- Jossed. Everypony but the GM has been referred to with female pronouns OOC.
- Alternatively, when we finally get to the upcoming episode "Dragon Quest" in-comic, this is gonna be the longest setup in a webcomic ever since 8-Bit Theater's 4 white mage combo, at which point only Fluttershy will be able to tell it is time for the migration because she was paying attention to Spike's speech.
- Partly confirmed in Dragonshy when it's revealed that all dragons come from another universe, meaning Fluttershy's druid powers won't work on them…something only Fluttershy knew because she actually listened to the story, while Twilight and the rest had ignored it.
"Magic" may not have been his original idea for the sixth Element's name, either. Everyone just ends up going with it because she's so obviously on a roll/into it that they don't have the heart to interrupt.
- Jossed. The DM didn't even intend for the players to receive the Elements in the first session. Twilight's player just put the pieces together and guessed the sixth Element's secret name.
- {Jossed.} At least somewhat. Discord is a friend of the DM, who co-DMs the 'Return of Harmony' arc.
- Justification will be either:
- Applejack's parents were killed by monsters, giving her a tragic backstory and reason for becoming an adventurer.
- Big Macintosh and Apple Bloom will be AJ's husband and daughter rather than brother and sister, to parody all the incest clopfics.
This will also give small life lessons to their respective players, who will start giving deeper thought to their regular actions.
- Impossible. The game is based off of 4E. There is no Chaotic Good and Neutral Good. Merely Good.
- What I meant is ACT as if Chaotic Good/Neutral Good. I am aware the alignments work differently, but the actions stay the same regardless of what it says on the character sheet. jerk-ish and tough-acting Good strikes me as Chaotic Good actions, and Rarity's actions so far gives off the idea of Neutral Evil style of Evil, becoming Good would lead to anything but Lawful Good(she is a thief, after all).
- RD's player did make the "Even Evil Has Loved Ones" argument; however, this isn't completely Jossed. Rarity's player is established as a devoted Roleplayer who might wish to act out a gradual alignment change as Character Development, and Dash's could still make the shift over time despite herself.
- Rarity has officially shifted to "Unaligned".
She will mention it by the end of the session, but only to the other players, at which point they agree to keep it a secret, as a way to thank Twilight for that awesome end of session.
- Not all of the regular players will be able to show up to every session, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders are created to try and avoid splitting the party.
- Side-effect of Applejack creating such a big family: the GM expects her to do something to flesh them out more.
- An attempt to draw Fluttershy's player out of her shell and make her a more confident player. If she plays one of the Crusaders (most likely Sweetie Belle), the events of "Stare Master" will be initially focused on teaching her Divergent Character Evolution.
- Punishing Dash's player for all her complaining by illustrating how it could be worse: she could be a Pegasus who can't even fly and has even less reason to go adventuring!
And the reason they keep Comically Missing the Point on how to get their Cutie Marks…? Their players don't want to get 'locked into' a special talent before inspiration hits!
- In keeping with this, Twist, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon will be NPCs the GM designed not only to flesh out the game world and give them recurring characters to interact with, but to have premade characters in case the other players show interest in joining the Cutie Mark Crusaders' campaigns.
- Apple Bloom: Twilight's player, trying to expand her repitoire and prove she's not completely reliant upon magic.
- Sweetie Belle: Pinkie's player: given how Rarity reacts to her main, having the Spoony Bard play her little sister as well would be hilarious.
- Fluttershy's player could also work, though "Stare Master" would require considerable rebalancing.
- Scootaloo: RD's player, hoping for more action. She could also be attempting to groom Scoots as a potential backup character in case anything happens to Dash.
In all these cases, their 'main' characters showing up could be balanced by the DM temporarily playing them as a NPC, or handwaving their access to information, such as Twilight's book.
- Potentially Jossed, as they appeared in a guest comic showing a potential future campaign where the setting has caught on. However, Apple Bloom has also debuted in the strip proper during the "Bridle Gossip" arc as an NPC.
The reason Scootaloo isn't Rainbow Dash's sister in game is the same meta-reason we have in canon, the GM thought it would be too dangerous for a young filly be the sister of the Chaotic Evil barbarian, so they have her as Dash's biggest fangirl instead.
- One of them could be a younger brother instead…
- Little boys could be a little disgusted by the idea of playing with ponies, but could surely work for the tomboy-ish Scootaloo.
First, Dash takes a cue from how Applejack effectively 'bribed' the GM with a detailed character history by offering up the idea of Gilda as an old school friend. Though reluctant to incorporate a PC griffon, the GM agrees to give them a chance, especially since Dash seems to be roleplaying for once...! Unfortunately, Gilda's player is needlessly critical of the setting and characters, and gives Fluttershy's player grief for being a Noob, scaring her off.
Trixie, meanwhile, is a pure Min-Maxer who makes Twilight's player worry that she's falling into the same trap... or isn't optimized well enough compared to the other's expertise. She targets and humiliates Applejack, Dash and Rarity due to past grievances with their respective players. Her God Mode Sueing leads to the GM specifically targeting her.
- Trixie will be optimized for PVP, but ends up completely outclassed when dealing with a large monster with massive damage reduction or excess HP from being a solo monster, and her skill set will be crap for the necessary skill challenge to soothe it.
- Apparently not, she was Natalie's character in the Grand Line crossover.
- This could Foreshadow "Call of the Cutie", with the GM deciding to make AJ flesh out her family more by giving Apple Bloom A Day in the Limelight.
Along the way, he reveals lingering frustration with how each of the players has conducted themselves thus far. In particular, Discord singling out Rainbow Dash for a far more sadistic version of a "Leave Your Quest" Test comes off as his attempt to ensure she doesn't handle it the same way as her first one. This leads to hurt feelings across the board, and the group seemingly on the verge of breaking up entirely.
On top of this, when Fluttershy's player doesn't go along with his plans for her, the GM actually seizes her character sheet and plays out her Fluttercruel, bringing her player to tears and making the others even more outraged and screaming that The GM Is a Cheating Bastard.
Their reactions eventually get the GM to realize he's become so focused on 'fixing' the campaign he's forgotten the all-important Element of FUN. This also foreshadows his loosening up enough to start giving the players more solo/semi-solo mini-campaigns, playing with the world they've created more.
Plus, there's something ironic about the Embodiment of Chaos being used in a heavyhanded attempt to force 'Order' upon the player party…
- Instead of the conflict being Dash not wanting the others to know she's gotten into reading, perhaps her player's more concerned with keeping the others from discovering she's become so invested in the 'girly ponies' setting she's started playing another adventure in it.
- Discord will, of course, be the final boss.
- Rather than the Mane Six being "discorded" within the game, the players themselves will simply be frustrated over continually failing in tournament battles and will end up taking it out on each other, both in- and out-of-character.
So why a detective mystery? Well, just as Dash's player is fond of standard D&D, Twi's player is probably a fan of PoliceProcedurals, if not the Ace Attorney series itself. The DM would likely be very familiar with the latter. And Pinkie's player is either also a fan of that, a fan of mysteries, a great actress, or a general otaku. Bonus points for her coming to the session with either the Sherlock Holmes hat or a trenchcoat. The other Players would have had a setup meeting with the DM the night before. And, depending on how the DM wants to play out the following episodes, she may also need the specific practice.
This could also be a bookend for a previous solo-focus session; Twi's player probably confided in the DM that she'd rather be in Rainbow's hooves for that quest and this is the team's way of showing their appreciation.
- They'll probably try to Metagame by the time Twilight makes her accusation, but be unable to by the DM declaring that one of the innocuous random rolls was actually a Will Save against Crystallis' mass Charm Person area enchantment, the five failed their saves, leaving them unable to change the plot.note