Did Rick And Morty Season 5 Just Reference This Bizarre Crossover?

It's been a wild ride for "Rick and Morty" fans enjoying (or not enjoying) the show's long-awaited fifth season. There's been incest, there's been (canon-typical) interfamily genetic exploitation, sitcom tropes have been turned upside down and onto their heads, and the show's typical sense of chaotic, gonzo comedy has been on full display. Whether you've loved it or hated it, it's gotten people talking, and caused them to keep watch over the show's progress from week to week.

Fans have had their eagle eyes on the screen throughout the season, and some folks have noticed an interesting Easter egg, which points back to an earlier Easter egg on another show, with a very large, loyal, and loud fanbase. 

Is it a fond (well, as fond as the show ever gets) response back to the other show's inclusion of a certain "Rick and Morty" character? Or, on the other hand, is it just something to get the internet  — and two of the largest and most passionate fanbases on it — chattering about what it all might mean? Here's what we can determine.

The rest of this article contains spoilers for the Rick and Morty season 5 episode "Rickdependence Spray."

In the 4th episode of Season 5, "Rickdependence Spray," we learn some unsavory (but very canon-typical) things about Rick's adventures in procreation. There was a giant baby created from Morty and Summer's oversized, weaponized sperm and egg, respectively, for instance. It's perhaps understanding if the fact that Rick's love affair with a subterranean queen of horses producing a blue-haired lookalike pony — which immediately tunnels below ground moments after being born — might have dove under the radar for the many gob-smacked fans of the show, even though it normally would've been a big deal.  

This moment might be a direct reference to another show. Fans of "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic" — and, do note, there is a notoriously large adult fanbase for the My Little Pony franchise — might remember that it featured ponies which looked suspiciously like Rick and Morty. According to Vice, these familiar ponies pop up as background characters for the first time in episode 8 of season 5, "Grannies Gone Wild." While the cameo is quite brief and would certainly go over the heads of the show's younger fanbase, the adults and teenagers in the crowd definitely made note of the appearance at the time. The Rick-shaped pony pops up a few more times during the show's run as well, but he never gets any dialogue. 

The two shows do share some voiceover artists, Tara Strong and Patton Oswalt among them, and both programs are Time Warner productions. So, when you think about the baby pony in "Rickdependence Spray," and consider the connections, it seems feasible that "Rick and Morty" may have given birth to its most twisted Easter egg yet.