So, before anyone says this is mean-spirited Sunnybuse, let me explain.

Initially, I just wanted to do the logo & subtitle joke, but then I decided to get a little more interesting. I’d planned to do a final scene where Zipp watches the Crystal Brighthouse fade away around her, implying she’s become trapped in an alternate timeline, but with G5 ending, and greenscreening being about as tedious as actual animation, I deemed this project not worth the effort to finish.

Not before I came up with a longer fic concept, however.

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The basic gist is that Zipp is the only pony who remembers the original timeline, and after getting chased out of Maretime Bay, she seeks help from Izzy - the only one friendly enough to trust her. After making their way to Zipp’s lab, the two try to figure out how to change the events back to normal, ultimately resulting in the creation of a crude time-travel device. Due to the speed required to safely pass through the wormhole, however, and the massive energy requirement, the only feasible power source for the device is lightning.

So, with a storm rolling in, Zipp dons a hazmat suit wrapped in unsheathed cabling, and has Izzy infuse her with residual magic from Sunny’s book. The two get found out by Haven and a group of guards though, who arrest Izzy and give chase to Zipp, whom they think has lost her mind. Managing to reach a high point, however, Zipp takes off and flies above the storm, using up what little magic the book gave her. Gliding back into the storm cloud, Zipp reaches the “wormhole safe” speed, and is lucky enough to be struck by lightning. Everything’s then black for her.

Waking up, she finds herself in a hospital - the hazmat suit having not quite saved her from near-fatal electric shock - but she has managed to reach 2004. Not knowing what to do next, she makes an insane-sounding phone call to her still-living dad, and convinces him to help her save Equestria. The two are then able to reach Maretime Bay and save Sunny, restoring the future.

As for how this theoretical fic would’ve ended? I…don’t really know. There’s the obvious problem of “How does Zipp go back to 2022?”, but I also thought about this possibly being the incident that offed Zipp’s dad - dinner with the Starscouts interrupted by M.B.P.D., who arrest him and imply he’ll automatically be sentenced to execution (not sure how that avoids a brutal war though). Alternatively, it’s possible him & Sunny’s mom went off together to try and bring back magic (which had to’ve either ended in death or double infidelity).

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…Actually, as awful as the double infidelity thing is, it’d be really funny for the sole reason that you could connect basically the entire G5 cast into a single family tree - sans Izzy. Sunny’s mom was with Zipp & Pipp’s dad, Haven is now with Alphabittle, who’s Misty’s dad, and then just marry Hitch off to either Sunny, Zipp, Pipp, or Misty.
My Little Royalty: The 1% is Magic

Unfortunately, I don’t think I’ll ever write this. It feels too forced, and feels too much like a Back to the Future wannabe plot. (The latter problem is already covered by a much better G4 fic idea, as well as three EQG fic concepts that are just straight up copies of the BTTF trilogy). Also, G5 just sucks as a setting. The world’s too small, disjointed, and impractical, and trying to write anything good in it just ends up feeling contrived. It’s no wonder the only G5 fic idea I see real potential in…is a G4 fic that only has G5 things as plot devices. Ultimately with how weak G5 was, it being over means I’ll probably stop caring about these ideas after a year or so. Compare that to G4, where even after 5 years, I still have loads of fic ideas I want to write, and I guarantee there’ll be more I come up with in the future.