So, as I'm certain you all know, there are a great many fics that involve a singular human coming to Equestria through some strange manner. Occasionally, they might have a friend or even a little sibling join in, but those are few and far between, even more so for those that are actually good. Well, I was browsing through some of the fics I've already read, and I came across a few fics where the human made a new family in Equestria.

Then I had a thought (dangerous, I know) of a rather unused fic idea. How about, instead of one human or him and his sibling coming to Equestria with some horrible past, how about the entire family comes along for the journey? No real bad history, no underlying conflict with them, it's simply just a family, your everyday, run-of-the-mill family, being transported to Equestria. No superpowers, no lineage of magic, just a normal, bland family, in Equestria.

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Well, it already stands out as being original-ish.

Take a step back though, and look at why other people do the things they do.

If they focus on just one character, it is less work. A typical family of four is four times as many new characters to develop and make interesting. If you do that work, you'll obviously have more room to make interesting characters, and the relationships of the four characters add even more possible interesting elements. But the key point is that it is more work, and most HiE writers are lazy as hell, from what I've seen. One character it is for them.

Powers are a lazy way to try to generate interest. Some random dude is boring. If you give some random dude lazer eyes, that's cool! Right? So now, when he's wandering around magical horseland, he can shoot lazers at stuff! That is bound to make interesting situations, right? Right?

Hidden from that lazy HiE writer is that powers do not in and of themselves make interesting characters, no matter how powerful, weak, or original powers may be. What makes the story interesting is the adversity the character(s) face, the readers being interested and invested in that struggle, and wanting to see hardships overcome. It doesn't matter if the character overcomes his problems with lazer eyes or quick wit, it is the plot that matters most. Slapping some kind of power or magic or special feature to the human is an attempt to lazily bypass that process.

Your idea is still falling prey to that same trap. You're not describing a story. You're describing a character (in this case, a family unit linked as a single character element). You're describing them by their lack of power, rather than what and who they are. You're not describing why we should care about them, other than the same pitch used by lazy HiE writers: "My HiE character(s) is different from what others do."

Come up with a story. If it doesn't need humans, write it anyway, and use ponies. If this story is somehow improved by adding a human (or family of humans) do so.

Using your characters, you could write a Romance novel. The family is dealing with the struggles of adjusting to this strange world, the dad is your typical 50's breadwinner dad, and immediately seeks to become gainfully employed. The mom, surrounded by happy, loving ponies complains that she never gets to see her husband anymore, and the pony friends she made try to give them time off to have themselves a date. The dad sees these efforts to get him to work less as negative, and resists them, turning down help, turning down time off, and so on. Meanwhile, the kids are kids. They might be rambunctious and creates problems that use up a lot of the mother's time, thus keeping her from the free time she needs for this date/vacation.

You could write about an adventure. The family is lost deep in the Everfree, and they have to work together Swiss Family Robinson style, facing dangerous and even magical beasties without tools, weapons, or magic of their own.

You could write a comedy. The family is Simpsons/Family Guy and a bit crass. They make observations about the ponies around them and annoy them.

All of these genres could be done with a single human dude with lazer eyes. The first one, rather than family-issues involves a pony who is sweet on him. The second is less Swiss Family Robinson and more Robinson Crusoe. The third is more your typical anon-in-Equestria and when he uses his lazer eyes on Scootaloo, she turns into a bucket of KFC.

The problem with the HiE group/genre is that it is jam-packed with lazy writers, all writing the same few stories, and trying to stand out because they chose a different character. Most stories try to force some kind of human character that isn't necessary. In any of the above story examples, why use a human or human family? The CMC getting lost in the Everfree is just as viable a character choice, and you don't have to get into why the characters are in the world at all. You could write about pony characters dealing with balancing work, family, and the desire for romance within married life. You could have Lyra, sitting on her bench beside Bon Bon, commenting on the antics of ponies in the town square marketplace.

The choice of main character, human or pony, is an important one and the choice of human(s) is relevant to being HiE. But you need an interesting story, and that story should feel like it really requires the human character(s) instead of being an arbitrary choice. It shouldn't be something you can just swap out parts on a whim, as HiE has been ground down into. When your only idea for a story is "well, I want it to be HiE, and I want to swap out what others do for this idea of a certain kind of human character..." you're already missing out, and being one of the lazy many.