Pony Variants: Goo Ponies · 4:42am Sep 19th, 2022
Goo Ponies
Among the stranger Pony Variants, the Goo Ponies began by the accidental doing of Mage Meadowbrooke in Hayseed Swamp.
Back when she was still learning the healing arts from her mother, Meadowbrooke was in love with a kind and studly stallion named Swamp Gas, though she called him her Swampy. They married, but their love was tested when Swampy was exposed to a strange substance he found in a pool deep in the swamp.
He was rushed home by his friends and Meadowbrooke immediately did her very best to treat her husband and save him from whatever the substance was doing to him. To her heartbroken dismay, nothing worked and even more terrible Swampy's body was breaking down into an amorphous state. It soon became clear that Swampy was dying.
Refusing to give up, Meadowbrooke put together an experimental elixir she'd been working on, and gave it to Swampy. To her relief, Swampy's condition stabilized and he got stronger. But it became clear to them that Swampy had forever changed, his body taking on a state of living goo, and though they considered trying to find a way to return Swampy to normal they came to the conclusion that it was too risky, and so Swampy and Meadowbrooke made peace with his new nature, but found while it did change Swampy in some pretty obvious ways he was still the stallion Meadowbrooke loved and married.
Swampy took time figuring out his new body and discovering his new abilities, but he eventually got the hang of it, and assured his wife that he was okay and that he was grateful to her for saving him in spite of his new self. Meadowbrooke was relieved, and as they began to make love, they were happened upon by an outsider visiting their village. This outsider immediately thought Swampy was some kind of monster threatening Meadowbrooke and tried to rally a mob. Thankfully, Meadowbrooke and Swampy were able to trick them all into thinking the outsider was a lying troublemaker and had him run out of their village. But that incident left its mark on Swampy.
He decided to hide his nature as a Goo Pony (as he called himself) from all outsiders but agreed with Meadowbrooke they tell the truth to their village. Thankfully, their family, friends, and neighbors knew Swampy and Meadowbrooke well and accepted him.
Before long, Meadowbrooke became a mother to two foals and they had formed a herd with a few more ponies, and even more foals came along. Out of their herd, only five foals became Goo Ponies like Swampy, though he insisted all Goo Ponies would hide their natures from outsiders but would be true and open to their family, friends, and neighbors in Hayseed Swamp village.
Nowadays, this policy continued, with Goo Ponies keeping their natures hidden from outsiders and visitors to Hayseed Swamp, the village now led by Swampy and Meadowbrooke's grandson, Papa Gumbo, a proud and happy leader, protector, husband, father, and chef among his home.
Around half the villagers of Hayseed Swamp are truly Goo Ponies, but they keep their true natures hidden for fear of persecution by "regular ponies".
Core
Goo Ponies are essentially a living Goo substance contained within an amorphous and malleable "membrane" that holds the goo inside and forms the body. A Goo Pony has no blood, organs, or bones, but there is a "core", which serves as the Goo Pony's only actual "organ". It functions as the brain, the heart, and the stomach all in one, and as long as the core is intact the Goo Pony will survive.
The core is also the source of the Goo Pony's magic and typically positions in the flanks of the Goo Pony's body.
If the core is separated from the goo, they will be attracted to each other, like magnets, until they reunite, allowing the Goo Pony to reform their body.
The core's function as the "stomach" is not literal, but simply the core is where all the energy of whatever the Goo Pony eats and digests goes, nourishing the Goo Pony and allowing them to maintain their form, as well as make more goo to add to their mass.
If a Goo Pony's core is separated from their goo and they are not reunited, the Goo Pony's core will go dormant until exposed to enough water, which it will absorb and remake as goo to form a new body.
Goo
The Goo Pony';s body is made of a Goo-like substance that is both organic and magical. It is amorphous, malleable, elastic, rubbery, slimy, and can adjust its density, becoming thicker or thinner as the Goo Pony wills it. The Goo is maintained by the Goo Pony eating and digesting food, adding whatever it digests as more goo to its mass.
The goo degrades overtime, which is why they need to eat to make more goo for their bodies, and the Goo is susceptible to extreme heat, causing it to dissolve from prolonged exposure to hot weather or fire.
By itself, Goo Pony goo has some unusual properties, especially for healing, When applied to a flesh wound, it will seal up the flesh, purging infection, bacteria, or even poison, and quickly heal the wound to the point where there will be no scar. The goo can even regenerate a lost limb, replacing the limb by applying the goo to the dismembered limb, where it will reform into a replacement limb, changing from goo into flesh and bone.
Otherwise, the goo can be imbued with different properties by adding certain ingredients to it, like the properties of medicinal plants, poisonous plants, turn it sweet by adding sugary foods, spicy with spicy foods, and even be used as nourishment for a non-Goo Pony, feeding and re-hydrating them.
Shapeshifting
It is no surprise, because of their bodies being made of amorphous and malleable goo, Goo Ponies possess the ability to shapeshift. Due to their pony magic, their Pony forms are the easiest form to maintain and usually the most comfortable. Still, with practice, Goo Ponies can change shape and form however they like, and they can even change the size, texture, color, and density of their membranes, allowing them to mimic the look and feel of fur, skin, scales, rock, grass, and so on, depending on what form they take.
They can increase or decrease their size, how much and for how long depending on their mass.
This also means Goo Ponies can change their exterior forms to resemble regular ponies or they can allow themselves to become transparent, their gooey natures visible for all to see.
Absorption
Goo Ponies eat by absorbing food into their bodies, though they usually eat with their mouths, like regular ponies. Goo Ponies also possess the ability to control their digestive process, to prevent themselves from digesting and absorbing something they don't intend to. Whatever food they absorb is broken down, its energy nourishing their core, and thus adding more goo to the Goo Pony's body.
Since they control their digestive process, Goo Ponies can also use their own bodies as containers for their possessions, but sometimes also creatures and other ponies, whether to capture them, carry them, protect them, etc.
Assimilation
Goo Ponies can assimilate what they absorb, allowing them to gain the properties of whatever they digest. Such as metal from minerals, the properties of herbs or poisonous plants, the sweetness of sugar or the spiciness of spicy plants, and so on.
This also applies to any animals a Goo Pony eats and digests. In doing so, it becomes easier for a Goo Pony to shapeshift into an animal they assimilated.
Goo Ponies can also assimilate non-Goo Ponies, but they only do this for corpses or for ponies who are already dying. In doing so, they take on the non-Goo Pony's memories, knowledge, skills, and even some of their quirks.
Fusion
Goo Ponies have the ability to "fuse" with each other or even with regular ponies. In the case of with each other, Goo Ponies mix their separate goo together into one larger mass of goo though their cores will remain separate. The fusion will create a psychic link between their cores, and the link itself is the "mind" of the fusion.
If a Goo Pony fuses with a regular pony, they will simply engulf the pony inside their gooey body, and the same psychic link will connect their minds, creating new "mind" from that link.
Either way, in order for the fusion to function, the participant fusees must be in cooperation, focused on a common goal(s), thus stabilizing the fusion. But if there is conflict, distrust, disagreement, the fusion will destabilize until it falls apart, splitting the participants back to their separate selves.
Though in the case of fusing with a non-Goo Pony, the Goo Pony can either take control or let the partner control the body.
Horns or Wings
Ordinarily, Goo Ponies are akin to Earth Ponies. But if a Goo Pony is resolved to, they can practice forming a unicorn horn or pegasus wings, until it becomes a part of their default form.
Thus allowing them to become Goo unicorns and practice magic, or Goo pegasi and fly and oversee weather.
No Goo Pony has ever succeeded in adding a horn and wings to their default form.
Reproduction
Goo Ponies can reproduce with each other or with non-Goo Ponies. Technically speaking, Goo Ponies are genderless. They simply choose how to identify themselves as they grow up.
A Goo Pony can impregnate or be impregnated, becoming a father and/or mother in their lifetimes. When mating with non-Goo Ponies, a Goo Pony can impregnate a mare by ejaculating their goo into her womb, or they can be impregnated by a stallion ejaculating into their goo. A mare impregnated y a Goo Pony will give birth to a solid foal of determinable physical gender, but as the foal grows they will soon fully become a Goo Pony. If a stallion impregnates a Goo Pony, his seed will mix with the Goo Pony's goo, and eventually form a new core, which the Goo Pony removes from their body, along with a sufficient amount of goo, in order to form the Goo Pony foal.
If Goo Ponies mate with each other, they each take a small mass of goo from their bodies and join them together. The resulting mix will eventually form into a Goo Pony foal.
Longevity and Death
Due to the nature of their unusual biology, Goo Ponies can live for a very long time (Swampy, the first Goo Pony, lived to be over 500 years old), so long as they nourish themselves to produce more goo for their bodies as the goo degrades. However, eventually, a Goo Pony's core will eventually weaken, limiting its ability to produce more goo.
A Goo Pony could potentially live longer by going dormant, but most prefer to live their lives, not sleep through them in this manner.
A Goo Pony will know when they're nearing the end of their lives, and get their affairs in order.
Most Goo Ponies will actually donate their remaining goo for medical purposes, while arranging for their core to be passed down to somepony in particular. The one who inherits the Goo Pony's core will have two options: To destroy it or to swallow it.
Destroying the Goo Pony's core will end the Goo Pony's life permanently.
Swallowing a Goo Pony's core will cause the one who swallows and digests it to inherit the Goo Pony's memories, knowledge, skills, and even be nourished and revitalized. This still ends the Goo Pony's life, but a part of them lives on in the heir who chose to make the Goo Pony a part of them.
They remind me of Changelings from Star Trek with their true forms not being solid. It’s a pretty cool concept.
5687291
The idea of Goo Ponies actually originated from an OC I scrapped a long while ago, becuz ultimately I decided he wouldn't work. So, instead, I took the concept I had for him and turned it into a Pony Variant
5687295
Wonder if one will appear in the story proper. It’s been a while since I’ve read through the story in its entirety so if one has I’ve forgotten.
Hmm... This makes me very intrigued about slimes in general. Fascinating subject to read about
Very interesting. 🙂
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Nah, there hasn't been a Goo Pony appearance yet. But there might be soon...
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looking forward to it.