The best way to save Twilight's friends and create a happy future *without* playing the immortality blues, in 9 steps · 10:04pm Jan 5th, 2020
What is the "best way" to tell a happy future story about Twilight's friends becoming immortal, without playing the immortality blues?
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TL;DR: Basically, just give them alicornhood at the start of the story, then see how that affects their lives. Set the "outliving friends and family" issue aside for the B-plot, mention Twilight already has several life extension projects being worked on.
More alicorns = shared responsibilities = more spare time for Twilight, more time together.
Overall: a happy slice of life piece, rather than just "an end". Would have to be a multi-chapter story though to really explore it.
Long version:
Well, ironically, to let the whole "mortality" issue take the backseat as the "B-plot" of the story, and mainly focus on the "happy" part of the future itself.
The easiest way to solve multiple problems at once is still alicorn ascension - it automatically implies immortality, without a need for skipping decades ahead to see it, without the need for playing the immortality blues. 
And if Equestria had 6 ruling princesses, it'd mean they could rule in shifts, divide responsibilities, and each could get more time off individually, since Equestria doesn't need six princesses on the throne all once. 
Finally, Twilight gets some free time again and gets to hang out with her friends more, gets to be part of life in Ponyville again. 
"But what about all their friends and family?" I'll get to that in a sec. 
(Or, see my previous blog post.)
Here's the breakdown of how such a story could go:
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- Set the story no later than one year after Luster Dawn's arrival in Ponyville. No big time skips after that. That's not too far in the future. Plenty of time to save everyone.
. - Shenanigans befall Equestria, or Ponyville specifically, and "the old gang" is once again involved in saving the world.
. - Twilight's friends ascend to alicornhood / whatever was stopping their ascension is finally overcome. [*]
. - Instead of ending the story with their ascension, make that the beginning of the story. (Chapter 1 or 2)
. - Follow the Mane 6 as they juggle newfound alicorn-powers, everyday life, and the prospect of ruling the kingdom more directly. That's, how we used to write our "the Mane 6 become alicorns" stories, that's how we should do it again.
. - See, how the change affects their lives over the next few days, weeks, months. Months, tops. Absolutely no big time skips.
. The entire question of mortality and outliving their loved ones is brought up - but it isn't the main focus of the story. Twilight already has several research teams working on it different plans for life extension - they just aren't quite ready yet. But they will be, in time.
This also allows listing off the different life extension projects in a story-setting, or could bring up Shining Armor's petrification plan as the "last resort" fallback that is already ready-to-go if need-be for anycreature willing to undergo the process.
.The main bulk of the story could toy around with the alicorn Mane 6 getting into various shenanigans in this future Equestria. Slice of life stuff in Ponyville and Canterlot, life changing stuff, romance, adventure, the whole spectrum.
- All hail the Royal Sandwich, and Lil' Prince Lil' Cheese!
- Dash's exhilaration at teaching AJ the joys of flight
- Discord taking Fluttershy out to celebrate
- Rarity and Spike sharing a wing embrace
.- Profit.
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[*] Possible explanations for their delayed ascension include:
- The conclusion to an even more epic battle than the one against the "terrible trio" - the real Grogar has returned. (And if only one third of the power stored in his bell could turn Cozy Glow into an alicorn, any stray magic from blasting him should be more than enough to finally push the Mane 6 over the edge.)
- Remember how Twilight's ascension was caused by the Elements of Harmony? Well, Sombra shattering the Elements was what stopped theirs. (Boy, would Discord have kicked himself when he realized this. O_O) It took 20 years for the Tree of Harmony to finally grow new Elements. Only then could they finally ascend.
Nopony noticed the sparkling projection in the form of a purple alicorn standing in the back. Nor, when it and Discord exchanged hoof/claw bumps.
"...Thank you."
"The pleasure is equal parts mine."
- It involves Luster Dawn somehow. Some people already peck her as a future alicorn. Maybe her ascension to the astral plane breaks the pressure that had kept it blocked off, or something. (Maybe it got blocked by Cozy's false "ascension"? Or Flurry Heart's unusual natural birth?)
- Ending Spoiler for FanOfMostEverything's Momento Morient: Years of exposure to poison joke curses, dark magic, cutie mark swaps, cutie mark removal, various forms of magic loss, etc, took a toll not even the Elements of Harmony could easily repair (and without using them, they would've been in even worse shape!) - it actually scarred their souls, preventing their ascension until the problem could finally be fixed when the Tree grew new Elements.
Possible overarching plot to bind the slice of life together:
- Dealing with an antagonist trying to undermine Equestria's government and seeing the recent change as their chance.
- The real Grogar seemed defeated ... but he isn't! Irony of irony, in his weakened state, he resorts to a plan similar to what Discord did: He frees the "terrible trio" and intimidates them into working for him... only, predictably, the trio has second thoughts...
- The quest to make one of the proposed life extension projects work.
I've seen far too many people churn out stories about them dying.
Writing "tragedy/sad" is always easier. It's instant drama. I get that.
But it doesn't matter what the show does. All that matters is what we do with it. Let's give them a happy future. 
We can still save them. We can still save everyone. All we have to do is work together.
Related blog posts and story prompts:
- "Dragon Science, Immortality, and how to save the ones you love in a world of magic."
- Sleepovers at Canterlot Castle: Seven ways Twilight could see her friends MORE than just "once a month", while staying canon-compatible
- What Celestia and Luna are up to next...
- A thought: Cozy's/Chrysalis'/Tirek's reformation does not need to wait until the distant future
- Example of how a "6 months in stone" reformation-fic could go.
. - Implied potential for alicorn-ascension by influencing the IDW season 10 comic writers to change canon itself – slightly less crazy than it sounds.
For future reference, the level and variety of emphasis on display here reminds me of Time Cube. While you're certainly more coherent than Gene was, the fact that such a comparison came to mind in the first place makes me concerned for your mental health. (I'm not concerned for his mental health because he's clearly beyond saving.)
5180585
Thanks for the concern, but I'm pretty sure this is just the style they like to use for blog posts. Here, for instance, is one from back in early 2017 showing the same style, and for even better comparison also including some story excerpts in the different style used for stories. Comments and chats and such in that time have also been in a less emphasis-laden style, so, yeah, I think it's just how they do blog posts. :)
5180585
It feels more like attempts to use bolded and underlined text for emphasis in an attempt to emulate speech emphasis. It's something I have a little trouble doing properly myself. It's a little overboard here, but nowhere near Time Cube levels of crazy.
5180585
Oh dear I hope not. A fictional show shouldn't be taken that seriously.
5180877
5180585
5180750
...what?
The bold and colored highlighted text has nothing to do with speech emultation. It's just meant to make the eye jump right to the important parts. Basically, it's meant to allow someone to get the gist just by letting their eyes wander over only the highlighted parts.
But... almost everything is important, since I already tried to condense the blog down to the essentials, so. Hm.
Except for the stuff I added in smaller font, because that was to make it obvious it was less important.
okay, fine, I'll remove some of the formatting ...
5180927
...That is a joke, right?
please tell me you are joking.
5180932
Ah, thanks for the explanation of the reasoning. :)
I like the idea. Though I wonder if the Crystal Heart could also be used as a catalyst for ascension. I also really hope I didn't offend you, wasn't my intention. My apologies.
Though I will say while Grogar is an easy choice for a bbeg he shouldn't be the only one. Perhaps the Storm King is ressurected from his death, Sombra returns again, maybe the Smooze goes crazy, the king of the Windigos goes to war, Celestia or Luna's long lost child takes affront to the pretender on the throne, there were still Changelings loyal to Chrysalis or even another give seeks revenge!?
Or even more Meta, an evil version of Twilight seeks to take over their Equestria.
5180585 5180750 5180877 5181548
Since I only got one reply on the actual contents of the blog rather than its formatting, let me rephrase the blog's opening line:
"What is the 'best way' to tell a happy future story about Twilight's friends becoming immortal, without playing the immortality blues?"
TL;DR: Basically, just give them alicornhood at the start of the story, then see how that affects their lives. Set the "outliving friends and family" issue aside for the B-plot, mention Twilight already has several projects being worked on. More alicorns = shared responsibilities = more spare time for Twilight, more time together. Overall: a happy slice of life piece, rather than just "an end".
Would have to be a multichapter story though to really explore it.
5182782
Sorry.
I do ultimately agree with you and will be using the "lifespan talk takes a backseat" in Intercession of a Chaos God which the first chapter should hopefully be out this weekend.
5182782
Ah, sorry; I just wasn't (and am not) thinking of more to say on that.
I hope my silence doesn't bother you too much?
5182934
what? no.
I just tagged everyone who did reply, since besides one legitimate reaction the only thing I got was people commenting on my style of formatting.
5182987
Oh, good; thanks. :)
Okay different question. What about Starlight Glimmer/Sunset Shimmer? While not as close to Twilight as the mane six the both of them are very close friends. Would they possibly have a path to ascension? GlimGlam alone is league's more powerful than a simple unicorn and Sunset was potentially the original intended recipient of Alicornhood before she fell out with Celestia.
So would they possibly gain wings at the same time/possibly soon after? Can't really see Twilight not including them in whatever scheme to make more princesses....
5183946
According to FanOfMostEverything's interpretation, Sunset might already have become an alicorn. Possibly as far back as around Twilight's coronation. We didn't see her in the future, so it's possible. And we don't know what leaps and bounds in magi/tech advancements Sunset's world made in those 20 years. That'd be 2040 or so. Entirely possible they're at the cusp of a magical AI singularity that's about to usher in a paradise with free immortality for everyone, or something.
Being shown that Starlight isn't an alicorn (yet) is somewhat baffling after having seen so of these:
...Pretty sure Starlight could ascend either at the same time as the rest of the Mane 6, or shortly after, if all it takes is enough alicorns with a sympathetic connection to the target to trigger another alicorn ascension.
5183962
Hmmm. I use that logic for Shining Armor personally, since he didn't show up outside of the song fade out I like to think he ascended sometime between the finale and epilogue. Possibly using the Crystal Heart to boost his powers in defense of the Empire.
Honestly I think the only reason (in universe) the other five haven't become Alicorns by the epilogue is because Sombra smashed the tree containing the elements so they lack a trigger mechanism. I mean if Sunset can become a demon and Cozy Glow using a frigging bell I honestly cannot believe they're unable to become them...... Besides Pinkie became an Alicorn briefly in one of the IDW issues, canonicity of the comics aside....