Be bold, be strong, hear the song, see what the new day brings…note
"And so the Wanderer gave the gift of art and music to all, that all may live in Harmony..."
My Little Pony: The Song of Seven (stylized as MLP ~ Song of Seven) is a fanfiction by Team Gen S, a collaboration between three Friendship is Magic fans, Skarlet Set (writer), Ever Cast and Scatterdove (characters and setting). It was first published on Fimfiction on September 13th, 2021. It can be read here
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On the continent of Cabalos there are three nations, and each nation is home to a kind of pony. The Galloway live in the forested and hilly plains of Sylvain to the south, the Unicorns live in the mountains of Lustre to the north, and the Pegasi in the isles of Meteoras to the east.
They don't get along, and no pony in their right minds would make friends with someone from a different nation.
The one thing they all agree is on is that the Badlands are forbidden, and no pony should ever try to cross the border. Doing so would breach the Sacred Treaties set in place by the six Alicorns before they disappeared a thousand years ago, and it's generally considered bad for your health, what with it being swarming with monsters, to say nothing of the confusing terrain. Lightning Bug, a rookie soldier for the Meteoran Empire, doesn't have much choice when dragons ambush her border patrol and chase her into the Mercurial Mountains, the heart of the Badlands. There she meets a Lustrian cartographer, Polaris. After some minor disagreements, they agree to work together to escape. They're joined shortly by a Sylvainian bard named Meadow Skip.
They inadvertently stumble upon a secret valley in the center of the mountains, home to a mixed community of ponies. The community, called Harmony, was established long ago by a pony named Rat Tail to serve as a haven for any pony from any nation. After some apprehension, they are quickly welcomed with open arms by the town's residents. They befriend Lorekeeper Echo Shade, hero wannabe Slash Buckler, and the reclusive herbalist Apple Bloom. So begins a series of adventures, some serious, some not-so-serious, as the six heroes learn more about themselves and each other, and become true heroes to defend the valley from the monsters and dragons outside.
Song of Seven is different from other pony fanfiction in that it presents itself as a separate generation from G4. Just like how G4 built off of previous generations, the world of Cabalos builds off of G4 to create a unique setting with its own history and lore to serve as the backdrop for a series of adventures. Several 'seasons' are planned, which are divided into premieres to set the status quo, stand-alone episodes to build the world and advance the plot, and a finale to close each story arc, just like G4. It is currently on its first season, which can be read here.
Before it was published, a story bible was released by Skarlet Set, which contains information on the characters and the setting which isn't featured in the main story, at least not yet. It features artwork drawn by Team Gen S, as well as commissioned artwork from popular fan artists, like Pfeffaroo, Dar and Dawnfire. It can be read here.
The Song of Seven provides examples of;
- Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal: Each of the main characters have one piece of apparel each. Lightning Bug has a necklace, Polaris has a pair of glasses on his snout, Meadow Skip has a lute that he carries around, Slash Buckler has a leather strap on his foreleg, Echo Shade has a scarf, and Apple Bloom has a satchel over her shoulder. Other characters are described with some apparel as well.
- Achievements in Ignorance: Implied with Echo Shade. Polaris watches her cast a powerful spell incredibly easily, and when asked she says all she did is 'use more magic,' something Polaris had earlier established was impossible. When pressed further, all she can say is, "Isn't that what everyone else does?"
- Action Girl: Lightning Bug is a trained soldier and has some combat experience, seen when she takes on a Torus. The other two girls count, and they are important to taking down the dragon at the end of the premiere.
- Adaptation Name Change: Earth Ponies are called Galloway on Cabalos, and Cutie Marks are called Brands.
- Added Alliterative Appeal:
- Some locations in the story have alliterative names, such as the Mercurial Mountains, the Harmony Heritage Holiday, and to a lesser extent, the Cozy Glow Gulf.
- Polaris has a verbal tic where he'll randomly belt out alliterative sentences, particularly when he's peeved.
- An Aesop:
- Every culture is different. Every person in every culture is different. Your values don't make you a good person, they're not as universal as you may think.
- You're not a failure just because you don't fit in. You just have a different purpose or talent, and if the people around you can't recognize that, it's their loss.
- Affectionate Gesture to the Head: Echo ruffles her two adoptive sibling's heads often.
- Affectionate Nickname: Echo Shade tends to call Lightning Bug and others hon.
- After the End: According to the story bible, the World of Cabalos has technically ended once already. The dragons were born and ravaged the world, wiping out all previous life. They were defeated by the Alicorns, who healed the land, which spawned the new creatures of Cabalos like the ponies.
- Air Quotes: Polaris makes airquotes with his hooves when he tells Lightning that unicorns can't simply 'use more magic'.
- Aliens Speaking English: Technically, the spoken language on Cabalos is simply called Common or Caballian, but the characters use several idioms and expressions that should be unique to English speakers.
- Alliterative Family: Smokey Sky and Snow Feather are siblings, often abbreviated to just Smokey and Snowy.
- All There in the Manual: Several key elements of the story were first mentioned in the story bible.
- Alternate Continuity: Song of Seven is completely separate from Equestria with some names and concepts carried over.
- Always Wanted to Say That: Twice Slashbuckler has a dynamic entrance and asks something to the tune of 'did somebody say x?' Both times were an honest question because he didn't hear what they were talking about, and he wanted to say it anyway.
- Amusing Injuries: Lightning Bug takes a lot of punishment while she's flying. She keeps crashing into trees and and cliffs, but she doesn't seem any worse for wear. Polaris has been tossed into the air multiple times by a Torus, bucked in the face by a mare, and falls from a Star Pillar and only then does he nearly sprain his leg (which isn't treated as quite-so-amusing). Meadow Skip crashes face-first into a tree, lands on his lute and breaks it, and falls into an underground river and gets spat out by a waterfall. And then Apple Bloom bucks him in the face when he scares her on accident.
- Anachronism Stew: Cabalos is a primarily high-fantasy setting, but department stores and clocks and disposable cameras are treated as commonplace. In Harmony, which should be behind the times technology wise, they're still afforded a few modern amenities like running water.
- Answer Cut: Polaris pressures Lightning into carrying him up a cliff. We don't see the end of the exchange, we just cut to a scene of her airborne with Polaris in her arms, barely staying airborne.
- Anti-Hero Substitute: Compared to Twilight Sparkle, the confident, talented unicorn scholar who had to learn to open up and trust others, Lightning Bug is an insecure pegasus grunt without a promising future and a history of derision and ostracization, and all she wants is to belong. Both were born with a magical gift, but while Twilight's brought her friends together, Lighting's drove ponies away, and she grew to resent it. Twilight had to learn to let people in and depend on others, Lightning learns to be confident and dependable herself.
- Arbitrary Skepticism: Polaris is extremely suspicious of the Harmonites and is slow to believe anything they tell him. He doubts the existence of a Seventh Alicorn because tradition states there were only six rulers, even though the Alicorns are affiliated with the Spirit Stars in the night sky, of which there are seven. Even after listening to Caduceus' magical song multiple times, he's still in doubt, even though he doesn't have any other explanation.
- Arcadia: The Valley of Life located in the Badlands. It's fertile and temperate climate-wise and the ponies there live in Harmony, literally. Mixed-tribe communities are rare on Cabalos, and Harmony is implied to be the biggest. Polaris calls it this by name.
- Arc Words: Harmony, both in the context of the town and not.
- Arc Number: Six, sometimes seven.
- As You Know: The lore dumps rely heavily on this. Sometimes ponies will explain to each facts about Cabalos that they should already know. Sometimes justified when they have to explain something a pony from a different nation wouldn't know about, like how Unicorns use magic. Done in-universe with the Lorekeeper's retelling of the founding of Harmony, which they perform every year for the foals of the village.
- Attack of the Town Festival: The premiere has Lightning and Polaris dumped into Harmony mere days before their Heritage festival. They spend the few next days resting up and helping them prepare, but on the day of the festival the dragon finds the entrance to the valley and tries to break in. The festival is briefly called off when everybody runs to take shelter, and the heroes leave to launch an offensive on the dragon.
- Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: The Behemoth dragon that chases Lightning Bug, granted it's only a few stories tall. The Mountain King definitely counts, being a giant.
- Attention Whore: Echo Shade has... shades of this. She's training to be a lorekeeper, which is a solemn duty taken up to educate ponies on oral history, but she uses it as an excuse to put on lightshows and dance. She says she just wants to enhance the storytelling craft.
- Author Appeal: Team Gen S collectively loves giant monsters, worldbuilding, and themes. For example, each territory in Sylvain is named after a plant or flower, and each clan in Meteoras is named after one of the eight winds. Each of the main character's Brands can be assigned a number 1-6, Echo Shade has a single wand, Slashbuckler has two swipes, Meadow Skip has three leaves, etc.
- Backing Away Slowly: The two ponies who hear Slash rant about a dragon outside the valley try to quietly back away before he catches them ignoring him.
- Bathos: In Harmonize III, Lightning finally breaks down sobbing and says she's a horrible excuse for a pegasus and she deserved to get lost. Shortly after the dragon realizes she's in the valley and briefly tries to enter, only to give up. The whole Valley is bordering on panic. Meadow finally chimes in that he never knew there was a dragon in the first place. This is after he had briefly joined Lightning and Polaris when they first ran from it.Meadow Skip: Say, what are we running from? (slams into a tree and is left behind)
- Later, Lightning is told off and has to stay behind while the others go to face the dragon. She reminisces about how the other pegasi treated her, and she somberly watches the others leave the valley. The next scene has her nailing boards into a barricade with Bright Eyes, the town idiot, who forgoes the use of a hammer and uses her forehead to drive nails into the boards.
- Bear Hug: Slash is prone to giving Echo Shade these.
- Beauty, Brains, and Brawn: The three girl main characters fall into this. Apple Bloom the potion-maker is the brains, Echo Shade the storyteller is the beauty, and Lightning Bug the soldier, the hero of the story, is the brawns.
- Because Destiny Says So: Echo Shade is convinced that outsiders coming to the valley is a good omen and a sign of prophecy.
- "Be Quiet!" Nudge: Smokey is constantly prodded by Snowy and Echo when he puts his hoof in his mouth.
- Best Friend: The main characters are a team, but they're not all best friends, at least not at first.
- Lightning Bug and Polaris are True Companions.
- Meadow Skip and Slashbuckler are Odd Friends.
- Echo Shade and Apple Bloom are Childhood Friends, at least that's what Echo Shade will tell you.
- Berserk Button: Every pony has their limit.
- Polaris is already a grumpy pony, but do not interfere with his work or damage his documents, or he will turn murderous.
- Don't disturb Apple Bloom's herbs, and don't compare her to Polaris.
- Don't call the ponies of Harmony hicks, or uneducated, or socially stunted, and definitely don't say the three tribes shouldn't marry, or Echo Shade will calmy threaten to bash you in the head.
- Slashbuckler already has a chip on his shoulder for monsters and any other perceived threat to the valley, but don't hurt Echo Shade while he's around.
- Big Bad: The Mountain King, the old titan ruler of the Mercurial Mountains is featured on the cover art, and he has a scene at the end of the premiere. The ponies of Harmony live in fear of him forcefully evicting them from the valley, and he's tried multiple times in the past.
- Big Damn Heroes: Just when Polaris' plan to fight the dragon go south, Lightning Bug, Meadow Skip, and Apple Bloom arrive to turn the tide of the battle.
- Big Fancy Castle: The Holy Palace of Astir na Nog, the Unicorn capital, is alluded to by Polaris. It's built inside a hollowed-out mountain, covered by a dome of glass to let light inside.
- Big Good: Caduceus, the Wanderer, the Seventh Alicorn and the true founder of Harmony.
- Big "NO!": Polaris screams this when he loses his papers and manuscripts when the dragon rips his bag.
- Big Sister Instinct: Echo Shade has this for her two adoptive siblings, but she also displays this for the other two girls on the team.
- Blessed with Suck: Lightning Bug was born with the rare pegasi gift called Stormtouch. It lets her harness electrical energy from thunderclouds and use it for her own purposes. She also can't control it very well, and she keeps zapping people by accident even if she never touches a cloud. She's struck by lightning twice, both times outside of her control. She faced ostracization growing up and couldn't find work until she joined the army.
- Blue Boy, Pink Girl: Slashbuckler is a blue rowdy Pegasus, and his best friend Echo Shade is a pink, prim and proper Unicorn.
- Blunder-Correcting Impulse: This is essentially Lightning Bug's dominant personality trait. She's convinced she's done so many things wrong that she's responsible for making things better, even when she's not directly involved. Growing up as an accident-prone Stormtouch user gave her really low self-esteem.
- Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick: Polaris lists off reasons why not to trust the ponies of Harmony when they first meet.Polaris: Are they convicts? Fugitives? Are they under the sway of some eldritch mountain god?
- Break Her Heart to Save Her: Polaris talks Lightning Bug down from joining the mission to stop the dragon, by playing on her insecurities and saying she'd only get in the way. He apologizes to her before he leaves, and later he says he did so because he was afraid she'd get herself eaten. They make up after the fight with the dragon.
- Brick Joke: Polaris goes to great lengths to explain to Lightning Bug why unicorns can't simply 'use more magic' to power up their spells. Much later, during the battle with the dragon, Echo Shade casts an illusion spell that's easily a few stories high. She had cast illusions before, only much smaller. When Polaris asks how she did it, what's her response? She used more magic.
- Canon Character All Along: Kind of. Lightning Bug says that's just what everyone calls her, implying she hasn't given her real name to anyone yet. Her real name is really Lightning Dust.
- Casanova Wannabe: Meadow Skip is a suave and charming bard who instantly intrigues Lightning Bug and Echo Shade when they first meet, but he's ditzy and forgetful and has a bad time remembering faces. For example, he gives a sweeping and romantic introduction to Lightning when they first meet, and when she sees him again without her armor on, he can't even recognize her and starts giving her the same exact spiel.
- Comical Overreacting: Polaris freaks out when it finally hits him that the ponies of Harmony let the three tribes 'intermingle', i.e. have children together.
- Composite Character: The six main characters all feature mixed and matched traits from the Mane Six.
- Lightning Bug is a meek yellow Pegasus like Fluttershy, but she's also a fast flyer like Rainbow Dash. She has a magical gift like Twilight Sparkle. Ever Cast described her as "Derpy but the hero of the story".
- Polaris is a logical scholar like Twilight Sparkle, he's prissy and his coat is monochrome like Rarity's (only black instead of white). He's also stubborn and set in his ways like Applejack, and he's competitive like Rainbow Dash.
- Meadow Skip has a white-colored coat and is a romantic like Rarity, and he's knowledgeable on worldly lore like Twilight Sparkle. His tail and mane are braided like Applejack's, and he's a free spirit like Pinkie Pie. He has a lovely singing voice and is good with animals like Fluttershy.
- Slashbuckler is a hotblooded blue Pegasus like Rainbow Dash. He's a good builder and a hard worker like Applejack, and he loves kids like Pinkie Pie.
- Echo Shade has a coat and mane similar to Twilight Sparkle as well as a talent for magic, and she's feminine and appearance-conscious like Rarity. She's pink and loves entertaining and making people smile like Pinkie Pie. She's terrifying when angry, like Fluttershy and her Stare.
- Apple Bloom is an orange Earth Pony, but her name is taken from Apple Jack's sister. She's reclusive like Fluttershy, but sharp-witted and semi-neurotic like Twilight Sparkle. She runs a shop like Rarity and Pinkie Pie, only she specializes in medicines instead of clothes and cake.
- Cult: Polaris believes the ponies of Harmony are a cult for believing in an 'extra-canonical alicorn' and accuses them of engaging in shady businesses, but they're harmless.
- Diegetic Soundtrack Usage: Caduceus sings the Alicorn's Lullaby to Lightning Bug, which is none other than a rendition of the classic My Little Pony theme song.
- Don't You Dare Pity Me!: Lightning Bug is wary of praise or pity of any kind, and she quickly brushes off any attempts to comfort her when she's upset. She has it in her head that the only reason someone would help her is if they felt pressured or obligated, which she hates.
- Eldritch Location: We're told that the Badlands are hostile and confusing to navigate. The ponies keep going in circles and windind up in the same place they started lost woods style before they find the valley. Polaris suspects a space-time wormwhole in his notes. The Valley is relatively normal by comparison.
- Everyone Meets Everyone: The Premiere storyline sees Lightning Bug and Polaris meet in the Badlands. They encounter Meadow Skip shortly before entering the valley, where they meet Slashbuckler and his friend Echo Shade. Much later Polaris and Lightning Bug encounter Apple Bloom seperately.
- Fantastic Fragility: Unicorns, as said in Polaris' "can't use more magic" rant, are not unlimited wells of mana and sorcery and need to be extremely specific when they cast their spells.
- Fantastic Racism: The three tribes of ponies don't get along, and they have their own unfavorable stereotypes about each other. Unicorns are seen as pompous and self-important, Pegasi are seen as foolish brutes, and Galloway are seen as greedy and money-loving. Lightly subverted for the ponies of Harmony. They rib and insult each other in a similar manner but it's usually in good fun.
- Five-Man Band:
- Lightning Bug is The Hero. She's not a leader, but she's the one to lead the final charge against the dragon.
- Polaris is The Lancer. His beliefs run opposite to Lightning Bug, and he's much more pragmatic and colder than she is. He also overlaps with The Smart Guy due to his intelligence and scholarly personality..
- Slashbuckler is The Big Guy. He's a loud, cheery Pegasus with a chip on his shoulder, but what he loves to do is protect people with his shield.
- Echo Shade is the Girly Girl. She acts like the team's Cool Big Sis and is the daintiest of the six.
- Meadow Skip is the The Smart Guy. He is a floaty and uncommitted Galloway with a talent for folklore and history, and he may have great investigative skills.
- Apple Bloom is the Sixth Ranger, though it's ultimately played with. She is a main character and the final to appear, and she's an integral to the fight with the dragon, but she promptly nopes out of the adventure and proceeds to keep her distance from the other five afterwards.
- Foreshadowing: When Lightning first sees the behemoth dragon after the thunderstorm, she notices its head is covered in glowing growths. During the final battle she finally identifies them as fulgurites, stones that have forced chinks into the dragon's armor.
- Friendship Denial: Polaris refuses to acknowledge Lightning Bug as anything more than a companion and insists on calling her Private. They're officially friends by the end of the premiere.
- Glass Cannon: Polaris and Echo Shade function as this during fights. They both use their magic to fight from afar, but their constitution is weaker than the others.
- Gosh Dangit To Heck: No pony actually swears, but Slashbuckler is chastised for saying 'buck' in front of a bunch of kids. Echo Shade has the swearing vocabulary of a youth-pastor from the nineties.
- Hates Being Alone: Lightning Bug is lonely, and is quick to latch unto Polaris, a jerkish and bigoted unicorn, who warms up to her eventually. She's much more wary of dealing with ponies who are immediately nice to her. Ultimately zigzagged; Lightning is lonely, but she'd rather be by herself than bring other people down, which is why she volunteers to go after the dragon alone.
- The Hecate Sisters: The three girl characters fill out Maiden, Mother, and Hag. Lightning Bug is the Maiden, she's naive and young. Echo Shade is the mother, she's the most maternal and mature of the three. Apple Bloom is the hag, she's a sour, snarky loner who gets called a witch by the foals of harmony (funnily enough, she's the same age as Lightning Bug if not younger).
- Heroic Wannabe: Slashbuckler is a rowdy pegasus guard from Harmony who just wants to punch monsters in the face and be a hero. He doesn't have much to do with the valley being so peaceful, so he spends most of his time fixing buildings, some of which he broke in the first place.
- Honor Before Reason: When the dragon destroys Polaris' papers as it chases them, he is so incensed that Lightning has to literally pull him away from what would be a hopeless-one-on-one fight. Later, Polaris refuses to escape into the tunnels with Lightning and offers instead to stay behind and lure the dragon away while she escapes. Once more, she pulls him away just before the dragon can catch him in its jaws.
- Idiot Ball: Polaris is galled by Tall Tail into scaling a Star Pillar and placing the decorations all by himself with no help. He specifically told everybody to stay back, and when he inevitably falls, he calls everyone out for failing to catch him.
- Ignored Epiphany: Even after hearing the magical music during the fight with the dragon, Polaris still doesn't believe the Wanderer is real.
- Innocently Insensitive: Polaris is very candid and even when he means well the words will leave his mouth in the worst way possible.
- Insistent Terminology: Polaris, twofold. Lightning Bug thinks they're friends, but he insists they are merely companions. He won't even call her by name and just calls her Private throughout the premiere. He finally calls her his friend after the fight with the dragon and starts calling her by her first name.
- It's All My Fault: Lightning Bug has a bad habit of blaming herself for anything that goes wrong. She gets a little better by the end of the premiere.
- The Load: Meadow Skip has the least practical skills of all the main characters, and contributes the least to the final battle with the dragon.
- Nice, Mean, and In-Between: For the three girls and three boys respectively:
- Lightning Bug is the nicest, Apple Bloom is grumpy, and Echo Shade is friendly but has a short temper.
- Meadow Skip is suave and charming, Slashbuckler is loud and boisterous, and Polaris is aloof and sharp-tongued.
- Noble Bigot: It's no secret that Polaris believes the unicorns are better than the other tribes of Cabalos, and he doesn't think that the three tribes should ever marry one another, which he outright calls it an uncomfortable subject for Lustrians. He still believes in treating every pony fairly, because otherwise he'd set a bad example for his tribe.
- Second Episode Introduction: Of the six heroes, Applebloom is introduced last in the second part of the premiere.
- Significant Name Shift: Polaris stops calling Lightning Bug Private after the dragon is defeated, finally acknowleding her as a friend.
- The Three Faces of Adam: The three boy main characters fill this out to varying degrees. Slash is a hunter, who's constantly on the lookout for monsters to fight to prove himself. Polaris is a lord, who's fighting to keep his position and standing with his fellow unicorns intact. Meadow Skip is a priest, who's pretty set in his ways and doesn't have much self-discovery to do.
