Ok, so if you've clicked this far, then you probably at least consider yourself a fan of MLP:FiM, and, if that's the case, you're probably aware that I'm not the first person to attempt to make a My Little Pony roleplay. I personally have never attempted to make one before, mostly because I've never had a good idea for one beyond "shit, let's be ponies", but I think I might have an idea that hopefully you haven't all seen before, inspired by a few things:
Firstly, this idea came into my head while watching reviews on Youtube of various episodes of G3 MLP (AKA the series that came immediately before Friendship is Magic, G4). These reviews made me realize pretty quickly the major differences between G3 and G4: the G3 ponies are all so bland and so similar that it's legitimately difficult to tell any of them apart, they each have about five brain cells each, and perhaps most importantly - the show seems to be void of any real conflict, as all the ponies seem to live in an absolutely perfect pink utopia (especially when compared to the G4 canon), and any 'conflict' the show manages to bring up centers around completely trivial matters. Why do I bring this up? Because there were a few lines from a particular review that really stood out to me: firstly when the reviewer pointed out that a pony who appeared in an early G3 episode was never seen again, perhaps because she was "too smart" and could "see things that no pony should see" (as she was a lot more intelligent and realistic than most other characters), and when, in response to a pony freaking the hell out about a weed in their garden, he suggested that everyone in G3 Ponyville just gets rid of everything that isn't perfect, which would explain some things (his words). I found those last couple points to be extremely intriguing, since they reminded me of something else I came across once:
There were these books I read not long ago called the Uglies trilogy. For those unfamiliar, Uglies is about a dystopian future in which everyone is considered to be "ugly" upon birth, until they are eventually given a special surgery to make them "pretty", at which point all their flaws are eliminated and they go off to live the rest of their lives in perfect party-land with absolutely no worries, surrounded by people who look and act almost just like you. It is eventually revealed that this surgery not only alters your body, but also your mind - and basically pacifies you so that, when surrounded by other pacified individuals, conflicts pretty much never happen. Also, as a result, your thinking is rather clouded and bubble-headed as you're pretty much always in a good mood. (Starting to sound familiar yet?) Essentially, the people in control of this world are a select few who don't have this brain-alteration, and inflict the brain-alteration on the masses so that they can turn earth into a utopia where wars don't happen and everyone's happy, etc.
Now, onto the plot I had in mind (finally) : What if G3 and G4 actually exist in the same universe, and G3 is just set after G4 - after some sort of force comes into power with a vision similar to that of the Uglies world leaders, and pacifies all the ponies in order to create a utopia, thus resulting in the conflict-less G3 canon where everyone seems so mind-numbingly similar and everything is so painfully perfect and cutesy.
Now, obviously, there are a lot of questions that need to be worked out here. Most importantly, what is this force that tries to take over? The thought did cross my mind that if this force uses actual brain surgery to alter ponies' minds, that would at least provide us with an excuse as to why the shape of their heads changed so much, if we choose to acknowledge that at all. Making this force a creature of magic would fit much better into the canon, though, but, I dunno, what do you guys think?
Secondly, when is this roleplay set? Really there are two main choices: either while the takeover is just beginning, allowing our protagonists to fight back before the world becomes G3, or we could stick closer to the Uglies inspiration and have all this happen after G3 is already a thing, and our protagonists try to break through the rose-tinted glasses, realize what the world used to be, and try to reverse it. I for one am kind of leaning towards the former, but I still wanna hear opinions from you guys.
Obviously there's probably still more fleshing out that this plot could use, but these are the two big things on my mind right now.
Also, feel free to ask any other questions or offer up any other suggestions if you have any. Helps the development process along!
Firstly, this idea came into my head while watching reviews on Youtube of various episodes of G3 MLP (AKA the series that came immediately before Friendship is Magic, G4). These reviews made me realize pretty quickly the major differences between G3 and G4: the G3 ponies are all so bland and so similar that it's legitimately difficult to tell any of them apart, they each have about five brain cells each, and perhaps most importantly - the show seems to be void of any real conflict, as all the ponies seem to live in an absolutely perfect pink utopia (especially when compared to the G4 canon), and any 'conflict' the show manages to bring up centers around completely trivial matters. Why do I bring this up? Because there were a few lines from a particular review that really stood out to me: firstly when the reviewer pointed out that a pony who appeared in an early G3 episode was never seen again, perhaps because she was "too smart" and could "see things that no pony should see" (as she was a lot more intelligent and realistic than most other characters), and when, in response to a pony freaking the hell out about a weed in their garden, he suggested that everyone in G3 Ponyville just gets rid of everything that isn't perfect, which would explain some things (his words). I found those last couple points to be extremely intriguing, since they reminded me of something else I came across once:
There were these books I read not long ago called the Uglies trilogy. For those unfamiliar, Uglies is about a dystopian future in which everyone is considered to be "ugly" upon birth, until they are eventually given a special surgery to make them "pretty", at which point all their flaws are eliminated and they go off to live the rest of their lives in perfect party-land with absolutely no worries, surrounded by people who look and act almost just like you. It is eventually revealed that this surgery not only alters your body, but also your mind - and basically pacifies you so that, when surrounded by other pacified individuals, conflicts pretty much never happen. Also, as a result, your thinking is rather clouded and bubble-headed as you're pretty much always in a good mood. (Starting to sound familiar yet?) Essentially, the people in control of this world are a select few who don't have this brain-alteration, and inflict the brain-alteration on the masses so that they can turn earth into a utopia where wars don't happen and everyone's happy, etc.
Now, onto the plot I had in mind (finally) : What if G3 and G4 actually exist in the same universe, and G3 is just set after G4 - after some sort of force comes into power with a vision similar to that of the Uglies world leaders, and pacifies all the ponies in order to create a utopia, thus resulting in the conflict-less G3 canon where everyone seems so mind-numbingly similar and everything is so painfully perfect and cutesy.
Now, obviously, there are a lot of questions that need to be worked out here. Most importantly, what is this force that tries to take over? The thought did cross my mind that if this force uses actual brain surgery to alter ponies' minds, that would at least provide us with an excuse as to why the shape of their heads changed so much, if we choose to acknowledge that at all. Making this force a creature of magic would fit much better into the canon, though, but, I dunno, what do you guys think?
Secondly, when is this roleplay set? Really there are two main choices: either while the takeover is just beginning, allowing our protagonists to fight back before the world becomes G3, or we could stick closer to the Uglies inspiration and have all this happen after G3 is already a thing, and our protagonists try to break through the rose-tinted glasses, realize what the world used to be, and try to reverse it. I for one am kind of leaning towards the former, but I still wanna hear opinions from you guys.
Obviously there's probably still more fleshing out that this plot could use, but these are the two big things on my mind right now.
Also, feel free to ask any other questions or offer up any other suggestions if you have any. Helps the development process along!
They could be used as an example of what happens when you try to fight back.)
