Followers of mine may remember the series of blog posts I did covering pony weapons and combat; one each for pegasi, unicorns, and earth ponies. (And

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There is one part I always remember about Princess Mononoke. Well, a few parts: that creepy scene with the humans disguised as boars and the tentacle animal monsters, for instance. But one line in particular stuck with me more than any other. At the climax when Lady Eboshi shoots the great forest spirit. A bullet pierces its head, but it calmly continues walking. The men look on in disbelief, and Lady Eboshi chastises them, “He’s a god, you fool. It’ll take more than one shot.”

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Those who have been following me for a while know that I find pony kinesiology and biomechanics to be an interesting topic for musing. Because ponies are so physically different from humans, any and all of their technology and day-to-day objects would have to be fundamentally different to work for them. Designing something as simple as a door handle or pair of scissors requires a completely new approach and mindset when dealing with ponies.

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In a previous musing post, I covered the idea of pony playing cards. In another, I discussed magic pony sports. Both of these are the sort of things influenced by tradition and simplicity. Today, I'd like to discuss a type of game that is the opposite: something that is explicitly constructed and designed. That's right, today we're discussing the cultural fixture that is the Trading Card Game.

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For today’s worldbuilding exercise, let’s look at something that is at once universal and distinctive. Everyone eats food. At the same time, eating unfamiliar food can be a very alien experience. Food is a big part of cultural and geographic identity. Real life cuisine has countless gradations and variations. The ingredients and resources available give each real life culture a distinct history and evolution.

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Games are an important form of ancillary worldbuilding. They create verisimilitude by showing that characters do play games, but can also create a fundamental alien-ness. Think of the Dejarik from Star Wars or the 3D chess from Star Trek.

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Immortality—or a functional equivalent—is one of those situations that presents an interesting challenge to writers. It has no real life equivalent, so writers have nothing to reference to give it verisimilitude. Like all unorthodox situations, the freedom available to writers is offset by the need to ground it in reality and consistency. How would one react to situations, how would they act, if they had lived for centuries or millenia? How would it affect their outlook? Or their emotions?

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Unicorns present an interesting combat scenario. Not only do they lack traditional human biometrics, they have telekinesis. This means that traditional single combat applies even less to them than it does to the other ponies, because their options are much greater and varied.

This blog post is a meandering mental exercise about one possible form unicorn combat may take.

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What your characters read says a lot about them. Like taste in drinks or music, showing a character’s taste can help characterize them quickly and efficiently, with less time and effort from the author.

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A major part of worldbuilding is sports and games. Taking something familiar and changing it slightly has multiple uses. It creates verisimilitude by showing that your fictional world still has and plays games. It creates a slight disconnect from the audience, because they can recognize that the mechanics are similar, yet not identical (a smaller version of the Uncanny Valley, if you will). It also gives you a chance to showcase the fantastical elements of your setting and tie them into

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What your character orders to drink says a lot about them. The type of beverage, how it's prepared, and how much it costs all paint a picture of preferences that adds verisimilitude and detail to a character's day-to-day life.

Here is what I think the Main Six would drink, and why. I tried to include at least one alcoholic and one non-alcoholic beverage in every entry.

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BEWARE; this post contains headcanon, speculation, rambling, and art drawn by me. You’ve been warned on all counts.

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NOTE; this post contains headcanon, speculation, rambling, and art drawn by me. You’ve been warned.

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I was reading a pony fic the other day, and it revolved around Braeburn and a lever-action rifle. Between the bloated prose and the sheer absurdity of the gun mechanics, I couldn't sit through it.

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