cloudroots

[cloudroots]

Spring Has Sprung // Cloud_verse

Some notes on how Discord is in the Cloud_verse:

He’s pretty similar to the show, Discord went through his redemption arc like in canon.

Discord and Fluttershy are purely platonic here. Discord used to have a little crush on her but she wasn’t interested at all and thought of him only as a friend so he dropped it. They are the biggest of besties still tho, besties for life even.

The start of what happens to him in the Cloudverse is based on a short story in #50 of the MLP:FIM IDW comics. Here’s a small recap if you’re not familiar with it:

Discord is invited to Celestia's birthday party, and he doesn’t get her anything. Celestia is the pony that has everything so he didn’t find a point in getting her something she most likely already had. Fluttershy finds out and challenges him to come up with an original gift for her. 

One to never back down from a challenge, he accepts. He watches Celestia for the rest of the party, and notices that she spends most of her time and her birthday pleasing others. So much so that she doesn’t even get a slice of her own birthday cake, and gives away the last piece to a filly that showed up late to the party.

So he creates a magical music box that casts a spell on her that the next day she gets to spend the next 24 hours as a normal pony. The day after her birthday. Discord made sure all her duties were handled. Celestia is turned to a purple pegasus by the spell.

 After learning that everything will be handled while she’s gone she jumps to the opportunity to be someone else for the day. Discord joins her as a gray pegasus.

They spend the day running around Ponyville. Celestia has heard about so many things to do there, but hasn’t been able to try without the attention of being herself. Discord sees a playful and mischievous side to Celestia that not many get to see.

She ends the day realizing that she really needed this day off. Discord says, “If you’re going to take care of others, you have to make time to take care of yourself.”

Their disguises look different from the comic to how they’ll be in the cloudverse. Discord calls his disguise, Hurdy Gurdy, and Celestia’s Eureka Veil.

Celestia has had two different pegasi disguises in the comics, and I took inspiration from both, but for the most part from the short story mentioned above. I made her a purple pegasus for this reason. 

I might change Celestia and Discord’s designs(not the disguises) more later, but for now, They only have a few small changes made to their designs. 

In the Cloudverse, Celestia continues to use the music box every year for an annual day off, the day after her birthday. She invites Discord to join her each time, and he does. It becomes a sort of tradition between the two. To be two regular ponies for 24 hours.

During this time, they let their guards down, and see a new side of themselves around each other. They get a sort of comfort from walking around and that  no one knows who they are. 

The two grow closer, and Discord gets to see a side of Celestia that not many ponies get to. She becomes playful and a little rude since she doesn’t have the chance to with her princess duties. He starts to see Celestia in a new light and not just a prissy princess, and starts to catch feelings. Very quickly in fact, like the second time they got together.

During this time was when he just got over his crush on Fluttershy, so he’s a little hesitant to tell Celestia. He doesn’t want to deal with another rejection. He also has a little voice in his head saying that there’s no way a princess could like someone like him.

After sunset on one of their annual get togethers, Celestia gives Discord a quick peck on the cheek. Surprised, he quickly turns to look at her. She doesn’t look embarrassed or like she kissed him by accident. She doesn’t even have a trace of regret on her face.  In fact, her eyes have a soft gaze to them, very… soft. Discord has no idea what she could be thinking. 

Discord chuckles, “Hey, what was that for?”

“Oh, I don’t think I’ve thanked you enough for all this. I truly needed a break for the longest time, but I apologize if I was overstepping”

“Yes, well,” he turns away slightly embarrassed. “Giving me an expensive and extravagant gift would have been fine. You didn’t have to do that.”

“Oh so you didn’t like it, my apologies. I’ll remember that for next time.” Celestia states warmly.

“It’s not that I didn’t like it!! It’s just… …you didn’t have to do that out of pity”

“Who said it was out of pity?”

 “Well, I’ve never.. had anyone interested in me in that way, unless it was out of pity… or to manipulate me into doing their bidding, but I kinda already ruled that out in this situation” 

“Pfft, who says I don’t want the Lord of Chaos at my beck and call?” She chuckled at her teasing, “and believe me I wouldn’t kiss someone out of pity, especially not you.”

“Hey wait a minute, why not?”

“I’d rather free you from your stone prison and give you the first friend you’ve had in centuries.”

“Hey hold on a sec-“

“But even then it wasn’t really out of pity. I just saw the potential of a better creature in you, that just needed an outlet to get out”

“How incredibly altruistic of you. But, if you didn’t have any ulterior motives. Why did you kiss me?”

“Oh that’s easy,” the disguised princess locks eyes with him. “I just wanted to kiss you…” She leans towards him, “and I’d like to do it again, if you’re alright with that.”

Awestruck and frozen from her forwardness, all he could muster was a nod. He then gains some composure and udders,  “…yes, I’ll… allow it.”

Celestia gently goes to hold his face, “hm good” she then closes her eyes then places her lips on his. She then pulls back with a smile. Discord has stars in his eyes, awestruck again.

“You want to get out of here?” 

Discord voice cracks then he answers,”y-yup!”

The two then trot off to somewhere alone together to steal more kisses, and do more than that, out of the sight of watchful eyes.

They then spend Celestia’s annual days off as dates which end with them alone. It started as their fun little secret. No one would ever know it’s them, and that they’re together like this. 

Clearing things up

Discord likes what he and Celestia have currently but worries that it won’t become anything more than a casual thing that happens just one day a year. He wants a clear answer on what the two have, so he decides to meet with Celestia. 

He wants a private meeting, since they’ve kept their other meeting discrete. Discord sends Celestia a letter, which he enchanted with the ability to talk through to the reader as a drawing on the scroll. Once Celestia receives the letter and opens it, Discord speaks to her from the page. 

“I hope I’m not interrupting your royal highness’s very busy and all the important work she does,” the draconequus states plainly, with a slight bit of sarcasm. 

Celestia perks up to her surprise visitor. “Oh! Discord, to what do I owe the pleasure?”

“I would like to talk with you, if you’re able.” 

“Why yes, of course you can! I even have the rest of the day off if you would like to chat in less of a paper based manner?”

The scroll then flies to an open space in the room and with a flash of light Discord appears where the scroll once was. He gently falls to the floor. His back legs settle onto the clean cold purple floor. He didn’t feel like floating as he usually does. Celestia looks over to him, and up at him with a gentle gaze. 

“Is this your bedroom?” The draconequus asks. He has never been here before. He’s never been invited.

“Why yes. I like to spend the end of the day looking over letters I’ve been sent before retiring for the day.” She was speaking more formally than he’s used to. It’s like he’s back to being just another subject that she treats with nothing but proper manners and kind words. It made his stomach turn. 

Celestia shifts her weight in front of her desk, “so what did you want to talk about?” 

“What are we to you?” 

“Pardon?” 

“For goodness sake, drop the formalities! “ Discord pauses. “…I thought we were past that by now.” 

Celestia’s face becomes somber, “…I’m sorry. You’re upset, could you please tell me why?”

Discord looks away, then sighs. “I just… you always put up this act of being the perfect princess, when I know that’s not you. You don’t have to be what others want from you. You don’t need to always keep perfect posture or use the right words.“

The room is quiet for a moment. 

“What if that’s also me? What if I have to be the perfect princess, but it’s also a very important part of me that I can’t just discard? You might have a somewhat skewed idea of me in your mind… We spend the most time together when I’m allowed to do whatever I want. I get to act with some reckless abandon for once. 

I can’t always just be this version of me that you see me as. I am a princess and I’m needed to be that. You would think after how long we’ve known each other, you have known this is just who I am.  That’s a pretty big assumption on your part. That me being the perfect princess is a cage. Like it’s a facade that I’m forced to keep up.”

“…I have other assumptions about you that I’ve made over the years.” 

“Oh?” Celestia tilts her head, intrigued.

Discord traces the swirls on the floor with his eyes. “…Nothing ever goes wrong for you. You have everything planned out. Even when things seem to be going wrong, it was actually part of your plan to begin with. And even if things actually go wrong, you’re highly adaptable to fix them.”

“That is true. It comes with ruling for as long as I have. I need to have a plan, so many ponies are counting on me. My subjects are so fragile, and need my protection and guidance from all the many terrors of the world.

…I’ve always thought that you were somewhat indifferent to death. Apathetic to the idea of ponies getting hurt and passing away.”

“It’s an inevitable part of existence. I don’t see the point in ruminating on it. …Although I still can mourn those who I miss, and I find more worth when they’re alive, and make the most of the time that they have.” The draconequus nonchalantly states. 

“That’s a very sweet sentiment, Discord.”

“Yeah, yeah. The lord of chaos has become a big ol softy”, he huffs. 

“ …You know, I’ve always been kind of fascinated by you.”

Discord snaps his gaze towards Celestia, waiting for her to elaborate.

“When I was studying under Starswirl in my youth, I was able to visit other worlds with him. Different dimensions that were more enchanting then the last, but still… with your powers, you’ve probably seen more than I could possibly imagine.” 

The draconequus chuckles. “Well, you’re nothing to sneeze at either Princess. Raising the sun alone everyday without fail is no easy task. I was under the assumption that you could easily defeat me if you wanted to. You could conquer the world and not break a sweat if you so desired.”   

“Why, thank you for the confidence in my abilities, but it's very unlikely that I would want to do anything like that. Although you are right, if I wanted to, I would be able to do so.”

Discord folds his arms. “Why, of course. The ruler of Equestria has the power of the sun and sky to her disposal, but only ever wants to play it safe,” he teases.

“It’s in the best interest of my subjects that I play it safe, and think of how my powers could affect them when I use them.”

Discord’s reminded of Celestia’s disposition to put others before herself. His body stiffens and his face drops. He remembered what he came here for. “Yes but you don’t have to always think of how you can serve others! You have to think of yourself and your wants for once. It’s not fair that you get one time a year to have a day off, it’s not a good balance.”

Celestia is taken off guard for a moment then responds. “There seems to be more that’s bothering you than what you’re letting on. I appreciate the concern in my wellbeing but I assure you that I’m doing fine.”

Discord face softens as he closes his eyes to think. “I don’t want to be limited to just one day a year. I don’t want to just be some harmless fun when all your inhibitions are gone.  I don’t want to be just a fling.”

“O-oh,” Celestia turns away and rests her hoof on her face and looks at her desk to think with a perplexed expression. 

Discord shifts his weight awkwardly in the silence of the room. Celestia then turns back to him stiffly. “I thought it would be easier,” Celestia shyly squeaks.

“What.”

“No no I just thought dating me would be a pain, and it would make more sense to have a casual thing because I’m busy basically all the time.”

 “So you thought one day a year would make the most sense?”

“Y-yes,” Celestia averts his gaze. “I thought you wouldn’t mind.”

“Of course I mind! One day is not nearly enough, Celestia!!!”

The princess chuckles sheepishly, “Well if it’s any consolation I always wanted to try and make it more than once a year.”

“And you just assumed that after the first time I wouldn’t approach you outside our annual little get togethers?” Discord raises an eyebrow.

“Well I assumed right, cause you never did till right now.” 

“Okay fine. But that’s besides the point! This plan wasn’t thought out very well! Now was it?”

Celestia relaxes with a sigh, “well what would you have me do? I can’t really afford to spend less time outside of my duties, and it wouldn’t be fair to go into public together on dates because I would garner too much attention. There would be no privacy.” 

“Well we don’t have to be in public to go on dates and if we ever wanted to, I could give us disguises so no one would recognize us.”

“Mmm, sort of like what we’ve already been doing.”

“Exactly.”

“But you don’t really know me. I’ve only really shown you my carefree, go with the flow side.”

“Well I can learn, if we spend more time together l’d love know you and see more. And it’s not like I’ve been completely honest about every side of myself either.”

“W-well. Well! I-i… 

…Are you really sure you want to be in a more serious relationship with me?”

“I mean, would you like to be in a more serious relationship with me?”

Celestia looks away for a moment to gather herself. “Yes.”

“Then yes. Of course, I do! Are you kidding?”

A wave of relief passes over the new couple, as Celestia chuckles with a bright smile. “I’m so glad to hear that.” She then straightens up, “okay now we’ll have to set some ground rules.”

“Oh boy what fun,” Discord sarcastically states. 

“Don’t give me that mister, we both have our own lives. I don’t think you would want me cutting into your personal business.”

“Hmmm, I suppose you’re right. Continue.” He moves to lay casually by her side.

“You can come to my room in the castle through the window, anytime you like. You just have to let me know first. A quick magic sent scroll or something would be fine. -“

[Boundaries in a list, so this part doesn’t take too long]

They both don’t want the attention of having an official official relationship - yet

They won’t confirm that they’re together but they also won’t be too subtle about it either

Discord’s allowed in the castle whenever but not to interrupt important meeting/royal business 

Celestia encourages him to make things less boring in the castle

Discord would like Celestia to take more breaks for herself and be a little more open with her thoughts.  At least with him, and not just assume what he wants

He also wants them both to still have freedom

Discord: “-and most importantly I don’t you to act ashamed of being with me” 

“Of course. I’d more likely just be ashamed of your general actions.” Celestia responds with a playful smile.

“Ah- hey, I was being vulnerable and I’m actually serious about that.” 

Celestia breaks her joking smile, “sorry, i-it’s just I’m not exactly sure how to act in this situation. I haven't been in a relationship in the longest time.”

“Huh.. neither have I. Guess we’ll have to figure it out together.” 

Celestia locks eyes with her new partner. She relaxes and her face forms the sweetest smile that could melt the coldest regions of Equestria. Discord sweetly smiles back at her. The two then slowly lean into each other face first.

The first kiss they shared in their true forms. The first of them as a couple. It was fantastic.

Discord makes a gift

 Celestia and Discord then start a happy relationship where they’re very affectionate and care about each other deeply. They try to see each other as much as they can, and Discord gives her many surprise visits and she’s happy whenever he pops in.

They enjoy each other’s company most importantly. Discord helps Celestia not be such a workaholic all the time and Celestia keeps Discord in check when he goes a little overboard. They balance each other out, while also having a fun time. They feel as though they’re on equal footing in the relationship. 

They’ve been in a relationship for a long time and couldn’t be happier. They’ve gotten comfortable together 

Discord was practically bursting at the seams with love and excitement. He could see himself with her forever. He wanted to express his love and devotion to her, and what better way to do that than to make something. Something that would represent their love and to use what he was best at, chaos magic.

So he started forming a spell, something that was brand new that no one’s tried before. It started as a dense mass of his concentrated chaos magic. A mass so large it could be seen in the physical world. It could be seen but it was hard to make out. Different patterns and white wispy lines fought for attention in the purple mass. Some plaid could be made out.

Discord stood back to take in what he made so far, to marvel at his work. He came to the conclusion that it was missing something, a catalyst. Something that could bring this creation to shape. 

Since this was meant to represent both Discord and Celestia’s love together, it would make the most sense to involve her somehow. He wanted his gift to be a surprise, though, so he'll have to be sneaky about it. So he took a single strand of hair from her mane with her none the wiser and brought it back to his mass of magic. 

With excitement he then took out the hair and carefully levitated it into the magic. There then was a burst of light. Now with something to lack unto, the chaos magic takes the DNA of the hair and replicates it and changes it, mixing the power of chaos with the DNA of the princess. From the outside it looks like the mass is violently warping, changing shape, and cords wrapped around it and out of it.

Then there’s a second even larger unruly burst of light and a cloud of smoke and it then finally stabilizes itself. As the smoke clears, there’s a large oblong shaped, leathery skinned object laying on the floor. It’s skin has a large depiction of Celestia’s sun cutiemark wrapped along the big side of it though it’s slightly off from how her mark actually looks, and in the negative shape of the sun is a mass of dark patterns and swirls, in colors like orange, brown, purple and dark green.

Discord’s not sure what he created but he’s proud of what he made nonetheless. He approaches the curious object and carefully picks it up. It seems… fragile and a bit weighty. This strange new thing fills him with pride, affection and the desire to keep it safe. He can’t wait to share it with Celestia.

Discord wraps his gift in a protection spell and many soft blankets. He has this strange feeling that it needs to stay warm. He then carefully holds his beloved gift and excitedly makes his way over to Celestia.

Celestia is given Discord’s gift

Discord pops into Celestia’s window as he’s done many times before, this time with a silly grin on his face. He playfully sings that he has something special for her.

“Oh?” Celestia smiles and makes herself comfortable in her bedroom. 

Discord then pulls out the wad of blankets he kept behind his back.

“Oh!” She remarks slightly confused, “a wad of blankets. I appreciate the thought but I do have a special member on staff that picks my blankets for me.”

 “It’s what’s in the blankets, my dear.” He sits across from her and gently places his gift in between them, “though to be honest, it’s more a gift for both of us.”

Celestia starts pulling away the blankets. Still slightly confused but also interested.

“I made it myself.” He states with pride. “I’d say it’s a representation of our love, together as one”

Celestia slowly continues pulling the blankets away. 

“Oh my g-! You’re taking too long!” Discord can’t take the anticipation and grabs his gift back, and turns away from her to remove the coverings as quickly as possible. And turns back to face her and presents his gift in his claws with a triumphant: “Ta-da!”

“Oh! Thank you!” Celestia looks it over.

“It was my pleasure! I made it out of pure concentrated chaos magic to represent me, and I used a piece of your mane to represent you. I put them together and here it is!”

Discord continues, “and don’t worry if it seems a little unbalanced in my favor, since your hair was the only part that’s actually physical matter and not magic, there’s actually more of you in it than me haha”

“Discord…” Celestia starts. “What is it? It’s not that I don’t like it, cause I do, but what is it?”

“I’m actually not sure, this is the first time I’ve done something like this.” 

“Oh… may I hold it?”

“Of course! Just be careful, it’s a little fragile. I did put a protection spell on it, but still.”

He passes it over to Celestia. She holds it and shifts it in her arms. And then she breaks the moment of silence she created, “Discord, this is an egg.”

“Hm, a what?”

“I’ve seen leathery eggs like this from a creature called a platypus. I’m pretty sure this is an egg of some kind.”

“What? There’s no way” Discord takes back the egg, and sure enough it feels as though anything is moving inside it, like a liquid. He uses his magic to see through the skin and there seems to be something growing inside with veins surrounding it.

“I-I had no idea.—- but it’s not all bad tho! I wasn’t planning to be a parent this soon but I didn’t never want to be a parent and you-“

“Discord, I don’t think I’m ready to start a family with you.”

Discord’s smile falls away.

“It’s not that I don’t ever want to do that with you. It’s just we just got to figuring out how a relationship would work. And a child is a big step.”

“Oh..”

“And listen,” she places her hoof against his cheek. “This isn’t a no, it’s a just not right now.”

“Alright,” he perks up a little.

“And I’m not asking you to get rid of the egg. You created it, it’s your decision. Just know that I’ll support you in whatever you decide.”

Discord thinks for a moment, “I think, I want to be a dad.”

“That’s great! And even though I’m not ready to be a mother, I’d still like to help in what ways I can, if you want me to.”

Discord smiles, “alright, I love you.”

“I love you too,” Celestia rubs her cheek against his.

Fatherhood!!! Hooray!!!

And so Discord excitedly starts his new life as a single father to his chaos made egg baby.

He finally tells Fluttershy that he’s been seeing Celestia and made a kid. She’s shocked that this is all coming out at once and he didn’t tell her any of this before, but she still agrees to help him, since they’re friends. And also because she wants to. 

Fluttershy has animal knowledge so she can help with egg care and babysitting it if he needs her to. Discord takes care of the egg by himself for the most part. He takes it everywhere in a front facing baby carrier, but made to securely hold the egg and keep it warm. Discord loves it more than anything and talks to it all the time.

After an undetermined amount of time, (I haven’t decided yet) the egg finally hatches! It’s a tiny white baby that looks a lot like a foal. Discord is bursting with excitement at the sight of his newborn, and runs to let Fluttershy know. Gotta let your besties know.

 Discord brings Fluttershy to see the little baby, and let her hold it. Fluttershy makes sure that it’s healthy and determines that it’s a baby girl! Not that Discord will force his kid into any rigid gender roles. He’ll love his kiddo no matter what.

Celestia and Discord are still dating and he brings over the baby so she can meet her. They both love the kid but they just aren’t ready to be a full family yet. Discord doesn’t mind, he’s happy with having his kiddo and gf.

He’s a pretty good father too, all things considered. He teaches the kiddo about chaos magic and he did a lot of research to get the best dad he could.

Discord names his bundle of joy:

Entropy Abyss, Pappy for short

(The nickname is a little bit of a stretch, but hey, it suits the Discord family)

[cloudroots]

The Plentyn Changelings

Click for higher quality

Closer looks of Monarch at the end of the post, normal lighting and in the dark

I succumbed to the need to make spooky little guys and big scary monster again lol

So this whole concept and hive was created for my sona Blue Bottle Fly. They’re a changeling, but I wanted them to be a little different than the changelings we see in canon.

Also I’ve always liked the idea that there’s other changeling hives, not just the one we see in the show. Thus, the Ghost Hive was born!

[more info below]

Their existence is a big mystery to most, since they’re very secretive and reclusive. Changelings of other hives know about them the most, but they’re still a mystery to even them.

The Ghost Hive is sort of an urban legend to changelings. Even the name itself was given through tales told from individuals catching a glimpse of one in the night. Like they're a phantom hiding in the shadows.  Members of the Ghost Hive are seen to be their own subspecies of changelings, since they act and look so different from the others. So they’re called “plentyn changelings” or just “plentyn.” It’s like sheep, where the plural and singular are the same word. I saw some plentyn over there. The Ghost Hive being the hive name, plentyn being what that kind of changeling is called.

Plentyn Changelings Facts:

The Ghost Hive’s main source of feeding on love is based on real life changeling folklore. Taking a baby and replacing it with a changeling. Many of their abilities make them very good at doing this.

The hive consists of two groups: the worker drones and Monarch, their equivalent to a queen. There’s also the replacements they make, but they aren’t part of the hive.

Monarch is genderless, gigantic and spider-like. They only leave their hive on rare occasions. They also have a retractable neck, and the ability to make the replacements.

Worker drones and Monarch can not speak. They can only make clicking and other bug-like sounds. Monarch also has the ability to telepathically communicate with their hive.

The Ghost Hive live in a deep cave that’s incredibly large in size but crammed with cocoons, silk and other insectile things. Monarch is perched on the highest wall of the cave to watch over their hive like a spider on the wall. They stretch their neck down to get a closer look at whatever piques their interest. 

The hive use tunnels that they’ve dug in the past to enter and exit their hive. 

Plentyn changelings have the ability to change form like other changelings, but they are more likely to use an ability that’s unique to them. They can turn invisible.

What gives them the ability to become invisible is that their exoskeleton has a special way of reflecting light that can be turned off and on at will. They can’t be invisible when transformed.

They’re always invisible when they leave the hive.

The Feeding/ Replacement Process:

One pony infant has so much love on it that it can feed a whole hive. Members of the Ghost Hive spend most of their time dedicated to finding and taking foal, and making the parents a substitute so they never suspect a thing.

One foal also lasts the hive a while, since they are good at rationing.

To find a candidate to feed on, worker drones search nearby towns in the dead of night to find any pregnant ponies. They have magic to find them, and to know how far along they are in their pregnancy.

When they find a pregnant pony that has a developed enough fetus for their purposes, it casts a spell to gather genetic information from that fetus.

The information is used as a blueprint to make the best replacement as possible. The substitute and the baby will look and act identical. Their minds will also be basically the same. The perfect copy.

When the worker drone casts the spell for the information, it’s stored on the drone’s horn. It looks like magic.

The blueprint is taken back to the hive and presented to Monarch. Who takes it with their own magic and puts it into an egg-like cocoon. Inside the cocoon is a dormant egg laid by Monarch that when combined with the genetic information, the part changeling, part pony replacement starts forming.

It takes a while for the replacement to be finished developing, so during that time worker drones regularly check on the family at night. They make sure there hasn’t been any complications. It’s hard to take their baby if there isn’t one.

The replacement looks just like the baby it’s replacing when it’s ready. It’s still a changeling but with a pony form/disguise built in. This form can’t be taken off easily. The replacement isn’t going to accidentally detransform. 

When it’s done developing, the replacement softly falls out of the cocoon and waits to be taken by a worker drone. It is in a sleep-like state.

The same time the replacement emerges from its cocoon is the same time as when the baby is born. They have the same birthday.

The same worker drone that originally found the parents takes the substitute and uses its small forearms to open a small slit on the blue orb on its abdomen.

[fig.1]

The abdominal blue orb/sack that is used to store the replacement while it’s transferred.

[fig.2]

A worker drone with a replacement baby inside its abdominal orb as it flies it over to swap it with the baby.

They usually wait a couple days before making the switch. To give more time to there be as much love as possible on the baby.

The switch itself happens in the dead of night and while the drone is invisible. Their wings are also silent as they fly. It makes the switch and the drone as undetectable as possible.

The worker drone flies into where the baby is kept. It casts a spell on the baby to keep it asleep, quiet and calm. The switch is then made with ease with the use of levitation magic on the replacement and gently holding the baby with their extra limbs.

The baby is then put in the abdominal orb and the replacement is placed in the exact place the baby was.

The cocoon that the replacement was grown in has a substance that causes it to be calm and asleep. When it was in the orb of the drone, the substance was kept moist and functional. By the time the switch is made it has all dried up and the replacement wakes up and starts crying.

When the parents go to check on their baby, the replacement is there instead. The worker drone and the original baby are gone, and the parents are none the wiser.

The drone then arrives back to the hive with the baby. It covered in tasty love. The infant is still asleep and will stay that way.

The whole hive gathers to feed off some of its love. All of the worker drones  partake before Monarch does. They want their hive fed before they are.

After many feedings and there’s no more love to feed off the baby, it’s wrapped up in a cocoon different to the kind that developed the replacement.

The cocooned body is then forgotten about by the hive. It either dies and decomposes or eventually transforms into a new worker drone.

The process takes years to finish, since its species and biology is being changed and it’s also growing from a baby to a more child sized creature. 

When the new worker drone is ready, it breaks out of the cocoon fully formed and ready to work. It already knows about all their abilities, and how to cast the spells and anything else they need to know to gather more love. 

Other plentyn facts that I couldn’t fit anywhere else:

Plentyn almost never blink and have a real staring problem 

Plentyn are a sort of hive mind, and very task oriented. They’re like a well oiled machine. Since Monarch is the leader, they’re the most free minded. 

Replacements are not part of this hive mind.

If anything comes into their hive that’s not a plentyn, it will be swarmed and killed immediately. If a replacement ever makes their way into the hive, they’ll be recognized as a plentyn and be left alone. Something about how they smell or auras?

More about the replacements:

Most replacements never discover that they’re actually changelings, and spend their whole lives as a pony. They’re generally happy, but have a lingering feeling that there’s something off about them and not sure what it is.

Since the replacement was given some of that DNA from the original baby, they turn out how the baby would have if it wasn’t replaced. The same brain, same look, same experiences, just one is secretly a changeling. 

Because of this the pony parents are technically the replacement’s parents.

 Replacements still crave love to a degree but it’s the same way a person would. They don’t actually feed on it. 

If a replacement somehow discovers that they’re a changeling, it’s a long and painful process to change out of the form they’ve been in their whole lives. It’s also bound to affect their relationships in a negative way.

The changeling form of a replacement is different to the rest of the plentyn. It’s neither like the worker drones or exactly like Monarch. They’re more like a cross between a pony and Monarch. Leaning more to the pony side for size and general body shape.

Once a replacement breaks out of the form they were born in, transforming into different forms comes easily to them. Almost like breathing. But getting the hang of turning invisible and other abilities that they didn’t have in their original form gets some getting to. i.e an earth pony learning to fly, a pegasus learning magic, etc.

Replacements in their changeling form also have the ability to reform like typical changelings, though they’ll look a little different.

Being a replacement that knows they’re a replacement can be pretty lonely. There’s not many like them. They don’t really even fit with the Ghost Hive or other changelings. So many of them just adopt new forms and keep living their lives.

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[Art Trade] The Girlies ✨

My part of the art trade between me and @frostcorpsclub of two of her girls, Little Springdove and Berry Crème Crepe, from the Januaryverse, which you can read about here!

I’m absolutely in love with the idea of an oc making their own nextgen and all their biases and taste shine through. It’s fun to think about why the creator, being the oc, would make the decisions they did when they made their universe and characters.

I can see a lot of that depth in the Januaryverse and I adore it. The anon that originally suggested what January’s next gen would look like really cooked, and I’m glad that ask inspired something so intriguing :]

Also as someone that used to be a 12 year old that made my own mlp next gens, I feel incredibly seen and it’s also kind of nostalgic

I really hope I made Berry’s hair big enough lol

Alternate version without text under the cut

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Hello, my friends 🇵🇸

🌟 Let’s reach our goal before the end of the year! 🌟

We’re so close to achieving our goal of 11,000$, with only 480$ left to go! 🎯

💡 If just 24 people donate 20$ each, we can reach it in no time!

🎄 Let’s end 2024 on a high note and bring hope to those who need it most. 🎄

📣 Donate today and share widely! Together, we can make this happen. 🇵🇸❤️

https://gofund.me/abbc2759

If y'all are able please donate to this family in Gaza

and you're not able to donate for whatever reason that you can't donate, please reblog or share their gofundme link

Vetted by: @allthecryingdragons @bilal-salah0

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Bare with me, this is first time I’ve done one of these so it might get a little rambly /lh

I’d say I’ve improved my art over this year haha, I’ve at least say I’ve got more ambitious with my art

I’m not sure when it started, but I got the idea to upload at least one post each month. It was a way to motivate myself to actually post things and not just keep all my art to myself like I've done in the past.

This year did start a little rough for me. I uninstalled my art app and unknowingly deleted all of my art with over the years. I was able to recover some of it from screenshots and screen recordings, but still, it was a rough way to start the year.

January and February I uploaded the rest of my Gaza ponies. Where I actually had to do the strawberry twice, since I accidentally deleted all my progress on her :/

I was also working on other projects behind the scenes as well, which I hope to share with y’all at some point in the future :)

And another peek behind the curtain, I actually had the art of Center Stage’s bio finished in October 2023, but time got away from me and I take a bit to write up bios in general 😅

Then I couldn’t wait any longer and finally started one of my next gen character’s stories. Scarlet Heart’s story to be exact. Wild that he appears in a third of the months here lol

I hope y’all be prepared to see even more of him next year! :]

My infection Au is then introduced in May. I’m so glad that so many like it! I was able to explore to explore a little bit into horror and ramble about it, which I both enjoy 😊

Looking back I'm still not sure how I was able to upload so much in June haha

A DTA, two complex refs, with a incredibly complex cutiemark for one of them, and a pride piece. Still in disbelief that I was able to do that /lh

Then in July, I updated Midnight’s look. Still adore their colors.

August I did an art dump of the ShiningDence family’s early days together. I especially like the lighting and tenderness I did with late night Shining and Scarlet.

September’s art with done pretty quick for the first scene I’ve done in a while. What took the longest was the story that it came with. I haven’t written anything like it in the longest time, but I’m so happy that I was able to write in time for September’s post. Though it was a little rough the first couple of writing sessions, my adhd was killing me lol

Then even more horror in October! Hooray!! I loved sharing my messed up goobers, those silly murderous monsters :]

Most of my time in November was working on other things and coping with the usa election results, so I didn’t have much in mind for what to share for this month. I’m glad I decided on what I did. They’re so cute and it came out so well for what it is /pos

Then at the end of the year, a holiday piece that I put a lot of time and energy into and it was completely worth it. This piece is the most time I’ve spent on one artwork by far. But LOOK AT IT, it’s so cozy and nice and I like how the dolls section came out in particular :]

This year this account turned a decade old. Double digits. 10 years old. It’s a huge milestone, and I’m so grateful of all the people I’ve met over the years. Especially those I’ve met in recent years, glad y’all are here :]

Happy New Year!!! 🎉🎉🎉

I plan to spend more of next year to be next in the face of adversity 🫡

Wish me luck in fighting the urge to redo the art I’ve uploaded in 2020/2021, especially the PokeyPie one. I could do it so much better now :/ but there’s still so much other stuff I want to share, so wish me luck!!

Art from these posts:

January - Fruit pony series 2/4: Strawberry pony

February - Fruit pony series 4/4: Olive pony

March - Center Stage \\ Cloudverse

April - Cloudverse // Overjoyed to meet you

May - Mlp Infection AU: Rainbow Bite, Masterpost part 1

June - Ponysonas Revamped: Sweetpea

July - Ponysonas Revamped: Midnight Nightowl

August - Cloudverse // Babyboy baby

September - Cloudverse // Kindred Kindergarteners

October - Mlp Infection AU: Rainbow Bite, Masterpost part 2

November - May I offer you some teenage sapphics in these trying times?

December - Happy Hearth's Warming! 2024

Template by latortilla

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Happy Hearth’s Warming! 2024

The Royal Family of the Crystal Empire spends a happy moment together.

I don’t think the Crystal Empire would celebrate Hearthswarming, but I feel Cadence and Shining would celebrate it or bring it over with them to the Empire since they both grew up with it in Canterlot. The two would definitely want Scarlet to experience the holiday, so they do the best they can to make it as best they can for him each year.

——————

This year’s been a pretty good one for me artistically. I set myself a goal to upload at least one piece of art each month and succeeded! I’ll finally be able to do one of those art year summary things :D

And this will most likely be my last post for the year(besides the art summary) so see y’all next year!

Cadence’s Cutiemark - credit

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This is my mlp selfship blog/ Flimflam brothers fanblog

So if you’re chill with selfshipping or like the Flimflam bros please feel free to give it a follow! 😊

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May I offer you some teenage sapphics in these trying times?

They used to date

November was a little rough for me. I live in the US and needed to take some time for myself. Sorry that I don't have anything complex or more substantial to share. Hope y'all still enjoy some light lore dropping here. Also I say they're sapphic and not lesbians because Star is bisexual, and I don't like bi-erasure 😤

Characters shown:

Starpell Sparkle

Center Stage

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✨Chaos Magic Headcanon✨

Both a general mlp headcanon and for nextgens

Act One:

Chaos magic introduced to Equestria

Discord’s home dimension is a place made of pure chaos magic. It’s the same place as where his current home is in the show.

Discord at his core is made of chaos magic. He also has a different source of chaos magic that powers his abilities. He can still exist without the magic he uses if it’s taken from him by force since it’s not the same as his core.

Chaos magic is hard to use by its inherent chaotic nature. It doesn’t want to be controlled, and has a knack for being unpredictable. It only responds well to being used by a host that is already chaotic in some way or has an inherent chaotic-ness to them. Then there’s also things that have been infected by chaos magic. It likes to change whatever it comes into contact with and to stick to them as well and lay dormant inside. 

The first time Discord took over Equestria, whenever he changed something with his magic it would change the makeup of that thing. The thing is full of chaos magic when it’s changed. When Discord was defeated, all things that were changed turned back to pretty much normal. The items that were made into existence by Discord, didn’t change and stayed themself. The previously turned subjects now have an incredibly tiny amount of dormant chaos magic inside, though the amount of magic inside changes depending on the complexity of the subject. 

Non Living objects are pretty much completely clean. Plants and the like have more chaos magic inside but at an amount that is almost non-existent. Living creatures have the most left over in them after being turned back to normal, but it won’t affect them and it’s not likely they would even know or notice.

Ponies with dormant chaos magic will pass it down to their children. The magic might manifest itself in a small subdued way, like a strange laugh, impossible cravings, or a sense that can vaguely predict immediate future events. 

Chaos magic has peacefully been a part of Equestria without ponies even realizing, since it has been passive without other chaos magic to grow upon or any chaos power sources around to give it strength. 

Chaos magic isn’t naturally occurring in Equestria so it has no natural enemies here to combat it and keep it in check. The closest thing being harmony magic, but it can only subdue it not blast it from existence like harmony magic does with dark magic and the like. 

 When Discord came back the first time he introduced active chaos magic back into the world which also quietly woke up all the other magic as well. But since they were dormant for so long, they won’t be as active as they would be.

This second time Discord took over Equestria, he went back to affecting everything around him with his magic. This time around the magic doesn’t just infect things that were directly changed but also things that were touched by chaos changed things. Like if somepony ate a cotton candy cloud or a comically large pepper shaker caused them to sneeze. Also this time around, Discord spent more time using his magic to directly change ponies. 

Discord was then turned to stone again, which removed most of the chaos magic from Equestria again, except for the small amount that became dormant again. Discord is then freed for good, which also awakens the chaos magic in Equestria for as long as he’s in this dimension. Discord is the chaos magic battery, it doesn’t work without him around because of his pure chaos magic core. He’s a power source for the chaos magic magic around him.

The active chaos magic is just as harmless as the dormant version, but now it wants to grow. It has the habit of growing in power and affecting the things around it. The dimension it’s from has chaos magic everywhere so when it’s not surrounded with chaos it feels the need to multiply to fill the empty space. The inherent magic in a pony’s body keeps the chaos magic in check, but it still grows ever so slowly.

The longer Discord stays in Equestria, the longer dormant chaos magic in ponies stays active. The longer active chaos magic stays in a pony the more it multiplies. 

A pony with chaos magic will also pass it down to their offspring. The same levels of chaos magic the parent has when they had the foal is the same the foal will inherit. If both parents have chaos magic, the child will inherit the same amount as the parent with the biggest amount. In rare cases the parents amount will join together, giving the kid a larger amount then both their parents, and in even rarer cases the parent’s amount multiplies to the child’s.

The magic is still harmless, and won’t even cause noticeable effects in ponies unless given decades to multiply.

Act Two:

The Affects

After around 25 years of Discord hanging around in Equestria, some strange things start happening to ponies. 

This is from the chaos magic growing to such an amount that it’s able to change and manifest things on its own. The changes the magic makes to ponies are still harmless but still concerning and also annoying to those who don’t know what’s happening to them. Typically the magic only starts changing the pony when they’re in adulthood, which makes the changes even more concerning and confusing for the subject. 

This magic manifests as physical changes like: 

 Colors changing mane but not tail and vice versa

A singular eye changing color, or just part of the eye

 Change in height

 Patches of patterns on fur coats like plaid or poke-a-dots 

 Random feathers growing from a non pegasus

 Change of horn shape and growing extra horns in unicorns

 And other similar changes

The chaos only does one of these changes to a subject and keeps that change until the chaos magic causing the change is removed from the host. The magic also changes a subject differently if they have a more dense amount of chaos magic in them. They either get several changes that stick around, they have changes that continue to change, or they have a unique change that leaves and then a different change happens, leaves then the previous change happens again. Anything can happen really, it’s chaos magic.

There’s even a pony full of chaos magic who changes to a different pony type everyday with no say or indication to what they’ll turn to next.

To wrap up, there’s chaos magic that a pony can use if they have it inside them, but not to a degree to what Discord can do. In different cases, there’s chaos magic that changes ponies against their will if they have enough of it built up inside them

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🎃Mlp Infection AU: Rainbow Bite, Masterpost part 3

Cartoon body horror under the cut, TW: cartoon gore, depictions of blood, and exposed bones from body

Image text in alt text Part 1 - Part 2

Happy Halloween!!! 🦇🎃

I hope it's a good and spooky one!

I was saving the grossest mutation for last and I thought the best time to share it was Halloween so here it is!

This is the last part of this AU I have planned for now, so I hope you've all enjoyed it!!

And Happy Halloween again!!! 🎃🎃

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Mlp Infection AU: Rainbow Bite, Masterpost part 2

Cartoon gore under the cut, TW: eye contact, depictions of blood, exposed bones from body

Image text in alt text Part 1 - Part 3

I thought introducing these guys were fitting for spooky month, so here they are!

I have so much more to say about level 4 infected but I didn't want to add too much text, so feel free to ask about them!

I have one more mutation to show off, but they're design is more complex so you'll have to wait 😉

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Alicorn Abridged Series: the other main characters

Spoilers Edition!!

With more doodles made at 2am

here’s a Celestia for emotional support

This post shows off one of the main big plot changes I made for this story.

I decided to make season 1 Luna(that one that was Nightmare Moon) and season 2 and onwards Luna two different characters. There’s a big plot reason why this is, but I don’t want to give anything away at this time. There’s a reason why the series is named after alicorns 😉

Princess Celestia

Just a figurehead

A silly goose

Has had many pupils that she made alicorns, Twilight is jealous

Twilight doesn’t like Celestia for “giving out” alicornhood

Twilight views her as an airhead

Actually a sweet lady, who cares about ponies being happy

Princess Luna

“The Princess”

Was never banished

The one actually in charge/ running Equestria - shadow government style

No one knows about her besides Twilight and Celestia

Has Twilight’s undying loyalty

She only makes an alicorn out of a pony that shows the most potential and skill

Twilight is desperate for her praise and will do whatever she says

Has become bored

Selena

Was Nightmare Moon

A past pupil of one of princesses

When she was reformed, ponies thought she was Luna since they haven’t seen her in forever

Luna uses this as an excuse to go out into public

Selena is forced to stay in the castle, she’s just off screen, chatting with the characters

Starlight

Introduced in the later stage of the story

Used by Luna to spy on Twilight

Cover being that she’s there to be a student for Twilight

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Kindred Kindergarteners // Cloudverse

First // Prev // Next

Usually it’s customary for the crown prince of a kingdom to have personal tutors or at least have a royal servant escort them to school, but that wasn’t the case for Prince Scarlet Heart. His parents thought that even though he’s a prince, he should still be able to have a normal childhood like the other foals. They also thought that making friends would be harder when kept up in the castle all day with old smelly tutors, even though those weren’t exactly the words they would use. 

Even though they rule the empire that the school resides in, the ruling couple have to go through all the usual hoops that any other parent has to. Princess Cadence and Shining Armor took turns filling out paperwork, buying the right supplies and meeting with teachers. During those meetings, the couple could feel the excitement radiating off of schoolteachers, though they weren’t sure if it was from getting a new student or the fact that royalty was currently standing in their building and chose them to teach their only child, who is also royalty. They didn’t worry too much about that. The two were used to ponies who weren’t familiar with them to have a certain enthusiasm, though they wished others wouldn’t put them on such a tall pedestal. If any problems were to come out of the teachers’ behavior that would negatively affect their son, they would handle it. 

All the preparation that they went through paid off as Scarlet pranced his way to the schoolhouse, made entirely of crystal of course, for the first day of the school year with his mother close behind. The colt practically bursting with excitement as the two walk down the sidewalk. He rattles off in somewhat broken speech about all the possibilities that could happen on his first day of school ever. Cadence somewhat regrets flying most of the way here, with all this extra energy, there’s no way that poor schoolpony could deal with Scarlet and a room full of five year olds. Oh well. Her smile grows as she watches her son bounces with joy and looks back at her with a tooth filled grin as they approach the entrance. 

The Princess and her son walk the halls to Scarlet’s classroom. His chattering stops as his eyes dart around the room. His pace slows as he keeps to his mother’s side. One of the school teachers passes the pair. Cadence waves at them with a smile. She feels a small hoof on her foreleg and looks down to see Scarlet using her as a hiding spot. The colt watches the pony as they leave from view. 

Cadence places her free hoof on top of Scarlet’s. “Are you nervous, mi amore?” She asks with a gentle smile. 

 Startled, the colt breaks free from his staring and presses his cheeks against his mother’s leg. After a short pause he replies with a muffled, “....nooo,” the end of the no trails off as he looks to the ground. 

“It’s okay to be nervous,” Cadence comes down to Scarlet’s eye level. “Can I tell you a secret?” She asks while petting his mane. Scarlet looks back up with a curious look in his eye, eagerly waiting for a response. 

“I’m a little nervous, right now,” Cadence whispers.

Scarlet gasps. “No way!” He jumps away from shock, “What do you have to be nervous about?”

Cadence stands upright and the two begin walking again. “Well, it’s not everyday that my little boy goes to school for the first time.” Cadence sighs, “and is going to spend most of the day away from his parents, who love him very much.” The mare looks down to see Scarlet listening very intently. “Even though these things seem very scary, me and your dad did everything we could to make your time here the most fun and safe that it can be.” 

The two stop in front of Scarlet’s new classroom, and Cadence gets down to his eye level again. “I know this is a new place, full of strange new ponies, but I met  the ones that work here before and they’re nice ponies. You have nothing to worry about.” Cadence pauses for a moment and holds her son’s front hooves, “and yet I’m still nervous.” The mare smiles, “If you try your best to be brave, I promise to do the same. We can be a little nervous together.”  

Scarlet giggles as Cadence kisses his forehead. “Okay, momma. I’ll be brave. Promise you’ll be back, if I need you?”

“I promise,” Cadence stands back up. “Now let’s be brave together,” she states as the two enter the classroom.

The classroom walls are covered in colorful drawings and symbols that Scarlet has yet to learn but is excited to. His eyes fly around to the young crystal ponies filling the room, who seem to have a similar energy level to what Scarlet had on his way here. They’re chatter bouncing off the walls as the foals can’t contain their excitement. Many of them seem to already know each other.

Scarlet’s attention is taken from his possible new friends as a full grown mare approaches Cadence. Scarlet dives behind his mother’s legs again. “Nice to see you, Princess Cadence.” The mare turns her attention to the colt hiding, “and you must be Prince Scarlet Heart.” She gives him a sweet gentle smile.

“Just Cadence is fine,” Cadence corrects warmly, “and yes this is Scarlet. He’s a little nervous, but is being very brave about it” 

“I can see that,” the unfamiliar mare crouches down with a little chuckle. “Hi there, Scarlet. My name is Sapphire Quill, but you can call me Ms. Quill. Your mom has told me so much about you.” Ms. Quill asks gently, “if you want I can help you meet the rest of the class, would that be okay?” 

Scarlet shyly looks up to his mother, who gives an encouraging smile. He hesitantly makes his way from out of the cover of his mother. He then nods in response to Ms. Quill’s question, making sure to avoid eye-contact.

Cadence places an affectionate hoof on top of Scarlet’s shoulder. His eyes look up to her. “Have a nice day, mi amore. I’ll miss you.” She gives the colt a carefree smile. He smiles back with a little more confidence than he had a moment before.

“I’ll miss you too, momma.” Cadence removes her hoof from atop Scarlet, and the colt starts making his way over to Ms. Quill, who begins guiding him towards the rest of the class. Scarlet then stops in his tracks. Cadence begins to question to herself if something is wrong, then the colt darts back towards his mother, giving her the biggest and tightest hug a small child can give. 

“I promise to be brave, momma.” Scarlet warmly states.

After a brief moment of shock from the sudden hug, Cadence hugs him back. “Then I promise to do the same, my love.” The two finish their hug with goodbyes and I love yous, and Scarlet gallops over to Ms. Quill with the biggest smile on his face as he waves back to his mother. She waves to him as she leaves the room. 

Scarlet follows Ms. Quill through the classroom as the loud chatter of his classmates turns to murmurs. His smile drops as he realizes that as he passes a classmate their eyes become fixed onto him. Ms. Quill guides Scarlet to a group of four desks and once he sits down in the chair that Ms. Quill sweetly pulls out for him to sit in, he notices almost all of the class have their eyes glued to him. The loudest sound in the class now is a whisper. Scarlet was suddenly feeling very self-conscious, but he didn’t let that bother him. He made a promise to his momma that he had to keep. 

Ms. Quill made her way to the front of the classroom, where all the foals could see her. “Morning everypony! Let’s all get to our seats, so we can start our day and make some friends,” the mare sweetly says.

The other classponies settle into their seats, still keeping their eyes on Scarlet and mumbling. The ponies that sat in the other three desks of his group avoid eye-contact with him, but stare starry-eyed when they don’t think he notices.

“Alrighty, now that everypony is settled. Let’s start by learning each other's names. I’ll start: my name is Ms. Quill and I’m happy to be your teacher for this year. Now we’ll go around the room, when I point to you all you have to do is stand up and say your name, and if you want you can say something about yourself.” Ms. Quill begins by pointing to a group of desks closest to her, and one by one they stand up and say their crystal themed names. 

Ms. Quill makes her way around the room as fillies and colts stand to say their names. She seems to be keeping Scarlet’s group for last, and so she does as she finally makes her way to them. Scarlet notices how jittery the other ponies are as the first one of his group stands.

“I’m Larimar!” A blue filly blurts out and sits back down in excitement, nearly falling out of her seat as she does so. Ms. Quill points to the filly next to her.

The filly calmly gets out of her seat and states, “my name is Ruby Trinket, but just Ruby is fine.” The pinkish red filly sits back down with a smile. Everpony holds their breath in anticipation as Ms. Quill lifts her hoof in the air the second to last time. The suspense is even getting to Scarlet as the mare points to the colt next to him. 

The light purple colt hops out of his seat with a grin, “and I’m Lavender Quartz!” The colt exclaims quickly and then plants himself back down. 

All eyes are now on Scarlet as he waits for Ms. Quill to address him with her hoof. The class could barely keep their excitement as the mare slowly lifts her front foreleg and straightens it to a point. The end of which was directed towards Scarlet. 

Time stops as Scarlet shyly makes his way out of his chair. He feels the sweat on his face as he averts the piercing gaze of all his classmates. “Um.. hello,” Scarlet pauses for a moment and takes a deep breath. “My name is P-prince Scarlet Heart, but I prefer Scarlet. It’s nice to meet all of you.” 

Scarlet stands there after his introduction in complete silence. A moment so brief but felt like ages. The colt is frozen in place. He wants to run and hide from the crystal eyes that refuse to look anywhere else. He continues to look down in an attempt to keep his own eyes from being cut from their sharp stare. Scarlet starts to feel his body fold into itself as his brow starts to sweat. 

“Are you really a prince?” One of his classmates calls out, breaking the silence.

Another classmate blurts out, “does your mom ever fly you around? Does she go super fast?” 

Scarlet perks up at all the sudden interest in him. His peers continue to ask questions, “What’s it like living in the castle?”

-“Do you know how to do any magic spells yet?”

-“What kinds of snacks do you like?”

All of his classmates wait in suspense as they wait for answers from their interrogation. Scarlet is taken back for a moment with surprise. He no longer cares for all the eyes on him, now that he knows that their stare is from curiosity, and not hostile as he first thought.  

Scarlet fidgets as he starts to answer, “well… My momma is a princess making me a prince. She does fly me around sometimes, and goes super fast when she needs to. I think she’s scared of dropping me, kinda.” A smile grows on Scarlet as he watches all those around being engaged and focused as he speaks. A small excited chatter grows as he continues to respond to their questions, “the castle has a lot of large empty hallways that me and my dad like to race down. I don’t know any spells yet, but my parents tell me that my magic still needs time to grow, so it’s fine.” Scarlet puffs up in confidence, “and my favorite snacks are cucumber and apple slices.” 

The class erupts into another excited storm of questions. This time Scarlet can’t even understand what they’re all saying as they all talk over each other and start standing up in their chairs. Scarlet beams with pride. Ms. Quill settles the storm of questioning with a chuckle, “alright class, that’s enough. We’ll have plenty of time to get to know Scarlet over the school year. Now if everypony settles down and gets back into their seats, we can start all the other fun things I have planned for today.”

The morning continues as Ms. Quill leads them into activities like morning stretches, snack time, learning the colors of the rainbow and craft time. The young ponies continue their interest in learning more about the young prince during each activity. Foals eagerly rush over to him when the moment allows, and all this attention boosts Scarlet confidence through the roof. He contains his excitement as he tries to be the coolest version of himself to keep their interest. 

Ms. Quill then calls out that the kids need to clean all the craft supplies up since recess time is coming around. Scarlet learns from another foal that they all get to go outside and play together. As he picks up his mess, Scarlet becomes excited at the idea that he'll be able to run around outside, playing fun games.

When finished putting away his art, Scarlet is approached by Ruby Trinket and the other foals from his group of desks and a couple other ponies. Ruby asks if Scarlet wants to hangout with them all during recess. Scarlet accepts their offer, excited of what games they could all do with such a large group.

The full class follows Ms. Quill as she guides them all outside to the playground. Scarlet bursts out of the crystal doors as he excitedly takes in his surroundings. The school took advantage of the Crystal Empire's lush green grass and trees and enclosed it with a fence for the foals to go absolutely wild. Scarlet notices a box full of different kinds of items like plastic rings, frisbees and balls. He begins to make his way to the box of goodies, but then is ushered away by Ruby calling over to him with the group.

“Scarleeeeet,” Ruby cheerfully rings out to him. “We’re over here, come over!” Scarlet turns away from the box and makes his way over to them. Maybe they have an idea for a game that doesn’t need any of that stuff?

The young prince joins the group of foals gathered together on the green grass. He smiles with them as they start talking about what they did over the summer, the number of siblings they have and what their favorite toys are. It doesn’t seem that they’re interested in playing around, and this isn't exactly what Scarlet had in mind. Though, the first day of school is for getting to know each other, so he doesn’t see a problem in listening about his classmates' interests. 

The conversation continues as the foals tell stories and laugh at each other’s jokes. Scarlet also laughs and tells some stories of his own, but the young prince has also become a little antsy. He has a lot of energy inside and he can only stay in one place for so long. His eyes start to dart around to find something to suggest to his new friends to do. His attention is drawn to a colt playing all by himself. 

Scarlet doesn’t remember him from class earlier. Maybe he was just quiet? Either way the young prince’s interest piqued in this character, and the game he’s playing. Scarlet decides to break into the conversation, “hey,” the other kids’ attention turns to him. “Does anyone want to go with me to play with that colt over there?” Scarlet points over to the lime green colt, and the other foals look over to him.

“Oh that’s Summer Topaz,” Ruby comments. “And you don’t want to play with him. He's a weirdo,” she confidently informs. “He’s my neighbor and I’ve seen him digging in bushes, and eating bugs off the ground.” The rest of the group giggles and calls out in disgust, and agrees to not play with the weird kid. Scarlet’s smile drops in disappointment as he looks back over to the colt, who the prince still wants to play with regardless of what the others think.  The other kids continue to chat, and Scarlet tries his best to stay interested in what they’re all saying but his focus keeps going back to this Topaz character. 

The lime colored colt has been using a rubber red ball from the box that Scarlet was interested in earlier to entertain himself. He has moved on from kicking the ball against a nearby tree to trying to bounce the ball on top of his head with little success. The colt throws the red ball into the air and races after it with his head. Topaz planned to bounce the ball against the top of his head, but he underestimated the speed that the ball would drop. The cherry orb came crashing down onto the colt’s face with a loud *piTONK!* Scarlet stifles a chuckle as the colt falls backwards onto the grass. The rubber ball bounced off his face and rolled away on the ground a distance away from him. Topaz pops back up to his hooves and frantically looks around, to see if there are any witnesses and to find his ball. He spots it, brushes himself off and makes his way over to it. The colt places a hoof atop of the ball and watches it as he shyly rolls it around in place. Topaz looks up from the ball to his surroundings. He stares at each group of friends with eyes full of longing, then he looks back down to the ball he’s fidgeting with. 

Scarlet’s smile drops and he glances around at the other groups of ponies. His heart aches with compassion once he realizes how Topaz is the only foal by himself, and it aches more when he realizes this colt doesn’t want it that way. 

Scarlet looks at the ponies in his own group. Each young pony intently listens to the current foal speaking. Larimar excitedly tells of her recent family trip to Las Pegasus. She rattles off all the things she did there and suggests going when given the chance and doing the same things she did. 

Scarlet figures that he could just slip away without being noticed. They haven’t pointed out his lack of comments or that he hasn’t been paying any attention to what any of them were saying the majority of the time. Scarlet looks back over to Topaz and starts to break away from the group, then Ruby interrupts him. 

“What about you Scarlet?” She asks cheerfully. “Did you do anything cool over the summer?”

Scarlet freezes in place as all eyes turn over to him. “Uh… not really.” He tries his best to diminish their interest. “Just the normal summer things.”

Ruby giggles. “Didn’t think anything about you could be normal.” The others laugh in agreement. Scarlet brow furrows. He isn’t sure what she means by that. 

Scarlet thought breaking away unnoticed was going to be easy, but it seems impossible with him in the center of attention. He decides to speak up instead. “I think,” the other foals look to him again, waiting in suspense for his next words. Scarlet clears his throat, “I’m going over there to see what Topaz is doing.” He feels awkward because of their continuous stare. “Bye!” Scarlet doesn’t wait for a response, and starts walking in the direction of Topaz. 

“Wait!” Ruby calls out to Scarlet. “Don’t you remember what I said bout him?” She cries out to discourage him from leaving, “all his weirdness will rub off on you!”

Scarlet looks back to her. “Maybe! But he also looks like a lot of fun!” 

He continues his way over to Topaz, and makes his presence known with an enthusiastic: “Hello!” The lime green colt jumps from the sudden greeting. Scarlet continues, “My name’s Scarlet Heart, but I like Scarlet more! What’s your name?”

The colt looks around to check if Scarlet was actually talking to him. He finds no one else around. In disbelief Topaz shyly responds, “I’m Summer Topaz. Topaz for short.” He fidgets with the ball under his hoof. 

“I saw you playing with your ball from back there,” Scarlet smiles. “I was wondering if you wanted some company, cause what you were doing looked like fun!”

Topaz perks up. “Really?” 

Scarlet nods happily. 

“Yeah! Of course you can join! I have a couple of ideas of what we can do.”

The two colts happily start kicking the ball back and forth to each other, which turns into kicking the ball the hardest into the other. It’s all in good fun of course. They laugh all the way through. They start taking turns using a tree to bounce the ball against. They then change the game again. The colts try bouncing the ball on top of their heads. This time it’s much more successful than Topaz’s earlier attempt, but still not very successful. The two take turns with the ball.

Scarlet giggles as the ball falls to the ground after a good two bounces. “We’ll get it eventually,” an out of breath Scarlet comments with a smile.

“Yeah,” Topaz chuckles as Scarlet passes the ball over. “How does Fili-Second make it look so easy?” He throws the ball in the air.

“Wait! You know about the Power Ponies too?” Scarlet excitedly asks.

The ball hits Topaz on the head and rolls when it hits the ground.

Topaz beams with excitement. “Yeah! My mom reads it to me all the time!” 

“No way! My dad does the same thing!” Scarlet smiles wide. “I also just look at all the pictures a lot of the time.”

The two continue to excitedly chat about their shared interest. They recall their favorite pieces of action, and debate which Power Pony has the coolest powers.  They keep coming up with different topics to talk about related to comics until the end of recess. 

Scarlet dares Topaz to a race to the door that Ms. Quill stands waiting for all the foals after getting their attention. He eagerly accepts. Scarlet then blasts off, and Topaz starts following after. He then realizes he left behind the ball and turns back to get it. He has the ball in hoof, and turns back around. He finds himself alone again.

Topaz looks around to try and find Scarlet in the crowd of foals by Ms. Quill, but they all blend together from where he’s standing. The colt’s smile  deflates as he realizes that he lost his first friend. Topaz starts doubting the nature of their interactions. If they were even friends in the first place, maybe Scarlet was just taking pity on him for being the only colt by himself. Topaz’s mind continues to tell him similar thoughts as he slowly walks over to put the ball back in the box. 

Maybe Ruby talked to him, and he decided that he didn’t want to be around me anymore. Topaz thought, She keeps telling ponies I’m a weirdo after a cricket accidentally jumped into my mouth. It was one time!

The colt scowls as he joins the rest of the class around Ms. Quill, somewhat keeping his distance from the other kids. He looks down to the ground. His ears droop and his expression softens to a sad one, once he realizes that he’s the weird loner kid again. 

“Topaz!”

The sound of a familiar voice perks Topaz up again. He’s then nearly knocked off his hooves as someone runs into him with a hug. Topaz smiles when he sees that it’s Scarlet! He found him again, and is happy to see him!

“I got over to Ms. Quill and looked behind me and you weren't there!” Scarlet stops hugging Topaz. “I looked everywhere! I thought you vanished!”

Topaz looks at the concerned colt. “You were looking for me?” He asks in disbelief.

Scarlet chuckles. “Of course I did. We’re friends now!”

Topaz's smile grows. “Yeah!” His past worries fade away. “Yeah, we are!”

The two new friends giggle with joy from acknowledging their shared companionship. Topaz recalls to Scarlet the reason why he didn’t follow him. When they got back to the classroom, the two colts asked if they could change seats to be next to each other. Ms. Quill lets them, and is happy to see the two become such fast friends. The colts spend the rest of the school day together, much to the dismay of Ruby. Who continued to try and get the prince’s attention, but he was too busy goofing around with his new friend. 

The novelty of Scarlet being royalty wore off in the opinion of the rest of the class. Turns out he’s even weirder than they thought Topaz was. The colt’s mysterious allure faded away once they saw him eat dirt a couple times. The two colts don’t mind the thoughts of the other foals though. They’re new found friendship grows to best friend status and they play as many games and have as much fun as they can together. The two plan to hangout with each other as much as possible.

First // Prev // Next

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Actually sitting down and writing this kinda kicked my butt lol

Hope you liked it! I'm quite proud of how it all turned out :D

[cloudroots]

Introducing my mlp abridged series characters!!

Ft. some doodles that I made around 2 am

If I don’t talk about them to someone, I will explode

I’ve had this series idea in my head for a while now! I have a lot to say about it, but I’ll focus on characters here, since I’ve changed quite a bit in the plot department compared to the original show.

If anyone has any questions or wants to help me make this series a reality, feel free to reach out!

Twilight Sparkle

Wants to become an alicorn more than anything

Will do anything the Princess says for a chance at becoming one

Given immortality as a reward for her loyalty

Very important in Canterlot because of her connection to the Princess

The Princess is the only authority she respects 

Doesn’t want to be in Ponyville

Tired of this shit

Very similar to other abridged series versions

Spike the dragon

Twilight and Spike are friends and enjoy each others company

Spike keeps Twilight somewhat grounded

Has the same sense of humor as Twi

Rainbow Dash

Old timey military American accent

Was a Wonderbolt but was forced to retire

Constantly talking about her past adventures or her time in the academy

Rarity

Posh accent - so basically the same

Always seems to know more than she lets on

Uses her generosity to butter up ponies into doing what she wants

Showers Twilight with praise and gifts since she’s from Canterlot/works with the Princess

Hates Canterlot with a burning passion

Has a master plan to overthrow the Princess and rule herself

Pinkie Pie

Transgender mare /affectionate

Used to work in Canterlot as a scientist/engineer

Moved to Ponyville to discover herself and is the most happy she’s ever been

A large part of the community and they all love her

Very bubbly and smart

Applejack

Has beef with Twilight, likes to annoy her in anyway she can

Speaks fluent Spanish, and speaks it in a southern accent to annoy ponies

Has loads of outlandish theories that she shares with anyone that will listen

Casually chaotic

Fluttershy

The one that makes fandom references, and references other abridged series

Isn’t actually good with animals, only moved into the cottage because it has the best internet connection and is cheap

Somehow knows about mlp:fim and is a fan but doesn’t draw connections to her friends and the characters

Cottage came with all the animals, so she is working on handling and caring for them better

Applebloom

Takes everything way too seriously

Wants to make the world a better place, but doesn’t have the resources since she is a child

Concerned about the government

Makes “grand plans” that she takes too seriously and ropes her friends into helping her

Scootaloo

An orphan, newsies, New York accent

Basically down down for anything

Voice of reason while also being incredibly supportive of any plan Applebloom comes up with

Lives with her lesbian aunts

Sweetie Belle

Just happy to be included

Cheerful, doesn’t talk much

A very neglected child

Her friends like having her around

“…and I’m Sweetie Belle!!” :D

I have a lot of ideas for these characters! I even have ideas for character progression, where the annoyance the characters feel for each other turns to friendship.

The name I have currently for this project is: The Alicorns Abridged Series or AAS Since so much of the plot is around becoming an alicorn or about the alicorns. But I might change the name in the future we'll see

[cloudroots]

Babyboy baby // Cloudverse

Prev // Next

Back at it again with a monthly post :D

I wanted to show a little more of Scarlet’s life before I actually get into his arc, because it starts when he’s starting school and I thought going from being born directly to school was strange to me.

Because of this, you all get some cute family fluff :)

Went a little over board with this, but it’s cute so whatever. I put some closeups of my favorites at the end as well.

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Cadence and Shining love being parents, and they absolutely adore their little bundle of joy, Scarlet Heart. Of course being parents, especially new parents isn’t always fun or easy, but that doesn’t stop them from taking a million of pictures with their baby boy.

Above shows a bunch of the moments the family has shared with each other. And even though not much are happening I will give some short explanations for them:

The first one is an example of baby Scarlet Heart. I wanted to show how he would look with his colored lines and to show off his mane. His mane is eternally messy and won’t look the same from moment to moment.

A sweet bonding moment between Shining Armor and Scarlet.

Cadence learned quickly that babies like to grab and pull on hair. After a few times of Scarlet pulling on her scalp, she decides to change up her mane style to keep it out of the way. Shining does the same.

One night when Scarlet had the hardest time falling asleep. Shining stayed up with him while looking over some important papers relating to the empire. Scarlet finally falls asleep on his father’s lap.

A temper tantrum of the prince

Cadence made the cutest onesie, and it suits her son perfectly for the winter months.

Shining finds out the hard way how messy young foals can be.

Cadence has a lot of experience with entertaining foals, here she puts her stories and games to good use.

Little doodle of Scarlet to fill some empty space

Scarlet being cute looking at some bugs

Cadence looking at her family with love as they cuddle together for the night. Scarlet has a better time staying asleep when near his parents, so they do this quite a bit.

Another empty space filler

How the prince looks right before the next part. He’s around five here, excited to start school and meet new ponies :D

I loved putting all these cute scenes together! I hope you all enjoyed them too.

I got Shining's chair from here

[cloudroots]

Ponysonas revamped: Midnight Nightowl

Pronouns: They/them

Other facts about them:

One of the first forms that Blue came up with and kept

Has made slight changes to it over the years

Form used when feeling self confident/wants to feel self confident

Spends most of their time flying around at night or just vibes in the late hours of the night

Second tallest form, first being Tape

Has a cutiemark in this form. It doesn’t really have a meaning, and was designed by themself to keep attention away from themself

Since I forgot to actually design a cutiemark before uploading this: their cutiemark has a space/ night sky aesthetic

Loves being called handsome and gorgeous

Super proud of how this turned out! Even though it was kinda of pain at the end with all the gradients, stars and freckles. Still, look at that pretty horse right there, I made that. Also turns out I can’t be stopped from making smaller illustrations to fill up the empty space, so there might even be more when I get to the other ponysonas. Which neither are actually ponies

When I originally posted I mentioned that Midnight is the most feminine of all the forms, and only dates women and nonbinary people.

I have changed my mind on that as they are meant to represent me in a way, and I have discovered that making my sonas look masculine makes me feel more comfortable. I thought that changing Midnight a little was a good idea for me, so now they are more of a pretty boy. Them being both handsome with such pretty colors makes me happy. Also they date men now too.

Link to original Midnight post

Close ups and alts:

[cloudroots]

Happy Pride 2024🎉🎉

Hope it’s been a good pride month for everybody! Wanted to celebrate it with something before the month ended :)

Here’s three of the Cloudverse cast that I mentioned are queer in their bios. Here we have Eminence Rays, Center Stage, and Andante. Pretty much all my character are queer in some way, these are ones y’all are familiar with! Don’t care too much that the progress flag might not make sense in Equestria, I wanted to use it :)

Em and Cici usually celebrate pride together. They like to get all dressed and go to pride parades and such, they like to be loud are proud. Center especially likes to go all out and cover herself with sparkles and the colors of her flags.

Andante always knew that she was queer in his attraction to all kinds of ponies, but only recently in her adult life did they realize that they were genderfuild too. She is overjoyed in her new identity and has pride in it, but just doesn’t show as loudly as others do. Especially compared to Center and Em.

People celebrate pride in so many different ways, which I find absolutely wonderful! Hope whatever way y’all celebrated was a fun one, and wishing a happy rest of Pride!!