Ultimately, however, they were sold as Starlight Babies, and honestly, the name probably makes more sense. Unlike the babies sold in North America, which were glittery,  the UK and European releases had solid plastic coated in a shiny sheen (adverts suggested pearly, but it is more like a permanent PVA glue varnish effect) and tinsel in the manes and tails.

There were similarities with the Sparkle Babies, however. The poses, symbols, and in some cases, colour schemes matched those sold in North America. They are different enough, however, to be considered separate sets. Baby Mischief, despite being shown in promotional material as purple, was actually pink - while one of the American orange babies was released here in white.

The Starlight Babies were sold on small pink cards with dark pink borders, patterned with stellar symbols. Like all 1991 cards, they featured Rainbow Curl pony Rainbow Rider under the rainbow. Each came with a shooting star comb (not a moon and star comb, despite the above image), and no ribbon. They each had their own backcard story.

Confusions and Variations

Starlight Babies can be made in China, Hong Kong, and a 'no country' manufacture which in this case is possibly (but not proven to be) Spain. Those made in China are generally more common, but all three countries of manufacture have been found here in the UK, suggesting they were all sold here.

If this isn't enough, there are also known variations on hair tinsel. The most common is for baby ponies to have three colours of tinsel in the mane and tail - gold, pink and aqua. But babies with all gold tinsel have also been found. If that wasn't enough, some babies mix it up, and have tricolour tinsel in either mane or tail, with gold in the other area. These tinsel variations appear in general on ponies made in China, and gold-only tinsel (often accompanied by very curly hair) are more commonly found on the continent - particularly in Germany.

This means there are potentially at least six versions of each character, and possibly more. You can see examples of this on Baby Mischief's page.

Names: Stella vs Night Song

There is one other big glaring unavoidable issue associated with this set, and that is the names of the two earth babies.

The confusion is this. The My Little Pony comic always calls the orange baby Stella and the white, Night Song. But, according to surviving Mint on Card ponies from this set, Stella was meant to be the white pony, and Night Song, the orange.

 You can find more information about why this is complicated on the relevant pony pages.

I have decided to use both names for each on this site and leave it to you, the collector, to decide which way you prefer.