Anyone who has seen my previous post about renaming The Alternaverse has seen the detail at the end about me considering making a new Alternate Universe. But I have no intention of abandoning The Alternaverse if I do make it. To anyone who hasn't seen my post about renaming The Alternaverse, I've been considering making a whole new AU. But I don't intend to abandon this AU if I make it.

My new AU idea would be called "The Youngverse". The general premise is that the Young 6 (Sandbar, Gallus, Silverstream, Yona, Smolder and Ocellus) become the bearers of the Elements of Harmony at the beginning. The Mane 6 will generally be the same as in canon. They just don't become the bearers of the Elements. They each will have come to Ponyville in some way or another to watch the 1000th Summer Sun Celebration. Sandbar would already be living in Ponyville, Ocellus (disguised as a pony) will have come from Canterlot with Twilight (her mentor). Gilda will bring Gallus before abandoning him there when Nightmare Moon appears, and I still need to work out explanations for the others. Maybe the Summer Sun Celebration is happening at the same time as the dragon migration, and this catches Smolder's attention. The Storm King won't be a thing in this universe, so the hippogriffs will be more social in general. But I'm stumped on Yona.

But other than the Young 6 replacing the Mane 6 as the bearers of the Elements of Harmony, there won't be any changes to history in this AU. Though I will be taking creative liberties (certain comics being canon for example). I'm on the fence about whether Ocellus should exist alongside Spike or replace him. I'm thinking the former, because as I've said, I'm not changing history.

But what do you think? Should I make the Youngverse and take on the task of managing two AUs, or should I keep my mane focus on the Alternaverse?

7345456
Well, I have to admit that this DOES sound like it could be a really interesting one. I especially like the idea of Ocellus being Twilight's pupil (probably her FIRST pupil after graduating from Celestia's School For Gifted Unicorns). And, yeah, it would make sense for Gallus to be in Ponyville if he were accompanying Gilda (who probably wants to visit an old friend who happens to live in Ponyville).

And, for the record, I kind of like the idea of Ocellus existing alongside Spike.

Actually, a couple of OTHER possible alterations to the timeline:

1. Lord Torch could be an old friend of Princess Celestia (who is one of the few ponies who has seen his softer side). Because of this friendship, he trusts Celestia with the few orphaned dragon eggs he occasionally comes across (which is where Celestia got SPIKE's egg; both of his parents were killed by dragon hunters before he was hatched, but Torch managed to stop the dragon hunters before they destroyed the egg too). ALSO because of this friendship, Torch and Celestia occasionally send diplomatic envoys to Equestria and the Dragon Lands respectively, allowing the Equestrian nobles to know a bit more about dragons and the dragons to know a bit more about the ponies. Garble (who is slightly nicer than in canon though still an extremely protective big brother to Smolder) and Smolder are the son and daughter of one of the most recent diplomatic envoys from the Dragon Lands.

2. Pinkie Pie actually travelled the world a bit before settling in Ponyville. During those travels, she spent a few weeks in Yakistan and made friends with them. Yona could have arrived in Ponyville because she heard about the Summer Sun Celebration from Pinkie and her curiosity got the better of her.

and 3. Thorax actually broke away from Chrysalis's hive a couple of decades sooner than in canon and met and befriended Shining Armor and Cadance in high school. From Shining and Cadance, he learned how good it felt to earn AND share love instead of stealing it. He gradually got stronger (not just from earning love from Shining Armor and Cadance, but also learning to develop a backbone without losing the niceness). Because of this friendship, the Equestrian military and nobility actually DOES have a fair bit of knowledge concerning Changelings). He has TRIED to help the other Changelings learn to earn and share love, but thus far, Chrysalis has MOST of them so badly brainwashed that Ocellus is the only one willing to listen to him (that will change in a few years, but the point is, because Thorax is already a good friend of the Equestrian royals, the guards are MUCH better prepared for Chrysalis's invasion [to the point where Chrysalis is defeated and captured when she first even makes the ATTEMPT to foalnap and replace Cadance and "A Canterlot Wedding" then becomes a simple Slice of Life story with the Royal Guards getting a Hero of Another Story moment]). Anyway, because of having Ocellus (i.e. somebody from a race that draws strength from strong positive emotions) as a student, Twilight actually has a better understanding of friendship than she did in canon at that point in time and DOESN'T blow off Moondancer's party when she hears about it.

At any rate, the canon Mane Six AND the Young Six go into the forest together and work together against Nightmare Moon's traps. It is at that point that Nightmare Moon decides to just knock out and abduct the canon Mane Six to use them as an example of what happens to those that challenge her (planning to brainwash them rather than kill them, though). The Young Six are now extra motivated by saving the six adults they befriended and gradually come to realize that they went through the same bonding experience too. This allows them to activate the Elements of Harmony and save not just Equestria, but the six adult ponies they have befriended.

7345549
I like the ideas. I do however have an issue with the idea of so easily removing Chrysalis as a threat. Although, I suppose she can be a threat without it being at the wedding. In fact, this new dynamic would make it so she has to be more tactical, and potentially even more dangerous.

As for knowledge of changelings, I think knowledge should be limited. Not in the sense that knowledge is restricted, but rather it has to be either need to know (like registering their ID with the princess so that the royal guard and similar law enforcers can identify them if needed) or if the changeling chooses to reveal themselves (with the condition of no doxing). Basically, knowledge of changelings in general is public, but knowledge of individual changelings is on a case by case basis. Also general knowledge should be relatively new, so not everyone knows about changelings yet. I want there to be a reason for some people not to know what changelings are.

7345695
Yeah. I can very definitely see that point. ESPECIALLY concerning the "case-by-case basis" knowledge of Changelings.