ponyworldbuilding

[ponyworldbuilding]

Writing advice from my uni teachers:

If your dialog feels flat, rewrite the scene pretending the characters cannot at any cost say exactly what they mean. No one says “I’m mad” but they can say it in 100 other ways.

Wrote a chapter but you dislike it? Rewrite it again from memory. That way you’re only remembering the main parts and can fill in extra details. My teacher who was a playwright literally writes every single script twice because of this.

Don’t overuse metaphors, or they lose their potency. Limit yourself.

Before you write your novel, write a page of anything from your characters POV so you can get their voice right. Do this for every main character introduced.

[ponyworldbuilding]

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[ponyworldbuilding]

Perfect - a rarishimmer ficlet

Rarity was perfect once. Sunset disagrees, mostly because the definition of perfect is inaccurate, anyway.

Read it on my website [HERE]

[ponyworldbuilding]

Ok AU idea What if rarity and Twi met for the first time as kids/foals AU how would this change their relationship?

Would they immediately become best friends? or would young twilight be very introverted since she gets bullied lots

Or would young rarity be excited to meet someone from the big city?

If they both lived in the same place, I think Twi would be an introvert not so much from bullying but because she's just... she doesn't care about other kids?? I can definitely see her and Rarity not meshing, but for whatever reason they keep seeing each other (school? parents? idk?) and Rarity brings along her little foal friendly romance books and detective novels and THAT gets Twilight interested

maybe they have a little bookclub????????? that would be cute,,,,

[ponyworldbuilding]

Secretly, Neither of them like each others pets

"It's just... it's creepy!" Rarity confessed to Rainbow Dash, ashamed. "Owlowiscious is always there, no matter where I look! Just... staring! And let me tell you, the last thing I want when having an intimate moment with my marefriend is for her owl to stare at us the entire time!"

"Ewwwww, Rares! Too much information, dude! Too much information!"

----

"It's just... it's like it hates everypony," Twilight told Applejack over a couple of ciders. "And I like cats! I know some ponies think cats are all 'evil' or something--"

"'Cause they are," Applejack replied.

"But this one actually does hate everything! I don't think I've ever seen Opal happy once in my entire relationship with Rarity!"

"I'm tellin' you, Twi. Cats?" Applejack narrowed her eyes. "Evil."

--- taking little raritwi prompts for a bit, feel free to send me asks w/ them

[ponyworldbuilding]

My Equestria Girls Headcanons!

Alright, I'm going to start with Sunset since I feel that she is the center of Equestria Girls.

My main change pre-friendship games is that both Pinkie and Fluttershy are her best friends. Both of them are the nicest ever! I also really love the importance of Fluttershy being one of the first to really befriend her because Sunset was quite mean to her and Fluttershy scares very easily, meaning that it probably deeply affected her. At first Rainbow is very untrusting of Sunset and keeps telling Fluttershy that she doesn't like how she and Sunset are becoming close. Fluttershy tells her that she can take care of herself and tells Rainbow to trust her. Once Rainbow lets go of her distrust, of course she and Sunset enable each other's crazy ideas wonderfully.

OH speaking of enablers Flash and Sunset become besties and he is also a part of their crazy schemes (and Pinkie of course). Fluttershy just anxiously watches.

After friendship games, I see Sunset going to study with Princess Twilight in Equestria while the homies are at school. She still lives in EG realm and spends lots of time with her friends don't worry! At first, Sunset is nervous to approach Celestia, but Celestia asks her if she would do her the honor of being her student again. Sunset gives an emotional yes, and their relationship is very mother/daughter. She joins Twilight on friendship quests when needed as a hands on application to her studying.

Meanwhile, Princess Twilight, while technically no longer a student at all, begins to train with Princess Luna in addition to her duties. Seeing Sunset train under Celestia, learning the same lessons that she did, she gets the odd feeling that Sunset was always meant to be the one learning the magic of the Sun. Furthermore, she sees Sunset taking and interpreting Celestia's lessons in ways she never did, like it just made sense for Sunset. Working with Luna, her world opens up and she connects with herself and those around her on a deeper level. By accessing dreams and aiding in friendship problems within them (similar to things we've canonically seen Luna do) she opens up more avenues for fulfilling her duties. She and Luna also become very close as Twilight recognizes and connects with the urges to isolate, overwork oneself, and the need to prove oneself. They also struggle with tolerating making mistakes and struggle to not view mistakes as proof that they are failures. The guilt complexes run deep. Of course, they also bond over knowing that that is not the healthy way to deal with these emotions. They understand each other and help each other grow!

Back in EG world, Rarity and Applejack are THE highschool sweethearts. Everyone at school knew that they would get together but they were still excited when they finally did.

What not everyone knew is that they almost didn't. Rainbow Dash confided to Rarity that she was growing feelings for Applejack. Rarity resigned herself to letting her friend experience the joy that she wanted. And, she did have to watch in agony as Rainbow Dash and Applejack dated for a week. It was an awkward courtship that ended in deciding that they just worked better as best friends. Once they had broken up, Applejack confessed a few weeks later that she had always had feelings for Rarity. Yay!

Rainbow Dash feels a little embarrassed about how how dating Applejack turned out. It turned out to be an infatuation in the end, but it didn't make her feel any less foolish. Luckily, she had her oldest friend Fluttershy, who always made her feel better when she needed it. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash are that slowburn where it's really obvious to everyone but them. Their relationship dips when Fluttershy gets frustrated at Rainbow Dash. She feels that Rainbow never makes room for her feelings and the things that she wants to do. At first Rainbow is defensive and gets mad back. But, she quickly goes back and apologizes to Fluttershy and says that she didn't realize she was doing that and of course she wants to know what Fluttershy is feelings and wants to do things that she wants to too!!! Fluttershy says that its not entirely her fault because she didn't say anything. They make up. Yay!! and also spend even more time (they already spent a lot) together as Fluttershy makes Rainbow do things like volunteer at the animal shelter with her and go horseback riding. Also, kind of random, but I think Fluttershy is secretly like really good at archery. During Rainbow's later half of senior year, she dates Lightning Dust, Crystal Prep's star soccer player. It's very toxic but Rainbow doesn't realize it until the damage has already been done. During their time dating, Rainbow gets tired of Fluttershy avoiding Lightning Dust, and starts to agree with Lightning that Fluttershy is holding her down so they grow apart. Ultimately, this is what makes Rainbow realize that Lightning is harmful for her as she is manipulated into becoming isolated from all of her friends. Of course, Fluttershy (and the rest) forgive her.

So Pinkie and Sci Twi... I'm not 100% sure where I want their stories to go. I definitely think Sci Twi is Pinkie's other best friend, so it's a matter of do I ship them or not. I'm not sure on this matter, but they definitely have hang outs where Pinkie bakes while Twilight studies and they have little conversations when Twilight needs a break from studying. Also Sci Twi gets really into the science of baking and she and Pinkie enter baking contests where Pinkie does the designs and decor while Twilight bakes the thing to scientific perfection. Sunset, Pinkie, and Sci Twi are the trio of the century and are given the superlative of "best trio" in the yearbook. On Sunset's birthday Twilight and Pinkie make her a cake with her favorite flavors decorated with memories from their friendship. It may or may not have made her cry. Oh, also the Pinkies (EG vs Equestria) like to switch every once and a while. They don't tell anyone. Sunset and Sci Twi figure it out after a while, but they play along.

I have more for all of them and stuff for college but I think that this post is long enough so I'll make a part two.

[ponyworldbuilding]

Why are they in high school?

So this is something I've been thinking about ever since I tried to put my own thoughts together on how many years actually pass in Friendship is Magic. Why are they all teenagers on the other side of the mirror portal? Why is Sunset Shimmer the same age as them? Why are there thousand-year-old sirens busting down their doors?

To start (bear with me), and something that I scoff at personally and don't follow, is that based on quotes in certain episodes there's only been somewhere between two and three years of time passing across FiM's runtime for the ponies. It doesn't make any sense based on the seasons passing but for explaining this concept I'm just going to use the numbers (My personal headcanon goes by season changes and works out to about nine years, and I think that paces things in the world better, but it's all up to interpretation with this spaghetti anyway). Lets say from Nightmare Moon's return to Twilight's coronation as ruler is about three years.

So then, Equestria girls would have happened over two and a half years? How long are these girls in high school?? But, aha, I have an idea that fixes this.

TIME DILATION

OooOoooOoooOoo!

So so basically, if you actually look at the contents of Equestria girls, it could reasonably fit into a final year at high school. They only spend half of it on campus too! The latter half could be approaching and after graduation. It all fits! It fixes everything and it's just beautiful and I am shocked that I haven't seen anyone's fics include it before. A three to one ratio of passing of time would explain why Sunset doesn't seem any older than the others even though she's a student from before Twilight was over a decade ago! If they're graduating highschoolers, they're younger than pony Twilight but close enough in age that she could probably fit in. It even makes Sunset's sudden appearance make more sense, as she has had much less time to figure out the portal or have a reason to use it.

It still doesn't make perfect sense, as in theory this alternative dimension has existed for thousands of years and yet there's all the same ponies and people, but magic is weird. Maybe that itself could be a fic, how does that portal do everything that it does?

Thank you for listening to my little rant about how to fill in this plot hole. It's easily overlooked for most fic writing, but I think something like this could make an excellent conflict in a post-show fic. How do our favourite ponies and girls deal with the time gap and their rapidly increasing age gap?

[ponyworldbuilding]

This honestly sounds like a fantastic premise to put alongside the main timeline without having to swap ponies. What shenanigans do the crystal ponies get up to while Twilight and her friends are back in Ponyville? Why is Cadance so happy about breaks away from it all with Twilight if it's just managing one fairly calm city-state? Maybe it isn't, maybe there's a lot going on our regular heroes don't get called in for?

An AU where Cadence and Sombra swap places with Celestia and Luna. Cadence being the Alicorn of Light and Sombra the Alicorn of Shadows. Celestia being the ancient unicorn sorceress, and Luna being the recently ascended Alicorn.

Optional additions-

The main kingdom in mlp fim now being the Crystal Empire.

The frozen north being the new "Everfree forest" the Crystal Heart the new "tree of harmony" and the original city the empire started the "castle of the two sisters"

The Everfree forest the new "frozen north" and the Tree of Harmony the new "crystal heart"

Celestia being the Queen by conquest of a kingdom in the Everfree forest, wanting to use the Tree of harmonies power for herself.

[ponyworldbuilding]

I'm back \o/ After so many months, I think I'm past the point where this blog is still assignment material. Doing actually enjoyable university projects always come with that caveat, but that's long been marked so I'm freeeee

Expect more infrequent brain rot posting in the future.

[ponyworldbuilding]

Twilight's dedicated to study could have very well started as trying to understand what happened on that day and what it meant. We never really get to see an answer to why that surge happened past "it happens to young children sometimes and she's the element of magic", I wonder if she ever found a more detailed answer. Perhaps her discovery of Nightmare Moon and the elements was a part of that search for answers?

With how intense Twilight's magical surge was when getting her cutie mark realistically, she would have scars from flying debris. With how strong the magic was, she could have completely burned off the fur on her horn completely and made her horn unable to grow fur back.

If you want to go to extremes she could have lost the horn completely if Celestia wasn't fast enough.

She was probably extremely exhausted from magical overuse and i wouldn't be surprised if they had her stay in the hospital for a few hours at least maybe even a dsy or two. A magic surge that strong for a kid that young is probably pretty serious and seriously taken. She probably had to wear a magic dampener of some kind during the first few months or even year of being taught magic by Celestia just out of precaution. And more for Twilight's physical health than anything. Magic that strong in such a small body is probably uncomfortable at least

[ponyworldbuilding]

These get especially interesting when you consider the motivations that a nightmare form may have. Nightmare Moon wanted revenge and love after feeling abandoned and neglected and tried to take charge of Equestria as a sole monarch.

What would it take for Princess Celestia to break? Pressure? Another crisis? Boredom? She's very difficult to break, having maintained composure after a thousand years of ruling on her own. Perhaps, a big enough

Twilight Sparkle has a fairly obvious breaking point, outliving her friends, but I think other situations could do the same. The movie showed that Twilight nearly cracked under the strange world that exists outside of Equestria's borders, perhaps a war or politics in general could do the same to her? Make her put aside the magic of friendship to save those she loves.

Cadence would break easily if her husband or baby were put in enough danger, I'm not sure what else would. Whatever was able to, though, she'd be the least stable of the four.

That's also interesting to think about, what the end goal of each looks like. Nightmare Moon is shown to have relatively stabilised after banishing her sister, ruling over a darkened Equestria for at least a few years successfully. I could see Twilight doing similar, aggressively blocking Equestria from the rest of the world and being overprotective. I could also see her doing something very, very drastic to the magic of the world. Princess Celestia I think is mostly a question of who her wrath and fire are directed at. Cadance, I'm not sure.

It's a very interesting rabbit hole to dig into.

Let's over analyze cartoon horses! Which princess would be the most Terrifying to have a nightmare form.

Luna is obvious, she's the original, she's Nightmare Moon. She controls the moon, darkness, and probably the dreamscape. So semi control over the mind. Honestly, probably not the most Terrifying power wise. She makes up for it in theatrics and not being afraid to holp up on threats.

Celestia and Daybreaker. Canonical version is basically just a reskin of Nightmare Moon that Starlight Glimmer made during a Nightmare. But an actual version would be worse. With power from the solar fire, daylight, and whatever else the sun and day can give her. Her powers alone make her Terrifying. She wouldn't even need the theatrics. Just her presence would be enough. Much like the sun itself. Her hair is dangerous by itself, probably being solar fire. You probably need sun screen and sun glasses to even be some what close to her. Don't look her in the eyes, you might go blind

Twilight Sparkle is the alicorn of friendship. Not very threatening sounding at first? But read the title of the show again. "Friendship is magic" she is inherently the alicorn of magic itself. She is probably one of the strongest of the alicorns, being magic itself. And magic itself corrupting would be absolutely Terrifying. Especially in a world made up of nearly nothing but magic. Would everything around her corrupt as well? Like Discord and his chaos but anything made of magic within her vicinity?

Cadence canonically is stated to be just of love, but I wouldn't be surprised if she had an affinity over all emotions and inherently the mind. She's probably very resistant to corruption, she was part of her life by Celestia and taught by her as well. So she probably learned a lot of Celestia's tricks to resistance from corruption that she learned over a thousand plus years. And just being the alicorn of mind probably gives her resistance to some degree. Can't mind trick the deity of the mind. But if she did become corrupt, she'd probably be one of the most Terrifying. She can control minds, what others feel. She wouldn't need to do much to make an army. She wouldn't need to do much to sneak into places. And she can probably easily trick others into a false sense of security because her title is of love and she's pretty and pink. She would be horrifying if corrupted. What king Sombra wished he could be. But I'm also extremely horrorified by the idea of something like mind control and/or complete loss self anatomy, so I'm probably biased

Conclusion! If you ask me Cadence. Logically probably Celestia and/or Twilight Sparkle because they might as well have a big red destroy the world button. One has the sun and the other is connected to the very fabric of reality (alicorn magic)

[ponyworldbuilding]

Princess Twilight Sparkle hasn’t been seen for hundreds of years, your flank recently grew a symbol on it and now your horn casts magic! That’s right, today we’re talking about Hasbro’s “official fan fiction”, My Little Pony: A New Generation. You’re probably wondering why I call it that, and I do too! This series started in 2021 with a movie, placing itself distinctly within the confines of the Equestria of Friendship is Magic. Except it didn’t, there are differences and changes. As a sequel, I think this latest generation serves as an important lesson in fan fiction writing, retcon and universe presentation.

I stumbled across this article recently and realised that my concerns and feelings with the newly released series are applicable across writing of any narrative that is trying to exist within a pre-established universe. Like the romance that article describes, it could be made completely original without destroying its primary story. Since the very opening of its debut movie, generation five of My Little Pony has had strong and direct ties to its preceding generation. Rather than an entirely new story, it’s similar to many other “next generation” stories in various media. The debut movie was an enjoyable watch that excited fans, myself and reviewers alike. However, the generation as a whole has both struggled to follow and utilise the material its supposed to be set after.

When diverging from an existing canon, it’s important to make that clear very early on in any work. The audience is expecting to have knowledge that they can apply to the writing, insights that they can use with new information to theorise and get excited about the new direction of a story. If it is not clear early on how divergent things are, then an audience can no longer have confidence in their existing knowledge. One of the key benefits to expanding an existing work is suddenly lost.

The time travel and alternative universe tropes are good examples of this when done well. Within the first few paragraphs or minutes of this new narrative there are clear and present details that highlight change. The audience is able to clearly determine that they aren’t supposed to rely entirely on what they know. Spider-Man: Across The Spider-verse does just that. Articles and reviewers and audiences love its expressive use of style and colour to make a beautiful visual spectacle, but these techniques are also used to divide and differentiate each alternate universe.

A New Generation has been doing the opposite. In almost three years, several comics, a video game, 5 chapters of a main series and many episodes of a mini-series, I still can’t figure out whether this generation is trying to faithfully follow Friendship is Magic but has writing issues or is set within its own Equestria that looks very similar in some ways but very different in others. The most plot relevant details (no spoilers) often do not require a connection to Friendship is Magic to work, but we’re showered with smaller references and connections constantly. It feels like the writers are trying to keep me interested because I liked Friendship is Magic, rather than trying to get me to like A New Generation. Never do this with your own writing.

If a story does not need to be connected to another piece of media, DO NOT make that connection. Sequels are at their best when they expand upon what was established to make something new. Fan fiction is most interesting when it explores and expands upon what was missed or could have been different. Use the tools and world you have been given to explore to their fullest or make your own.

[ponyworldbuilding]

This is a fascinating idea to explore! It’s a very simple timeline difference to change that has huge impacts on the greater universe that can be written about. The personality differences and introduction of Discord make a lot of sense from an immortal’s mental stability point of view. As an immortal, others die so often that it becomes hard to attach and socialise without another immortal that can act as an anchor that doesn’t change like the rest of the world. It’s the difference between a your entire coworker group changing every week and the same thing but with a friend who’s always there.

The addition of reincarnation into this alternate universe is also very interesting. Is Cadance still an alicorn here, and if she is are there now different tiers of alicorn? A story could very easily be about Twilight Sparkle exploring this deep connection she has to the past and her mother figure. I’m excited to see if anyone turns this idea into a reality! Some other ideas and notes I have to add are;

What happens when Celestia discovers the connection?

If Luna’s final emotions are something she has to deal with, does she remember other things?

Could that change how she sees her mother figure?

An AU where Celestia couldn't get to the elements of harmony in time for one reason or another and was forced to kill her sister after she turned into Nightmare Moon. Celestia was distraught, her little ponies cheering just making it so much worse. She becomes cold and distant from her subjects. She grows overwhelmingly lonely and she decides to free Discord under certain conditions. The basics being, He gets his chaos as long as no one gets hurt, and both of them get companionship and rule together as equals. He decides to humor her at first planning on rebelling at any opportunity, but really understanding the situation when finding Luna's burial site and being told what happened. The two rule Equestria for over a thousand years together, growing extremely close. On the anniversary of Luna's death, a purple unicorn joins Celestia's school of magic, one that uncannily reminds Celestia of her sister. And one with more magic than someone her age should have.

Optional additions-

Celestia is intimidating and feared by others do to her more serious, colder, and reclusive personality.

Discord has become the public figure. His chaos has surprisingly become well loved, why did he ever use it for harm?

Twilight Sparkle is the reincarnation of Luna, as a result she has problems with leftovers of Nightmare Moons dark magic. She is being trained by both Celestia and Discord to help control this. Her magic surge caused an entire 24 hours of nighttime, and she hatched a dragon egg. Spike looks very similar to a ursa minor, and while not as big as a ursa minor is rather big for a baby dragon.

Celestia might as well be Twilight's mother, Discord is like her weird uncle.

Pinkie Pie becomes Discords student for similar reasons Twilight Sparkle becomes both his and Celestia's. Hard to control magic, in Pinkie Pies case more chaos magic than any mortal pony has ever had. Pinkie Pie and Twilight Sparkle become close childhood friends.

[ponyworldbuilding]

Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestia..

Last month, 654 works of fan fiction were added to a single site about a tv show aimed at children under the age of ten. That site, Fimfiction.com, has 149,863 individual works on it (or 2,494,562,641 words if you want a bigger number). More than a few are quite good in my opinion. If Friendship is Magic ended over four years ago, how is it that so many works are still being written about it? The characters and story are very well loved and help of course, but the setting is where things truly shine.

Equestria is the continent spanning nation of ponies that My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is set within. Equestria was founded thousands of years before Twilight Sparkle’s era by three tribes of different ponies banding together. After some time, two sisters came to rule it together. They were alicorns, a powerful mix of the three races of ponies. Even after a falling out, one of the sisters ruled over Equestria for a thousand years of relative peace. This sister, Princess Celestia, trained a pupil to eventually aide in reuniting the two sisters. She failed the first time, but tried again. That second pupil was Twilight Sparkle, that reuniting of the two sisters was episode one. You could write a dozen different stories exploring that history, those concepts alone.

The characters are very beloved, but it’s Lauren Faust’s foundational concepts, races and history that allow such thriving. A monarchy is not a new story concept, but an immortal monarchy is much less common. A country full of cheery sunshine and rainbows is acceptable because they’re colourful ponies and its a kids show, but when you consider that it has been ruled and sculpted by a monarch who is also a veritable god (maintains the sun’s movement), things get interesting. Are the ponies so friendly because it’s in their nature, or are they just subtly herded in that direction (Instant story idea)? Because ponies are so friendly by nature, the capitalist society we live in never took off. Most things are built by hoof still, clothes are tailored rather than mass produced (this is also partially because they’re ponies, clothes aren’t mandatory). It is weird and different and most importantly of all, it makes sense.

On that note, what fascinates you the most about Equestria? What doesn’t make sense? (I’ll answer that one next time).

[ponyworldbuilding]

Let's begin

Why world building, why My Little Pony, and why do I care? (And why you should too!)

While I will argue that My Little Pony’s fourth iteration, Friendship is Magic, is a fantastic cartoon that’s enjoyable by people of all ages, I first started watching it when I fit within its target demographic. It’s a cheerful show about a group of friends who get up to various adventures in their quiet town. It’s easy to watch passively, it’s fun to really pay attention to, and I faithfully did that for the nine years of its runtime. The characters are fascinating to me, and so is Equestria.

Unlike many fictional universes, Equestria is built fundamentally different to Earth, ponies are fundamentally different to humans. Where humans have hands, ponies don’t. The stories and slice-of-life that the ponies get up to is charming enough on its own but there’s so many novel changes and concepts that I just find fascinating to stumble across and fun to watch the ponies overcome. That novelty can be hard to find anywhere else. While I watched the show for its characters and relatable struggles and life lessons, it was the fanfiction that kept me excited through the gaps in episode releases.

If Equestria were a box of toys, fan fiction is the stories people come up with playing with their action figures. I was and still am one of those people. Reading other’s expressions of what they love is where I got my own love of reading, wanting to try out my own ideas in the same way is how I discovered that I enjoy writing just as much. I started my career in writing by “role playing” out stories with other fans of Friendship is Magic. It was far from proper narrative writing, but the ideas that we could explore and the obstacles and quirks that come with quadrupedal characters have given me a vivid imagination geared toward details and immersion. It’s still fun to analyse what made this show and its universe so important to me, so I made this blog.

Analysing exactly how Lauren Faust’s creation has come to be so loved and utilised, down to the smallest details, is my own lesson in how to immerse a reader in original works and avoid conflicting setting elements I'd like to share with everyone. Why do ponies have steam trains and airships alongside arcade machines and DJ tables? Why do they have printing presses and modern dams, but not a single ball-point pen?