Brief History and MLP Canon · 4:41am Aug 19th, 2019
In my last blog, I discussed how one of the (many) reasons the fics sort of went to sleep was due to both lagging behind the show, and not knowing how to continue with my intent of being canon compliant even as the show became more and more specific. So, now that I've seen Season 7 (with 8 and 9 when I can later), I will make this official: The fics A Brief History of Equestria and Brief History Side Stories will hence forth be considered "Alt. History." Elements in canon that do not work for this story will be included on a case-by-case basis, and with alterations made in the name of making it work.
Trust me, this isn't what I wanted when I started, but that's life. Now then, some examples of the differences/what is in the show that will not work:
Alicorns
Lauren Fausts original intent was that Alicorns were essentially gods. But then Cadence's introduction messed with that, and Twilight and Flurry Heart both muddied the waters. Therefore, I had made a distinctions: True Alicorns, and mortal Alicorns.
True Alicorns: In keeping with the original intent, Luna and Celestia are goddesses of the Moon and Sun respectively. And they're mother and father are the gods of Earth and Sky in keeping with that idea. Meaning that when Tirek took their magic, he was literally taking the power of gods.
What does this mean for Twilight? In the Brief History Canon, Star-Swirl was working to promote Harmony... But was being thwarted every turn by simple pony nature. So in a bout of frustration and anger, he started working on a certain spell that would have him ascend to godhood and force the Ponies to get along... Clover - being a clever pony that tended to ask uncomfortable but important questions - talked him out of it... Meaning that in completing the spell, Twilight is now a goddess. Don't think to long on what that means considering her friends and family are all mortal still.
Mortal Alicorns: In essence - they are normal ponies who literally won the Genetic Lottery. Through the interbreeding of the three pony races, once in a while you get the right mix of DNA to make a winged unicorn, horned Pegasus, or an Earth Pony with both wings and unicorn - Cadence is an example of the latter. Some of the ruling dynasties of Post-Discord Equestria based their legitimacy around being either founded by, or the whole family line consisting of, mortal alicorns. Flurry Heart was a surprise, not by being a born goddess, but by being born from another mortal alicorn, which is essentially the same as lightning striking twice in a row: Not unheard of, but obscenely rare.
The Pillars of Equestria
In short: My timeline just cannot accommodate them as presented. So... Changes incoming. I am see-sawing between them being Star-Swirl's friends before he settled in with the Unicorn royal family, or them appearing among the fragmented pony states' histories either during or after Discord's reign. They're all interesting designs and characters, but I can't use them as they were in the show. Sorry to everyone that are fans of them.
The Sirens
Appearance-wise, I reject the reality the show gave us, and substitute a fanmade one.
Daring Doo
If you ask me? Daring Doo was more fun as an in-universe work of fiction. Her being real just... Felt weird.
Things I want to Cover
In part, this is me wanting to jot down old ideas of mine I wanna cover, partly things that might get people's interest.
1) Star-Swirl and the Sirens - Simple enough, Pony Wizard beating the dazzlings. Lots of potential for drama, exploration of Sonata, Aria, and Adagio back when they weren't scraping by for magic, but at the height of their game. And because I love me some Foe Yay, expect some tension and Swirly pondering the What Might Have Beens.
2) Blood Ties That Bind - a series of one-shots or two-shots showing the Mane Six's familial ties to the big moments of Equestria's history. I've got one idea for Rainbow Dash where she learns a Lesson about how just because an ancestor isn't someone you're proud of, doesn't mean they weren't important - after all, if they didn't exist, neither would you.
3) Star-Swirl visiting Canterlot High - a tie-in with the above idea.
4) Daring Doo and the Sea Ponies - Daring Doo and the Golden Horse Shoes was a collaborative effort... Sadly the other co-authors didn't seem to have the energies to contribute past chapter 1. It's still like to finish it, but I also want to do another plot in our version of the DD stories.
5) Ratio Approaching One - NOT a Brief History story! Shocking, right? Simply put, I've always liked AUs, and one that has always interested me across fandoms is swapping the sex of one or more characters, but leaving the rest alone, to play with the shifting of dynamics. As the title implies, this fic (well, series of one-shots) would focus on exploring an Equestria where the ratio of females to males is closer to 1:1. Lyra becomes Guyra for instance. Luna is Prince Artemis and the brooding Tall, Dark and Mysterious pony is suddenly the unwitting heart-throb of Equestria, and yet his now much older sister treats him more like her foal than her equal. Pinkie Pie has a crush on Rainbow Blitz, who has a crush on Applejack, who doesn't pick up on the blatant clues he's giving off. Apple Buck is friends with Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, and Granny Smith is planning on him making her a Great-Granny twice over because Big Mac and AJ sure aren't giving her any hopes of seeing little ones.
6) Sunset Shimmer and Ms. ____ - A Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde, only instead of ill-conceived experiments, it's a side-effect of the fact that the Elements of Harmony (or they're derivatives) don't actually kill people, even if it's an artifact's madness-induced personality shift.
Now then, hope that can tie folks over, and maybe prepare them for the day when I start working on more stuff.
Hey, I just wanna read more Brief History stuff, regardless of whether or not it lines up with canon. And good to see you’re still around after all this time!
Happy to see you back.
Ratio Approaching One sounds really interesting! I don't think I've seen a R63 fic with that premise (it's always either all or just one character).
I don't know if you're ever going to continue with Brief History so I'll have to ask this here. What were your intentions with Talonhoof? I have a few theories but nothing really concrete. I read this story years ago and its been bugging me since. I'm interested in his motivations for wanting the total annihilation of Equestria. You can DM me if you don't want to tell it publicly but I would really like to know.
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In short? Talonhoof and Mimic were conceived as being two-sides of the same coin, that coin being the natural result of widely different peoples blending together.
Talanhoof was born to the village trollap when a Griffin vagrant came into town and his mom thought it would be a fun experience. And when he was born, he received nothing but scorn and hatred at being "a mixbred abomination." Except for one mare that he was in love with. In trope terms, she was his Morality chain, and when she died in an accident, he lost the only thing in ponykind keeping him in check. Decades later, he returns to wipe out the race that gave him nothing but hate and derision.
Mimic, meanwhile, was born to two pegasi, and yet was a unicorn. Tempers rose when accusations of infidelity came up, when her great-grandmother tearfully admitted that Mimic's grandparent had a Unicorn as their father, the result of a night of passion in celebration of the Warming, something she had kept quiet for decades. Mimic turned out to be heavily gifted with magic, on tier with the likes of Twilight Sparkle, and Star-swirl, and would spend her life studying the magics of the other pony races, building mechanical wings in the study of Pegasi magic, so that she could fly alongside her parents, and crafting four magical horseshoes to help her learn about the magics of Earth Ponies.
Mimic killed Talonhoof in a close battle. But his last words would rock her world, and shape her philosophy on life forevermore:
"Thank You."
Meaning this whole thing was one giant case of Suicide By Cop.
Thus leading Mimic to obsessively research Talonhoof's life, backtracking his movements to the fallen Griffin Empire and Mongrellian Horde, and tracking down the village he was born in and interviewing those still alive, turning over every stone trying to unravel this Hippogriff*.
Along with her other accomplishments, Mimic's unbiased and factual biography of Talonhoof became a cornerstone for modern Historical analysis, and her conclusions about how a lack of Love, Friendship, and Tolerance created something that very nearly wiped out Ponykind, was a sign that Friendship was not something to be sequestered away among the three tribes, but something to be shared amongst all living creatures without conditions. Obviously she recognized that these conclusions would not go over well with the survivors and the families of his victims, so the biography never saw the light of day during her lifetime, the manuscript and her notes only being discovered among her affects decades after she - finally - died.
*Incidentally, one of Twilight's guilty pleasures is Mimic/Talanhoof shipping, and hidden in her mountains of papers she has a sizable anthology of trashy Historical FanFics where Mimic and Talanhoof met under other circumstances, or he survived their battle and she was able to reform him with Love. They sex, like, all of the time.
I don't know if you will see this comment or particularly care after all this time but I want you to know that I absolutely adore fanmade pony history, the show was a good springboard but has nothing on the amazing stories like what you wrote. I just finished reading your take on Rainbow Dash having familial ties to a sailor turned revenge seeking Count and was for lack of better words spellbound.