This AU made me so delighted and nostalgic that I want to return to my own mane 6 princesses AU. (Ueeee the designs are so cool thank you for giving me inspiration???)
Cause if you think about it. The entire tragedy that STARTED Friendship is Magic was that Celestia ruled alone. No princess of Equestria can be happy without her loved ones by her side!!
I can even see an episode about it… Twilight trying to rule alone and getting overwhelmed and stressed out, unable to handle the immense pressure she’s putting on herself to succeed. Her friends come together to help her out only to realize that they’re actually really good at this!!!
A classic “it’s okay to ask for help” moral to the story (ala Applebuck Season and Suited for Success), but also that if you just give them the chance, people can show they’re more capable than they ever realized!! Not just the star students are capable of doing great things.
AND you could have a scene to parallel The Ticket Master!! Twilight telling Celestia that if all her friends can’t rule by her side, she won’t rule either. We love a callback in this house !!!
It’s also really funny if, in the future, Twilight’s (& other mane 5’s) student(s) go “wow!! I can’t believe you completely deconstructed the monarchy and created a council of leaders instead!!”
And Twilight is like ahaha yes that is what we did. So clever of us!! Definitely a politically and historically important decision that we did 100% On Purpose!! Ponyamory and loving your friends saved the day
twilight's kingdom rewrite go! i like scorpan he's yet another Moment where the show is like "heres a really interesting and important detail with a lot of implications. we're never bringing this up again". extra details/commentary below read more
mane 6 + spike | discord/chrysalis/cadance | tree of harmony/princesses/starlight glimmer | ancient legends/grogar | cutie mark crusaders | equestria girls
changes i made to canon:
-decided starswirl the bearded did enough and that tirek first appeared in equestria closer to the present, while celestia and luna were young and not yet "rulers" but definitely like.. the protectors/guardians of equestria at that time
-made scorpan and tirek look a bit more like brothers by giving scorpan tirek's color scheme and giving tirek scorpan's face shape so he's less of a Weird Ape (and before you say "Ouuu here goes wingdings taking away characters' warm colors again" i could have EASILY ALSO MADE SCORPAN'S METAL ACCESSORIES SILVER like tirek's are but i KEPT THEM GOLD). also i think a gargoyle should be grey anyway
-since discord is no longer reformed he's not the one to give twilight the medallion so i just decided scorpan himself would rejoin canon and do it. i dont know if discord will be in twilight's kingdom at all
-i didnt even originally intend to ship scorpan and celestia but i accidentally drew her looking at him with like. too much yearning. and i was like "yknow what im gonna keep that its cool"
-oh yeah speaking of the medallion that's the only key on the rainbow power box and the rainbow power box also doesnt become a new playset that terrible castle. golden oak library stays. twilight shields it from tireks explosion with her magic
Do expect fanart as soon as I am free of my ... duties (my j*b 😭). GOD YEAH AAHAHAAA
SO MUCH TO NOTE HERE
1. SCORPAN'S COLOR SCHEME. Scorpan's color scheme. God. Yes. I am enthralled. I am OVERJOYED. Look at him, how pretty he looks. AUAUAAAAUAA
2. I LOVE the detail of Tirek in the first frame (the one in young Scorpan's speech bubble) having hair that's more similar to Young Tirek of the comics than the Tirek we see in Twilight's Kingdom. Heehehee.
3. Your artwork is so expressive and nice to look at and AUAUAUAA I'M JUST JOYFUL OK I'M HAPPY ABT IT . IT BRINGS JOY
4. THE LORE 🗣️💥💥💥💥💥 OH GOD YES YOU DELETED THAT MF VORAK. ALSO THAT BITCH HAYDON. GOD I HATED THEM !!! Okay, sorry, I got a bit carried away there, but AHDHAHSHA YES !!! Tirek and Scorpan being directly related to Grogar is SO COOL AAAUUAAUYAAA it makes them so much OLDER and interesting than "daddy issues 3000" 😭
^ note: I actually LIKE that Canon Tirek has major daddy issues. I find it equally funny and interesting because it gives me some leeway to take a redemption route. But I also find your lore to be super interesting so AUAHAHA YESSSS 🗣️💥💥💥💥
5. I like how Twilight initially assumed Scorpan was a Manticore instead of a Gargoyle since she never actually saw one !!!
6. CELESTAN 🗣️💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥
7. honestly dude the idea of Celestia/Scorpan being real is more CONCERNING to me than anything cause like. wdym you guys were dating. WDYM. SCORPAN, DUDE. WHERE WERE YOU ??? My girl Celestia's been sleeping alone for like 1000 years because Luna went Nightmare, and you were, what? Traveling the deserts??? Sightseeing ???? WHERE WERE YOU 😡
8. "Why does my mentor call you babygirl" // "how about we stop talking for a while" AHAHAHAAHAHA
I really dislike how only Canon Twilight became a princess; the irony of the Princess of Friendship becoming an alicorn, but not the friends that got her in that spot in the first place, really doesn't amuse me that much... So I wanted to give all the Mane Six their own arcs in order to earn their Ascensions !!
The idea is that, in order to ascend, one needs to push their Element and their Cutie Mark Talent to its absolute limit.
• Twilight: by casting an entirely new spell, on the Elements of Harmony, and completing it after rediscovering the "spark" of Friendship
• Applejack: by defying the Princesses', the Nobles', and the commonfolk's beliefs, to dig out the truth about a friend accused of a crime he did not commit
• Rainbow Dash: by refusing to stand down against a cursed blizzard, despite risk of losing her own wings, because giving up would mean risking losing her friends
• Fluttershy: by doing the kindest thing she could do: apologize to King Sombra and the Umbrum... Them destroy them with the Crystal Heart. The tragedy of the Umbrum is something I'll explain another day (in short: shadows of ponies who were oppressed, tortured, and hurt; coalesced into physical forms (Umbrum) and led by a king (Sombra) to get them the revenge they long for). Fluttershy knew they were made of hate and pain, so they couldn't be nursed to health nor redeemed; meaning that the kindest thing she could do was euthanize them, to release them of their lives of agony, and to protect the living ponies of the present)
• Pinkie Pie: by refusing to give up on a friend who sought to destroy himself (indeed; Discord had been willing to cause harm to everypony around him, intent on making them destroy him. It was a complicated situation. Pinkie Pie earned her wings and horn by essentially talking down a suicidal draconequus from,,, well.)
• Rarity: by being willing to sacrifice her career, her magic, and her freedom to save her friends (through luck and plot armor did she narrowly avoid losing her horn!)
★ ★ ★
Now, onto the designs: I actually put a lot of effort into giving each one of them unique traits !!
• Twilight: she's square. Heh. I specifically made Twilight as "rectangle" shaped as I possibly could, because it's supposed to reflect her personality. She's more serious than Canon Twilight, a bit more of a stickler, and has the vibes of a Headmare or Teacher, somepony used to wrangling rebellious students and keeping authority; but she is just as compassionate and strong as Canon.
• Applejack: my personal favorite, Applejack has the most earth-toned color palette of the Six, the bulkier build, and the most subtle of the Alicorn traits; I wanted her most eye-catching traits to be her mane and tail, her hooves or her cutie mark, because those are the Earth Pony parts of her. In fact, you'd need to squint to catch a glimpse of her horn...
• Rainbow Dash: of course, her wings should be the most eye-catching alicorn trait of hers, though her horn IS quite visible in its lighting shape. Fun fact! Her mane, tail and wings were so vibrant that I couldn't bring myself to give her any additional accessories. Methinks her mane and tail alone give her enough of a "pop", haha.
• Fluttershy: the daintiest of the Six, I wanted Fluttershy to look delicate as a flower, amping up the Disney Princess vibes. Not much to say about her. She's pleasing to look at.
• Pinkie Pie: I LOVE PINKIE PIE. Her mane is up in what I believe is an 80s look, she's got streamers on it (like Canon!), the cutest hooves (minor nod to her Earth Pony birth) and the most unique horn between the Six, meant to resemble her cutie mark.
• Rarity: My magnum opus. God, I love my Rarity design. I swear I tried to give her her normal hair swirls, but as soon as I grasped the tight, sharp angles of her curls, I couldn't help but imagine those in an afro-like style, in something resembling an amethyst geode. I can tell you with certainty that she pulls off this look better than Cozy Glow, and I LIKE Cozy Glow!
Season 8 had so much potential. The idea of Equestria inviting more nonponies to live there had so much interesting story potential, so many interesting character dynamics, lessons/allegories, lore/world building, the Cutie Map expanding, etc. But instead it was simply used as a cheap tool to have the show focus on those annoying ass children and the racist school. Such a waste of a concept.
Yeah, that's one of my biggest gripes too. The wasted potential! I hate wasted potential. I hate how often times, these (supposed) professional writers seem to be less creative and/or give less of a shit. Part of the blame is on the higher ups, and part of the blame is on the writers.
I can think of so many more interesting story ideas/character dynamics/world building from the back of my mind than anything the School of Friendship/Student Six provided:
Rarity struggled to cater to nonponies with her clothing line, leading to either her hiring nonponies to work at her stores/design clothes, her teaching herself to make clothes for nonponies, or both. Fluttershy helps her.
Applejack invites homeless/orphaned griffons and dragons (there's an odd homelessness epidemic among them) to live on her farm.
Some flying creatures (griffons, hippogriffs, dragons, changelings, etc) want to join the Wonderbolts Academy, and Rainbow Dash helps them get in.
Spike helps some dragons adapt to living in a less hot, more soft environment.
Pinkie Pie convinces Prince Rutherford to enter a prestigious cooking contest in Canterlot, and that ratatouille food critic bitch Zesty Gourmand returns.
The plots of Surf and/or Turf, Sounds of Silence still happen.
Sweet and Smoky still happens, except the plot is… entirely different. Garble struggles with the changes to dragon society, and Spike and Fluttershy help him.
Fluttershy reunites with Iron Will.
Dragons want to move to Canterlot, but they get into a racial debate between the racist ponies over their weird dragonsneeze trees. Twilight and Spike try to defuse the issue. Flash Magnus, who still has a prejudice against dragons, sides with the Canterlot ponies (showing that good people can unintentionally perpetuate racism. Damn.).
Rarity reunites with the Diamond Dogs.
If Hasbro were bold (they aren't), they would've had the Appleloosans give the Buffalo their land back 😂 They also would've had more zebras appear and have them not be offensive stereotypes.
Twilight either convinces Celestia to expand her School for Gifted Unicorns to School for Gifted Creatures, or she creates her own school from the abandoned Castle of the Two Sisters. Unlike the School of Friendship it's not the main focus.
Scorpan the gargoyle and Star Swirl the Bearded are reunited, and Scorpan reveals he found Spike's egg and gave it to Gay Swirl, which is where the amniomorphic spell that Twilight used came from.
Discord, seeing all this integration and culture exchange, remembers that he's the (supposed) last of his kind and goes through some existential crisis. Celestia and Luna help him feel better because for a long while they were the only ones of their kind around.
And a bunch more ideas that I can't even think of right now, or other people way better than me have come with.
And you know what? The Student Six can actually still be characters in all of this. Just… not the focus. Hm.
my friend (a genius) said that the younger sister looks like this after she spent years in banishment (just like Luna) so I drew her the way she was before the banishment
suken treasure is genius, i suppose Tidal Wave was banished to the depths. (ironically maybe people from there went on to become their people since then)
"Don't want your parents doing stuff about you when you are clearly uncomfortable while you are an adult...clearly you are at fault"
"Drop off your youngest kid on your adult daughter's doorsteps unannounced, then leave and never return"
"Someone is doing a job as an entertainer? Run them out of town and out of business"
"Start of episode talks about how some people are more sensitive to pranks...have someone that's reuniting with long lost friend be consistently pestered away from friend, have old friend purposely prank them while clearly uncomfortable and when they obviously get upset, say they are bad"
Consistent.
And the show's final 2 seasons are a friendship school where a child has a twisted version of friendship, told by dean of school and a ruler "you are right" then locked in hell with no rehab, just punishment. Pushed to harmful influences to the point did mild property damage, so still as a child not even a teen, locked in forever aware stone where can't even speak.
...the show sucked. The fans were great
Cozy glow did not deserve what she got. She deserved help and rehabilitation. And someone to help cause she's a poor orphan...
Gilda did not deserve what she originally got. Why would she deserve it? Hungry so had an apple? Someone walking backwards bumped into her and she got annoyed cause walking backwards?
Trixie did not deserve to be prevented working and exhiled from towns...for being an entertainer.
Don't forget when Applejack and Big Mac kicked their kid sister out of their home when they found out she was printing fake news, even though they should know that the good-natured Applebloom would never do something like that unless she was under duress. Was nobody at all concerned about that, by the way? Like I'm sure at least one pony must've thought:
"Why is Rainbow Dash dumping rainwater on those three fillies? What the genuine fuck is wrong with her?"
"Aren't you the Apple family's kid? Why are you out this late? Is your sister not concerned about you?"
"Twilight and Fluttershy haven't left their homes in a while, and they've been acting very hostile to those three kids for some weird reason."
I know Ponyville is a small town, but it's logistically impossible for the Cutie Mark Crusaders to have slandered and subsequently got on the shit list of EVERY SINGLE PONY IN TOWN!
as a rd fan i recognize many pranks she did over time became worse. (regardless, maybe not convince and give panic to your friend as that level as the rainbow cookie episode.)
In that episode pinkie gets a yak instrument to play.
and her playing disrupts EVERYONE. even the backround ponies. they run away from it.
to the mane 6 least to worst:
twi none.
rarity gets distracted at work and the dress isnt how she wanted, yes she could make another, but she did waste time and materials also she could get hurt by the machine, like other episodes.
rainbow dash + wonderbolts + plus the audience. show gets interrupted, followed by dangerous fast fighers outside formation, posible accidents with themselves and audience (luckily none happen). also the audience, they spend they hard earned money to see a show only to get it ruined by a third party.
aj and fluttershy are about the same level, but im gonna place flutters first since it included innocent animals.
aj: pinkie's playing was so against nature, apples self exploted. important note that the orchard is entire aj family's lifelihood. they did not plat to make applesauce like that. so only they get a say on what happens to their apples. (wasted produce, wasted money, also that sauce was in the trees so not safe to eat)
fluttershy: many many animals JUST made to sleep. shes in her own house, late at night, didnt get asked first, and pinkie just plays. animals get woken up and she stays up calming them. the next day shes sooo tired.
Now. the entire episode get played around friends tell another shes bad at what she loves. Actually mentions the episode when twi didnt tell celestia she was bad at acting.
excuse me?? celestia's bad acting didnt interrupt or harm or placed risk on ANYONE'S DAY.
then when pinkies told the truth the episode makes pinkie go so sad she turns grey (like when on discord influence, chaos magis in pinkie theory), either way everything goes out of their way to tell us the rest of the mane six are in the wrong for telling pinkie to stop.
please even had the yak prince rutherford tell us + the mane six that "there's no wrong way to play the instrument and thats the point of it". please.
so pinkie plays again, screw the consequences or HER OWN actions.
thats why mare do well episode is not good either. we can both agree rd's a boaster. the biggest loudest greatest boaster. maybe she should stop a little. yes please.
she was boasting that she was town's hero. yes. rd you should do heroic things because theyre good not to boast about them later.
but cmon. the mane six went overboard.
or the first gilda episode.
gilda was rude. gilda stole that apple. she was unecessary rude to fluttershy.
also. gilda was in a strange town, she was an outsider. around the same season we see how they treat zecora, and they got more in common with zecora than with gilda (which inconsistency found! why give gilda the benefit of the doubt but not to zecora???).
much later we realize how shitty griffon town is. unfriendly. unkind. little to no family. shes on defence. not with rd since they're already friends. plus, lets be real pinkie pie was so noisy, wanted to be around all the time. rd should have interviened before. but how wrong is gilda for wanting alone time with someone she trusts!?
both gilda some wrong and some right can be true at the same time.
but honestly it happened to every character. like twi with the cruise episode or the movie (cmon no one was helpful, pinkie stop were incognito, rd yes animation pretty but incognitooo)
conclusion: every character was written to be only exagerrated versions of one thing overtime, some episodes we condone something but in others not, not everypony is innocent, and i blame the writing
i mean the yak episode is also part of friendship is magic's surprising trend of the ponies being... kinda racist? zecora gets racially profiled when she first comes to ponyville, ponies and buffalo have a dispute over land theft and this gets played as a "both sides" issue, daring do gets cancelled by her nemesis for stealing indigenous artifacts (though the very concept of being cancelled by your supervillain-ass nemesis is kinda funny ngl), those are just the examples i can remember.
reminds me why rarity even has a racist meme on her.
like with saffron masala and her dad's restaurant, "she helps them" by "zesty-fing" the place, how a popular critic likes restaurants. and just about takes everything that makes the place so colorful, vibrant and their tasty food, too.
and with a yak again. with yona "pony-fing" her.
i get you, why write specificaly a foreighners to be "wow, we like destroying things", or not have communication skills???
like when the prince rutherford and other yaks visit ponyville and because the ponies say "just like in yakyakistan" (ponies needed to speak too, but that kinda was the pointof the episode), yak automatically jump to yell and destroy the ponies attempts to please them???
"Don't want your parents doing stuff about you when you are clearly uncomfortable while you are an adult...clearly you are at fault"
"Drop off your youngest kid on your adult daughter's doorsteps unannounced, then leave and never return"
"Someone is doing a job as an entertainer? Run them out of town and out of business"
"Start of episode talks about how some people are more sensitive to pranks...have someone that's reuniting with long lost friend be consistently pestered away from friend, have old friend purposely prank them while clearly uncomfortable and when they obviously get upset, say they are bad"
Consistent.
And the show's final 2 seasons are a friendship school where a child has a twisted version of friendship, told by dean of school and a ruler "you are right" then locked in hell with no rehab, just punishment. Pushed to harmful influences to the point did mild property damage, so still as a child not even a teen, locked in forever aware stone where can't even speak.
...the show sucked. The fans were great
Cozy glow did not deserve what she got. She deserved help and rehabilitation. And someone to help cause she's a poor orphan...
Gilda did not deserve what she originally got. Why would she deserve it? Hungry so had an apple? Someone walking backwards bumped into her and she got annoyed cause walking backwards?
Trixie did not deserve to be prevented working and exhiled from towns...for being an entertainer.
Don't forget when Applejack and Big Mac kicked their kid sister out of their home when they found out she was printing fake news, even though they should know that the good-natured Applebloom would never do something like that unless she was under duress. Was nobody at all concerned about that, by the way? Like I'm sure at least one pony must've thought:
"Why is Rainbow Dash dumping rainwater on those three fillies? What the genuine fuck is wrong with her?"
"Aren't you the Apple family's kid? Why are you out this late? Is your sister not concerned about you?"
"Twilight and Fluttershy haven't left their homes in a while, and they've been acting very hostile to those three kids for some weird reason."
I know Ponyville is a small town, but it's logistically impossible for the Cutie Mark Crusaders to have slandered and subsequently got on the shit list of EVERY SINGLE PONY IN TOWN!
as a rd fan i recognize many pranks she did over time became worse. (regardless, maybe not convince and give panic to your friend as that level as the rainbow cookie episode.)
In that episode pinkie gets a yak instrument to play.
and her playing disrupts EVERYONE. even the backround ponies. they run away from it.
to the mane 6 least to worst:
twi none.
rarity gets distracted at work and the dress isnt how she wanted, yes she could make another, but she did waste time and materials also she could get hurt by the machine, like other episodes.
rainbow dash + wonderbolts + plus the audience. show gets interrupted, followed by dangerous fast fighers outside formation, posible accidents with themselves and audience (luckily none happen). also the audience, they spend they hard earned money to see a show only to get it ruined by a third party.
aj and fluttershy are about the same level, but im gonna place flutters first since it included innocent animals.
aj: pinkie's playing was so against nature, apples self exploted. important note that the orchard is entire aj family's lifelihood. they did not plat to make applesauce like that. so only they get a say on what happens to their apples. (wasted produce, wasted money, also that sauce was in the trees so not safe to eat)
fluttershy: many many animals JUST made to sleep. shes in her own house, late at night, didnt get asked first, and pinkie just plays. animals get woken up and she stays up calming them. the next day shes sooo tired.
Now. the entire episode get played around friends tell another shes bad at what she loves. Actually mentions the episode when twi didnt tell celestia she was bad at acting.
excuse me?? celestia's bad acting didnt interrupt or harm or placed risk on ANYONE'S DAY.
then when pinkies told the truth the episode makes pinkie go so sad she turns grey (like when on discord influence, chaos magis in pinkie theory), either way everything goes out of their way to tell us the rest of the mane six are in the wrong for telling pinkie to stop.
please even had the yak prince rutherford tell us + the mane six that "there's no wrong way to play the instrument and thats the point of it". please.
so pinkie plays again, screw the consequences or HER OWN actions.
thats why mare do well episode is not good either. we can both agree rd's a boaster. the biggest loudest greatest boaster. maybe she should stop a little. yes please.
she was boasting that she was town's hero. yes. rd you should do heroic things because theyre good not to boast about them later.
but cmon. the mane six went overboard.
or the first gilda episode.
gilda was rude. gilda stole that apple. she was unecessary rude to fluttershy.
also. gilda was in a strange town, she was an outsider. around the same season we see how they treat zecora, and they got more in common with zecora than with gilda (which inconsistency found! why give gilda the benefit of the doubt but not to zecora???).
much later we realize how shitty griffon town is. unfriendly. unkind. little to no family. shes on defence. not with rd since they're already friends. plus, lets be real pinkie pie was so noisy, wanted to be around all the time. rd should have interviened before. but how wrong is gilda for wanting alone time with someone she trusts!?
both gilda some wrong and some right can be true at the same time.
but honestly it happened to every character. like twi with the cruise episode or the movie (cmon no one was helpful, pinkie stop were incognito, rd yes animation pretty but incognitooo)
conclusion: every character was written to be only exagerrated versions of one thing overtime, some episodes we condone something but in others not, not everypony is innocent, and i blame the writing
