Table of Content:

• What is Five Score, Divided by Four?
• What is this ‘Multiplied by More’ group for?
• Wasn’t there a ban on Five Score stories or something?
• Why are there multiple versions of the main story?
• I’ve read the main story and I want more, what should I read next?
• Maybe I could try writing one myself! What should I know before I start?
• This character already appears in a story, can I still use them?
• Are OCs allowed?

What is Five Score, Divided by Four?

Five Score, Divided by Four (shortened to 5S/4, or just Five Score) is a human-to-pony transformation fanfic written by TwistedSpectrum, first published on April 2nd, 2013.

The basic premise: Some years after the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic show ended, a group of friends celebrating their shared twenty-fifth birthday find themselves saddled with the Mane Six’s cutie marks. Over the next three days, they have to deal with their humanity being slowly stripped away from them as they become mirror images of the ponies they know and love... but this is only the beginning of their wild adventures. The story is an exciting mix of mystery, explosive action, and general horsing around as the characters try to make sense of their situation and face the challenges of surviving as little ponies on Earth.

What is this ‘Multiplied by More’ group for?

This group was founded by TwistedSpectrum to collect and organize the various stories that were created in the wake of the main Five Score fic. If you’re looking for a story, have a question to ask about the universe, or just want to connect with other Five Score fans, you’re in the right place!

The forum was pretty active during the initial publication phase of the main story, and the older threads now serve as a fascinating archive of how the universe developed. Who knows, maybe there’s still some fun prompts and idea nuggets in there that could inspire you!

Wasn’t there a ban on Five Score stories or something?

There was indeed a ban on Five Score stories back in the day – as in, around 2013/2014. This was in response to a lot of new side-fics being submitted but then left unfinished, often before any of the trademark transformation could really take place in-story – and thus, critically, before any pony characters could appear.

This ban was later amended to be conditional: If at the time of submission your Five Score story was either fully-written and completed, or was at least 30k words long, publication was authorized.

Nowadays the ban isn’t enforced anymore, though the usual Fimfiction rules still apply. In our case, the main hurdle can be that there must be "actual pony content" in the published chapters. Because the classic Five Score formula is that the characters start off as regular humans, and their slow transformation into ponies or other Equestrian creatures can take up several chapters, this can cause issues with moderation if not taken into account (especially if the pony characters are original characters).

Why are there multiple versions of the main story?

Five Score, Divided by Four is available on Fimfiction in both Teen- and Mature-rated versions. The Mature version includes alternate, non plot-essential scenes of pony debauchery of the clop variety; it was also edited and updated by TwistedSpectrum in 2019, in preparation for the initial run of the physical, printed copies of Five Score, Divided by Four, while the Teen version was left untouched (see Twisted’s post on the matter for more details). Both versions also received a slew of awesome illustrations by the amazing Acesential since then!

The 2019 update introduced in the Mature version a notable change to the universe’s chronology, specifically FiM ending with season 9 in the updated version versus season 5 in the original one. While it doesn’t affect the plot itself, it introduces small contradictions with most side-fics – more on that later on. This issue is magnified in the print version, with the story being set in 2024 instead of 2020 as in both Fimfic versions, and the date of Rainbow Dash’s rainboom over Des Moines being moved to May 10th versus May 20th originally.

I’ve read the main story and I want more, what should I read next?

The Five Score ‘verse is vast (and not always as internally consistent as we’d like), with a variety of stories exploring various corners of this world, and even a couple sub-verses – something for everypony’s taste!

Still, there’s a ‘core’ set of fics, the ones that aren’t just running parallel but meshing into the main story without contradicting it, painting an all-the-richer tapestry of events and characters:

The Last Crusade, by CyborgSamurai – the story of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, which, if you’ve read the main fic, you know turn out to be pretty important! Crosses over with the main story like none other.

Earning Wings of a Different Nature, by Strayan Phoenix – the story of Daring Do, who goes on to star in Last Crusade as a major character, and thus indirectly crosses over with the main fic. Though as of this writing the story is Incomplete, the current endpoint meshes easily with how we meet Daring in Last Crusade.

Five Score: A New Hive, by bossfight1 – the story of Queen Chrysalis, providing context for her and her changelings’ actions during the main story’s climax. Crosses over with the main fic.

Five Score And One For The Road, by hyreia – the story of Berry Punch and her friends, which does a great job of tying up together a lot of the ‘verse’s stories and even provides satisfying conclusions to some Incomplete fics. Crosses over (retroactively) with the main fic.

Thunderheads, by Marcus Centurian – the story of Cloud Kicker and Blossomforth. Incomplete, but the characters’ tale is picked up by One For The Road and the duo gets major roles, so the story crosses over indirectly with the main fic.

These constitute a solid starting point to give you a well-rounded view of Five Score, but of course there’s still lots of fun stories to be enjoyed beyond those! In most of them the characters will follow a similar trajectory to those of the main story – perfect if you want more of the same TF goodness! You can either browse the group’s folders, or go to this handy thread to find out which stories star your favorite character(s). Don’t be put off by Incomplete fics, they can still be more than worth reading, and still had an impact on how the wider Five Score ‘verse developed! And like we’ve seen above, the characters are sometimes picked up by other side-fics – One For The Road in particular – or appear as cameos in the main story.

What’s more, some stories mix up the typical Five Score formula in interesting ways, while still being consistent with the main narrative. For example, All That's Left Behind (by Strayan Phoenix) relates the harrowing ordeals of the ponies who didn’t end up on Earth, while Can’t Stop Now (by PingSquirrel) puts a detective spin on the usual proceedings, The New Boss (by Dash Attack) deals with the criminal underworld, and A Love For Madness (by ShadeJak) starts off with a certain pony being admitted into a mental institution...

Other stories are playing a bit more loosely with what was established by the main fic, often because they were conceptualized while it was still being published, leading to alternate takes on the Five Score narrative and even proper side-verses. Especially notable is the ‘Dustverse’, kicked off by Dust on the Wind (by Sparky Brony) and including among other fics Five Score: A Velvet Nightfall (by kitsy-chan); both stories explore the consequences of ponies living permanently on Earth during and after the events of the main story, across the globe and over the following months and years. While the way ponies are dealing with their lost memories and persona is somewhat different from what we see in the main ‘verse, the Dustverse still provides the clearest picture of the wider Five Score world. Another side-verse would be the ‘Hornverse’, starring White Tiny Short Little Horn and a host of other characters (including its own version of the Cutie Mark Crusaders), with for example On Our Own (by kwr2k13).

And of course, the Five Score ‘verse is very much still alive and kicking despite having just celebrated its 10 years of existence, who knows what new stories will join the ones above in the near future!

Maybe I could try writing one myself! What should I know before I start?

The first thing to know is that this is all fanfiction. We write it because it’s fun, and we want to share that fun with others! If you ever feel that sticking to the ‘verse’s canon is limiting you and your story, then just don’t – this is a transformative medium after all, divergence is the norm, and all the better for the diversity of stories we get to tell and read! So remember, what follows are more guidelines than rules.

• Canons and Contradictions

A word on that pesky term, ‘canon’. If you’ve read the "why multiple versions" entry above, you know that there just isn’t one Five Score, but at least three: the original Teen version, the updated Mature version, and the print version. The three are equally ‘canon’, so the choice is yours – we’ll see the consequences later on.

Moreover, there is basically no Five Score story that doesn’t contradict at least one other in some shape or form, especially when it comes to characters. If you check this character guide, you’ll quickly notice that some of them appear in multiple stories, sometimes as main characters, and in contradictory ways. Does that mean that one of these stories is the true ‘canon’ one, to the exclusion of others? Not really. We can assume that if one of them is directly referenced by the main story, then the others are more likely to be side-verses, but this doesn’t help us in all cases (when it’s just a one-off cameo without much details, for example).

This is why we usually treat Five Score as having a ‘fluid canon’, dealing with contradictory elements on a case-by-case basis. Do you want to reference events from both Story X and Story Y, but they both use Character Z in ways that aren’t compatible? Well just consider that both events did unfold as depicted, but actually in one of them the role of Character Z was occupied by suspiciously-similar-but-different-enough Character S! Or it was a changeling; changelings always work. Same for events coming from specific side-verses, you can consider that the side-verse events did happen, but maybe in a slightly different way. For example, you really want to reference Event A from Story X, but said story depicts ponies as being one-foot tall, while your story follows the main fic in that regard (around 3 to 4 feet, if you’re curious)? Well simply consider that Event A did happen, just with equines of non-unusual size, and stay suitably vague on just how they were all able to fit into that airduct.

All this to say that you shouldn’t be afraid of potential contradictions, there’s always ways to explain them away – your story being internally consistent is what really matters, in the end. Still, unless you’re really going for an alternate take on the Five Score concept, keeping things generally consistent with the main ‘verse can also have its advantages – being part of a larger world, a greater chance that other writers would reference your work, and as lore-wranglers we’d be very grateful.

• The Five Score Formula

That formula is pretty simple. To paraphrase from Twisted on the group’s main page:

1) The typical Five Score story begins on May 1st (2020 for Teen and Mature versions, 2024 for print version) or later.

2) The human characters start to change on their 25th birthday.

3) The transformation process is gradual rather than instantaneous, with different parts of the body changing before others rather than all at the same time.

4) The typical sequence of the transformation unfolds over three days, with the details described by Twisted in this document; the chronology outlined in said document considers that the exact birthday of the transformee is on May 1st, between 5pm to 11:30pm, Central Time Zone (UTC-5).

Of course, any of these points can be changed if it serves your story better, but it’s best to first know what they mean – so let’s get spoilery! If you’re already quite familiar with Five Score you probably won’t learn anything new here, but this can still serve as a refresher or a convenient way to have all the information in one place.

On May 1st, 1995 (Teen/Mature; 1999 for print), Discord begins his plan to curse all, or at least a significant portion, of Equestrian ponies and other creatures standing in his path. He may potentially curse specific ponies earlier than this date, depending on special circumstances (for example as practice for the main event, like in Five Score Divided by Four: Highball by RRBrony), but this shouldn’t be the norm or his plans would’ve been discovered. Discord has no issue duplicating himself, so it wouldn’t be contradictory for two unrelated ponies to be cursed at around the same time in different places, though it is suggested that he begins his rampage in the Ponyville-Canterlot region before fanning out to other corners of Equestria during the following days. He keeps on cursing ponies for the following months and years, though logically there would be less and less to curse as time goes on.

Discord’s Five Score curse is as follows:

(Do note that here the last stanza is from the edited 2019 version, the original one being "You have all lost, now no one can stop my rule!")

The curse is inflicted by Discord reciting the chant above, while touching the victim with his hand; often one or both of his hands will be glowing with a bright, white light as he prepares the curse. The afflicted victim will have their whole vision overtaken by that light, losing control of their body as it disintegrates; this process is not always physically painful, but it is mentally traumatizing, the words of the curse especially becoming deeply rooted in the victim’s mind to the point that uttering them can cause distress or at least discomfort.

The original body of a cursed victim is lost, leaving no trace. Their soul is instantly sent from the world of Equestria to Earth, where they reincarnate into a human newborn at precisely the time of its birth – meaning that time of cursing as a pony and time of birth as a human are identical. As Equestria seems to be in the same time zone as Muscatine, Iowa (Central Time Zone), be mindful of how it would impact a character reincarnated in another time zone. For example, for two ponies cursed together at 8pm on May 1st 1995, Equestria/Muscatine time (UTC-5), the first pony, reincarnated in New York City, would be born at 9pm May 1st, 1995 (UTC-4), while the second pony, reincarnated in London, UK, would be born at 2am May 2nd, 1995 (UTC+1).

It is not mentioned if the pony soul incarnating in the human newborn merges with the newborn’s or replaces it fully. In any case, the human newborn is not a human version of the pony, which explains why there can be a discrepancy between the pony’s and human’s gender for example. It is possible that there still is some influence from the pony’s soul on which newborn is selected to receive it, explaining how siblings in Equestria can be reborn as siblings on Earth.

The curse makes it so the reincarnated pony doesn’t consciously remember any of their Equestrian memories (except for special cases like Twilight Sparkle, who managed to weaken this part of the curse and retain some of her memories). Their original personality can still show in their human selves, to varying degrees – they could be mostly the same personality-wise, or they could share likes and dislikes, or they could style their hair in a similar way to their mane, or they could grow to be a totally different person compared to the pony they were. Equestrian memories can still show up subconsciously, for example as ‘false memories’. These false memories may be interpreted as ‘missing FiM scenes or episodes’ that don’t actually exist, or potentially as ‘headcanons’ if the human is a pony fan.

It is up to interpretation if the curse inflicts bad luck or not to the reincarnated pony; "outlooks bleak" and "living like a fool" could suggest that there is some negative influence from the curse on the pony-human’s life. This influence could be generalized, or targeted (with the victim having to go through a lot more hardship than most people, or hardships specifically relevant to them). It is suggested however that there is still something that draws the reincarnated ponies toward one another, even if they don’t realize it – leading to several pony-humans becoming friends again in their new life.

The physical component of the curse lasts exactly twenty-five years ("For Five Score, Divided by Four", that is, (5x20)/4=25). At that time, the reincarnated pony enters a state of stupor that can last several minutes, losing track of time and appearing unresponsive to onlookers, while their pony cutie marks appear on their human upper thighs. From this point on, they start to show the first signs of mental changes; in particular, they are often able to recognize other reincarnated ponies and call them by their pony name, even if they themselves are still under the effects of the curse. Another effect is that the reincarnated pony begins to remember their ‘Five Score dream’, memories of the last few minutes to last few hours of their Equestrian life before they were cursed by Discord; it usually begins as bits and pieces, and is only experienced in full once the physical transformation is over.

As the transformation progresses, more mental changes may crop up. Although the past pony personality never fully replaces the human one, there are varying degrees of mingling between pony and human thought patterns – some stay pretty much as they were as humans, some become much closer to who they were in Equestria, and most are somewhere in the middle. The pony name usually replaces the human one in the transformee’s mind as the name that comes most naturally, though. In most cases, the pony gender fully supplants the human gender, and likewise for sexual orientation. Transforming ponies usually do not experience horror or distress at their physical changes, potentially because their mind is already ‘expecting’ a pony form. Human memories stay untouched, while pony memories aren’t consciously accessible outside of the Five Score dream (subconscious knowledge and skills, like how to walk, may still come back with practice, or at least be easier to build back up). It is possible for ponies to regain some more of their original memories, but this can take months or more likely years, and usually only happens if they are immersed in something close to their former life, surrounded by other ponies, and they likely would never reclaim their full memories this way, only bits and pieces.

A transforming pony will turn into a perfect image of what they looked like at the time of their cursing, twenty-five years prior. This includes same age, same manecut, and other physical features like scars or pregnancy. However, note that ponies roughed up or even wounded by Discord directly prior to being cursed transform back into their non-wounded selves.

Because there is no direct relation between the pony in Equestria and the human body they found themselves being reincarnated in, a formerly-cursed pony crossing the mirror portal from Equestria back to Earth would not turn into their previous human self, but into a human version of their pony self.

And that’s about it for the details behind the classic formula established by the main Five Score story and the core fics!

• Choose your Version

As mentioned earlier, we have at least three versions of the main Five Score story, so take your pick! 2020 setting and five FiM seasons for the Teen version; 2020 and nine seasons for the Mature version; or 2024 and nine seasons for the print version.

The Teen version option is the one followed (by default) by the vast majority of side-fics. Its main specificity is that the FiM show was cut short, at only five seasons, with that fifth one turning out a bit differently compared to the real one – especially at the end. This means that characters introduced post-season 5, like the Student Six for example, wouldn’t be recognized as canon by other characters. Likewise, Starlight Glimmer would still be considered a villain, her redemption not having been depicted in the show. You can use this opportunity to play around with some dramatic irony – your readers know who these characters are, but they themselves don’t. Another important point is that in this version, Rainbow Dash’s sonic rainboom occurred on May 20th, while the portal to Equestria opened on the 28th, closing on the 31st.

The Mature version option, introduced in 2019, is as of this writing only followed by a hoofful of side-fics due to it being relatively new. Its main difference compared to the Teen version is that the full nine seasons of FiM have been aired, with only the very last episode being markedly different from reality. This means that everything from the FiM canon we know will be recognized as such in your story, and beyond ponies other creatures like reformed changelings and hippogriffs may be present on Earth as well.

Finally, the print version option isn’t, to our knowledge, followed by any published side-fic at the time of writing. It is similar to the Mature version, except for the dates of the Rainboom, portal opening and portal closing being moved to the 10th, 16th and 18th of May, respectively.

No version is necessarily better than another, so choose the one that works best for what you’re planning... or stay vague enough on the matter so you don’t need to make a hard choice, it’s up to you!

• A doubt, a question? Just ask!

Don’t hesitate to ask questions in the forum if you’re unsure about something Five Score-related, we’ll do our best as a community to answer. And if you feel like some important points are missing from this FAQ, please comment on it below so we can improve it!

This character already appears in a story, can I still use them?

You can! As we mentioned earlier, this wouldn’t be the first time it happened, and if you think that this specific character is really important for your story, then go for it!

Granted, this may not be the most lore-friendly option, but in some cases it can actually be a benefit for the ‘verse. Maybe in this other story, the character was just a secondary, or tertiary character who didn’t live up to their full potential or even a simple cameo? Or the fic was canceled/languishing in incompleteness, leaving their fate unresolved? It’s your call really, though remember that exploring new or poorly-represented characters might make for some unique stories.

Are OCs allowed?

Most definitely! Original characters may not come with the built-in Brony cred of canon characters, they do give you a greater degree of creative freedom, and mystery. Makes both the reader and character unsure of exactly who they’re transforming into!