for those wondering what the heck 6DoS was since I don’t talk about it anymore:
6DoS stands for ‘Six Degrees of Separation’, which was originally just a jumble of headcanons for the mane 6 and the background ponies (especially) that eventually turned into an AU/Next Gen story. It was started around 6 years ago and formed from a lot discussions and character building between friends.
The story was originally about the mane 6 splitting up - Rainbow and Rarity move to canterlot, Twilight becomes mayor of ponyville, Pinkie leaves to see the country and becomes a motivational speaker, and Applejack and Fluttershy move into together since they were kind of “left behind”; the ships were raridash, appleshy, and twipie (which eventually changed to rarilight, appleshy, cheesepie and rainbowfleet), and a whole mess of rarepair background pony couples who all got their own backstory. most of it on my DA than here on tumblr, where you can see more of the story as well as my old really bad art/next gens.
You can see the final chart I made like 3 years ago that shows how much of a mess this was and how many weird ships i freakin had (bitch WHY did pipsqueak have a crush on spike what the FU). you can probably see why I thought Slice of Life was so lazy but why I liked Amending Fences so much. Since some of the stories and ships are the same in Shimmer Verse, if I ever get the urge to go back to this story I might go back to the original mane 6 ships that I had at first.
i really should bring back twilight with a monocle though because i still stand by how cool she looked lmao
So I’m going back and forth on Ditzy Doo’s name - I’m not as attached to the Bubble Wrap rename as I thought I would, so I might have to retcon that and just leave things as they were. I’ll make it work!
I’ve gone back and forth on Ditzy Doo’s family and I’m super happy with these two (and Lyra’s family, coming later).
Bullseye [x] and Ray’a Sunshine
It’s generally part of my headcanon that sexuality isn’t much of an issue in this world or at least Ponyvile and that mostly ponies consider themselves pansexual but certain couples might still be rare in some communities and two gay ponies together is going to be something to side eye from the high society unicorns in Canterlot where these two live.
Bullseye is a rough and tumble pony with a fascination for mail and shipping thanks to his business savvy family, while Ray is just a happy go lucky drifter who stumbled into town and started working as their delivery pony. His shining optimism was a fair compliment to Bulls’ at times harsher attitude and the two hit it off. Bulls also indulges in his love of archer in his down time [tho he refuses to admit that he took Ray on an archery lesson their first date just so he could show off, despite even his parents insisting that is exactly what happened]
Fast forward and the two eventually marry and Bullseye takes over his family’s shipping company. The Pony Express isn’t doing wonderfully well in Canterlot but just well enough to support them and their newly adopted daughter, who they promptly name Ditzy Dolly when after her first moments in the shop she flutters around in excitement before taking a clumsy nosedive right into the dolly full of bubble wrap and other packaging supplies and knocks it and everything over, including herself. Worried dads rush to help her but she quickly bounces up and is back to flying and her show of optimism and ability to bounce back rivals that of Ray’s, which is impressive in itself. [She may get her cutie mark in this moment]. From then on she goes by Ditzy Doo.
Ditzy does her best in her fathers’ store, even if her clumsy nature leaves more of a mess than anything, she loves what she does and it shows. Said mistakes earn her quite a few nicknames from meaner kids like “Featherbrain” and “Airhead” (and one case of “Airhead Mail” but a kid who thought he was so clever) Besides her klutziness and “weird eyes” she’s often teased because of her two fathers by the younger unicorns with high class parents who grew up that way. Lyra is one of the few who stand up for her, having “weird” parents and mannerisms of her own, and Ditzy develops a crush pretty quickly.
Sometime into her adulthood, well after Ditzy Doo has moved to Ponyville but before Twilight’s arrival, Ray goes missing after hearing of a town that isolated itself and travels there in hopes of earning their business. Bullseye falls into a depression and throws himself into his archery, closing his shop in Canterlot, and Ditzy tries her best in Ponyville’s post office. She keeps in touch with her dad when she can and they move on as much as possible.
Eventually Ray returns and they’re a family again. Ditzy has grown more sure of herself and eventually takes over The Pony Express, reopening the store in Ponyville (rebranding as The Ponyville Express)
Lyra and Ditzy Doo’s daughter Bright Side is partly named for her father, and partly by his nickname for her, “Bright Eyes.”
One of my odder pairings but I’ve actually shipped this since season 1
Headcanon junk under the cut let’s a go
Zecora actually comes from Celestia and Luna’s era, meeting them sometime after Discord’s defeat. As zebras were shunned and looked down on even worse back then than now, she and Luna bond quickly over their feelings of solitude and she impresses them with her knowledge of magic and potion work and herbalism. She makes home in the Everfree Forest outside of the sisters’ castle, not effected or bothered by it’s strange magic.
In spite of her friendship with Luna, Zecora still gets glances of fear and looks of hate from other ponies, so she easily becomes a night creature and Luna’s almost sole companion. As Luna grows more and more disillusioned with the ‘shunning of her night’ Zecora emphasizes to an extent, understanding ponies not appreciating you. They spend a lot time teaching each other about their kinds of magic and their culture and the creatures that grow and live in the forest and enjoying the night.
But it isn’t enough and one night Luna refuses to allow the sun to rise despite Zecora’s warnings. This lasts for a week before Celestia manages to bring the sun back, in which time the only thing that thrives even in the constant dark is the forest, even when other crops are dying. Luna, changing more and more in her week of dark and shunning everyone, breaks at the sight of the sun and challenges Celestia before transforming into Nightmare Moon and causing her banishment. Zecora, torn between mourning her friend and being overwhelmingly enraged at her for her actions, visits Celestia often as she adjusts to being the now sole ruler and being without her sister. Eventually Zecora is placed in charge of protecting the forest, the old ruins, and the Tree/Elements of Harmony by Celestia, being granted longevity and a greater understanding of alicorn magic. As centuries pass and the forest grows as it will, Zecora loses the location of the Tree, which she deems for the best.
She keeps to herself in the forest, avoiding other ponies and even the moon unless necessary. When her friend returns, it takes Zecora months to warm up to her again until she realizes Nightmare Moon is gone and centuries have passed and Luna is back and she missed her companion terribly and their relationship starts again.
Luna and Zecora eventually marry and adopt an abandoned hippogriff, Aquila. I may or may not have them become Trixie’s mentors in magic, like Celestia [and Zecora once] were for Twilight.
