This forum thread is for, as aforementioned, bouncing around ideas some of us might have to build upon the worlds created in this contest and possibly even writing sequels to the stories. None of the stories in here are off limits for discussion (after all, we're only sharing ideas; not writing the stories ourselves). Just, please, keep the discussions respectful and not worse than Teen rated.

Of course, the authors of the stories themselves are the final judges on the ideas, but that's just common sense.

Okay, I would start, but it's getting too close to dinnertime around my place, so I'll leave it open for somebody else to open.

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I haven't read all the entries yet, but I'm glad to see some activity in this group. I love a good brainstorming thread.

One thing that helps me world build is just people asking my questions about the world itself! If anyone has any for my story's world, just ask. For reference, my story is Choices: The Dragon Princess.

Please also feel free to suggest some fun lore, if you'd like!

Much like Kleia I'm down for questions. My work is "Reflection".

Though as of now I've a few ideas running side by side.

1. The Gala - With Reflections taking place around episode 22, the next big event is The Grand Galloping Gala of course! Twilight gets to see her Mother again! Her friends go to a big swanky party! Oh and high societies prodigal son, the dashing Prince Blueblood will be there! Not everything runs so smoothly this time however (or as smoothly as can be when your a dog amongst the pidgeons).

2. A Flash Of Reflection - Flash fics set in the Reflections universe. Mostly character and lore development.

3. Pinkamena takes Canterlot - Pinkie wants to get Twilight the best gift possible for Hearthswarming, but to do that she needs more then the information in the party cave. She needs to scope out her friends old stomping grounds, to see, live, breathe Canterlot! Enter Lady Pinkamena.

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I really want to know how Twilight got to be Celestia's adopted daughter. What's their relationship like? How was growing up in Canterlot with no Spike to keep her company? So intrigued by this Twilight's backstory!

(I am also down for questions for Utter Order. This thread is going to be fun)

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One of my key things is to ensure on the surface there's alot of similarities, but beneath is the big changes. Ie: We assume because Twi is adorkable and studious that she's the same, we learn swiftly otherwise in the story.

Yeah, like the others, I'd be down for questions too. My entry is "Echoes of Harmony."

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Ooooo that makes sense, extremely cool

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Is there a reason Pinkie doesn't rhyme?

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To be honest, the real reason is that I'm bad at poetry, and I didn't want to have to put myself through rhyming ALL of Pinkie's dialogue. Just doing Zecora was enough for me, thank you.

But I suppose an in-story reason is that Pinkie is just odd even among her fellow zebra, and more inclined to go and do her own thing if and when she feels like it , with not speaking in rhymes being one of them, though I don't doubt she absolutely could rhyme if she got in the right mood for it. She might also rhyme when she feels obligated to do something particularly mystically-sounding, like brewing a potion or something (of which she, like Zecora, has notable experience with).

Additionally (and while I'm on the subject of Pinkie), there may very well be something particularly special about her, more so than just being one of the bearers--it ultimately ended up getting only faintly implied in the story, but there is supposed to be the implication that Pinkie actually can foresee the future (those predictions Pinkie makes in regards to Twilight with her mystical orb of fate's destiny? All true predictions, BTW)...though she doesn't really have much control over the wheres, whens, or whats, making her predictions seem somewhat...spotty...when taken out of context, which they usually would be.

It ended up not really getting touched upon in-story though, because I found it both a particularly large reveal that would notably derail the intended plot of the story so to discuss, and I realized it potentially made Pinkie OP in this particular instance unless I found a way to convincingly nerf her. Assuming the Echoes of Harmony universe would be pursued further in some hypothetical series of fics, I could see the subject of Pinkie's fortune-telling getting explored in more depth in a "Feeling Pinkie Keen" sort of story.

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Haha that makes sense I figured it might be a bit of ease for the author to not have a main character rhyme every second. Especially with such a talkative character as Pinkie!

I wonder if Twilight would be as against fortune telling in this universe as she is in canon 🤔

Ooh, I really like this idea and I would love to answer any questions people have regarding the background for my story: Lavender Scales.

I actually had a bunch of stuff I thought about leading up to the story, including how Spike came to be in his position as the Element of Magic, as well as some more Dragon culture and history that I didn't really have a place to fit into the story. Also, the comments begging for a sequel has got me thinking of potential ideas.

I haven't had much of a chance to read any of the other entries yet, but I've got a whole weekend coming up that I'm planning to get in some nice reading time

I noticed a lot of stories went heavily into worldbuilding. If I had done my story later on in things, I probably would've dipped more into that; my thought process, when I decided against making my story a crazy comedy, was that I wanted to emphasize how just a few species swaps could make a large difference, and so I figured it was best to keep the world itself very close to that in the show (many characters are even completely unchanged save for minor dialog choices), and just make griffons actually-predatory creatures rather than basically pegasi with beaks and claws.
That said, I did make one big change to the world that's not really spelled out in full, but heavily implied: The Griffons have an actual proper country spanning multiple cities and towns instead of just a single dilapidated city-state, with the military capability sufficient to make Equestria rather scared (in a 1 on 1 fight, Equestria would probably lose in a decade). Celestia obviously prefers to appease the griffons, which results in official propaganda that makes ponies generally tolerate griffon behavior.

As for a sequel, I'm sure people will have some ideas on how I could do one, but I've got little interest, as I feel that things would be too much like the show unless I did something with a griffon invasion, and I really don't want to write a big war fic. I do however want to write a prequel that actually goes over all of what went down with Princess Twilight starting from the Gilda incident and going to her losing her title, and some ideas would be quite nice if they could help spice up the plot a little; note for any ideas, they have to be something that fits with it being entirely from Twilight's POV.

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Speaking of Lavender Scales, I did have a question for you: did Twilight and Ember ever become besties themselves, enough to openly acknowledge it? Seeing their time working together during the Gauntlet did lay the groundwork for it, it'd seem like a shame if they didn't have the chance to keep building on that groundwork, particularly as it did seem like they had a fair bit in common.

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Funnily enough, I've actually been brainstorming ideas for a possible sequel (no idea if I'll ever get to it though). The thing is, Ember was fully planning to keep in touch with Twilight, and even make her the official Soothsage, and ensure the Soothsage became an actual respected role in dragon society, because she trusted Twilight.

But Twilight just left with Spike and started living in Ponyville without actually telling anyone, even Ember, because she still thought she didn't have anything worth holding on to in the Dragon Lands, and honestly didn't realize that Ember wanted to become friends (being inexperienced in friendship makes you miss some of these little details).

So later, when Celestia reaches out for diplomatic relations with the new Dragon Lord, Ember asks for Equestria's aid in locating a 'missing dragon.'

Celestia: "Oh? you mean Twilight? She's been living happily in Ponyville these past months. Would you like me to send a message to her?"

Ember: 0_o (barely contained rage intensifying)

They smooth things out in the end, but Ember never lets Twilight live that down

7773370 In the comics, it's explained that Zecora is the only zebra who rhymes.

7773483
Man I haven't read that comic but I'm booing that decision. Boo! Rhyming is cool

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How much does Spike differentiate from Twilight? He clearly has something of an inferority complex about his role (yes it was a meta thing, but its still relevant) and his cutie mark is flame based.

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While a lot of his journey mirror's canon Twilight, he actually differs quite a bit.

Spike in this world was dropped off at an orphanage as an infant, and nopony has managed to find out why or where his biological parents are. Like Twilight, he had a chance to try to enter Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, this time due to a charity thing, but the only reason he was even there was due to chance because another unicorn had to drop out, so he already felt like he didn't deserve the opportunity.

Much like Twilight, the Sonic Rainboom hit while he was being tested, and caused his magic to surge. But unlike Twilight, his magic erupted in magical fire. Thankfully nopony was close enough to get badly burned, but it was noted that some of the objects around the examination room were transported randomly across the city. It ended much the same, with Celestia arriving to calm the currently freaking out colt, and realized he needed some very attentive training and therefore took him under her wing. Upon realizing he was an orphan, she also decided to take him as his ward, so Spike actually grew up in the castle.

Spike specializes his magic in both fire and teleportation, somehow fusing the two in a unique way that has baffled unicorn scientists that have tried to study his unique thaumaturgical nature. He often shares letters with Celestia by igniting the paper, much like dragon Spike, except with conjured flames instead of fire breath.

Spike has since learned to control his volatile magic, but is often nervous whenever he is given some responsibility or job to do, as he's worried that he is still dangerous, so the more responsibility he can share with others, the better he feels. So much of his life has been determined by pure chance, that he often feels he hasn't earned what he has.

BTW, his full name is Power Spike, something he often prefers to be shortened.

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I quite like that, Spike gives me some DBZ Gohan vibes with his whole "Please dont push me, I'm dangerous" vibes. I suspect Tireks going to have a bad time.

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ooh, I literally just came up with the idea now that you mention it, but yeah, Tirek did not have a happy time consuming Spike's magic.
It burned

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Will/Would Spike become an Alicorn?

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Short answer, no, Spike would never become an Alicorn.

While he has potent magic and is talented in his own right, certainly enough to become the Element of Magic, he doesn't have the same drive to learn and perfect everything about magic. But more importantly, Celestia recognizes Spike's anxiety over being in charge, and an Alicorn transformation, and all the responsibilities that would come with it would be a living nightmare for him. He would likely grow into the role, but he would never be able to enjoy or appreciate it, and Celestia would never wish for that upon her ward.

7773483
True, but one of the advantages of writing an AU story is that, since it's an AU, you don't necessarily have to follow all points of canon if you don't want to, and like Tangerine Blast, I didn't particularly like how the season 10 comics sought to de-mystify not just the zebra but in many ways Zecora herself. Since the comics on the whole have always been somewhat nebulous on just how canonical they actually are, I chose to overlook this aspect of the comics for personal tastes reason. Fanfic writer's prerogative and all that.

I can see how that might seem like an odd choice for me though, considering I made reference to a number of other things from the comics without problem in the story, but...that's still how that went down while writing.

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It seems like the only thing people consistently think is "good" from the comics is Nightmare Rarity. Not the Nightmare forces, just Nightmare Rarity.

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Thanks for the answers thus far. And, well, how about the rest of the Mane Six in this universe? I'm guessing that, with the exception of Spike, they're pretty much the same as canon. But would he have the same crush on Rarity that he does in canon, just with a much better chance of her eventually returning the affections (as they are actually closer to the same age here AND they would have much more of a chance to get to know each other as friends over an extended period before getting that serious)? Or would he, instead have a crush on Fluttershy (actually prettier than Rarity [as evidenced in "Green Is Not Your Color"] and one of the extremely few females who is consistently nice to Spike without asking for anything in return)?

And, obviously, since Spike is probably NOT going to be next in line to be ruler of Equestria, I'm going guess that the next in line for when Celestia retires is either Luna (after she has been back on the throne for enough years for Celestia to finally feel comfortable letting Luna rule solo), Cadance (as she HAS already had a couple years of experience in running a nation by that point) or Blueblood (which would probably be the most disastrous choice)? Or simply opt to step down only after gradually easing Equestria into a democratically elected council run by equal parts Unicorns, Pegasi and Earth Ponies.

And, I'm guessing that, instead of the Friendship Festival in this universe, how do you plan on handling Tempest and the Storm King here?

Obviously, there's going to be no Friendship School here, so Cozy Glow is more likely to be a strictly Cutie Mark Crusaders villain in this universe (which, in all honesty, she SHOULD HAVE been) taking over for the reformed Diamond Tiara as the new Alpha Bully of Ponyville Elementary without access to the resources needed to be a bigger threat.

And, since Spike ISN'T going to be taking over as ruler of Equestria, I'm going to guess that it's going to be THE REAL Grogar putting the villains together in the final season (since Discord wouldn't see the need to pull the well-meant but seriously misfired "confidence booster" stunt), though I WILL admit that any or all of my guesses could be wrong.

7773730
*Phew* So a lot of questions to unpack here, but I think I'll have to start by saying the answer to a lot of them is simply: I don't know.

I've thought about a few of the questions, but more in a "huh, I wonder what that would change" with no answers yet, like would anything happen between Spike and Rarity? I guess one thing to keep in mind, is that Rarity has been shown to be attracted to stallions with positions or fame, and when she realizes he's the ward of Princess Celestia, she would definitely be more interested, seeing him as practically a prince already. Spike would likely also get his initial attraction to Rarity, and between them that might be enough for them to start something more serious, alternatively, they may try and discover that there wasn't anything deeper than initial attraction, and decide they're better off as friends. That would have to be explored.

Concerning Tempest and the Storm King, again not something I've explored, but one thought did come to my mind while mulling it over: If they still need four alicorns to absorb magic from for the staff, that means they'll be going after Celestia, Luna, Cadence... and Flurry Heart. I imagine the Storm King would either wait for another festival to nab all the alicorns they wanted at once, or make a more drawn out invasion, and from there the story could go anywhere.

But yeah, the rest of the Mane 6 would be much the same as they are in canon. But as for who would take over? I don't really know. I still haven't actually gotten around to finish watching season 9 yet, so while I know it happens, I've been trying to avoid too many spoilers, and anything that late in the series I don't think I can comment on.

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And, obviously, since Spike is probably NOT going to be next in line to be ruler of Equestria, I'm going guess that the next in line for when Celestia retires is either Luna (after she has been back on the throne for enough years for Celestia to finally feel comfortable letting Luna rule solo), Cadance (as she HAS already had a couple years of experience in running a nation by that point) or Blueblood (which would probably be the most disastrous choice)?

Not to put words in Mindscape's mouth since it would be their story and not mine (so maybe this can be an idea for them to consider)...but there's also the possibility that if Spike doesn't become ruler, then it could always be some pony else who arises to the position Twilight-style. Like Sunset Shimmer. Or maybe even Starlight Glimmer...if you're in that particular camp.

Really, it could be just about anyone if one really puts their mind to it. I suppose it doesn't even have to be a canon character necessarily.

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Glim Glam getting acension because Spike IS JUST THAT GOOD would certainly help with his neurosis.

"I'm a fraud, a failure!"
"Spike, you took a time travelling cult leader and turned her around so hard *
the universe took notice, just...take a deep breath"

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That actually would be kinda amusing to see.

Though of course, no one ever said one has to be an alicorn to be the ruler, so it could also just be plain ol' unicorn Starlight that gets the ruler job. Which also seems amusing--Starlight getting so far as getting the very throne to the country, and yet she STILL didn't get her wings.

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Twilight as her royal aid?

7773753
Thanks for the answers again. Of course, who is to say that THREE Alicorns PLUS Discord couldn't work just as well (if not slightly better as Discord's power is about twice that of most alicorns) concerning being targeted by the Storm King?

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Yeah. Possibly. As well as possibly Sunburst as her husband. And, to be fair, Starlight HAS mastered time magic to the point where it would be quite easy to visualize her restoring herself to her physical prime every five decades or so.

And, on your entry, Scyphi - well, I can't help thinking; based on one of your responses in the reviews of YOUR entry - Chrysalis in canon managed to absorb enough love to be stronger than somebody who quite literally moved the sun on a twice a day basis off of ONE pony for about a few weeks at the absolute most (though it's possible that Celestia was holding back to keep from hurting the wedding guests and Chrysalis was also using Celestia's own love for her ponies PLUS the love she absorbed from Shining while masquerading as Cadance [though kept quiet about the latter part just to make Celestia feel worse about losing]). Just how strong do you think Changeling Twilight would be from earning and sharing love with no fewer than SIX (possibly even more) true friends for a time period that would be no less than four years?

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So, Ember would basically be a composite of herself and Moondancer in that case. :-D

And, speaking of Moondancer, I'm guessing her friends did a slightly better job getting her out of her shell without Twilight messing up their progress before she figured out how great friendship could actually be.

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Dunno. One of those "not thought that far ahead" kind of things, I suppose.

I don't think I'd really be interested in her becoming an OP powerhouse sort of changeling, if that's what you're asking. I think she'd be more interesting a character if kept on the same level as the rest of the cast...at least most of the time, barring any one-off special occasions.

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Yeah. That's kind of what I was thinking too, to be fair. Keeping herself at the same level as her friends with the exceptions of the situations where her friends are in a majorly bad situation against a truly powerful villain forcing her to go all out. The final showdown with Chrysalis herself in Season 9 being one of those VERY rare situations, of course.

I've currently written nearly 1200 words in 'The Flash Of A Reflection' ! Eight chapters at the moment with more on the way, just waiting for Gravelordnito to double check it all.

First sequel to Reflection is here!

https://www.fimfiction.net/story/532523/three-steps-back