TA Pony Displaced: Homeward
MLP: FiM
Romance
Comedy
Slice of Life
With Sombra dead and his cadets and old friends in tow, Magic Barrier and company try to adapt to the modern world, heading forward to try and make Vanhoover their new home.
Alt. Universe
OC
Daring Do
NoLongerSober · 377k words · 296 14 · 4.7k views

Dramatis Personae · 5:45pm Jun 7th, 2022

Alticron: Welcome to the Dramatis Personae, this post will be to give a brief little blurb about the various characters in A Pony Displaced: Homeward. Some will be left out, but mostly because if they’re not here in this great big list, they’re pretty much just not that important and/or I simply didn’t want to since there’s over 100 characters here.

As a nice little bonus, I will include full body images for the cast members we’ll be showing off.

Do note that this post will be updated as the story progresses and new characters are added.

Naturally, there will be some spoilers for things before the current chapter, which at the time of this writing is Chapter 106.

And with that, we start with the ponies living in the manor.

Magic Barrier: The son of Baron Magus Stone of the Sparkle family and his wife, Star Arcana in Old Canterlot, Barrier is a stallion that spent many years in the royal guard as part of a special task force known as the executors. He was mentored by General Sombra before he fell to darkness. His cadets, dear friend, Fleetfeather and his goddaughter were all trapped in the Crystal Empire for over 1,000 years. Years later, he was bound in the moon alongside Nightmare Moon. Now, with Sombra defeated, he lives with his rescued loved ones and his dear Daring Do at a manor in Vanhoover.

Fleetfeather: Born in Hollow Shades, Fleetfeather started in the guard handling paperwork, but quickly proved herself as a skilled warrior. She married a fellow guard named Flash Sentry and had six foals with him, with Wind Whistler being her youngest. In the Crystal Empire, she was shot out of the sky and lost her eye. After Sombra’s death, she moved in with Barrier in Vanhoover, eventually joining the local weather team and becoming herdmates with him and Daring.

Wind Whistler: The youngest daughter of Fleetfeather and Flash Sentry, Wind Whistler is a clever young filly with a love of thrills. She grew up with many tales from her parents and older siblings about the horrors that griffins would commit during the war. While she misses her five older siblings and father every day, she deeply cares about her housemates and her “Uncle”, Barrier. She works as an “enforcer” for the owner of the Candy Casino, High Stakes.

Swiftsword: The eldest child of Chrome Falchion and Ribbon, Swiftsword is a noblemare bred and raised to be a warrior. At the age of eight, she earned her cutie mark in a sword fighting tournament where she defeated a larger and more experienced pony. At age fourteen, she slew an intruder in her home who tried to rob and kill her. At seventeen, she was granted permission to enter the royal guard, where she was assigned to Squad 982 under Magic Barrier. After she turned eighteen, she was arranged to wed Barrier’s younger brother, Radiant Spell and become a part of his herd. After Sombra’s defeat, she is the last of her family line, inheriting the title of viscountess and seeks to eventually reestablish the Falchion family. But in the meantime, this electric loving unicorn works as a waitress at Delicious Dining Delights & Deli.

Hat Trick: Born in Manehattan, Hat Trick was the son of a pair of Neighponese immigrants who grew up loving the art of sleight of hoof. At the age of eight, while he was attending school, his house collapsed with his parents inside due to a horrible termite infestation. Now orphaned, Hat Trick moved into the Paradise Estate Orphanage. A pony he grew close to while in the orphanage was a former resident, a filly named Patch. He would make some bits with tricks on the street over the years before when he knew he was no longer able to stay at the orphanage due to his age. At the age of sixteen and after a passionate night with Patch, he headed off to Canterlot, hoping that joining the royal guard would provide him with housing and money until he could live on his own. During his time in Squad 982, he quickly came to love his squad mate, Winter Gem.

Winter Gem: Raised in a trading center owned by the Apple family in a small fertile patch in the desert northwest of the badlands. While her family tended to their own private apple orchard, she wanted to follow in her father’s footsteps and become a warrior to fight against the griffins. Despite how remote the trading post was, she had a good friend in a pegasus filly named Sandstorm. When Winter Gem went to join the guard, her friend followed alongside her, swearing to always have her back if they were to go into battle together. After joining Squad 982, she quickly started to fall for her squad’s pegasus member, Hat Trick. When her squad was preparing to go to the Crystal Empire for the last bit of her training, she got into an argument with her father and cousin Braeburn, who wished for the family to shift their focus to farming while she wanted to uphold the warrior tradition. Deeply regretting that this was the final time she saw her father and cousin, she started to work alongside her modern day cousins in Vanhoover, soon coming to enjoy the farm life and seeing how her family has prospered since her time.

Iron Forge: Born and raised on the island of Gallopfrey, Iron Forge was raised with a great appreciation of smithing, seeing it as a noble profession to create weapons and armor for those that protect the kingdom. When he came of age, he followed his parent’s belief that to be a great smith, one must know how to wield the weapons they wish to craft. He joined the royal guard, wishing to slay griffins after what they’d done to his cousin, Steel Hammer. As he trained on Butterfly Island, Gallopfrey was conquered by griffins with many ponies being slain and devoured. While his mother escaped, he learned his father was one of those slain by the occupying force. The great loss caused a hatred of griffins to fester in his heart for a long time. After the empire, however, seeing how different things were in modern times, including that Gallopfrey was now Trottingham, he slowly started to let go of his hatred and befriended a griffin named Erica. He now works at a smithing shop, working alongside Erica’s mother, Asta.

Verdant Range: Born and raised in Dream Valley, a small area that would eventually become a part of the greater Fllydelphia area, Verdant grew up in a herd. He was the third child out of seven the herd family had and the only colt. He had a desire to grow up to work in a flower shop. At age twelve, he was offered an apprenticeship under a mare named Cosmos LeBlanc in Canterlot. Seeing this as a great opportunity for him, his family approved and he soon went off to Canterlot. While work was good for several years, the flower shop eventually had to close its doors. Verdant attempted to start his own gardening service while living in an abandoned tool shed, only to struggle to find customers. Knowing that winter would be coming and the toolshed wouldn’t be enough, he joined the royal guard and quickly made friends amongst his fellow guards. After the death of Sombra, Verdant carries a scar on his back from the battle that he hides under his vest. While living in Vanhoover, he works at a flower shop called Pretty Petals, takes cooking classes at the community, and is now in a relationship with a griffin hen named Erica Sorae. Due to an incident involving Poison Joke making him shrink and Princess Luna, there is now a rumor that Nightmare Moon would devour ponies whole. As this wasn’t the first or last time this happened to him, he believes he has some sort of curse.

Up next, some of the ponies connected to Delicious Dining Delights & Deli.

Drumstick: This plump pegasus is the co-owner of the restaurant alongside her husband, Clean Cut. Her interest in cooking with meat began when she cooked some wild chicken to save her filly scout squad.

Clean Cut: Though born in Vanhoover, Clean Cut spent years living in the Griffish Isles, where he’d help out at his griffin host family’s restaurant. This instilled an interest in cooking with meats. Eventually, he met his future wife, Drumstick, and they moved back to Vanhoover, where they bought out a failing restaurant, started their own business and hired the old owner/chef to help with cooking non-meat dishes.

Crispy Wings: The son of the restaurant owners, Crispy is rather fond of the scent of some of the dishes his parents serve. More than once while making a delivery run, he’s been tempted to sample some of the customer’s fried chicken. He was the first young pony to befriend Wind Whistler after she moved to Vanhoover.

Pins ‘N Needles: Also known by her nickname, Dolly, this mare works as a chef despite having a lack of taste. She makes quite the exceptional cook despite this and according to her co-workers, she gives the softest hugs ever, as if she were a big stuffed teddy bear. She’s never seen anywhere without her necklace.

Now we head onto those connected to Strawberry Sundae’s Soda, Scoops and Sweets.

Orange Crush: This bespectacled mare is the younger adopted sister of the shop’s owner, Strawberry Sundae. She’s a fun loving mare who enjoys when she’s behind the till, but hates it that due to a deal with a soda company, she sometimes needs to run around in a skintight costume of the mascot, Sparkling Refreshment that leaves her nearly blind as she traipses around the city. Because of this, her glasses and snout have been broken more than once before.

Orange Crush was made by Pembroke W. Korgi and adopted by me.

Strawberry Sundae: The owner of the restaurant and bakery, Strawberry Sundae loves providing Vanhoover with sweet treats and working alongside her family. She lives in an apartment above the restaurant alongside her sister and her wife.

Summer Eve: The night-shift weather manager and Strawberry’s wife, Summer Eve loves her job of giving her hometown the best nights possible, so she’s not fond of making late night storms. In part due to bat ponies being very rare, she and her wife are going to have foals made with Summer’s eggs in Strawberry’s womb, fertilized by gracious donors.

For the next group, we’ll take a look at some of the love interests for the former privates in Barrier’s manor.

Spearmint: A lieutenant in the royal guard, Spearmint is a dedicated defender of her kingdom who specializes in spear based combat. She eventually started to fall for Swiftsword and the two became a couple. During the few times when she has time off and isn’t training, she likes to spend time with her adoptive sister Wintergreen in Tall Tale.

Spearmint was originally made by Stephanoodle and adopted by me.

Snow Sweeper: A pegasus in the Vanhoover weather service, Snow Sweeper doesn’t like the fact his older sister is his boss, which tends to lead to him having to deal with her pranks and other antics. This hockey loving stallion eventually became Iron Forge’s boyfriend and loves to show Forge all sorts of movies from his collection.

Erica Sorae: The daughter of a grocery store owner and a smith, Erica is a swimming teacher for the Vanhoover Community Center. She absolutely loves to teach ponies her favorite physical activity. She dreams of representing Vanhoover in their swimming based events in the Equestria Games and winning a gold medal. Thanks to her time taking cooking lessons with him, she and Verdant eventually became a couple. While there was some concern from his housemates at first, they eventually grew to accept her and see her as a friend.

With love interests covered, the next segment will be about Barrier’s old squadmates from the Executors.

Flash Sentry: This pegasus stallion became Barrier’s best friend soon after he entered the royal guard and the husband of Fleetfeather. He was a brave and dedicated soldier, but after the loss of his wife and youngest daughter to Sombra and his best friend to Nightmare Moon, anger and hatred soon consumed Flash. After many bat ponies sided with Nightmare Moon and while Celestia was recuperating from the battle, Flash ordered the death of the remaining bat ponies, even if they had nothing to do with Nightmare Moon. While his plot to wipe out their population was thwarted by Celestia’s return, his actions left a lasting mark on the bat ponies to this day, causing very low population numbers. Flash Sentry spent the rest of his life in prison for his actions. During his final years, he did admit to regretting his choices against the bat ponies, considering it the worst thing he’d ever done. After the disappearance of Fleetfeather, Flash married Forge’s mother, Silver Rain, and had a daughter with her.

Silver Dust: Born the only son of two locally known alchemists in a no-name town, Silver Dust took to the chemistry side of the craft like a fish to water. After learning to mix all of his families standard fare by the age of twelve, he found his love in experimentation and after two years of the most extensive research, study and testing that a young foal in the middle of nowhere could muster, succeeded in developing a potion that rapidly encouraged blood coagulation, serving to greatly decrease the chances an injured pony would bleed out before aid could be rendered, though the prohibitive cost prevented them from truly marketing it. Fifteen years old and with several more custom concoctions under his belt, Silver Dust bade his parents farewell and trekked to Canterlot on hoof over the course of six months before he joined the guard to receive free, formal medical training as well as to make the connections he would need to formalize his passion for research .

River Styx: The oldest of two sons, Arcane Wind was born in Manehattan to what would eventually become an abusive family. With his mother passing in child-birth, his father turned to a bottle and blamed the two brothers. One night while on a bender, his father struck his then-toddler younger brother, leading to Styx beating him savagely and running away with what he saw as his only responsibility in the world. After several years on the streets and earning a reputation to not be crossed, Arcane adopted a new name and left with his brother to Canterlot where the guard promised a better life.

Ember: A pegasus soldier who joined the guard to protect her home island of Gallopfrey from the griffins, Ember first met Barrier after he, by sheer chance, slew a dragon that threatened Baltimare, when she snuck him alcohol afterwards. She and Barrier became lovers and were together for many years. He intended to eventually marry her, but him being sealed away with Nightmare Moon prevented that. Ember would pass away less than a year after Barrier’s vanishment due to medical complications.

Braeburn: A reluctant warrior with almost unnatural strength, Braeburn always yearned for a simpler life than that of his family's royal guard heritage. Despite the desire, he did what he saw as his duty and joined the guard when he came of age to uphold the tradition, eventually being singled out for his skills and strength and inducted into the Executors. After the tumultuous events of Nightmare Moon and the loss of three of his closest friends in Barrier, Flash Sentry and then Ember, Braeburn put down his warmaul, returned home and picked up a hoe, content to never again take life.

After this, I’ll move onto the next part of this, which is for the parents of Barrier and the cadets.

Magus Stone and Star Arcana: Baron Magus Stone is a noble pony who studied in the fields of alchemy and potion making. When he was seventeen, his parents passed away, leaving him to take over his noble house. This led to him marrying a thoroughbred unicorn commoner one year younger than him. She was a local fortune teller that he fancied named Star Arcana. One year after they wed, the two of them had a pair of twins; a filly named Arcane Shield and a colt named Magic Barrier. Sadly, Arcane Shield would die of crib death when she was very young, though years later, the two would have another child, a son named Radiant Spell. After Barrier was locked away with Nightmare Moon, their marriage soon hit the rocks and the two split. Magus remained unwed while Star would become a herd mate of Viridian Forest. Despite her advanced age, she still gave birth to a healthy filly, Emerald Dawn.

Chrome Falchion and Ribbon: Viscount Chrome Falchion was one of the finest warriors of the Falchion unicorn clan. He entered into a happily arranged marriage with his cousin, the artisting and cunning Ribbon. The two had two children together, the first being their daughter, Swiftsword, followed a few years later by their son, Mars Falchion, a welcome addition with how many members of the Falchion clan had been lost in battle with the griffins. Swiftsword was expected to take her place as the head of the clan after her wedding to Radiant Spell, even having been granted her family’s ancestral blade before she could rise above the rank of cadet. However, Swift was lost along with the blade that had been passed down since before the unification. After the war ended, the Falchion clan faded out due to the sheer losses they suffered in the prolonged conflict and Mars infertility, leaving Swift the last of her truly noble line.

Wild Card and Tea Garden: A pair of Neighponese immigrants who fled the warring states that composed their homeland, Wild Card and Tea Garden settled down in Manehattan, where Wild Card would work odd jobs while Tea would work at a tea shop. They were very encouraging to their son, Hat Trick, even supporting his dreams of becoming a famed magician. However, their lives would be tragically cut short due to a termite infestation that caused their house to collapse, leaving Hat Trick an orphan.

Winter Banana and Snow Apple: These two members of the Apple clan both followed their family tradition. However, Snow’s time in the guard was cut short due to a bad fall causing a permanent knee injury. After this, she decided to set up a trading post in between Dream Valley and Canterlot with a small orchard to keep herself fed. At a family reunion, she met with her cousin, Winter Banana, and the two wed soon after. Eventually, the two had a daughter they named Winter Gem. While their daughter was rather enthusiastic about being in the guard, her parents were starting to have doubts about this, believing that the kingdom would soon be on the cusp of ending the war and that it would be better to find another, simpler career like farm work. Winter Banana would accompany her to Canterlot and continue to serve in the guard for four more years to watch over his daughter. Before Gem went off to the Crystal Empire, Winter Banana and she had a very vocal argument, when he advised her to leave the guard as soon as her four years were up and to return to the family once more, this time as a farmer. They did not part on good terms. This greatly saddened Winter Banana after his daughter’s presumed death and after his time in the guard was served, Winter Banana left Canterlot and devoted the rest of his life to farming while a town that would eventually become Dodge City started to form around the trading post.

Coal Fire and Silver Wind: A smith and a weather pony from the island of Gallopfrey, these two are the parents of Iron Forge. Because of how close the island is to the Griffin Kingdom, Gallopfrey was a frequent target for attack.. While the guards tended to fight off the griffin forces, there were multiple times where there were civilian casualties, including Coal Fire’s niece, Steel Hammer. When the griffins launched a successful sneak attack on Gallopfrey, Coal Fire attempted to fight Grimhilde as she went after the mayor, only to be killed and devoured by her. In an attempt to free the island, Silver Wind was freed by Equestrian forces and was taken to Canterlot, where she reunited with her son. After the loss of her husband, she started to take an interest in Flash Sentry, considering proposing herding with him and his wife. With Forge and Fleetfeather’s disappearances in the empire, Silver Wind and Flash Sentry did marry. Shortly before Flash’s arrest, Silver Wind learned she was pregnant and gave birth to a filly named Lightning Flash. She would also adopt an orphan pegasus colt named Fireball.

Viridian Forest and Emerald Shine: Born and raised in Dream Valley, these two are the parents of Verdant Range. Forest once acted as a gardener in Canterlot before returning home and becoming a homemaker for his herd, where Emerald would be main breadwinner of the family in the real estate business. With Emerald and his three other mates, Viridian would sire seven children, with Verdant being his only son. After Verdant disappeared in the empire, Emerald was furious with Magic Barrier. When attending the mass funeral held in Canterlot, the grieving mare punched Barrier in the face. A few years later, the herd would take on one more mare in Star Arcana, who despite her advanced age, would provide the herd with their final foal, a unicorn filly named Emerald Dawn.

With the parents done, let's move onto the various siblings the privates had.

Mars Falchion: Born as the second child of Chrome Falchion and Ribbon, Mars strove to be one of the best soldiers in the Equestrian forces. At the age of fourteen, Swiftsword vanished along with the Crystal Empire, making Mars the new heir. Mars would have an illustrious career as he tried to protect Equestria as they tried to form peace with the griffins. Mars had multiple mates over the years, but due to fertility problems, sired no foals throughout his life. Mars’ various mates left him and had foals with others. This led to a severe depression for Mars where he died in his home with only his servants to care for the last of the Falchion clan.

Star Hopper: Eldest of Viridian Woods’ foals with his herd, she was daughter of Silver Rain. Star Hopper was a mare who became an astronomer, who helped write many star charts. When Princess Luna was banished, she was the only one of her siblings to be saddened by the loss of the younger princess.

Gold Leaf: Second eldest daughter of Viridian Wood’s foals with his herd, she was the daughter of Golden Light. Gold Leaf became a librarian in Dream Valley who greatly enjoyed helping foals learn to read. She was the closest of the foals to Verdant due to sharing a room and bed with him until he went to Canterlot.

Parsley: The fourth born of Viridian Wood’s foals with his herd, Parsley was the first of the quartet born on the same day as her other siblings and the daughter of Silver Rain. Parsley became an herbalist who would provide her wares to the citizens of Dream Valley for treating minor ailments, brewing potions and seasoning food. She was a mare who liked to indulge in some types of plants for recreational purposes.

Sage: The fifth born of Viridian Wood’s foals with his herd, Sage was the second of the quartet born on the same day as her other siblings and the daughter of Magic Star Swirl. Sage was a very intelligent mare who wanted to transcribe as much knowledge as possible, writing many books. After the loss of the Crystal Empire, she set off to record as much as she could of the lost land due to the loss of her elder brother.

Rosemary: The sixth born of Viridian Wood’s foals with his herd, Rosemary was the third of the quartet born on the same day as her other siblings and the daughter of Golden Light. Rosemary, interested in cooking after watching her father make the family’s meals so many times, decided to eventually open up a bakery that provided many kinds of breads and pastries for the ponies of Dream Valley.

Thyme: The seventh born of Viridian Wood’s foals with his herd, Thyme was the last of the quartet and the daughter of Emerald Shine. From a young age, Thyme liked to tinker around with things. She became interested in working on timepieces, starting off by opening a clock repair service before aiding in the construction of Dream Valley’s first clock tower.

Emerald Dawn: The final foal sired by Viridian Woods and the daughter of Star Arcana. Emerald Dawn was a rather skilled sorceress that eventually became a student at Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. She eventually became a pioneer in the craft of magical constructs, who’s findings are considered a cornerstone of the study, even to this day.

Fireball: Orphaned at birth, Fireball was adopted by Silver Wind, who raised him alongside Lightning Flash. Fireball served under Mars Falchion for several years and became a friend of ambassador Varia LeGrande before he was promoted to the rank of captain of the royal guard. He eventually married Emerald Dawn.

Lightning Flash: Born to Silver Wind and Flash Sentry, Lightning Flash was the slightly older sister of Fireball. She spent some time in the guard before eventually taking an interest in a relatively new aerial squadron that started the year after the peace agreement between Equestria and the Griffin Kingdom. Using skills involving precision use of lightning from her time in the guard, she and the others put on a great show that dazzled the crowd and impressed many, including General Firefly, who dubbed this squadron “The Wonderbolts”.

Since the Griffin Kingdom was mentioned, let’s go over characters with a major connection to it.

Grimhilde LeGrande: Known as the Butcher of Gallopfrey, Grimhilde wanted to do whatever she could to aid her kingdom, not caring who she needed to step on in the process. When she was young, an injury that her twin sister, Serihilde, took left her lame in one wing and unable to fly. Before she seized Gallopfrey, what was considered the most notable moment in her career was when as a private serving on the Silver Beak, the ship was sunk by Equestrian forces with Grimhilde the sole survivor, left adrift on a fragment of hull until she was rescued by a training ship known as the Courageous Wing. The Courageous Wing’s crew were all lost in a previous battle and the cadets attempted to lead their own charge against the pony forces, ignoring the former captain’s orders to return home. Grimhilde, even while tired and injured, defeated the acting captain, assumed command of the ship and ordered the crew to return to port. Grimhilde always saw ponies as beneath griffins, to the point that she considered killing and eating foals as doing them a favor since they wouldn’t have to suffer through existing as an inferior species. After she had conquered Gallopfrey, she had the civilians taken prisoner so they could be killed for food. Any griffins that tried to oppose or report her horrendous war crimes were either threatened into compliance or killed. After the war ended, Grimhilde was executed for her war crimes with disembowelment followed by decapitation.

Starscream: A close friend of Chrome Falchion and like an uncle to Swiftsword, Starscream was a pegasus who always sought to advance his position of power. One day, he believed that due to Celestia and Luna’s refusal to enter the war, Equestria would eventually fall to the griffins. He made an alliance with Grimhilde to act as a spy and helped supply information on Gallopfrey’s weaknesses and Equestrian military plans, aiding in the island’s conquest in exchange for the promise of wealth and power once the griffins took over the kingdom. When Barrier was captured by Grimhilde, Starscream felt there was no longer a need to keep his treachery a secret from the obsidian unicorn. However, thanks to Flash Sentry’s intervention, Barrier escaped alongside a good deal of rescued civilians. For his failure and blown cover, Grimhilde that morning announced that he would be reassigned from espionage to breakfast, leading to him being killed and eaten; not in that order.

King Alarick Imperator: King of the griffins, Alarick’s rule was marred by a long-lasting and terrible famine. Due to a combination of cultural beliefs and pride, Alarick refused to seek aid from Equestria, even when offered, and chose the path of conquest. He sought to conquer Equestria, seeing it as a country ruled by not only an inferior species, but cowards whose mighty leaders refused to join the war to put an end to it. He saw the alicorn’s refusal to fight as a sign of weakness; that the claims of their great power were nothing but gossip they had propagated to bolster Equestria’s image. He declared war, believing it would end in the death of the alicorns and Equestria becoming a land of second class citizens under his rule who would obey their new masters. His assessment of the alicorns would be proven wrong when a furious Celestia ended the war in a day, killing nearly four hundred griffins, binding his most trusted brigadier in chains, personally blasting down the palace doors and then forcing Grimhilde to confess to her crimes and demanding he surrender. Faced with such an unstoppable force and disgusted to learn what Grimhilde had done with prisoners of war, Alarick capitulated and ended the war. He would later look back on his life with great dismay, seeing both the war and the failure to know what Grimhilde was doing right under his beak. During his lifetime, Alarick only had one legitimate child; his daughter, Farica. However, he also sired many, many bastards, to the point where it’s believed that nearly ten percent of griffins in modern times are descended from him.

Queen Farica Imperator: Daughter of King Alarick Imperator, Farica was the one who ruled over the Griffin Kingdom after her father passed away from eating bad chicken. Farica sought to become allies with Equestria after she became queen, but this was something that took a long time to do due to tensions following the war, economic issues, cultural issues and more that hindered the process. It is thanks to her ambassador to Equestria and an Equestrian scribe that the Pony-Griffin Concordat was signed by Farica and Celestia, ensuring the two kingdoms remained allies for centuries. Queen Farica was considered a far more reasonable ruler than her father, less prone to making poor decisions due to pride. She started a fashion trend amongst the griffin hens of her era where they would dye the tuft of their tail with one or multiple streaks of color.

Varia LeGrande: Born to Grimhilde during her occupation of Gallopfrey, Varia had to be given to her aunt Serihilde when she was very young due to the war ending with her mother’s execution. Varia grew up in the servant’s quarters of the royal palace because her aunt was one of King Alarick’s many maids. Her time in the palace allowed her to befriend Princess Farica, who was one of the few who didn’t see her and her bloodline as forever tainted due to Grimhilde’s monstrous actions. Varia sought to not only maintain the peace between the Griffin Kingdom and Equestria, but to forge a stronger bond between the two kingdoms. She would become a good friend to both Mars Falchion and Fireball during her time as ambassador. Years after she helped create the Pony-Griffin Concordat, she returned to the Griffin Kingdom, married and had several children. Despite her efforts, there are those who still shun her family line, even in the modern day. Some of her descendants include Gilda and Gustave LeGrande.

Now that we’ve covered these characters from ancient times, let’s continue that with two mares from Neighpon.

Ran Saki: Also known as Orchid Blossom, she was a part of a ninja clan that served the Tane clan who ruled part of the Kin Hoshi region until an attack by the Dokuro clan seized a large portion of the region and killed many ponies, including her father and older sister. The leader of the Ran clan, her mother, Fuukiran, sent her off to Equestria to offer her services to a wealthy pony as a means to secure food, wealth and other desperately needed resources to aid their efforts in fighting off the Dokuro. Sneaking onto a ship by disguising herself as one of the crew, Saki eventually reached Equestria’s shores, with Canterlot following soon after. Managing to sneak into the palace armory, she stole a magic inhibitor ring. Eventually, she managed to subdue Magus Stone with the ring, demonstrating her skills to him and offering her services. Magus, despite the situation, immediately accepted and had her train his elder son, Barrier, in all the ways of combat and stealth she knew. Barrier and Saki soon grew to love one another, with her being his first. Eventually, Barrier was accepted into the guard and she received word that her mother had passed away, meaning she needed to return to Neighpon to lead the clan. Before she left, she gave Barrier a silver flask he still carries to this day, while he gave her a sword that she would dub Kazemaru. After one final night with him and her friend, Ame, she returned to Neighpon with her sword, one thousand bits, fifty koku of senmai, and some more supplies to lead and expand her clan. Saki never married, but did eventually take Ame as her lover.

Arashi Ame: A servant of the Ran clan, Ame was one of Saki’s closest friends and a ninja whose expertise lay in medicine and making use of the weather for her missions. She was rather saddened when her friend left for Equestria to find aid for the Ran and Tane clans, but she remained vigilant and was a part of many successful strikes against the Dokuro clan. Upon the passing of Fuukiran, Ame was tasked by the leader of the Tane clan, Momoko, to go to Equestria and bring Saki back to lead the Ran ninja. Delivering the heartbreaking news to her friend, she helped make Saki and Barrier’s final night together more memorable before returning home.

With the ninja covered, I think I’ll move some of the last relatives from the past to cover.

Radiant Spell: Barrier’s younger brother and after his brother’s disappearance, the new heir to the Sparkle noble house. Radiant was a highly skilled sorcerer and academic and while he wasn’t as powerful as his elder brother, he knew a much wider variety of spells. He married when he was young to a servant of the house named Ocean Sunset, fathering a daughter he named Radiant Sparkle. His father arranged for him to marry Swiftsword Falchion, but due to her disappearance in the Crystal Empire, those plans were thwarted. The current members of the Sparkle bloodline are descended from him.

Ocean Sunset: This earth pony was a servant to the Sparkle family, who loyally and diligently tended to her master’s house, keeping her section spotless and making delicious meals. During her service, she became quite attached to Radiant Spell, finding him kind, warm, affectionate and somewhat shy. One night, when a burglar broke into the manor, he was caught and tried to kill Radiant so there’d be no witnesses to his crimes, but Ocean Sunset found the two and swiftly killed the intruder, saving Radiant’s life. Magus Spell, grateful to the earth pony for saving his son, offered whatever she’d like as a reward. Ocean Sunset asked if she could have his youngest son’s hoof in marriage. Though Magus wanted the Sparkle line to remain thoroughbred unicorns, he honored his word so long as his son could herd with a second mare of his choosing. Less than a year after their wedding, their daughter would be born. When Radiant was arranged to marry Swiftsword, she happily agreed to be with Swiftsword and looked forward to being her herd mate.

Radiant Sparkle: The studious daughter of Radiant Spell and Ocean Sunset, Radiant Sparkle was an excitable young filly who loved to hear of whatever adventurous tales her uncle would tell her when she wasn’t playing with her favorite doll, Sparkling Dream. When she first met Swiftsword and learned she’d be becoming her aunt, she was nervous. However, she soon grew attached to the Falchion mare and became excited to hear whatever tales of the Falchion clan she could. Poor Radiant spell was heartbroken when Swiftsword was lost in the Crystal Empire. As she grew, she tried to keep in contact with the Falchions since she knew Mars took Swift’s loss even worse than she did. She became a close friend of his and hoped one day that their two houses would unite. However, that could never come to pass due to Mars’ sterility. Radiant Spell did what she could to keep the Falchion memory alive in historical texts and was said to have cried harder than anypony else at Mars’ funeral after he passed away due to illness. She was at his bedside when the last Falchion perished.

I think that’s the last of the ancient characters, so onto some other Vanhoover residents, starting with these two, along with their mother.

Fruity Punch: This unicorn mare recently moved to Vanhoover from Hollow Shades with her older twin, Sweet Honey so they could have more room than she would otherwise with her large family. Punch became a waitress at Delicious Dining Delights & Deli and started taking cooking courses at the community center. Her time at work and the community center lead to her becoming friends with Dolly, Swiftsword, Verdant Range, and a fortune teller who was also taking classes named Spectral Image. Spectral Image, or as Punch liked to call her, Specky, soon became Punch’s closest friend and loved to spend time with her at Moonlight Melodies, a karaoke bar. Punch loves her new life and hopes to find someone to love her, be it an attractive mare around her age or an older stallion.

Sweet Honey: Fruity Punch’s older twin sister, Honey is a pegasus who prefers to fly solo, unlike her outgoing sibling. She left Hollow Shades so she too could have more space, quickly landing a job at the Vanhoover postal service’s local division. She may not be the warmest of ponies, but she does care deeply about her family and would do anything for them, even if they drive her crazy.

Milk ‘N Honey: A small-time political figure and actress from out near Dodge City, Milk ‘N Honey is a single mother striving to do her best for all her many children. She’s got quite the hoofful trying to improve living conditions where she lives, but she’ll stop at nothing to help those under her care.

Next up, some of the earlier Vanhoover ponies our heroes encountered:

Dark Roast: A highly skilled cashier and expert coffee brewer, Dark Roast is one of the top employees at Alfredo’s Diner. Many ponies come to the diner for his coffee alone. Dark Roast is the father of Summer Eve and husband of a lamppost maintenance mare named Midnight Oil.

Alfredo: Owner and head chef of Alfredo’s Diner and often just called Al, this hard of hearing stallion is an expert of slow-cooked meals, while still quite able to handle the lunch and dinner rushes without too much help. Due to him being a rather private stallion that spends most of his time in the back of the restaurant, very few ponies know what he looks like and even fewer know what his voice truly sounds like due to usually only hearing him shout, “WHAT?”.

Onward to some of the Vanhoover members of the Apple family.

Belmont Apple: A bat pony who’s the current proprietor of the North Grove Apple Farm, Belmont loves to soar over his land to see his fruit glistening in the early morning dew just as the sun starts to rise. A longtime fan of the Flame Crest book series, Belmont is a big fan of historical fiction, with tales connected to the legendary Captain Mars Falchion being some of his favorites. He’s a loving husband and the diligent father of two foals that he cherishes far more than the rest of the world.

Red Bouquet: A manager for the Shiny Stems flower shop, Red Bouquet is a hard worker that loves getting her hooves dirty as she tends to the flowers that make her customers happy. She married her college boyfriend Belmont and had a set of twin bat ponies with him. She has a bit of a rivalry with the owner of the Pretty Petals flower shop, Sunflower Spectacle.

Dawn Apple and Gold Pippin: The twin children of Red Bouquet and Belmont Apple, these two bat ponies are almost always around one another, having fun, doing chores around the farm and just about everything in between. These two were some of the first to befriend Wind Whistler when she started to attend school in Vanhoover. While Dawn is somewhat the smarter of the two, she tends to be more gullible. See the time she thought she was a vampony.

Autumn Gold and Pipistrelle “Pip” West: The parents of Belmont Apple and the owners of the farm until they signed the rights over to their son, feeling they were too old to handle it anymore. Autumn Gold is a farmer born and raised while Pip is a former member of the royal guard who retired after his partner, Bird Warden, was injured by a gang of unicorns in a drug bust. Now the couple are happily retired with Autumn slowly learning to play the collectible card game, Kaijudo, while Pip is a collector of superhero comics.

Next group: The staff of Pretty Petals Flower Shop.

Sunflower Spectacle: Formerly a resident of Canterlot, this unicorn mare once had a somewhat profitable gardening service when she found that, due to a particularly wild night, she was now with foal. She stayed in Canterlot for several years, but soon found that things were becoming too expensive in the Equestrian capital, so she moved out to Vanhoover. Her business was rather successful, in spite of the competition she had from competing shops. Her daughter eventually moved out to start her own traveling magic act while Sunflower enjoyed the stability that running her shop granted her.

Beanstalk: The tallest mare in Vanhoover, rivaling Princess Luna in height, Beanstalk is a mare that stands out in any crowd. Though short and chubby as a filly, at the age of fourteen, puberty hit her like a speeding train and caused her to have a massive growth spurt. After finishing college alongside her best friend, High Gear, Beanstalk came back to Vanhoover, where she often handles tasks that could require a long set of legs.

Maua: A zebra mare who lives with her twin sister, Maua is often very cheerful to nearly everypony she meets. However, when she’s at home, she can be very territorial. She has gotten into multiple fights with her sister over things such as who ate the last slice of pizza or what movie to rent.

Banana Blitz: The strongest pony in Pretty Petals, Banana Blitz handles the heaviest tasks Sunflower Spectacle can throw at her. She deeply enjoys the work with the heavy things the shop offers like lifting pallets of soil and such since she believes this will help her in pursuing her true passion: professional wrestling.

Since we’ve tackled those that Verdant, Swiftsword and Winter Gem work with, I think I’ll tackle Iron Forge next with the staff of Silver Swirl’s Smith Shop.

Silver Swirl: Born in the Smokey Mountains, Swirl found an interest in metalwork in her early teens. She didn’t care that this made her the last filly in her class to get her cutie mark, she simply loved working with metal. Sculpting it, molding it, shaping it, if it involved making things out of metal, she was excited. Seeing that there was good business for metalwork in Vanhoover and an ease in getting ore from the nearby Unicorn Range, she started her business alongside a griffin hen that had recently immigrated to Vanhoover.

Asta Sorae: Born in the shadows of Mt. Talone in the Griffin Kingdom, Asta had a great respect for smiths, even as a child. She wanted to be one when she grew up, but could see that smithing shops in her hometown were stuffed to the gills, so she decided to look elsewhere for a job. Her journey seemed rather fruitless in the Griffin Kingdom, but she believed she’d have an easier time if she went to Equestria, given how much richer in resources the land was in comparison to her own. After stowing away on a long train ride to Vanhoover, she started working at a locksmithing shop under a pony named Aluminum Keys. Sadly, the business would close down due to Keys dying from alcohol poisoning. Fortunately for Asta, she wasn’t out of work for too long since she met a mare named Silver Swirl, leading to the founding of Silver Swirl’s Smith Shop.

And now, we shall tackle Hat Trick’s employer and related ponies.

Fiesta Flair: This earth pony mare has always enjoyed parties and wanted to ensure that she could help ponies have the best parties she could. Believing her hometown of Ponyville was too small of a place to really start off her party business, she headed off to Vanhoover to found her dream business. Eventually in the seaside city, she found a unicorn stallion named Tuxedo Tail who wished to open a party supply shop. Seeing how their goals could align, the two opened “Confetti & Coattails Party Planning and Supply”. The business quickly took off and the two business partners soon became romantic partners, leading to their wedding.

Tuxedo Tails: The son of a rich family alongside his twin brother, Tuxedo Tails loved it whenever his family would host an extravagant party. Because of this, Tuxedo Tails decided he would open up a high end party supply store. However, he met a mare from Ponyville named Fiesta Flair, who managed to talk him into supplying all sorts of parties since limiting himself to black tie only events would severely hamper his business. The two became business partners and eventually married.

Showtime Spectacular: This mare felt she was born to perform, be it on stage or on camera. She performs her acting with as much effort as possible, no matter how minor the role. She attempted to break into both plays and movies, but sadly always found herself rejected for one reason or another. In the end, when she was reaching the end of her rope and on the verge of homelessness, she saw there was a job opening for a party clown at Confetti & Coattails, she quickly snatched up the position, even spending the last of her bits to make the costume for her clown persona of Slippy Shoes. While in love with performing, due to some of the bratty kids she has to deal with, she sometimes thinks she’d be getting screwed less if she got into porn.

Dapper Gray: The identical twin brother of Tuxedo Tails, Dapper found himself becoming interested in the fashion world in his teens and decided to open up a clothing and tailoring shop. He decided to call his store, Suits of Utter Perfection, but to save bits on the letters for the sign, he went with the acronym of S.O.U.P.. This name would often lead to confusion due to the similarly named soup store across the street.

Next, on to a certain Vanhoover couple.

Jaylin Blauhäher: After this bluejay-like griffin’s parents were killed in a boating accident, Jaylin was adopted by a pony couple. She grew up to be a civil attorney while her husband, Stormy Sea, works for the local weather works. Jaylin and her husband tried to have a child for several years, but this always led to failure due to Stormy’s fertility problems. Eventually, they decided to use another stallion to act as their donor, and the lucky stallion is Forge.

Stormy Sea: A former sailor on a fishing boat, Stormy Sea is a part of Vanhoover’s weather works and helps maintain the home while his wife works as an attorney. He once played hoofball in highschool, but that career ended after a bad knee and groin injury that would leave him unable to father children. Stormy attempted to join the guard, but he was turned down due to his past injuries.

With these two done, I think now I’ll cover some of Vanhoover’s local law enforcement.

Bright Star: This unicorn mare is the twin sister and partner of Lock-Up. She joined the Vanhoover police because she believed she could help ponies in need. She is very kind, but very by the book. She’s a frequent customer of Alfredo’s due to loving Dark Roast’s coffee.

Lock-Up: If Bright Star is the mare who plays good cop, Lock-Up is one who’d play the bad cop. Blunt, suspicious and untrusting, she is a mare who joined the police to protect the citizens from those who’d threaten them. Despite how gruff she can be, she is still strictly by the book and will bust other officers' chops if they don’t meet her standards.

Minute Detail: The daughter of a hobby shop owner, Minute Detail, or “Mini” as her friends call her, has always had an eye for fine details. She is able to spot things that would take other ponies a magnifying glass or a microscope to notice. A hobby of hers is writing and drawing images onto grains of rice. Near the end of highschool, she realized her skills could be used to help solve crimes, so she eventually became a crime scene investigator.

With those connected directly to the police force, I think I’ll next tackle those connected with a local detective agency.

Gray Skies: Originally from Canterlot, this pegasus mare is the twin sister of Color Splash. In her youth, one of her interests was borrowing detective stories from the local library. When her sister moved out to Manehattan, Gray decided to move with her friend to Vanhoover. There they founded a detective agency called Private Investigations which sat a floor above a beachside bistro, from which they were able to both work as private investigators and consulting detectives for the local police. Eventually, the two hired a mare named Snapshot Flash as their secretary. After Color Splash’s arrest, every case that Gray ever worked on needed to be reexamined with a fine-toothed comb. This incident drove a substantial wedge between the sisters and badly tarnished her reputation. To this day, despite Splash wishing to patch things up and her father asking her to give Color Splash a chance, the two aren’t on speaking terms.

Trace “Tracey” Evidence: A brave, gruff and somewhat reckless unicorn, Tracey is a pony that hates it when a mystery goes unsolved. They became a close friend of Gray Skies when they met in high school, bonding over a shared interest in mystery novels and forensics. After the two moved out to Vanhoover, the two purchased an office space that belonged to a lifeguard/detective. Thanks to their detective skills and Tracey’s keen eye for the smallest details, the two became the most frequently consulted detectives in Vanhoover.

Snapshot Flash: Once believed to have been killed in the same accident that cost High Gear her horn and parents, Snapshot Flash was found in a troubled and confused state in the woods near Vanhoover two years ago. She claimed to have no memory of how she ended up in the woods in odd clothes, carrying strange devices in her backpack that she says are imported and craving a chicken burrito. During the investigation, she became close friends with Gray Skies and Trace Evidence. In the end, they ended up giving her a place to stay and a job as the secretary for Private Investigations.

I think next, we’ll cover some of the staff at Vanhoover Elementary School.

Principal Hardbound Text: This earth pony stallion strives to make sure that the foals of Vanhoover always have the best education possible, to the point he’s willing to use some of his own salary to buy up to date books. His husband is a stallion named Silver Platter who works at the restaurant called the Gilded Sunset.

Ms. Schoolbag: This mare is a kind teacher who does her best to weather all the weird things that can happen in Vanhoover. She’s always wished to help others learn, going as far as tutoring other students in her youth before obtaining her teaching degree. She specializes in mathematics and geometry.

Next are some of Wind Whistler’s friends besides the Apple twins and Crispy Wings.

Shutterbug: This photography loving unicorn filly comes from a herd of photographers. She learned about how lens and other camera components work from her mother, Viewfinder. Her father, Spectro taught her about the importance of lighting while her aunt, Spyglass, helped her learn how to best frame her shots. She one day hopes to become a famous news photographer.

Melony: This shy earth pony filly is the daughter of a pair farmers who try to encourage her to make more friends. She’s a bit of a scaredy-cat, but she does want to try and become braver. Her biggest fear is vamponies, despite the fact her parents keep telling her they’re not real. Of all her friends, she has the biggest appetite.

High Stakes: Local pawn shop owner Game O’Chance and her husband, casino employee, Lucky Streak, wanted to have a child of their own, but were having no success. They soon learned from their doctor that Game O’Chance was unable to produce viable ovums. Because of this news, they decided to try a procedure involving using another mare’s ovums to try to conceive a foal. Thanks to the eggs of a mare named Starshine, Game O’Chance eventually gave birth to a filly she named High Stakes. Even at her young age, Stakes showed she was a clever filly and a master gambler. She earned her cutie mark at age six, when she managed to accrue one thousand bits by playing poker with other foals. She’s started a business called the Candy Casino.

Now we’ll tackle some ponies connected to the community center.

Tablier Bleu: This prench unicorn is the wife of Alfredo and has a passion for sharing her knowledge of cooking with others. She decided to use her skills at the community center, teaching a wide variety of recipes in her classes. She wishes to eventually write her own set of cook books alongside her husband, with recipes for both home meals and restaurants.

Heavy Weight: Born with a strange magical anomaly that gave her incredible strength, this prevented Heavy Weight from being able to compete in sports with others throughout her youth She works as a trainer at the community center to try and help ponies reach their peak. She hopes to one day find either a way to decrease her immense strength or to find someone with abilities similar to her own.

Frosty Night: The head of the community center, Frost is responsible for the management of the daily functions and the planning of special events that are held there. When it comes to hosting events at the center, her favorite are the charity parties held every Hearth’s Warming Eve. Due to growing up as an orphan, she knows how much things like the toy drives mean to young foals.

Ziwa: The twin sister of Maua and a good friend of Erica, this mare plans on joining her friend as a part of the Vanhoover swim team for the Equestria Games. She can be fairly mischievous and one her favorite things to do is steal one of her sister’s snacks when she isn’t looking. Despite how often she fights with her sister, she does care about her deeply, though one wouldn’t know it if you lived next door to them and heard them arguing.

I think next, we’ll tackle some Vanhoover residents who do work with food or drinks.

Hard Rye: Owner of Liquor in the Rye, one of Vanhoover’s more popular bars and alcohol suppliers, Hard Rye’s a former farmer who started off her alcohol business by illegally brewing beer for friends in high school. She eventually turned to more legitimate ways to make and sell alcohol while living the bachelorette life.

Sweet Mixture: Owner of Moonlight Melodies, a karaoke bar in the Midnight Mall and its dayshift bartender, Sweet Mixture enjoy the festive mood her business brings almost constantly. Her favorite thing to do is mix up drinks while someone starts singing on the stage… though it helps if they’re a good singer.

Einar Sorae: Born and raised among ponies, Einar is a griffin tiercel that spent several years working at a local grocery store. When his boss was going to retire, Einar bought out the store and rebranded it. Eventually, Einar found a hen that he fell in love with named Asta. The two have a single daughter named Erica.

Raspberry Jam: Known by most of Vanhoover as R.J., this stallion’s the owner of Jungle Karma Pizza. He’s a fairly cheerful and seemingly relaxed earth pony who happens to also be a martial arts expert. He knows a good deal about most of Vanhoover and according to rumors, trains three of his employees in the ways of an ancient martial art.

Pepper Belle: Born in Dodge City, this earth pony is a mistress of spicy food. Feeling that her plans to open a restaurant that specialized in spicy food wouldn’t do too well in a city in the middle of a desert, she decided to set up shop in Vanhoover, a city known for its cold weather. With the recent return of the Ruby Reaper peppers with the Crystal Empire, she seeks to not only develop new recipes with the peppers, but develop an immunity.

Tina Jenny Hillcrest: A donkey jenny that was born and grew into her teen years in Mexicolt, Tina’s family moved after fire ruined the section of town they lived in. While she did adjust to the colder temperatures of Vanhoover, one thing she missed was the sort of food she used to be able to get back in Mexicolt. Seeking to remedy that and share some of her favorite foods with her new home, she opened up her own little restaurant.

Now, onto various others that have a role in Vanhoover and its various businesses.

Chestnut Gavel: A former lawyer, Chestnut Gavel does everything in her power to improve the lives of Vanhoover’s citizens. She has seen to the expansion and improvement of Vanhoover’s hospitals, enacted policies that led to a reduction of crime and litter, and opened the community center. Despite all this, she fears she’ll only be remembered for the time Discord made her act like a cat.

Inira: Born and raised in Baltimare, this zebra is one of the most skilled agents at Red Blazer Realty. She seeks prestige and large commissions. Her personal goal is to sell a home that the agency has had for twenty years, a house where an apparent double equicide took place. She has a major rivalry with another agent named Thatch Roof.

Color Splash: This former Canterlot resident obtained her cutie mark when she saw an explosion of color streaking across the sky. This made her wish to draw a color picture of a rainbow, but due to her family’s lack of finances, she was greatly lacking in drawing supplies. This led to her discovering her special talent of making things change color. As she grew, this led to her stealing works of art and replacing them with forgeries. She was eventually caught in the act, but due to lack of evidence, the low value of the painting, it being her first known offense, she received only a three year sentence. Thanks to good behavior, taking a shiv meant for the warden, and a genuine desire to reform after seeing how upset her father was over her actions, she served one year. After finding an ad in the paper, she became the roommate of a Vanhoover librarian named Due Date. She currently focuses on selling custom made items for customers on request, nearly all of it being legal.

Due Date: Raised by his father, a traveling Equestrian diplomat, Due Date never really stayed in one place long enough to call it home or make any lasting relationships, though the closest he came was his time spent amongst the capital of the Griffin Kingdom. Several years after attaining his cutie mark, he and his father had a particularly nasty parting about the travel-heavy lifestyle and he struck out on his own, settling in Vanhoover. With only the barest of funds from his efforts over the years, Due Date managed to snag a job as a librarian at the Vanhoover Public Library and while not living in the seat of luxury, he has managed to scrape by.

Blockbuster: This pegasus runs a popular store that rents and sells movies to the citizens. With a wide variety of films in his shop and punishing late fees, he believes his business will go on for decades, to the point he dismissed an offer from another company to sell him their service for renting movies through the mail.

Game O’Chance: The owner of the local pawn shop and birth mother of High Stakes, Game O’Chance is a very hard working mare who's skilled at taking chances and determining the value of items with very few misses. She likes to say her own version of, “Buyer beware”, by saying that, “When you buy something second-hoof, it’s always a Game O’Chance”.

Tidy Trim: This friendly and chatty unicorn is a skilled and welcoming hairdresser. Due to her family not having much wealth to speak of, her mother had to cut her own hair until the day she decided to try doing it herself. The result was something far better than what her dear mother had ever accomplished. She obtained her cutie mark and soon started to trim her schoolmates manes and tails for bits. She is skilled enough to trim and style the hair of eight ponies at a time.

Jewel Twinkle: The owner of Glittering Treasures Jewelry, Miss Twinkle’s special talent is to rearrange substances with her magic and if she has multiple pieces of the same substance, fuse them together and mold them as she sees fit. She discovered this talent when she was dealing with a school bully, breaking their nose with her hoof and literally rearranging their face.

High Score: The owner of both an arcade and a video game store in the Midnight Mall, this unicorn is someone heavily interested in the growing business of video games. He does everything he can to have at least one copy of any video game that gets released. He believes that the mythical game, Ponybius, a game claimed to be part of a secret government experiment, is just that, a myth.

Next up: one of the rival cadet squads from the past. Squad 964. These six were trained by a scarred mare known as Captain Longshot.

Prismatic Radiance: Daughter of Duchess Summer Radiance of Canterlot and her husband, Lord Onyx Star, Prismatic Radiance was a unicorn literally bred for greatness. Her youth was very sheltered and strict, with her life being limited to study, practice, meals and sleep, with her having to obey all of her parents' demands.She had nearly no freedom as she was raised for her parent’s goals of becoming a powerful magical teacher. However, the straw that broke the pony’s back eventually came when her parents attempted to arrange a marriage for her to an older stallion that she didn’t like in the slightest. She decided she would no longer obey their whims and made her displeasure known by blasting down the wall that separated the dining room and the kitchen in a single, cannon-like blast. While she was initially unsure of what to do with her life when she wanted to follow her own path, she saw that the royal guard was recruiting and believed a sorceress of her caliber would be of great use in the war effort.

Fixer Upper: Born in a small village at the base of the Smokey Mountains, Fixer Upper was the child of a carpenter and a smith. Even as a foal, she liked to build things, even if it was made from scrap wood, sticks and sap. One day, her parents were hired to repair damages to a local inn, but the deadline was too much for the two ponies to handle. Thanks to hard work on Fixer’s part and brewing a large amount of drink made from the roasted seeds of the coffea fruit, the young filly was able to help them complete the repairs ahead of schedule. This earned the filly her cutie mark. Later on in life, the energetic repair pony decided to head to Canterlot to join the guard, hoping that after basic training, she’d be able to join the corps of engineers.

Vin Rouge: The earth pony mare grew up very wealthy due to a noblemare’s gambling addiction, granting them a large vineyard and winery. Despite enjoying the high life and socializing with the elite of pony society, something she loved even more was getting her hooves dirty from a hard day’s work. Seeing how the war effort against the griffins was going, she believed she couldn’t sit back any longer. Feeling that the guard could use a strong pony with a good work ethic, she left Neighagra Falls and joined. After she joined, she found herself starting to fall for her squadmate, Storm Cloud.

Pen ‘N Paper: This plump earth pony was someone who delighted in art and painting, helped by her mother working as a portrait painter for nobles in Canterlot. Seeing her mother work made her wish to one day become an artist like her. After her mother’s passing, she was hoping to become a portrait painter as well, but found that not only were nobles more likely to go with a more experienced pony, but most were focusing on the war effort. In order to survive, she decided she’d have to put her paintbrush away and pick up a spear. She worked hard in the guard, turning a good deal of her fat to muscle and becoming the physically strongest member of her squad.

Storm Cloud: Daughter of Lieutenant Fire Rainbow and Captain Lightning Javelin, Storm Cloud was a mare from a long line of pegasus warriors. Due to her mother’s death to the griffins early on in her life and her father often being busy with guard duty, she was mostly raised by her earth pony nanny. The village of Starry Falls was populated almost entirely by earth ponies and watching them work made her greatly admire raw earth pony strength. Even at a young age, she knew she wanted to join the guard. Her father helped her with this by teaching her how to be a lightning sniper and how to fight with her hooves. Shooting lightning came easily to her, earning her her cutie mark and allowing her to focus more on her physical strength. When she went to Canterlot to join the guard, her father got himself reassigned so he could help keep an eye on her. During her time in the Crystal Empire, she was blasted by King Sombra and lost a foreleg.

Spicy Omelet: A farmgirl from Fillydelphia, Spicy Omelet is a mare with two loves: cooking and raising chickens. Raised by her older sister, Omelet had much easier time tending to the chickens on the farm than the plants they had. At age eight, she ended up taking over cooking on the farm due to her cutie mark earning cooking skills far exceeding those of her sister. She’d hoped to expand her cooking skills and eventually open a restaurant, but seeing how often that her hometown was attacked by griffins, she decided it’d be better if she joined the royal guard. She joined up alongside her squadmates and while her combat skills were lacking compared to them, she had the best survival skills of the six of them.

Now for another rival squad, Squad 973.

Hocus Pocus: The bastard half-sister of Primsmatic Radiance from when Lord Onyx Star cheated on his wife with a maid named Spick ‘N Span. Upon learning she was pregnant, Spick ‘N Span left Canterlot to raise her child in Rainbow Falls, but eventually returned to Canterlot due to having trouble finding a career to support her and her daughter. Upon learning of his child, Onyx Star did what he could to support her and Prismatic Radiance was very welcoming and loving to her half-sister. Hocus has a love of using her magic to awe audiences with tricks that involve her ability to teleport and shrink things really small.

Card Sharp: An orphan from the streets of Manehattan, Card Sharp learned how to survive on her own thanks to being able to swindle ponies with a wide assortment of tricks to help her cheat at gambling. During the winters, she would break into the houses of richer ponies so she could keep herself warm in the attic and steal food when she could. As she grew, she realized that she wouldn’t be able to pull the same tricks she could as a filly, so she had to find some other way to get by. Eventually, she decided to join the guard because she would get, as she put it, “three hots and a cot”. On the way to Canterlot, she met Hat Trick and the two traveled together the rest of the way.

Hotstreak: Born on a pepper farm near the Hayseed Swamps, Hotstreak was one of the fiercest and fastest pegasi in the royal guard cadets. Her mother, a soldier until she lost her wing, made sure that her daughter was always fighting fit in case the griffins ever came by. All the heavy farmwork and her mothers training led to Hotstreak being stronger and more muscular than the average pegasus mare. Despite this, she is a surprisingly good cook that is especially proud of her ability to make and tolerate very spicy foods. Those who dare to eat her food, beware.

Toil ‘N Trouble: The bastard daughter of Summer Radiance’s sister, Moonlight Radiance, Toil ‘N Trouble was shuffled off to an orphanage in Hollow Shades with the birth name of Sweet Tonic due to a maid misunderstanding her mistress’s request after giving birth. At fourteen, she tracked down her birth mother, hoping for a happy reunion, only to have her heart shattered when Moonlight told her somepony like her doesn’t belong in Canterlot andher existence was nothing more than a mistake from when she tried to get a gardener to scratch her itch. With tears in her eyes, she fled Canterlot, not returning until six years later. She worked at a flower shop until the business closed down, leading to her and her former co-worker Verdant joining the guard. While Swiftsword and other nobles treated her poorly, she was treated well by her cousin, Prismatic Radiance. Verdant and her were very close, with her often helping him learn about toxicology and field medicine. Toil wishes to be a master potions maker. Until recently, Toil and Verdant hid that they were infact half siblings.

Night Tulip: Adopted and raised by a pair of bat ponies in Hollow Shades, Night Tulip loved to grow flowers, despite how the shades of Hollow Shades’ trees tended to make that difficult. Tulip was very insistent on carrying all her own things, no matter how heavy they were. This eventually led to her becoming very strong for an earth pony her age. Because of her great strength, her parents encouraged her to join up with the royal guard since they believed it’d be next to impossible for her to live her dream of running a flower shop in Hollow Shades. After joining the guard, she soon became friends with Toil ‘N Trouble, bonding over their knowledge of herbology.

Sandstorm: Born into a band of nomadic pegasi, Sandstorm’s group stumbled upon a trading post owned by the Apple family, which led to Sandstorm and Winter Gem meeting and quickly becoming friends. Over the years, the pegasi would frequent the trading post for supplies, giving Sandstorm and Winter Gem more time to grow closer to one another. Eventually, Sandstorm decided to leave the nomads and form a cloud home not too far from the trading post so she could easily visit her friend and help the Apples by providing them with whatever weather they needed. When Winter Gem went to join the guard, Sandstorm was there by her side. Even when put on rival squads, the two remained close. After she was transferred to a hospital in Canterlot following the events of the Crystal Empire, the two send letters to one another every week.

Shall we next tackle some of Vanhoover’s medical ponies?

Dr. Cross Stitch: The single father to two of Vanhoover’s repair ponies, this stallion, originally from Manehattan, specializes in treating injuries that take a long time to recover from. He’s not the friendliest member of the medical staff, but he will do what it takes to make sure you get better, even if you get a tongue-lashing throughout. After his wife’s passing, he quickly remarried, but due to his children’s age and their dislike of their step-mother, the two moved out to try to find their own place. While he eventually patched things up with his son, his daughter still hasn’t forgiven him.

Dr. High Gear: A unicorn who lost her horn in the accident that killed her parents. This mare who was originally named Lavender Breeze before she earned her cutie mark in a school science fair where she made an automatic bread slicer. She works at the Vanhoover Institute of Science for Technology, working on a variety of devices and projects. She has built several types of prosthetic limbs that are all high quality, but also exorbitantly expensive.

Dr. Rainbow Remedy: A nearsighted unicorn mare and one of the kinder doctors in Vanhoover. Dr. Remedy’s a brilliant chemist who after either giving her own diagnosis or having another doctor’s diagnosis, can and will instantly recommend the best medication for her patients to help make their recovery safe and speedy.

Dr. Sound Mind: Born in Manehattan and raised in Baltimare by her uncle, Dr. Touchy Feely, Sound Mind aspired to help ponies in the same way as her dear uncle. After many years of study and graduating Cum Laude from Tall Tale University, she started up her practice in Vanhoover with the aid of her friend and assistant, Quick Note.

I think the next thing to tackle is Barrier’s class.

Beatrice Florinda Wellington: This friendly cow and Vanhoover resident is known as one of the cheeriest creatures in the city. She works with a local construction company, where often it takes an especially strong earth pony to carry and handle as much as she does. Thanks to a set of hormone pills she takes, she’s able to make extra money by selling milk, despite not having any children. When friends of hers are sad, she tries to cheer them up with homemade milkshakes that she likes to describe as “freshly squeezed”.

Holly Rangifer: Born and raised in a small village in the Frozen North, Holly is a reindeer doe who prides herself on her athletic ability. Back home, she was the fastest runner and highest jumper. However, being able to jump higher than anyone isn’t enough for her. She one day hopes to find a way to actually fly. She thinks she once flew after eating magic feed corn, but she admits that she was really drunk at the time. She’s not fond of winter due to growing antlers around that time of year, leading to some mistaking her for a bull reindeer.

Short Circuit & Nickel Wire: The twin children of Dr. Cross Stitch and his late wife, these two Manehattan natives make their living as some of the best repair ponies in town, able to make their way into small ducts that others have trouble getting into. After their mother’s passing, the two moved around a lot, even living in the tail end of the Statue of Friendship for a while before the two eventually moved out to Vanhoover.

And now, here’s the category for just about everyone else.

Starshine: The second in command of the Royal Guard, this former cheerleader is Shining Armor’s loyal lieutenant. She is a very strict mare who will discipline other guards if they’re even a millimeter out of line. She is a capable soldier and is one of the few unicorns in the guard capable of pulling off the advanced skill of teleportation, which she incorporated into a fighting style of precision physical strikes and magical blasts. While she is rather harsh, she does deeply care about those few close to her, like High Stakes.

Pixel Flash: Called “The Queen of the Arcades” by several ponies around Vanhoover, Pixel Flash is the wife of High Gear and boasts a great passion for video games. She earned her cutie mark when she managed to complete a role-playing video game she imported from Neighpon without a translation guide within eight hours. To the surprise of what would be expected from somepony who spends so much time at the arcade, she’s very intelligent. She can fluently read Neighponese, has a degree in electrical engineering and a respectable understanding of video-game programming. To the surprise of some, her tricolored mane and tail is the result of dye with her true color being a dark purple.

Snowy Skies: The day shift weather manager and the older sister of Snow Sweeper, there is no pony in Vanhoover that loves snow and winter as much as her. She likes to pull the occasional prank on her brother at work, where there’s not much he can do like the time she filled his locker full of shaving cream. Despite her cheery, fun-loving personality and her love of snow and winter, her favorite sport is professional wrestling and she loves spicy food. She enjoys the bachelorette lifestyle because she’s not interested in entering a relationship due to having no interest in romance or sex.

Spectral Image: A believer in spirits and magic far beyond normal pony understanding, this unicorn mare uses her special talents to help ponies find the answers they seek with the fortunes she tells with her trusty old camera. Despite her dark and dreary appearance, she’s a rather friendly mare and is so trusting in her abilities, she offers her first consultation for free… before charging through the nose for future consultations. She’s made a fair number of friends thanks to cooking classes at the community center and singing karaoke at Midnight Melodies, with Fruity Punch being her closest friend.

Lightning Javelin: A former captain of the Equestrian guard and father to Storm Cloud, Javelin was a lightning sniper whose wife, Fire Rainbow, was killed by griffins when Storm Cloud was very young. He did everything he could to raise his daughter well while doing his best to fight the griffin forces. He kept an especially close eye on her when she was in the guard. He ended up being one of the few members of the royal guard who managed to survive the Crystal Empire. With his daughter now missing a foreleg, he has been even more worried about her, despite the current peace.