Is there a Shiny Ponyta in Pokemon GO? Answered

Shiny Ponyta has always been one of the prettier shinies in my opinion. The blue fire is a nice touch to cover both basic types of flames in the world, and the blue looks nice on the cream-colored baby horse. The Galarian green is even more striking and visually appealing. But while its shiny form is old news from a Generation One Pokemon and everyone knows how to catch shinies by now, what about Pokemon Go? Shiny hunting is a different beast in that game, and sometimes it’s not clear how or if to hunt down certain shinies. Are there Shiny Ponyta in Pokemon GO?

Can you catch a Shiny Ponyta in Pokemon Go?

Image via Gamefreak

In short: yes. It’s not exactly shiny locked, and if it was that’d be an incredibly random shiny lock. Ponyta’s not exactly a legendary Pokemon.

Both forms of Pontya adhere to the standard Pokemon Go odds of a 1 in 500 chance of being shiny when you encounter one. However, there was a Spotlight Hour for Pontya on May 9. Pontya appeared everywhere for an hour, therefore raising the chances of a shiny immensely, but that has passed. With no Ponyta Community Day scheduled to happen to our knowledge, there’s no special trick to getting one.

Still, 1 in 500 odds aren’t bad compared to the shiny rates of hunting it in the actual games. Without the shiny charm, the shiny chance is 1 in 1365. With the shiny charm it’s 1 in 512, which is only slightly worse than the Go odds.

That would make hunting for one in the actual games with the charm the most optimal way of getting a shiny Ponyta, except neither form of Ponyta is in Scarlet and Violet, so you would need an older game and wouldn’t be able to use it in the most recent entry or on your phone. So hope for them to appear frequently enough or have success with Lures, Incenses, or eggs.