It has been my dream to have a shamelessly self-indulgent pony-posting account since I first watched MLP:FiM around 9 years ago, and so here I finally am! I have so so so many ocs and nextgens and drawings to show you all, and I am so excited!
First things first, my ponysona! This is Snow Day (any pronouns)! They are a young adult unicorn/mule with a heavily snowflake-patterned coat. She lives in Rainbow Falls (enjoying the cold weather between the Crystal Mountains and the Yaket Range), and makes her living via the yearly Trade Exchange and Hearth's Warming Craft Fair. He has yet to discover his special talent/cutie mark, but he doesn’t mind taking his time to find it, since he enjoys the hobbies he does for fun just as much.
(Heartache of chaos ask) where is spike? I want to hope he’s immune, or at least that his mind is intact like Zecora…
Children are...an interesting breed in a world now engulfed in chaos. To still believe in childish things, the blessing of constant change, where minds are not fully intact.
How can madness be placed in a mind never quite sane...? To them, this is no apocalypse, but a fable with an end and a lesson to learn. Mighty hardy they are, so full of vigor and rage for every injustice.
The youth are our future and will fight for a better tomorrow. Chaos could never affect them, for they were born from it. Little tornadoes, keepers of havoc, you will see the sun yet again.
-and little dragon, be brave now. Your fire will pave the roads for you are hope.
ive just seen the american psycho characters drawn as my little ponies and honestly i dont think patrick should have been given that cd as his cutie mark. i think you're doing it wrong if you're not making him a perpetual blank flank
look if you're gonna draw characters as my little ponies you have to remember that the cutie mark can't just be any old imagery you associate with them. it has to be Representative. it's their Unique Characteristic. to quote the pony wiki page i just googled, "Twilight and Applejack point out in Call of the Cutie how lacking a mark means that ponies still get to experience 'the thrill of discovering who they are and what they're meant to be'." there's narrative shit going on here there's Themes. and patrick bateman is NOT unique. he has NOT discovered who he is or what he's meant to be. the end monologue of the book is literally about how he has absolutely nothing going for him in this regard & is simply a vacant, hollow person merely vacuously gesturing at the idea of having depth. and when he rants about music, that's what he's doing there, too. his lyrical analysis is shallow/vaguely inaccurate summaries at best and completely warped at worst. everything he has to say about music--and in general--is intensely fixated on commodities and on appearing normal and intelligent while being entirely devoid of any intelligent or individual thought. so no, his cutie mark is not music. mr "missing that hip to be square is about making fun of conformist squares & proudly proclaiming that its actually about how fucking Awesome it is to be conformist and consumerist" does NOT have a fucking cd cutie mark. He's a blank flank. He has no unique identity. There is no future for him. There is no self identity. He's a fucking blank flank. okay? sorry i got a little passionate about this. there is no exit and he has no cutie mark
Why I love Twijack OR My excuse to show off all the fic ideas I have for Twijack: A Manifesto
Someone on twt asked for a Twijacker's explanation on why they liked the ship so much, so I thought it was the perfect time to post this here as well.
What they have in common:
I'll start with what they have in common so you can see why they complement one another and work off of the possibilities of their relationship from here:
They were both parentified at a young age
Both are stubborn hard workers
Both are practical and are intelligent in their own ways
Both are often seen in leadership roles, wanting to be responsible while being very adept in organization and planning (Despite this, AJ is also willing to be Twilight's right hoof mare
Both have a huge amount of respect for each other and can always end up seeing eye to eye
Both are very reasonable ponies, so when they fight, they don't ragebait each other or push each other's buttons INSTEAD, they talk it out and resolve things like two reasonable ponies do. They don't butt heads and there's no power struggle.
Their conflict:
Now, with the things I've said so far most people would probably brush them off as boring and you'd probably think they wouldn't have any interesting conflicts or interactions. But au contraire, if used correctly, can be used to set up some pretty interesting scenarios. Taking a page from bookplayer's...book (hehe) they're generally a very flexible duo and stories about them can either have it focused on their interactions or the plot itself, because their interactions wouldn't drown out the plot, but instead add to it.
So while their conflict wouldn't stem mainly from different personalities, mistakes or lack of communication it WOULD stem from them both being very self-sacrificial and loving. This makes the conflict hurt all the more BECAUSE they love each other so much. BECAUSE you know neither of them has any ill will towards each other and just wants the best for each other, having them deal with a conflict where only one of them gets hurt is ALL THE MORE PAINFUL.
Realizing their feelings:
Let's start with the possibilities of conflicts when they realize their feelings. When Twilight realizes she has feelings for AJ, she treats it like an anomaly and starts overthinking. Like if AJ brushes her hoof, twilight will go home to create string boards trying to decipher what every little action means. She'll try to control the crush, research it, and scrutinize it, but her desperation for control is exactly what makes her fall deeper. When AJ calms her down her brain halts and she thinks Oh. I need her presence. No. I need her. Period. I want to spend the rest of my natural lifespan with her.
How this can be used:
Imagine a fic where twilight has prophetic dreams about being with AJ. Whenever she gets deja vu during one of their interactions, she starts freaking out and pushing AJ away thinking out of fear of suddenly confessing her harbored feelings.
Or, imagine a fic where Twilight gets hit by a spell where she can’t lie, and AJ tries to help her with it. Unfortunately Twilight is also trying to hide her harbored feelings for Applejack and wants to avoid her, but the Mane 4 keep asking questions and Applejack just won’t stop trying to help her. You could use her anxiety very well to create chaotic avoidance situations
Meanwhile, when applejack realizes her feelings, she takes it like she takes all her problems. She stuffs it in a chest, locks it, avoids it, maybe even runs away from it. If we remember how she deals with problems in Applebuck Season or The Last Roundup, she'll most likely work herself to exhaustion trying to avoid it. She'd rather take a one way ticket train to Dodge Junction than ask for help to face it head on. Not to mention her imposter syndrome, where it could make her think and feel that she's not good enough for someone like Twilight. So when Twilight does something for AJ like work with her or defeat a villain without caring about getting mud all over herself or without any hesitation, Applejack just stares at her and her brain goes Oh. She ain’t just some fancy Canterlot Noble. She’s willing to do anything fer us. An’ I want all of that to be mine.
How this can be used:
Imagine a fic where Applejack and Twilight think they’re about to die, so Applejack confesses to Twilight and promises her a romantic dinner if they ever get out. They get saved 10 minutes later. Applejack tries to laugh off the promise (being her avoidant self) but Twilight’s already considering what she should wear.
Ways they get together:
Because of that, there are so many ways to get them together and still keep it interesting. Here are some of my examples:
Imagine after a battle, the two are checking each other for injuries. Twi is shaking trying to heal a scrape on AJ’s shoulder, so AJ pulls her into a crushing and desperate hug. They both admit that they can’t keep pretending that they’re just friends when the thought of losing each other specifically terrifies them more than anything else.
But most of the time they are both too stubborn and self-sacrificial to try to act on their own feelings, so their friends/or some supernatural force often intervene.
Imagine a fic where the CMC’s ask them for dating advice. Out of convenience, Twilight asks help from AJ, and they act out a whole date in front of the CMCs. At first Applejack’s laughing it off and Twilight’s being very clinical about it, but then they both seem to stop acting when they start genuinely talking and complimenting each other. A comment from the CMCs bring them back to reality and they start acting again. But things turn real when the CMCs ask them to kiss for reals cuz a cheek kiss doesn't cut it, they need a demonstration!
When the mane 4 catches Twilight silently yearning and staring at a sleeping Applejack, they hatch a plan to get the pair to realize their feelings and get together. Matchmaking chaos ensues
Pinkie Pie throws a party and reveals she put "Love Poison" (it's just strawberry juice) in the punch. Thinking they are doomed to fall in love, Twilight and Applejack stop holding back their feelings, confessing everything because "it's the potion talking." When Pinkie reveals it was just juice, they are holding hooves and have to explain why they are still holding on.
Twilight finds an ancient artifact that measures compatibility. It accidentally activates when AJ is around, creating some sort of magnet that prevents them from being more than 5 feet apart for a large amount of time. Now they have to fight to survive each other’s routines.
Relationship firsts:
First Hoof Hold (OMG Scandalous): This most likely happens during an anxiety streak, where one of them casually slides over their hoof and holds the others with firm but steady calmness.
First ILY: It could be a domestic accident, where it just seems to be so natural, that they don’t even notice it happening at first. Like they could be drinking coffee in the morning and AJ or Twi would be like “Can you pass me the sugar? Thanks, I love you.” Then they’d both freeze realizing what one of them just casually blurted out. Maybe they’d even only notice it when they’re out of the room.
The dynamic:
All this internal panic bleeds into their very dynamic. See, they depend on each other deeply. Twilight needs AJ's grounding and calm nature to steady her when she's freaking out. AJ needs Twilight to pull her out of her avoidant stupor. Not to mention the fact that they've both shown their ability to be vulnerable around each other a lot of times in the show.
You can use that to play with their dynamic a lot. This gets you a lot of shipping fuel like:
Their nicknames towards each other whenever they’re affectionate vs whenever they’re fighting. Like for example AJ would call Twilight, ‘Princess’, ‘Twi’ or ‘Sugarcube’ whenever she’s being affectionate then call her your royal highness, whenever they’re fighting. Twilight could call Applejack ‘AJ’ or ‘Jackie’ when she’s being affectionate and ‘Stubborn Mule’ when not.
Wordless communication between them like little simultaneous eye rolls whenever the other 4 are acting particularly quirky that day or talking via head nods and eye contact when a crisis hits Ponyville.
Their quiet love language that doesn’t need loud acknowledgement or even words. Basically using acts of service to show devotion to each other.
Each of them being very protective towards the other in their own ways like AJ just reaching out a hoof to stop Twilight from walking into traffic while she’s distractedly reading, or perhaps Twilight just wrapping a blanket around AJ when she finds her resting from an exhausting harvest.
It can also get you adorable conflicts like:
Twilight’s obsession with organizing and overly complicated lists vs. Applejack’s own unique way of dealing with things. Magic vs Practical/classic craftsmanship.
Their need to feel useful clashing with one another leading to interactions like “No, let me fix the shelf”, “No! Let ME do it for you!”
Both of them telling each other to go to sleep while refusing to go to sleep themselves pulling each other into bed or maybe even getting each other sick because they just. Won’t. Stop. Working.
Apology styles and Comforting each other:
After fights and conflicts like that, one of them has to back down or they have to see things eye to eye to be able to fix it. Unfortunately, they are both terrible at backing down. Usually AJ cracks first, not because she thinks she’s wrong, but mostly because she literally cannot stand Twilight looking stressed or sad.
When Applejack Apologizes, she doesn’t use a lot of words. Instead, she just pops up at the castle with food, places it on Twilight's desk, nuzzles her with a soft “I was being stubborn as a mule. I’m sorry, sugarcube”
When Twilight apologizes, she wants to correct everything. She presents AJ with an incredibly researched, color-coded, long essay detailing where she went wrong and how she plans to correct her behavior in the future, ending it with nuzzles.
Affection and love language:
As for their affection and intimacy, neither of them have been shown to make sweeping romantic gestures. Both of them are very acts of service, words of affirmation type of ponies.
Giving:
When Twilight acts affectionate, she shows it by optimizing AJ’s life, making things easier for her, even without AJ noticing at times. She would get her that rusty old pie pan, because who wouldn’t want efficiency? She loves trying to solve AJ’s problems so AJ doesn’t have to carry all the weight alone.
Meanwhile, when AJ acts affectionate, she shows it through provision and grounding. If she catches wind that Twilight hasn’t slept or eaten in days, AJ just shows up with a bunch of food, moves the books aside, makes sure Twilight eats, and tucks her in bed while sleeping next to her to make sure she gets the sleep she needs. If she catches Twilight freaking out, she does everything in her power to calm her down while also being calm herself. She doesn’t do anything abruptly or without Twilight’s permission. She always asks if she can hold her.
Receiving:
Since Twilight is naturally anxious, she relies on AJ’s acts of service and words of affirmation to quiet her brain. She needs AJ to tell her to breathe and help come up with a solution to her problem (See: Best Gift Ever). She also craves parallel play, sitting in the same room with AJ, just enjoying the quiet times without all the pressure
Likewise, AJ relies on Twilight’s physical touch and quality time. To feel loved, she just needs that quiet, physical proximity. She just wants somepony to lean against her side on the porch after a long exhausting harvest. She feels most secure with Twilight there, real and staying.
They also have their own ways of acting sweet in private and in public:
In public: They’re both somewhat old-fashioned ponies so PDA isn’t really much of a thing for them. The way they show their love in public is through little micro-expressions and gestures like Applejack tipping her Stetson at Twilight specifically. Every time they see each other, their postures change and they somehow drift towards the other like magnets. It’s AJ holding Twi’s hoof through a crowd or Twi resting her chin on AJ’s shoulder to look at a map.
In private: Behind closed doors, all the shields come off. Twilight is clingy and tired, wanting to just bury her face in that chest fluff and just absorb AJ through osmosis. AJ, who has to be the responsible one all day, sheds that side of her and lets herself be vulnerable. Let Twilight hold her. Let them end up in a tangled messy pile of soft warm happy domestic love.
And when they find that someone’s sniffing around their territory, their jealousy tells are often very dangerous:
For Twilight: Twilight’s anxiety spikes and she gets twitchy. She may even pull rank. She’ll physically insert herself into the conversation and start aggressively using scientific vocabulary, dropping titles, using her role as a princess to monopolize AJ’s time by suddenly remembering an “urgent, top secret royal matter” they need to discuss. In private. Immediately.
For AJ: AJ goes completely still. Her voice drops and her drawl gets thicker. She will walk over, wrap a possessive hoof around Twilight and use politeness to scare off the offender. “Well now ain’t you friendly. But her highness and I have a schedule to keep. Have a nice day y’all.”
External Perceptions:
This brings us to my final point: which is how they are perceived and how they perceive the Mane 6:
How they act: As a couple, Twijack is incredibly considerate towards others as a couple. But they also act incredibly similar to parents because of their combined need to be responsible. Twilight organizes schedules and lists what they need to pack while AJ pushes everypony out the door and makes sure they brought everything. (See: Mean 6)
As for how they are perceived:
Rarity: is absolutely insufferable about them. She claims she knew from the start and is often on their backs about matching what they’re wearing. Even though neither of them cares about that, they still indulge her nonetheless.
Rainbow Dash: Groans and acts all grossed out whenever the two are being “sappy” and “lame”. In reality, she is incredibly relieved and happy for them, because she knows they have each others’ backs.
Fluttershy: Is just happy to be there for them. Occasionally though, she will gossip with Rarity about the two’s antics, whispering about how Applejack secretly bought Twilight a new bookshelf while Rarity giggles and tells Fluttershy that Twilight bought AJ a new blanket.
Pinkie: Much like Rarity, she memorized every anniversary and every development of their relationship. You could say she even has 100% accurate predictions of all their firsts and milestones. She also throws them a monthsary party every month complete with Sparkling Apple Cider Cupcakes (idk okay I was tryna be witty).
Conclusion:
They’re a very good couple who acts as each other’s home and rest when things get crazy. When they’re around each other, they don’t need to be any Princesses, or Star Pupils or Breadwinners, they can just be themselves, and that’s okay.
And that is why I love love love Twijack! (Sci-twijack is another story for another day lmao, but a lot of the things here can be said for them, they're just not the exact same couple.)
If you sat through allat thank you for listening to my (overly long ohmygod I've put more effort into this than I probably will in my thesis) ted talk.
This genuinely made my day, oh my goodness. In fact, this made all of our days! This is such a sweet thing to do, thank you so very much on behalf of myself and the other mods ♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️
Wildfire is a bit of a hermit, an anxious pegasus who prefers to live off the grid in the wilderness. They earned their cutie mark for doing controlled burns, even though it takes ponies a bit of convincing that they mean no harm by starting fires. It’s good for the environment every so often, they promise!
I love making fanart of ppls ponysonas and pony OCs it makes me so happy like I'm drawing a piece of someone's soul ik that's an awful way to word it but ykwim
i really like the young six and think the pillars deserved better
so! i'm going to write a whole piece about how each of them should have got their own episode, which episode in canon it would replace and why, as well as the basic plot and moral of each episode to make it feel as canon-compliant as possible. the episodes i have chosen are mostly inconsequential to the main story, however there wil be personal bias in here about which episodes are being replaced...
i'll be going off of personalities shown in show with as little headcanon as possible... but sometimes this is difficult. like genuinely what are flash magnus's personality traits other than generically "brave"
before i start:
all episode lessons will be simple to understand and perhaps lacking in nuance, as the show's target audience is young children first and foremost.
"she's all yak" will be heavily altered and not be yona-focused as i really dislike this episode for its yona and rarity characterisation. she will get a different episode to herself. on this note, "a rockhoof and a hard place" will not be counted as yona-centric despite her prominence as it's first and foremost about rockhoof
"molt down", "father knows beast", and "sweet and smoky" are not considered smoulder-focused despite her prominence as they are first and foremost about spike with her as a support
"student counsel" is not about silverstream in the same way the other examples are, she is support and the episode is about starlight and trixie more than anything
everything else is under the cut! lets go!
rockhoof and starswirl already got their own episodes with morals focused around them - "a rockhoof and a hard place" and "friendship university". the latter is more debatable on its focus on starswirl but i think it counts, as he not only learned not to get caught up in a scam but also the episode's moral of not stopping if you know something's right! he's the one raritwi explain that to, so i think it counts.
~ * ~ * ~
episode focus: silverstream
episode replacement and why: "the maud couple" for the simple reason that this plot has been done so many times before. it just feels like a rehash of older episodes about feeling left out, except it's about a new partner rather than friend. and i find mudbriar annoying maud deserves better
new episode plot: a silverstream-focused episode should be about her learning when to tone down her excitement and listen. the general plot would be one of her new friends having an issue and silverstream learning how to best deal with it. it also makes sense for this to happen as she is still getting to know her new friends.
the episode opens with gallus being upset about something, and silverstream's excitement and bubbly energy makes him laugh and feel better about it.
later, ocellus does badly on an assignment and is really upset about it.
instead of sitting down to talk to her about it, silverstream just tells her to cheer up because she'll do better next time, not noticing that ocellus just wants someone to talk to about it and listen to her.
she notices ocellus being more distant and talks to rarity about it, wondering what she did. rarity gets her to talk through her recent interactions with ocellus, pointing out the above event as what likely upset ocellus. "sometimes the most generous thing is to know when to listen rather than cheer someone up, and lend your time to listen" or something! (could also be pinkie advising her that while laughter and happiness are important, sometimes you have to put that aside to listen)
she apologises to ocellus, listens to her concerns and comforts and supports her instead of being her usual excitable self, and they make up.
~ * ~ * ~
episode focus: somnambula
episode replacement and why: "non-compete clause" because..... its just "fall weather friends" with added child endangerment. completely pointless episode i always skip on rewatches.
new episode plot: im surprised mlp never did an episode focusing on self-love and how it can make other people love you more if you love yourself, cringe stuff like that. and i think somnambula is the perfect pony to explore that:
adjusting to the new equestria has been difficult for somnabula and she feels a lot less hopeful than she once did.
she goes to pinkie for advice - how does she stay so positive when things can be so tough? "sometimes simply hoping isn't enough," she says to pinkie.
pinkie explains that the two of them aren't so different! it's true, sometimes simply hoping isn't enough. but the key is to be happy and confident in yourself, which can inspire others, and she helps somnambula rediscover that, without getting egotistical about it of course.
the episode ends with somnambula becoming reinspired, wanting to spread this message as much as she can, and becoming the motivational speaker we see in "a rockhoof and a hard place".
~ * ~ * ~
episode focus: flash magnus
episode replacement and why: "the break-up break-down" because OH how i hate episodes that are just focused on stupid communication misunderstandings. i hate "swarm of the century" for the same reason. pinkie just EXPLAIN why you need those damn instruments.
new episode plot: this was difficult to come up with because flash magnus has the least defined personality out of all the pillars... all he is, that we see in the show, is brave.
flash is having difficulties adjusting to the new equestria, as the squad he used to be a part of was dissolved not long after he disappeared. the royal guard has changed so much since he was around, how is he supposed to deal with the change and go back to life as normal?
he speaks to somnabula about how she dealt with the change. she says that it was difficult for her too, but talking to friends can make any change easier to deal with by listening and offering advice. it's a brave thing to do, admitting you need help.
he ends up talking to rainbow dash, who advises him to talk to celestia and luna. they end up trying him out as head of the pegasus royal guard, which works out well. the moral is about opening up to your friends and the courage it can take to go to them about your problems, but good friends with always be there to listen.
~ * ~ * ~
episode focus: sandbar
episode replacement and why: "a matter of principals" because the "discord feels left out" has been done TWICE BEFORE by this point, it has no reason to exist imo. plus they teased us with that fake friendship quest discord sent them on, and NEVER GAVE US AN EPISODE SHOWING WHAT HAPPENED TO THE MANE 6, like they did with "just for sidekicks"??! surely they could have made a moral out of the fake friendship quest! so much untapped potential.
new episode plot: as we later see in "what lies beneath", sandbar is quite the people (pony?) pleaser. as such, his episode would focus on knowing when to stop helping if you're sacrificing your own health, much like "a health of information" (but focused on emotional rather than physical wellbeing). the other young six would also learn a lesson here. it would be similar to "suited for success", but not with physical gifts.
the episode opens with how sandbar has been excelling in his generosity lessons. his reports are stellar and rarity just gushes about how well he's doing!
sandbar, however, feels stressed. he's been doing a lot. helping gallus and smoulder with homework, helping ocellus and silverstream study, helping yona and cozy glow catch up on missed lessons. he's even been spotted doing other students's homework for them.
fluttershy is the one to pick up on this. she asks him how he's been feeling, and he opens up on how he loves helping other ponies but doesn't feel as if he can say no without hurting feelings, and it's made him have no time for himself. he's falling behind in his own studies.
fluttershy explains how it's very kind of him to offer his time to help everyone out, and that rarity is proud of him for his generosity. however, she's learned that sometimes you have to say no and prioritise yourself. you can never help everyone, and his wellbeing is important too. real friends would understand and wouldn't be upset with you for that.
when sandbar brings this up, the other young six members as well as cozy glow apologise to him and vow to only ask for help if they really need it, rather than asking simply because he always says yes. sandbar vows to be better at saying no, now knowing no one will be mad at him for doing so.
~ * ~ * ~
episode focus: gallus
episode replacement and why: "the point of no return" because the moral of not striving for perfection, while a good one, is... so out of place for mlp? i just feel this episode has no reason to exist.
new episode plot: gallus deserved a "friends can be your family" episode truly dedicated to him, so he will get it.
gallus hasn't been having an easy time lately. with all the turmoil over sombra's return, the families of the other young six have been in much more frequent contact with them to ensure their safety. gallus, however, hasn't had anything from grandpa gruff as his guardian, or any other griffin.
he becomes snappy and aggressive as he tries to deal with his jealousy, but it doesn't work. he ends up exploding on his friends when they all talk about their families, running away crying, as he feels left out as well as upset he doesn't have family that care for him like they do.
he ends up running into starlight who notices how upset he is. she invites him to her office so they can talk through the problem. he opens up about how he's jealous that everyone has family they can go back to and talk to, family that cares about them and loves them while he has nothing. he needs that support in his life.
starlight offers her own experience to help him out. her relationship with her dad hasn't always been easy, only recently reconnecting with him. but that's okay, because your friends can be like your family too. gallus likes this a lot - he does feel like his new friends are his family. starlight also encourages him to talk to his friends about this, and that she or any of the teachers can always offer more support as an older pony if he needs it.
he goes back to them as they ask if he's okay. he apologises and explains why he was so upset, as well as what starlight said. they're all ecstatic to be considered gallus's family, and vow to check in on him more to make sure he's okay.
~ * ~ * ~
episode focus: ocellus
episode replacement and why: "she's all yak". i may write a whole long thing at a later date about how badly this episode characterises rarity and yona. to summarise: the idea of "non-pony creature feels like they have to be more pony to go to the pony dance" fits ocellus so much more than proud yona... a yak... the species known for thinking they're the best and not wanting to change.
new episode plot: this one is going to stick to the original idea of loving who you are and not wanting to change, just focused on ocellus rather than yona.
twilight announces the amity ball will be taking place. and everyone's excited about it except ocellus. it's very pony-focused, and she isn't a pony. (the pony pal award isn't a part of this.)
she goes to talk to twilight about it. twilight is adamant that any and every creature is welcome and that she wants all her students to join in, as long as they're comfortable. ocellus ends up taking this the wrong way, thinking she wants everyone to join in pony-style. time to work on becoming a pony...
she starts reading up on old fetlock fete traditions, wanting to fit in. however, as we saw in "hearth's warning club", some changelings can misunderstand pony ways, and she ends up doing just that. instead of learning the dances, she simply learns to say the steps. instead of making a lucky pot with food inside, she makes the pot itself out of food.
she shows up to the dance in pony form, causing everyone else to be confused. but if that's how she wants to participate, there's nothing wrong with that, right?
rather than causing destruction like yona did, she ends up feeling like she embarrassed herself. during the first dance, she simply stands there reciting the steps instead of doing them, causing the other ponies to laugh at her. she gets embarrassed, turning back to her normal form and flying off to the treehouse while crying.
the other young six go to comfort her and sandbar explains that no one was expecting her to be a pony. the dance is for everyone, and they love her for being her. ocellus realises she doesn't have to change to fit in, and goes back to the dance. twilight apologises for confusing her and making her feel like she had to be a pony to participate. the episode ends with everyone, even ocellus, laughing about how she made her lucky pot itself out of cake rather than filling it with a meal.
~ * ~ * ~
episode focus: yona
episode replacement and why: "2,4, 6, greaaat". my least favourite episode of the whole series. why did they do all that to rainbow dash after she became a wonderbolt? she regressed so much! the writers did her so dirty so i pretend this ep doesn't exist alongside several others ("secrets and pies"...................)
new episode plot: yona's pride in herself is well known and loved by her friends. however, when she starts getting too arrogant and putting others down, rainbow dash needs to step in.
the episodes starts with yona telling stories rockhoof-style about the many feats of yaks. the young six love this, as her joy and pride for her heritage is infectious.
however, as time goes on, the stories start being less about yaks and more about... herself. some of the stories get more and more unreasonable, and it seems that all she wants to talk about is herself. she even puts silverstream down as she tries to tell a story, telling her she could do a hippogriff activity better than she could, making silverstream upset.
silverstream ends up talking to starlight about how it made her feel, who advises her to talk to rainbow dash. "she used to have quite the ego problem," she tells silverstream.
rainbow dash is shocked because yona's always been so respectful of everyone else before, despite pride in being a yak. she goes to talk to yona, explaining that while it's good to be proud of yourself - she knows that very well - you have to know when to let others take the spotlight, or you risk people being upset or annoyed. it's not always about you. she makes references to mare-do-well and when she first became a wonderbolt as examples.
yona apologises, saying she originally just wanted to tell her friends how great being a yak and yakyakistan are. she let herself get carried away and didn't mean to upset anyone, but now understands that she did. she will now tone it down and be more humble.
~ * ~ * ~
episode focus: mistmane
episode replacement and why: "a trivial pursuit". like dash (to a lesser extent), it really feels like they completely regressed twi for one single episode. it would have felt way more natural in an early season, not season NINE!
new episode plot: mistmane's job has been going well. however, one single flower hasn't been growing as well as it should have been. mistmane turns all her focus to that flower, neglecting other things, and her friends have to step in to help her out. this is the plot im the most shaky on... it was much harder to think of ones for the pillars over the young six because we know so little about them.
mistmane loves being the crystal gardener, really she does! but this one flower just isn't growing. her whole thing is beauty, and it won't reflect well on her if this flower sticks out as being "ugly". she dedicates time to help it.
meadowbrook comes to visit her, but is surprised to see some of the plants beginning to wilt. this is surprising for mistmane, she's usually so diligent! she goes to find mistmane and talk to her.
she finds her pouring over books in an attempt to find a "cure" for this wilting flower. she cannot let this flower die, if she cannot be beautiful herself she wants everything else to be beautiful in her place.
meadowbrook has to tell her that if she focuses too much on the little details, everything else will suffer, but at first mistmane doesn't listen. meadowbrook then has to enlist the help of twilight to convince her.
when she takes a step back, she realises that the rest of the garden has been suffering, and she's embarrassed. she apologises to meadowbrook for not realising earlier. the lesson is about taking advice seriously, as good friends have your best interests at heart, as well as making sure you don't just focus on the small details.
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episode focus: meadowbrook
episode replacement and why: "she talks to angel" only because i really hate body swap episodes where everyone else doesn't know the characters have been swapped, they make me uncomfortable. and the fluttercord fanservice. i am a fluttercord hater
new episode plot: meadowbrook has adjusted well to life in modern hayseed swamp - for the most part. the medical advances have been hard to keep up with, and she's needing them more and more. her pride in her work keeps her from asking for help learning them. like "applebuck season", but instead of everyone knowing the focus needs help, she suffers in silence until it gets too much.
more and more ponies are coming to her in need of cures, but there are some things she simply doesn't know how to. she's trying and trying, but her old ways are outdated a lot of the time. still, she's proud of her work and doesn't want to give it up.
ponies are getting better, but a lot slower than she'd like. she tries looking at new medicine books and studies but can't wrap her head around them, much to her dismay. she studies them in her free time, but that doesn't help.
she becomes more and more stressed, with more and more ponies to cure, but she can't do it. applejack has taken a few students on a field trip to hayseed swamp and pays meadowbrook a visit, noticing how stressed she is.
at first, meadowbrook doesn't say anything, insisting she can handle things alone. but after applejack reminds her that in the past she worked with her mother, as well as telling her own stories about overworking, meadowbrook finally opens up and twilight, as well as a few ponyville doctors, offer to come help her get up to speed.
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episode focus: smoulder
episode replacement and why: "dragon dropped". not only has the "friend feels left out because their friend made a new friend" episode been done several times by this point, rarity is... weirdly creepy to spike, trying to monopolise his attention? rarity that's a kid. spike's supposed to be the one fawning after her, not the other way around! i HIGHLY doubt creepy rarity was the intention, but man did it come across weird, to me at least.
new episode plot: a little heavier of a topic but still necessary i think - being able to confront your friends when they overstep your boundaries. gallus keeps making fun of smoulder for her softer side, and she learns to put her foot down.
smoulder is proud of garble for embracing his softer side, but she's having trouble doing that herself. she told her friends what she likes, but gallus keeps making fun of her for it and she really dislikes it.
after a while, she can't take it any more and blows up at gallus, yelling at him to stop, saying hurtful things, flying off before gallus can say anything. spike sees this happen and follows her.
after being closed off at first, she eventually tells spike what's going on - that she's not happy with gallus joking about her "not being a true dragon". it's hurtful even if he means it in a joking way.
spike explains to her that what she likes doesn't make her any less dragon. he's been raised with ponies and is as soft as they come, but he's still a dragon and proud of that. gallus joking about it isn't fair and he needs to be confronted.
after some practicing, smoulder goes to apologise about what she said, but explains that his "jokes" hurt. gallus apologises too, not having realised he was overstepping boundaries as they'd been jokey before. he vows not to joke about such things again, and smoulder vows to let everyone know if she's uncomfortable.
Used one of the optional prompts because I really like the Cutie Re-mark alternate timelines. This one is Chrysalis’ takeover, hence the slightly different cutie marks and mud splotched everywhere. Thought it might be fun to highlight how messy Dash’s markings are on Rarity vs how careful Rarity’s look on Dash.
A while back I wanted to try and draw a bunch of foals for popular mlp ships- you know, the ones that pop up when you search the topic on Google. I used a f2u base for them (here’s the link), and I got to 12 little goobers out of it, but I don’t really have a use for them.
So I’m going to sell them as adopts! They will all be $5 USD ($10 USD if you’d like me to draw them in my own style without the base). I have PayPal, CashApp, and Venmo! THEY ARE NOW FREE! All of them are free.
Please comment or message me if you’d like to buy, I would appreciate it very much
