What is this place?
This thread is primarily for deciding where stories will fit into the canon of the Lunaverse. It's a place where authors can submit their story for review by myself and the four moderators of the Lunaverse - InsertAuthorHere, Fizzy Orange, GrassAndClouds2, and Emeral Bookwise.

The five of us discuss the story on a personal Quorum forum, located here. It should be noted that ultimately the other four are serving in an advisory capacity, and the final decision about whether or not a story is made canon rests with me.

Submitting a Story for Canon
Submitting your story for vetting by us five is simple - just post in this thread that you have a story you'd like to see make it to canon, making sure that your post is linked to this original post here so that I'm notified and aware of your request. I'll make a thread for it over in the Quorum's forum.

Minimum Requirements:
- You have to have at least 1 chapter done with the story. It doesn't have to be submitted to FiMFiction, it can be in Google Documents or something, but we just need something that we can read and measure.
- You must provide responses to the following questions:
- Who are the main characters, and who are the major secondary characters?
- In what way is the story intended to advance any of the characters involved? Note that not intending to advance any of the characters involved does not preclude canonization.
- What, if anything, would you like to see show up in later Lunaverse stories?

There are three levels of Lunaverse canon:

- Canon: These are the core stories of the Lunaverse that advance its plot or characters in some way. As a general rule, to make it into canon, a story has to include one of the following characters as a main character: Trixie, Lyra, Raindrops, Carrot Top, Cheerilee, Ditzy, or Dinky.
Examples: Boast Busted, A Concert for Ponyville, Up and Automaton

- Semi-Canon: These stories primarily involve secondary or tertiary characters. Semi-canon stories are considered just fine for canon, but since they don't involve a main character they're not organized as part of the main series. They can still contain important plot or character details, though.
Examples: An Early Reunion, Elements of Insanity, Treasure City.

- Non-Canon: These stories simply can't be involved in canon due to conflicts in tone or story, or because they were written as part of one of our writing events. However, since they're not part of canon, they're free to go in any direction they want. Also, non-canon stories don't have to be vetted by the Quorum: you can just write them and submit them to your heart's content. There's even a possibility that we might ask to elevate a non-canon to canon status, if we think it would be a good addition. It's happened.
Examples: In the Heat of the Moment, Fate/Lunaverse, The Worst Mother in Equestria.

How will discussions about the status of a story be handled?
Myself, Emeral, Grass, IAH, and Fizzy will discuss the fics amongst ourselves on the Quorum forum. If we have any questions, we'll ask you directly; if you have any questions, you can just PM us and we'll answer them.

After five days of discussion, based on that discussion and my own impressions about how the story will serve the Lunaverse's larger canon, I'll reach a decision regarding whether it will be considered canon, semi-canon, or non-canon, and inform you of it in this thread.

There's no "strike" system, by the way. If a story is rejected from canon, you can edit it and re-submit it any number of times for fresh consideration.

What else goes on here?
There will be a post containing a "wish list" of story ideas, below. These are proposed story ideas that haven't been written yet, but which we'd like to see done at some point. Some of them may have been claimed by some authors (and they will be indicated as such), while others are just floating around, waiting for an author to grab them.

In a similar vein, there will be a "discouraged ideas" post. This post will be for ideas that have been vetted as not being appropriate for the Lunaverse's canon - but note that any idea on this list is still totally available for non-canon status, and might still be fun reads!

Why "quorum," though?
I like alliteration, and "council of canon" seemed too obvious.

Wish List

Lyra & Bon Bon's Relationship Story
Bon Bon and Lyra hadn't see each other for three years, but after nearly dying on the Longest Day, Bon Bon asked Lyra to move in with her... Now she's wondering if they moved too fast and if she was ready to share her living space. Amidst domestic shenanigans Bon Bon thinks back on her relationship with Lyra and the years they had to spend apart when the unicorn went to study in Canterlot. In the end, despite a few hiccups she is certain she made the right choice.

I Really Like Your Mane
A webisode following Carrot Top of the Line detailing Carrot Top very very short stint as a model for Rarity.

Summer Sun Celebration
After the hectic Gala, Trixie takes her friends to her native Neigh-Orleans for the carefree mardi-gras/day of the dead revelries of the Summer Sun Celebration instead of somber Summer Sun Sorrow the rest of Equestria celebrates. Trixie introduces her friends to her family.

Untitled Running of the Leaves story
Coming back after years studying and living away, Lyra wants to do her best to help out her hometown in the Running, an event she used to love as a foal. We discussed that Ponyville would, possibly, have a friendly wager set up with nearby Hoofington, which could lead to a series of pranks and counter pranks designed to prevent the other town from having a successful Running in time. Note that it is a different Hoofington than the town of the lumber guild from Hero of Oaton.

The Proposal
Lyra wants to propose to Bon Bon but isn't sure how to properly do it. Possibly that it's Bon Bon who wants to do it too, or both at the same time. The pony wanting to propose asks the other Luna6 for help. Hilarity and shenanigans ensue before a heart warming "YES!!!" ending.

Dinky in Cloudsdale
Twilight finds the Cloud Walking spell in the library, Ditzy takes her daughter to Cloudsdale, maybe Lyra goes to see her mother. The rest of the plot is up in the air (pun intended)

BonBon's Ordinary Day
BonBon goes around Ponyville and over the course of her day ends up talking to other characters connected to the L6 who are also going about their own ordinary days. Suggestions include Pokey Pierce (Trixie's Secretary), Sparkler (Dinkie's half-sister), Berry Punch (Cheerilee's older sister), Blossomforth/Thunderlane (Carrot Top's business associate and ex-boyfriend respectively, who are now dating each other). The tone should be something like a successor to Tales of Ponyville, except instead of switching perspective each chapter we always follow BonBon as she meets with each of the other ponies in turn. For bonus points the L6 should occasionally be seen running around in the background engaged in the antics of one of their typical episodes, but the audience should always be left confused as to that plot leaving it mostly a noodle incident, however upon returning home at the end of the day BonBon discovers Lyra has a gift for her and the implication is the antics somehow relate to it. This could maybe be the much vaunted proposal fic, in which case as she goes about town the thing BonBon talks about is her own frustration/concern over when Lyra will start taking their relationship more seriously. Barring that, it could perhaps just be an important anniversary.

Fluttershy's Day
Fluttershy was having a quiet evening with her few animals friends who weren't hibernating, feeling bad about not mustering the courage to play in front of the town when the sun comes up in the middle of the night! Soon afterward her good friend Rainbow Dash arrives...with Scootaloo in tow. Rainbow Dash tries to reassure Fluttershy while Angel teaches Scootaloo martial arts.

Vinyl Scratch's Day
Forget that old school party in Ponyville, that's for squares yo! DJ PON-3 has a gig in the big city! An all night new years eve RAVE! Wubs and strobe lights for hours on end in a gritty warehouse! Will she even notice the end of the world going on outside?

Discouraged Ideas

-Corona killing someone
Long term plans are for Celestia to turn good and be redeemed. Her redemption becomes a thousand times more difficult if she kills someone while trying to conquer Equestria or does significant damage. Corona's goal is to defeat Luna, and protect her ponies from what she consider evil. While we don't want Celestia's redemption to be easy, we don't want her to be under lock and key once she turns good, and so the damage she does to the civilians should be kept to a minimum. Celestia is technically fighting a civil war against the Night Court as a deposed, but still rightful, ruler, she is not a terrorist vying to control the World. She can kill other bad guys though.

-Lyra and Bon Bon dealing with bigots.
Their status as same-sex couple shouldn't never be made a big deal (this is actually just a general Lunaverse thing, in fact). Tribalists taking issue with their couple can happen but should not be the centre conflict in a story.

-Demonizing the Mane6
Aside from Twilight's stint as a fugitive every Mane6 are fine and generally good pony. They have more flaws than their canon counterparts but are not antagonists. Don't make them bad guys.

-"Fixing" the Lunaverse Mane6
The Mane6 don't need to be fixed. They are not the main focus of our canon stories. That is not to say you cannot explore the Mane6 in a fic and explore their good qualities and develop their relationship with the Luna6, but it should not be the entire point of a story. If you must include such an element it should always be framed from the point of view of one of the Luna6. Starting a fic with the intention of fixing something is generally a bad idea.

-Timey whimey shenanigans
We don't want Vazak to have a heart attack :p.More seriously, the wide reaching implications of easy time travel can be very difficult to deal with. Plus temporal mechanics can make you go mad! If you want to include time travel in a story, it must be an insanely remarkable and unique event that is unlikely to happen again.

-The Luna6 MUST kick a puppy, or else!
The Luna6 should never be forced to do something evil or corrupt. The Lunaverse should be positive enough for them to take a third option. Similarly, while it's not fully discouraged, be mindful of the potential controversy that can arise from putting the Luna6 in a moral dilema or a situation where the Luna6 are considered doing the right thing only by virtue of being the protagonist.

-Trixie learns mind control or a lethal spell
The Truth is a Scourge potion is as far as Trixie should go in mind altering magic. Trixie is first and foremost an illusionist, and a pony of limited magic reserves, even if she can pick up spells easily. It would be out of character, and unfit for the setting, for her to learn any outright lethal spell or one that lets her erase memories or something. This probably applies to Lyra as well.

I will be working on a compilation of wish list items and discouraged ideas when I have some free time. I'm also considering putting together a catch up thread. We also need a 'plans for Maneverse characters' thread, or post, so tht folks know where we stand on Discord, Chrysalis, Sombra, Sunset Shimmer etc.

2563567
Solid ideas all around.

As we settle into this new paradigm, I expect we'll all find areas of expertise to help the Lunaverse grow with.

One important thing, though, is that I don't think we should have too many threads stickied at once. That just clutters the front forum page.

2563408
Quorum [Wikipedia] has a particular meaning.

2563688
Well, it's also meant as a reference to Battlestar Galactica's Quorum of Twelve.

I just think it sounds cool, too.

Well, since I made more open communication the cause I was championing in the post Scarlet Scarecrow freakout thread, I feel that it's only right that I go ahead and submit my one Lunaverse story to the thread, if for no other reason than to serve as an example of how the process would work.

So, with that in mind, I shall submit Don't Go By the River for consideration.

Admittedly, I am aware that at least one aspect of the story makes it non-canonical as is. But I'm still willing to be a good test case/example for the new Quorum, if that makes sense.

2563728
Rereading now.

In a similar vein and hopefully not opening the flood gates to much I submit Another Life, Another Child

Officially submitting The Voice of the Sun. Slowly but surely working on it, won't post the chapters on FimFic until it's closer to complete because I despise deadfics

2564474 I've read it already. I like it a lot so far, and I think the only thing I would like to see reworked is Gilda's entrance into the fic. Raindrops and Lyra aren't the least bit taken aback by her sudden appearance and I'd like to see her position in the Gilded Wing Clan elaborated. Maybe she's Terry's cousin or something.

Another detail, though that one is a nitpick, is the title of 'Thane'. We've established that the Griffin Kingdoms are actually a bunch of independant kingdoms, island-like mountains in a sea of wilderness, so I feel it should be mention it's the equivalent of 'King' or just outright changed to 'King'. Make the political structure a bit simpler since it's not SUPER important for the story itself to develop a brand new government style for the griffins ya know?

Also possibly make it more clear that the plan is the Shadowbolt's ideas and they're the ones who approached Twilight about it (possibly at the suggestion of the mysterious Director AKA Fancy Pants)

Aside from those details, which are really minor edits, I'm all up for this being a canon story.

2568506
I was using Thane originally because I got enamored with thinking of the griffons as sorta flying dwarves, but as RDD pointed out to me, the griffons are based mostly off Russian naming conventions (in L!verse at least) and Thane is more Old English. He sent me a few lists of Russian noble titles but none of them really stuck out to me, gonna go with Chief for now as a better placeholder. If someone finds a better one that catches their fancy feel free to let me know, though.

I originally had a lot of exposition from Gilda but cut it for being clunky and far too "tell"y, but yeah she's his cousin. I was also trying to avert the "everyone you've met is related to important people" cliche but meh.

I thought that I had made it clear this was the Shadowbolt's plan? Whelp, time to go back and see if I can make it even clearer *grumbles*

Let me know if anything else comes to mind, though

2568720 You could just use the term Czar, it's pretty nifty.

For Gilda you just need to have Raindrops be all 'What are you doing here?' and Gilda be all 'The Czar's my uncle, didn't you know?' and Raindrops simply go "Oh."

Well I guess it was clear it was the Shadowbolt's plan, but it should be clear Twilight didn't just volunteer but was recruited for her talent with teleportation spells. Also, since it's a secret operation it probably shouldn't count toward her sentence or people will notice if she gets out a few months early, instead she should just do it because it's the right thing to do.

2568858
Czar is Caesar which is a bit too supreme ruler for a peoples divided into shattered kingdoms with enough cultural identity to possibly elect a High King a la the whole Stairs coup story. I guess that's the main reason I don't like any of the Russian titles: I just can't remember a time when Russia was Russian but that divided... After the Mongols unified them and after they kicked the Monguls out, they had rather centralized leadership.

For Gilda you just need to have Raindrops be all 'What are you doing here?' and Gilda be all 'The Czar's my uncle, didn't you know?' and Raindrops simply go "Oh."

I might steal that but modify it enough so that no one would ever know and I'll get away with it too unless there's a couple of kids with a dog.

And in my head it was "hey, in exchange for your rather cushy punishment, you are now an intern for the government so we can use your awesome magic if we need to without having to pay you." Which is still a pretty cushy deal, if you ask me. Plus there's not really any reason for her to say no, so yeah...

2568925 Ah there is that... hmm... well you could always steal from the Polish or some other country from Eastern Europe?

You can totally steal it if you want, call it a freebie!

2569186
Poor Poland, always getting picked on...

When RDD uses his executive power he highlights his text in red. I'm thinking of highlighting my stuff in orange when I'm posting some official decisions.

2563960 Your story will be added as an official Webisode attached to Crisis.

SO SPEAKETH THE QUOROM OF CANON!

That last bit is a little bit too much isn't it? Yeah I'll cut that...

2564474 Unless something insane happens in the following chapters, like Raindrops marrying Gilda (), your fic is heading toward official 'Episode' status. If you got a rough outline of where you want the fic to go, please submit it to one of us through PM.

Yeah I do think that in the long run this will cause fewer headaches and heart ache.

With that said I submit for your consideration Title Match. It is currently awaiting approval from fimfiction. Once approved I'll add to the "main" folder and then to "Season 2" if you deem it fit for canon.

2569330

Thank you, oh great and mighty orange one, your humble supplicant grovels beneath you and your fellow deities.

2569470 BWA HA HA!

2569330
Hmm, using (color=orange)(/color) might produce a better orange.

Or maybe Applejack's color.

(Also, I only use bold red when I need to be official but really don't want to be...otherwise I generally use green, mostly because it's easy to read. Though I imagine Emeral will be taking green. Maybe I should move on to a shade of blue...)

I was going to take green, since 'grass' and all (and clouds aren't all that colorful)...

2570191 thanks for color tip. Red is the color of leadership though.

2570254 Well then, no other choice for you two: duel at sunrise for the color!

2570254
Could always make yours cloud color...

Bushel of Carrots
Carrot Top wants to help her friends but bites on more than she can chew, leading to her being exhausted and out of time. She remembers legends her grandmother used to tell her and, following the hints, she finds the fabled Mirror Pool! She then proceeds to make copies of herself to help out as many ponies as possible... At first everything looks good until she realizes her copies are a bit too proactive, deciding to help where not asked, or not need, and when asked they tend to be horribly literal in what they do, causing lots of damage to the town.

I really like this one! Anyone mind if I call dibs on this concept now? I got a few side fics in my own series that I wanna clear off the plate before I dive right in, but this is totally a concept that I would like to play with.

2570254
Grass is green, but your avatar is yellow. Still, I'm more of a bluish/minty green, so maybe you could have more of a yellowish/spring green. Or else some shade of cyan or light-blue since clouds are in the sky. Then again, my vest is purple.

Not that I'm overly concerned with such things.

Ahem... testing, testing... 1... 2... 3...

2569342
Dear Mr. Smash, it has fallen as my duty to inform you that the Quorum of Canon has completed its review of your submission and found it... AWESOME!

Ahem... though I suppose that should come as little surprise given the positive feedback already given to you in the comments thread of the actual fic itself. Anyway congratulations, and keep up the good work.

2571630 No problem, though I would suggest at least getting a rough outline done on a gdoc or something like that, so that it's officially 'in progress', even if you're not working on it right now. Also, something we forgot to include in the wish list, the plan was that the Luna6 would seal up the pool like in canon, only for an agent of Corona to watch them do it and report its location. We're not 100% sure yet but we're thinking Corona would make an army of clones out of Terry the Griffin.

2575247

No problem. I'll get something about that up this weekend, at least so that we have kind of a starting point for it.

2575353
Okay, I hate to have to do this one, but...Grey, we've decided that your story isn't going to make it into canon. Having said that, we're all agreed that you're a great author and we would love to have you. Just, not with this story.

I'm sorry.

I can send you a PM with a link of our discussion as to why, if you like. And so that you know, it wasn't unanimous.

2575655

*nods* That's fair.

I wouldn't mind the PM on the discussion though. It would give me things to keep an eye out for the next time I write something for the 'verse.

2575688
Sent you the PM.

2575706

Thanks for the transparency on that whole discussion RDD.

Apparently that fic came across a lot darker than I realized I was taking it at the time.

2575891
For what it's worth, I really like it as a viscerally dark horror story, it makes me queasy in all the right ways. I just don't think that's the kind of tone we want with a core episode.

Though if you've read our discussion, I guess you'd know all my thoughts on that already, but I felt I should summarize here to be certain.

2575210
Thank you. I am glad that the Quorum is pleased with my work thus far

I'll try my best not to let you down.

2575247

So, on Fizzy Orange's suggestion, I've hammered out a rough draft and beginning of the first chapter for a Bushel of Carrots, mostly to kind of establish that I am working on it, and to get approval on the canonical bits I've established so far.

I'm gonna cross post this in the Writer's Workshop thread as well for some more involved feedback.

A Bushel of Carrots

If it pleases the esteemed senators of the Lunaverse, I would like to bring another issue before the Quorum of Canon.

While this is more for stories being declared canon or not, I would like to bring an issue of setting forward, that was discussed at length in the last brainstorming thread. And that would be the question of dinosaurs as a people who would live on not-Australia, since it was unable to be hashed out in the brainstorming thread.

I ask this, mostly because if the idea does not work for the canon of the universe, I need to think of a new subject matter to base my "Luna and Celestia have a conversation about some good they did." fic, that really needs a better working title.

I would like to reiterate why I think it would be a good idea.

- Real world Australia has somewhat of a theme for it's wildlife being separated and "other" from the rest of the world while still fitting in larger animal groups. This would fit on a similar thematic view, the creatures being similar to things that already exist (dragons/salamanders) but different. The Monotremes of the world, as it were. It also fits the "unknown, probably terrifying" mark on the world map for that land.

- I want to highlight the good that Celestia had back when she was herself, by showing how she helped save the remains of a race that was dying out.

- This one is entirely a personal opinion, but I think that dinosaurs with an aboriginal aesthetic to them would just look very cool.

I would also be okay with them being on a singular, isolated plateau in the taprian jungles, like the actual The Lost World novel by Conan Doyle.

Whatever the decision is, I shall abide by it.

2590892
I've opened up a discussion on the subject with the rest of the Quorum; we will get back to you when we have come to a decision.

2580296 On the subject of canonicity it seem we all agreed that so far it seems to be a shoe-in. 'Official' words will come when the first chapter is posted but so far everything looks good.

After everyone discussed it, it looks like sentient dinosaurs are out, at least in the Lunaverse present. Advanced precursor race, though, could still work.

2592451
Probably should have actually tagged 2590892 with that to make sure he knows a decision has been reached.

Also, GrayGuard, feel free to request PM link to the discusion, though there's not much there since we all agreed pretty quick. Oh, and sorry to dispoint.

2592465

Ahh well, no biggie. Something I can save for my own work then.

Naturally, I wouldn't mind seeing the discussion, even if it is short. I'll just work out some other tact for my Celestia/Luna fic.

2592488
PM'd

Also, your previous idea could still probably work, you just need to use a mythical creature or hooved mammal instead of dinos.

2563410

I'd like to tackle the BonBon's ordinary day fic. I'm just starting a semester but I'll try to have an at least rough outline/ collection notes for the Honorable Quorum of Canon of The Five Lunatics to preside over by the end of the weekend.

2594189
Well, we'd prefer at least one completed chapter over notes.

2594412
Understood, I better get cracking then. ( I'll still try to get it done this weekend but it'll probably be closer to next)

2594189
Not that you have to use all of the exact characters suggested from the wish list, but are you fully versed on those characters? I know some of them are a little obscure (and our story bible doesn't cover everything), so if you find yourself in need of further details, please feel free to ask.

2592511

So I could still use them having saved a people that was going extinct so long as they were mythical or a hooved animal?

Uintatherium!

In all seriousness though, I'll see what else I can think of on the idea.

2594952
Pretty much, and even that specific species might work. If it is an extinct breed of mammal though, they should probably live in a very remote and isolated location while being secritive and desiring to remain hidden, resulting inthe world at large considering them mythical.

If, that's not a problem for you of course. I'm still not entirely sure what you goals are.