My brother finally read my favorite book some weeks back (he liked it!) and I reread it when he was reading it and it inspired me to finally draw my take on Raptor Red, with all our modern paleontologic knowledge and design sensibilities:
It wasn't originally intended to be cover art, it was just a cute thing I drew to be the icon for my beta reader group chat, but I love it so I'm sharing!
Another MLP AU like Im not totally behind on posting for my other one lol
Woke up one morning thinking about how stupid it is that Luna retires with Celestia (nevermind that suddenly retiring like that is totally out of character for both of them imo), and couldn't stop thinking about a mini au where Luna steps into the main ruling role when her sister retires. This drawing is supposed to be a framed photo you might find on their desks, a commemorative picture taken after their honeymoon before they have to return to their duties.
Details under the cut!
Twilight gets a slower and more supported introduction to leadership, she takes over most of Celestia's day-to-day duties and streamlines a lot of it bc Twilight is just Like That, and being in such proximity brings Luna and Twilight closer together, eventually falling in love and marrying.
So they rule equestria together and Celestia fucks off to go backpacking across equestria or smt bc really? a retirement home?? so not her FiM, smh. In this au Celestia still raises the sun, she can't just hand that off unless she gives up all of her magic. She's still the alicorn of the sun, just no more royal duties.
Some notes:
-I made Twi's mantle thing black to match Luna's, her horn ring is also black (in my au rings are a unicorn thing and married unicorns always wear them not just for the ceremony).
-The gems on Twi's crown represent her friends.
-Spike is totally Twi's adopted son I am a firm mom Twilight believer, it's not relevant to this drawing but I might continue this au who knows!
-I expanded Luna's dark patch bc I think the butt patch is a little stupid. Also I think alicorns traditionally open their wings for photos and portraits but Twilight still feels a little weird about having wings and would rather have a more unicorn silhouette.
-In my sketch they both had their canon designs but trying to seriously draw Twilight's hair pissed me off for like a whole hour so I gave up and did a mild redesign, I actually used the same hairstyle I gave her in my other AU bc I do think it suits her!
-All the love and light Twilight receives as part of the ruling diarchy has boosted her magic levels, her hair is floaty now too, the braids are mostly functional to lock it down, the loose ends still flow as much as they can