Alternate Mane 6 Idea: "The Batch"

Ancient ponies tended to travel in large family units. Young stallions who were too old to stay with their families, but too young to form families of their own, often joined "bachelor herds" with other single males. Though we're now much more refined in many ways, ponies are still ponies, and sometimes, young, single stallions will still form a tight-knit bachelor herd--something more than friends, less than family, but rock-solid all the same. One example is "The Batch," a group of six stallions that treat Manehattan like their own personal playground.

Due to overexposure to the Essence20 My Little Pony RPG, I've been thinking about potential "Mane Sixes" other than the one we see onscreen. This is one such idea: an all-male "Mane Six," composed not of genderswaps, brothers, or potential mates, but just six guys who are best of friends. This isn't (intended to be) a misogynistic, "Anything Girls Can Do Guys Can Do Better" thing--consider it a thought experiment of how to make a male-coded "Mane Six" that's more than "Just Like [Canon M6], But."

Here's what I have at the moment, though it's rather rough and incomplete. Stuff in quotations is placeholder until further notice. Any feedback or suggestions?

• Magic: "Bonfire Blaze" A pegasus firefighter. Though he's low on the totem pole at his fire station, he's a natural leader, and tends to take charge during times of uncertainty or chaos. Most of the others tend to treat him like an older brother, i.e., someone they can turn to for advice or support. He's great in a crisis, and does a good job of keeping his head. Perhaps: the just-older cousin of Sunset Shimmer and/or Sunburst?
• Generosity: Pro Bono "Bones," as the others sometimes call him, is a unicorn, and an attorney by trade. You'd expect he'd be rolling in the bits, but he actually works almost exclusively for the poor or underprivileged who couldn't otherwise afford a lawyer. He typically wears a suit, even when he's off the clock--mostly because it's his only article of clothing. Due to his salary issues, it's a cheap, off-the-rack number, though it's clean and well-maintained. He tried sewing once or twice, but he doesn't have the hoof for it. He's the "Serious" one of the group, and often plays straightman to the others.
• Honesty: "Dudebro" "Dudebro"--no idea of a name for him--is a "live in the moment"-type earth pony. He stands a little shorter than the others, but is pretty stocky, not to mention loud. He works at a Manehattan convenience store / bodega, where he often chats with the customers as he stocks the shelves. He loves good hoofball and cheap beer, and frequently tries to wrestle the others, much to Bones's annoyance. However, despite the fact that he's dumb as a box of rocks, he's startlingly insightful. His "Honesty" comes from the fact that he tends to be able to see through others' BS, and isn't afraid to point it out. It's not malicious by any means, but his pointed commentary has left the others shaken often enough that they call the experience "getting Dudebro'ed."
• Kindness: "Guru Stoner" "Guru"--a given name, not a title--is a pegasus life-coach of sorts. He's arguably unemployed, and spends most of his time in "Central Park," playing music, talking to strangers, and taking in the nature (and, perhaps, one or two other things as well). He tends to share messages of good cheer with passers-by, usually in the form of advice about humility and self-acceptance ("Dude, you can't expect anyone else to be kind to you if you're not kind to yourself, brah."). He's so chill it's often not clear whether or not he's actually awake, but even so, most people who come to see him walk away feeling better about themselves.
• Loyalty: Horace Thespian Horace, a unicorn, is a trust-fund kid, who, despite his silver-spoon origins, is determined to make it (mostly) on his own in the world of Broadway theater. Horace is actually pretty tough to work with: he's extremely demanding of his actors, and often becomes mean and condescending for no apparent reason (He's not as good a director as he thinks he is--he's good enough to recognize that his plays suck, but not good enough to tell why, and his cruelty is how he expresses his frustration.). However, when the chips are down, he's genuinely kind and caring: more than once, he's dived off the stage in the middle of a performance to clothesline a heckler. He's also been known to dip into his trust fund to help his friends and actors when they need rent or groceries. Yeah, he's an ass--but it's actually a (screwed-up) form of love, something like "nopony picks on my friends but me."
• Laughter: ??? I must admit, I'm a little stuck on this one. A stand-up comic? An infectiously cheerful dog groomer / dog walker? A struggling writer whose experience makes him a good confidant? A schoolteacher, who interjects humor into lessons to keep them interesting? A single dad, perhaps to a baby griffon?

In my head, these six met and became best friends while still in school. Now, they either share an apartment or live on the same floor, and spend most of their spare time together, a la Friends or How I Met Your Mother. And, though they're effectively a found-family of single guys (cf. "Bachelor Herd"), for the most part, they're not romantically involved with each other. There might be a little interest between one or two of them, but their relationship is much closer to "family" than "dating pool."

Any thoughts or feedback? In particular, any suggestions for a Laughter that isn't pink, doesn't throw parties, and isn't a baker?

Comments

[DarthVendar]

some options for laughter
Mountebank
Troubadour
Pierrot
Wisecrack

[bahatumay]

I like all of this.

Maybe a tour guide for the city / a museum? Knowledgeable with random trivia, but if you're not entertaining, you'll bore the kids out of their minds so you need to be quick for that.

[Georg]

Laughter: An earth pony, a unicorn, and a pegasus walked into a bar. You would have thought the last two could avoid it.

You can make him a stand-up comic, the guy who makes all the mares laugh and is very popular...as a friend, a point of perpetual frustration. Always in a crowd in a bar, always alone going home except for his buds.