The thing about Friendship is Magic is that the ponies AREN'T gushing over friendship. In fact, the only importance friendship has is that it happens to fuel magic. However, other than that, they are just friends. They act like real friends would (well, if your friends happened to be a magical unicorn and a flying pegasus)
Twilight Sparkle is a deadpan snarker, like a friendlier, less brooding Raven from Teen Titans (same VA, too)
The show actually deals with some serious issues, sometimes. Other times, it deals with minor issues.
The weekly aesop is often poked fun at. And indeed, becomes the entire focus of one episode where Twilight goes literally insane because she doesn't have an aesop to report. And the aesops even become a plot device in one episode, the second of a two-parter, where they actually make sense as a plot device, and aren't hammered in.
Much of the music is aimed as much at the parents, being based off of music that THEY would have heard. "Art of the Dress" in particular is excellent, based off of a different song from a movie (or play, I don't know the details)
In short, Sandman, while it may be based off of a franchise that did have a lot of gushing ponies, the show is more like... more like...
...Huh, I'm having a hard time finding a cartoon to compare it to. It's a slice-of-life cartoon series with about four episodes that have adventure to it. And the cartoon doesn't even take itself too seriously. Hell, an animation error became the most popular pony in the show, affectionately known as Derpy Hooves by the fanbase. And Season 2's developers know this, hence why they started making her a cameo in every episode... and then lampshaded this fact by having her briefly hog the spotlight in the most recent episode.
And I am going on too long about this, so I'm gonna quiet down now.