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@Background Pony #AD51
She needs a mane-brushing with extra conditioner.

Time to dust off this thread.

Give her the duster

Odd that no one has posted here in a while…

“Keeping the Queen clean” is to the tune of Franck’s Symphony in D (which is also the melody for the into to FiM)

Yes, she is in a literal golden shower. Surprised that hasn’t inspired more art.

Now that I’ve watched MYM, QH continues to be an overbearing but well-meaning mother toward Zipp. Pipp gets the freedom to do what she wants because what Pipp wants is what Haven would’ve wanted for her anyway. The ending even had realistically healthy family dynamics when QH lets Zipp stay in Maretime Bay for longer instead of being petulant about it in order to set herself for a run as an antagonist or for a redemption arc.

@PUBLIQclopAccountant
The Hearthswarming story has the advantage of being, well, a story - abstracted by the ages, if there was ever much truth to it at all.

And the minimalist, three-town setting we’ve seen so far would be a bit easier to suspend disbelief for if it wasn’t held up as a successor to the vast Equestrian state.

@Latecomer
100% this.

Additionally, if Queen Haven attempts her usual political smooth operations, those manipulations may be what causes the problem the rest of the cast to solve (somewhat like when Starlight reverted to her villain ways as the most expedient solution to an immediate problem in FiM). I have a feeling that the show won’t touch on any of the negotiations required to re-integrate Equestria, but she should be a central player if they do.
For that matter, I wonder if there will be any mention of settlements outside the three explored in the movie. That’s the weakest part of racially-divided Equestria, whether ANG or the Hearthswarming story: it requires exactly three civilizations and no more. Were there integrated towns outside the three in the original Hearthswarming story? Or even separate racially-pure villages not politically aligned with the powers portrayed in the episodes.

@PUBLIQclopAccountant
I actually think she might do a bit better because she’s a lot less useful than Celestia, if you know what I mean? She’s not an alicorn, so no-one will really expecting her to mix it up with villains herself and stuff. And she’s portrayed as a reforming fraud rather than an ideal mom/teacher, so no-one will expect her wisdom to solve the slice-of-life plots either. And heck, because of the lying thing she might well plausibly be unable to leverage royal influence where it seems needed. So all in all, there’s not much she can be counted on for, and so the chances of her disappointing are rather low.

This method of storytelling has a 300% approval rating from me. Can’t wait to bump into future breadcrumbs.

@PUBLIQclopAccountant
Yes. I’m still working out the kinks on what actually happened to create the world we see in G5. Right now, I’m leaving little breadcrumbs for people to find. I’m commissioning more images like these, treating them like random pages in a book someone skimmed through haphazardly.

@Background Pony #71C2
🎼🎶🎤 say her name, say her name~~ 🎵

@Empress Cozy Glow
Did you commission the pic as the cover/inspiration art for a forthcoming fic?

Queen haven

Hey! Commissioner of that pic here! The artist took some liberties on the exact details of the story; mainly because I still want to keep the pivotal points of Equestria’s history after FiM to myself for now. I didn’t write that Cozy was Pipp’s great grandmother, or that she was released during Twilight’s time. Cozy had… a role to play in the splintering of Equestria, but what can be said for certain is that she was the first queen of Zephyr Heights. I’m brainstorming everything now, but rest assured there’s more to this story than just Cozy’s involvement.

@Antonyourknee
I can’t say that I disagree with all aspects of the theory, especially since it gives a family heritage (which MLP loves) of trickery to the ZH royal family. It’s no wonder where they got their willingness to lie about flight and other skills necessary to be a political operative in a modern Equestria.

However, I have a strong disagreement with the timeline. Assuming FiM is the literal past of ANG and not an idealized myth of Equestria’s deep past, the events in FiM are at least as ancient as Starswirl the Bearded and Nightmare Moon’s banishment by the time the story of ANG starts—I’d go so far as to say that the disappearance of magic is that ancient and FiM Equestria itself is even older, depending on the length of Twilight’s reign and whether Twilight was able to find a successor to be the next effectively immortal boss mare for all Equestria. Remember how it was only because Twilight read about Luna in a book that Celestia was no longer the only pony who knew that Luna was ever real?
Cozy getting released by the princesses, successfully causing magic to vanish this time, and then being only a great-grandmother to Haven (let alone Pipp) puts the events of FiM as more like the founding of Ponyville compared to Twilight’s arrival.

The first (and most straightforward) way to resolve this is simply to increase the number of generations between Cozy and Pipp. Instead of being Haven’s great-grandma, all of ANG Equestria is 20–30 generations removed from FiM Equestria. However, the idea of Cozy being freed by Twilight only to resume her destructive plans doesn’t sit quite right. Yes, it would be a welcome relief to bronies everywhere to finally see something more “real” when a mentor gets her hoof bitten. However, that kind of plotline also goes against the overall worldview of the MLP franchise. It also gives Twilight the Luna treatment: congratulations, you’re the immortal horse goddess newly-(re)ascended to the throne. Oops, you’ve now been retired (forcibly in the case of Cozy’s victory) well within the lifespan of a mortal pony (unless freeing Cozy was Twilight’s latest attempt to find a worthy successor once she was ready to retire after sitting on the throne for 450+ years).

A second resolution is to view the stone prison she’s trapped in as magical stones instead of being literally transmutated to rock. Discord being freed by a nearby magical disturbance provides a hint in this direction. For outside reasons, the magic of their prison is disrupted and they are freed. Perhaps magic left Equestria for other reasons and it was the absence of magic that freed Cozy. Chrysalis & Tirek dissolved to dust without magic, but Cozy was now a free mare ready and able to social climb her way to leadership without any threat of magical imprisonment. She then goes on to found ZH and start their royal line & lie. I’d still put more generations between her and Pipp than mere great-grandmother. In earth terms, I’d place the temporal distance between Queens Cozy and Haven as at least the distance between Queens Mary I and Victoria of England (yes, I know Victoria was no longer styled as Queen of England).

@Antonyourknee
Interesting.

Have you seen this post by heavySplatter?

I found his ideas to quite interesting and a nice way to include a link to FIM and be a plot point to deal with the origins and history of the Zephyr Royal Family

“It basically theorizes that Cozy Glow was Zipp and Pipp’s great grandmother and the first queen/founder of Zephyr Heights. Cozy was also possibly one of the few individuals responsible for the three races breaking apart. Adding on to the concept, though she had long since passed away, her presence can at times still be felt in the castle. And she uses her will to entice her great granddaughter for some sort of nefarious purpose.

By the way, in case you’re wondering why Pipp’s eyes are red instead of green, it’s all apart of darien’s concept. Pipp eye’s were going to be red in her original design, and he theorized that she was possibly related to Cozy Glow for that reason. Personally, between that and the vintage aesthetic that both characters possess, I’d say it could have some legitimacy behind it.”

In response to my comment on how she escaped petrification:“I’d like to think that since she was just a filly she was allowed to be released and be given a new leash on life. But at some point when she got older and the pony races began to separate, she saw an opportunity and seized it. She more than likely went from being a trusted official to a queen; Using her whits and charisma to lead a group of pegasi, eventually founding Zephyr Heights, and becoming it’s first queen. I also theorize that she was the one who started the idea of deceiving her subjects into thinking that she could still fly when magic disappeared.”

@Ciaran
Me too