359858
Aaaahh... All my worries about internal consistency wrapped up neatly, I like the idea in general and if they are such a small population it makes a degree of sense that they have not been heard about outside their own land.

359859

maybe more Samurai Executioner, rather than Lone Wolf and Cub.

359849
Why didn't the Baku visit sooner, anachronistic order. It's my understanding that this story is to be set fairly early on the timeline, pre Family Matters/Helping Hands

As for Dinky and the young Tapir, I really agree with RDD here. Her role in the Lunaverse is to be a cute kid. We don't need her going off on grand adventures, even if those adventures are only through the imaginations of sleeping ponies.

359856
Samurai would still be awfully close to Kung-fu. Now that I think about it though there was some talk of putting her in a pirate dream, or maybe even riffing of The Princess Bride with Lyra as Roberts and BonBon as Buttercup.

I could maybe also see Lyra staring in a Daring Do adventure.

359858
Subspecies could work, I was maybe thinking though that it might be even better if Baku were some kind of shamans among the Tapirs. Less a matter of biology, and more a matter of proper training and discipline.

359866: I was thinking that the 'shaman' idea worked well too.

359866
I have been wondering if the fanfic list served as a timeline or not so i suppose that answers my question, good thing too.
I also agree on the Dinky situation.

359858 359866
They could be like the... Tauren Spirit walkers, sort of a mix between innate talent at birth and training

I'd love to write the Raindrops dream.

359866
It might actually make more sense as post-FM/HH, though only just, if only to not cause conflict with Lyra's worry over BonBon's dreams that she has in HH.

359950
That migh be a good point, and yet...

I really hate to say that any element of one of your stories is wrong (feels horrendously pretentious to do so), but I think this could be such an instance. This whole dreams as a means to cope with PTSD really feels to me like a story that wants to happen 3-5 weeks or so after the Corona incident, when life is starting to get back to normal, but the memories are still fresh in mind. The further removed it becomes from that initial triggering incident the more contrived the whole idea seems to become.

I suppose that maybe post Where There Is Smoke could also work, as depending on how events there play out that could rekindle all the fears the ponies had been suppressing. Overall though I feel that if we do thise dream evet post FM/HH we should just lose the whole Corona angle and just make the Baku some kind of researcher instead of a therapist.

359992
Valid point, valid point.

Does the story even need a Baku?
It could just be a sort of see into their minds story, existing for a mixture between amusement and character development. I do think the Baku idea has merit, but Bookwise is right the timing seems a little off, after Fawks turned up could work.
Or it could be like a Baku cop that's actually chasing a criminal Baku dream eater or something, or Nightmare ETC.
Not my fave idea but there's an alternate idea.
359992 360000

360076
The baku allows for a cohesive story rather than six (or more) seperate dreams, and a reasonable reason for the dreams to all be merging together.

360085
The dreams could just be not merging together but your overall point is well taken, it's not my story after-all.

I do like the idea of Philomena rekindling the fear of Corona and stuff....

heh. rekindling.

360085 360104
I rather prefer the dream merge angle, because otherwise there isn't even really a point to having the stories as dreams in the first place, when they could just be a further layer of AU.

That said this angle will be a little tricky to pull off with the whole multi author approach. If at first it's just 2 or 3 dreams merging together those could just be written as colabs (the original authors ping-ponging the draft between each other until it's satisfactory to all), but by the time all of the L6 are in a single dream it may become necessary for a single author to take the lead.

360244
The word "rekindle" was chosen completely intentionally.

That said, I might be leaning in the direction that the Baku be a researcher studding pony dreams, rather than a therapist helping them with their unspoken Corona issues. Not just because of timing issue alone though, but because I'm not sure shoehorning Corona or one of her minions into all the dreams is a good idea.

Though conversely, I'm now also thinking that instead of the Baku being a non-villain antagonist, the whole dream merger thing could possibly be the result of Zecora using some freaky Zebra Voodoo to break the L6 from the inside out. At the same time though I would miss the "no danger because it really only ever was just a dream".

360428
What if the dream-merge is the result of funky zebra voodoo getting messed up because of the presence of the baku, and the baku is trying to fix it now. The baku still sucks at communicating though.
"If my shadows have offended, think but this; and all is mended that you have but slumbered there while these visions did appear and this weak and idle theme no more yielding but a dream"

Hmmm.

Maybe Zecora could be trying to trap the Luna 6 into their sleep just while the Baku shows up? And he just wants to wake them up by eating their dreams?

359866

Awfully Close? Hardly.

A Samurai Piece is limited to a specific time frame (Ideally whatever is roughly similar to the early/mid Tokugawa period), while a Chop socky film can be anywhere from The time of the Dragon Emperor to present day.

Wasn't there talk of a blaxploitation cop story? Possibly Lyra as a cowboy cop..

360784

might play a little too close/similar to Cheerilee Dynamite, depending on what period that is going to be in.

360734
Maybe, but setting isn't the only concern. There is also thematic tone, and that's where I feel those two ideas might be too much alike.

361064

the story of a Ronin and a conflicted Noblewoman who knows that their love must not be, as the Corrupt Daimyo Korona try to keep them apart.

vs.

....I dunno what people have planned for Cheerilee Dynamite.

Okay. Raindrops has an Historical Romance. Her dream stallion... does he change constantly or only what period of history they're in?

Hm. Any visitors might not recognize Raindrops if she's "Luna'd" in her dream... except for the fact that despite looking like a pegasus Fleur de Lis with a darker version of Raindrops' coat, there's still something, other than the cutie mark, that screams Raindrops.

"In my dreams, I'm the me that I want to be, even if I'd never admit it even to myself when I'm awake. When I'm awake, I'm the me that I AM."

361079
Still both martial arts tales, which always share certain tropes. One could get a similar but much more uniques story for Lyra and Bone by going with a medieval knight in shining armor and royal princess. Also makes an easy place to drop Spike in full grown form, if we want to keep up the Corona angle.

Given that the big humor of this story concept is going to be reconciling the dreamscapes as they merge, things will be most funny if the L6 are all having dreams that are as wildly different as possible.

361086

I would keep Raindrops the same, regardless of the dream.

...and the Colt will always be McLargehuge/roid rage/horse power.
...no, more seriously, he'd be build like Big Mac or something.

361092

The Knight thing is over done.

so if Trixie is Noir, Carrot top is Super Hero, Cheerilee is Chop Socky/splotations, Rain Drops is cheesy Romance, Ditzy is sitcom, that leaves....what, Sci-fi, Horror, Thriller, Suspense, western, Punk....

...wait, Horror.
make it a Horror Suspense with Lyra having to fight through a Haunted House to rescue Bonbon from Sata-rona.
and a certain Evil Enchantress.

361118
Knights saving princesses from dragons is more classic than over played. If not that though, my other favorite would be the pirate thing, although western might work too.

As for the horror dream? That's a little too close to being a nightmare, and none of the other dreams are all that scary in and of themselves. The fear factor not really coming into play until the dreamscape merger begins. Maybe, Bonbon's dream could be a horror survival thing, since her nightmares was what got Lyra to move in with her, but I very much think that the L6 themselves should all be high end heroic stuff.

361131

One pony's nightmare is another's fantasy.

Most of my favorite dreams would probably be considered nightmares by other people.

Mixing up the base dream's genres would make the merging more...apparent. and erratic.

How about creepy kitsch? Something that by all rights SHOULD be horror, but isn't?

Da-da-da-dum.

*snap snap*

361142
True, but I just don't see Lyra as the type to get excited about scary stuff. She's the bard of the team, her dreams should probably all have a grandiose adventure or fantastical fairytale like quality.

361145

Given that Raindrops of all ponies is the one getting the cheesy Romance dream, a few odd mismatches makes things interesting.

we need more opinions, though.

361149
As superficially odd as the cheesy Romancedrops stuff might seem, it's something that sort of built up and grew out of other aspects of her character too the point where it became fundamentally a core concept of who she is, or at least that's how it happened with me.

Conversely Lyra doing a horror thing just feels needlessly artificial to me. She's the bard, her dream should be something bards would sing about. That said, you're right that we need more opinions on the matter, most importantly though the opinion of whoever ends up writing that dream.

I still like the idea of Lyra being in a samurai-style flick. It lends itself really well to bardish stuff.

361151>>361149>>361166
I rather liked Lyras dream from Helping...Hands why not something like that?

361176

I'd rather not repeat things.

361182
Agreed, though I think keeping with something of a similar style would be fitting.

361166
I don't know, I'd rather see Lyra in something with a more western than eastern slant. Maybe some Greek epic, because Lyra looks awesome in a toga

361182>>361190
I only meant a similar style I.E travelling Mistral/Magical Bard etc.

A Toga could also be awesome.

361151
Well, there's an easy way to reconcile Lyra Horror with Lyra Pirate. Ever read The Rime of the Ancient Mariner?

361203: Do you mean "reconcile Lyra Horror with Lyra Bard?" There's no pirates in Coleridge's Rime (which, by the way, is one of my favorite poems).

361220
Well, no, but it does involve a mariner, and it wouldn't be terrifically difficult to add some pirates, perhaps in the form of Lyra's dream crossing into Bon Bon's.

That is, Lyra and Bon Bon could both be having nautical dreams, with Lyra's more upbeat and Bon Bon's more mariner-y. It'd be a comparitively smooth transition, for the dreamscape, which makes sense given how much the two are around each other.

361229: Ah, I see. That could also be cool.

I'm gonna start a thread for the dream episode/arc, if it's all right. It's too big for the brainstorming thread, methinks.

361330
Gods for...houses? I don't remember that.

361413
Sounds like a plan.

361424
Oh, right, my bit on where I got the inspiration for Corona's personality. It was part Lord Zedd, and part this:

Which leads us nicely to the second source of inspiration. Lots of authors have different approaches to exactly how powerful alicorns are compared to other ponies; sometimes they're not really all that special besides being basically immortal, other times, they're basically omnipotent. I like to go for something in between - physical gods, like the Norse or Greek pantheons. Alicorns are basically just big people. Or ponies, in this case, the point being that they have surprisingly recognizeable motivations, desires, and flaws, though often blown out of proportion. But they are still, in many ways, gods, and whenever I use the word "alicorn" you can basically replace it with the word "god" if you like.

In any event, there is a Dungeons & Dragons book titled Deities & Demigods, which basically deals with how to include divine beings into your campaigns. It gives stats, of course, but it also gives advice on how to roleplay gods. And this particular bit is the primary inspiration for Corona's general attitude:

Spoiled Brat: Gods get their own way. If they desire something, it appears with little or no effort. Instant gratification is normal for deities. They have little or no appreciation for the challenges and difficulties mortals face. They pass out quests and tasks with no regard for difficulty and then become wrathful when mortals object. Deities who deal directly with living things usually show understanding, but even for them there is a line between reasonable concerns and thwarting their will. When you portray such a deity, dismiss player character concerns as trivial. Get angry when they can't do what you want immediately, if that's appropriate. Otherwise, be patient but insistent, and don't negotiate.

361429
Yes that is it exactly thank you