green Tootsie. Make it make sense, Hasbro, please!)

There is a theory that this set was more closely related to the Pony Friends set (sold in South Africa, Nordic countries, and also possibly some parts of Germany in around 1987) because of this set name. Although they ran over different years, both sets also have the same assortment number, so a relationship between them is likely. 

Italian packaged ponies also exist in this timeframe, but Italy had its own way of organising, packaging and marketing ponies, as well as manufacturing them. It is difficult to know whether they had an exact equivalent to this set or not.

Comparing Cards

Mint on Card Hopscotch in the UK, Sweden/Norway and Denmark, circa 1986
Image from Leikin

The above comparison image from Leikin helps to illustrate the differences in the 1986 cards between the UK and parts of Scandinavia. These can also be compared with the German and Benelux cards above. Hopscotch was also released in 1987, as part of the formally named Pony Friends set.

Strange stuff in German Speaking Countries

Although we know that German speaking countries did have Italian made ponies on the Pony-Freunde card (above), there is a question about whether the Hong Kong versions were also sold here.

 The 1987 German insert refers to this set as "Standard Ponies", rather than "Pony Freunde". It is unclear whether this insert refers to Hong Kong or Italian made ponies. We also do not know whether any ponies not pictured were included in this set.

German Insert: "Standard Ponies"
1987

There is, however, a German release much like that in Denmark, picture above, where the ponies are not named and the stories are generic. As with the Danish example, the card's rainbow was in English (most German cards have translated rainbows). Unlike the Danish release, however, the card art matched the 1986 art from the UK release.

Collector Pose Bow Tie on translated 1986 UK card

Bow Tie's accessories and sticker are the same as in the Groom and Style set in the UK. There are numerous surviving MOC examples of Bow Tie packaged like this. It is also not a one-off, as I have also seen Hopscotch, made in Hong Kong, packaged in this style.

Based on the date of the above insert, we can theorise that Germany may have had Italian-made ponies in 1986 and then a Hong Kong release in 1987, probably including all eight ponies.

Further supporting this theory is the fact that these amended cards also have the same assortment number as the Hong Kong release in other places - 4855. This assortment number is not the same as the set in the UK release, despite the card art matching the UK set.

What implications this has for the distribution of the subsequent year's set is at present unclear, although it raises the possibility of a wider release than has so far been understood.