Pony Fanon Workshop

Of course. She is small, sneaky, very strong for her size, and she breathes fire. I'd call that pretty dangerous.

Is everyone happy with Scales as a name?

I like it

Scales is good with me.

There's been talk about the concept of Magic as seen in MLP on the Mane (haha) thread, so I'll post my two bits here.

Magic as we see it in the MLP universe is an additional inherent force or energy type. To a point, it can be manipulated to generate reasonably consistent results under normal circumstances.

• It is one of the default forces in this universe alongside the Atomic and Gravitic forces.
• It expresses itself in everything in this universe, producing effects that differ from our own native universe.
• In the earth, magical force can be trapped in certain minerals or seed stones, causing gemstones to form in perfect crystalline shapes that look like they've already been cut.
• In the air, magic saturates all aspects of the climate, allowing pegasi to manipulate it for weather control.
• Unicorn horns, Pegasi wings, and Earth pony bodies (hooves?) are saturated with materials that help the flow and control of this inherent magic.
• Discord's distortion of ponies involves reversing the polarity of magic flow in a life-form to disrupt their personality.
• "Ghosts" may be possible under special circumstances, by leaving a magical imprint.

edited 25th Dec '11 4:36:52 PM by AceOfScarabs

Oh good, the fanon workshop is open again!

Yeah I like this...magic as a force of nature that saturates everything, and follows a set of guidelines.

Edit: Glad Scales is an OK name.

edited 25th Dec '11 4:47:03 PM by ApplelightLimited

"Ghosts" are unrested souls yet to pass on to the next world that have gathered magical "energy" around them that materlizes as physical pressence and force (ectoplasam) and allows them to interact with the world.

Actual ghosts in this MLP universe are the memories of ponies imprinted on the world with magic.

This magic as a field idea is great...it gives Chuckles a reason for his powers.

Edit: How do we stop Chuckles becoming a Trixie clone? Mio warned of it in the main thread. He likes to engage the audience in the safer aspects of his act (the knife juggling and flame eating is not encouraged).

Ah, now that is good.

edited 25th Dec '11 7:21:16 PM by ApplelightLimited

Maybe he uses his magic to make the audience member look cooler rather than to belittle them. Like he pulls a bit out of somepony's ear and lets them keep it.

With as long as he has been doing this I would assume he is pretty thick skinned. He doesn't let the hecklers bother him, he just does what he has always done. If things get particularly bad on the audience's side then he knows he needs to bring out his showstopping acts.

It might be best if Chuckles was introcued during a show that was a failure. Like...it ends in tomatos being thrown and shouts and insults, but he just picks himself up and tries again and Moonbeam/Luna/whoever finds that to he a good trait.

Too right.

In my elemental lineup, Chuclkles is the Element of forgiveness...seeking it for his criminal past...always willing to give it to others.

Trust me, if you could see what I imagine him to be capable of...you wouldn't be booing him!

edited 25th Dec '11 7:34:22 PM by ApplelightLimited

Just out of curiosity, do these symbolic elements have a theme like the Elements of Harmony do?

edited 25th Dec '11 7:40:15 PM by Mio

Theme?

Yes, I believe it was Justice...

Moon is Justice...

BR is Rightousness...

PI is Compassion...

SS is Duty...

CU is Mercy...

...and Chuckles is Forgiveness.

At least, that's what is in my WIP notes...

edited 25th Dec '11 7:44:36 PM by ApplelightLimited

Justice, or Atonment, or Rendemtion or something. We never reahced a consenus on that one.

Wait, I think I know how Chuckles can first demonstrate his element...

Moonbeam accidently messes up his show, and apologises sincerely for it...and Chuckles just accepts it and asks him (through Roy) to hang around.

Does Roy sound any different when he's talking for himself and when he's talking for Chuckles?

As far as I know...nope.

He's just less snarky.

WARNING BIG POST AHEAD

Well, I was doing some thinking about the big project on this thread. It is pretty obvious that at some point we do want the Other Six to meet the Mane Six. For the record I think that should be something that happens only after the other six have had their characters and setting well established, say only after they have completed at least three or so story arcs worth of development.

That aside I did think about how their counterparts would react and interact if they meet and decided to write it down, so here it is from most likely to get along with their counterpart to least likely (there is actually an interesting pattern to it, see if you can spot it).

Applejack/Big Rig: Odds are with Big Rig making deliveries all over Equestria he has probably already meet AJ. I can see them getting along pretty well with Big Rig tell AJ grandiose stories of all the things he has seen in Equestria while enjoying a hot cup of apple cider. While AJ can certainly appreciate his stories she always seems to wonder how he can maintain such a life style without getting homesick. He just laughs it off and tells her that some days he does miss home but the promises of new sites and adventures make the allure open road to difficult to ignore (though it is certainly getting easier these days).

Pinkie Pie/Chuckles: I could easily see Pinkie Pie being the member of the Mane Six to be most “wowed” by Chuckles performance. She may even offer to help or eagerly volunteer to be a part of his act. Chuckles would probably enjoy her endless energy and enthusiasm though he might get a teensy bit annoyed with her endless attempts to get him to talk. Actually the only really big hurdle to them becoming good friends would be Roy and his annoyance at Pinkie’s insistence on paying Chuckle’s performances entirely in cupcakes.

Rarity/Pig Iron:Well a chance meeting between the two could only end in one way, with Rarity dragging Pig Iron’s dirty grimy body into her boutique to be cleaned and being completely dumbfounded at how he could let such beauty go to waste. Pig Iron would be equally dumbfounded at this mare who instead of being disturbed by his general griminess has taken the time to wash him, comb his hair, and dress him in a fine tuxedo, a very impressively tailored one at that. The initial awkwardness would give way to amusement and appreciation on Pig Iron’s part after which he thanks Rarity with a small iron sculpture he had with him. After that initial encounter things would probably be ok between the two as they both discuss their art and business though it will be pretty difficult for Rarity to ignore some of Pig Iron’s more “eccentric” (read disgusting) habits.

Twilight Sparkle/Moonbeam: Things will be pretty tough going early on. Moonbeam being Moonbeam will be far more interested in Twilight’s connections to Princess Celestia, what she knows about the Element’s of Harmony and their connection to the destruction of (insert Atlantis expy here) etc. And of course Twilight is not in the least bit amused, trying to kick him out of her library and generally trying to avoid him until he drops the fact that he is an “agent” of Princess Luna at which Twilight becomes curious but skeptical. From then on it really depends. Their opposing personality quirks can really grate on each other, but perhaps if they were given a unified goal to reach they just might be able to use each other’s strengths to compensate for their weaknesses. Hopefully by the end of their first joint mission they might be able to come to appreciate each other’s methods and open up to each other more (that might even be the subject of a joint letter to the Princesses).

Fluttershy/Check Up: To be honest I don’t see them interacting all that much. Fluttershy would probably be scared and put off by Check Up’s general attitude, and Check Up will probably do everything that he can to avoid that “crazy animal mare”. There would probably need a pretty big problem that forces them to work together. After that I see Fluttershy being the first to warm up to him. She would probably talk about how skilled he is and how he is really a “nice stallion”. Check Up however would be much less forth coming.

Rainbow Dash/Smoke Screen: Oh dear. There are probably no characters who are more diametrically opposed then these two. A lot of what will happen depends on the circumstances on when and how they meet, but at the very least Smoke Screen will be very annoyed by Rainbow Dash’s antics (he probably wouldn’t take well to being pranked, but the chances of that happening are pretty slim) to finding her deeply and personally offensive. As for Rainbow Dash she probably wouldn’t think much of him until he did something impressive, and would be more than a little annoyed at the fact he keeps turning her challenges to a race or some other competition down. Depending on how things occur Dash would probably be the first to warm up to Smoke Screen, however there is probably a good chance that Smoke Screen would not open up to Dash (the way I interpret his character has a tendency to be judgmental and unforgiving of ponies who he believes evade their responsibilities). Despite all of this it would be very interesting to see how these two characters look at a situation and see completely different things.

As an addition I was thinking about what kind of town Hoofington would be and here are a couple of features I am sure of. . .

• It should be somewhat larger then Ponyville is, but not so large that it starts to fell like an actual city.
• It is located near the Everfree Forest or a similarly dangerous location.
• Instead of being a sort of farming community like Ponyville is it will have a different theme. Here is a couple of possibilities . . .
  • Mining Town
  • Coastal Town (Possibly touristy)
  • College Town (I admit I added this one because of a character concept I am trying to develop, plus we already have the clockpunk pony living here so it would make sense)

edited 26th Dec '11 5:25:01 PM by Mio

I'd say put it on the coast on the far side of the Everfree forest. If it's a port town with a constant stream of travelers passing through stuff like Chuckles' streat performing fits better.

I like Coastal as well. But Mining does explain the source of Pig Iron's supplies. Ooh but Coastal gives a good reason for the Mane Six to visit for a holiday.

Also on Rainbow Dash and Smoke Screen. Smoke Screen could warm up to Rainbow after seeing her actually live up to her responsibilities. Outside of Look Before You Sleep, the weather has been pretty consistent and she's first on the scene IIRC when the clouds turn to cotton candy.

edited 26th Dec '11 5:42:26 PM by Badwolfwho

Those are all great ideas Mio (glad this place is up and running again).

I agree with the pair ups (and I had the thought of Pinkie grabbing Chuckle's face and speaking for him whilst squeezing his cheeks),

and I back the coastal town idea...though, maybe it could have elements of all three?

I feel like adding too many different elements to one place makes it almost too crazy. I mean, we want it to be comparable to Ponyville, only with a different theme. Adding mining stuff and making it a college town would be too much stuff in one place. Although we could say there's a mining town up-coast and they ship all of their materials through Hoofington.

Yeah that makes sense,

I back Coastal town. Also, silly little question, but what hat does Big Rig wear?

Trucker cap? Hard hat (logging after all)? One of those hats with the ear flaps common in cold weather places?