What kind of crazy person makes an official cast change announcement months after deciding so?! Oh well.

As of June 2012, Pip is not part of the PC cast. Leaving the main cast at five ponies.

Need a story? Fine.

Pip was never in PC Ponyville to begin with. He moved somewhere else a while before. (Explaining the forest background in that one comic.)

His father is a part of the Royal Navy, and they move between many stations. His time in Ponyville was up and they moved to Naval Port Yellowhoof (Northern Province, north of Manehattan, and everyone speaks like a Canadian). It’s near a forest.

It is believed that their next location is Port Bridge in The Frozen North.

He might cameo in the future.