So, with the rate the Winningverse is growing, Ponibius, Comma-Kazie, JJGingerhooves, and I think it might be useful to establish a few things about the setting. This list will be expanded as we go, so if you have anything you would like to be expanded upon or clarified, feel free to post and a response to be made in due time to the best of our ability.

Gender and Reproduction:
Mares and stallions are equal in Equestria. However, since mares tend to significantly outnumber stallions in Equestria, they will usually have a larger slice of the overall pie. There are no gender barriers to social or economic advancement, and all jobs are open to both sexes. The only gender discrimination comes from isolated and particularly unpleasant individuals.

Same-sex reproduction is possible, either by use of transformation magic (which requires a highly skilled caster) or via the nebulous Magic of Love. In the case of two stallions, the magic of love route also requires a mare willing to carry the foal to term. A child cannot be conceived through the Magic of Love unless both partners wish to procreate—however, even a subconscious desire for offspring will suffice. Because of this, some couples use amulets, talismans, and other devices to prevent conception.

Children produced by the Magic of Love have a strong tendency to remain the same gender as their parents, though it is possible for two mares to produce a colt or two stallions to produce a filly if they have a particularly strong desire to do so.

There is no widespread social stigma attached to homosexuality. Although a few isolated jerks may express homophobic sentiments, doing so publicly is considered unacceptable behavior.

Most ponies are technically bisexual, though the exact degree varies considerably. Some, like Cloud Kicker, will engage in sexual relations regardless of gender, while others can have a strong preference towards one gender or the other (For example, Derpy prefers stallions but was open to the possibility of a relationship with a mare she’d known and trusted for a long time). There are purely heterosexual ponies (such as Cheerilee), and purely homosexual ponies (Lyra).

Equestria’s Government

In short, Equestria’s government is an absolute monarchy since the Lunar Rebellion. The long answer is that Equestria is a diarchic absolute monarchy ruled by a pair of god-princesses, with a bourgeois nobility, a meritocratic bureaucracy, and elections to fill in local positions such as town mayor.

Princess Celestia and Princess Luna have absolute authority within their realm. Though they generally restrict themselves to already established laws and precedent in the management of their government. They also tend to keep a light hoof on the daily affair of their subjects, generally only intervening when there is believed to be a need for them to do so.

The Royal Sisters are aided in the governance of Equestria by an expansive, meritocratic bureaucracy that takes care of the day to day affairs of the nation. The highest positions in the realm such as royal governors and mayors of major cities are general picked by the Princesses themselves while they allow lower level positions to be handled by their subordinates for practicality.

The nobility consists of families dating all the way back to before the founding to Equestria to relatively new noble houses recognized by the royal sisters. The Royal Sisters generally raise new families to that status of nobility in recognition of service to Equestria.

Upon being given noble status, a noble’s family is given licences either to specific resources, crafts, or industries, effectively creating a businesspony class of elites. The nobility are also expected by law to obey the practice of gavelkind inheritance, where wealth is more or less divided evenly between the surviving children upon their parents deaths. Though it is still common for the eldest of the siblings to get a choicier share of the licences inherited by his/her family.

Minor positions in the government, such as town mayors, are commonly decided by local elections and technically answer to the Princesses directly, though usually they do so through intermediaries like royal governors.

The Royal Guard

The Royal Guard serves at the principal military and police force of Equestria. Compared to past periods of time, the modern Guard emphasises having a small, specialized, highly trained, and highly motivated military. Made up of about 40,000 ponies, the Guard focuses on protecting the borders against foreign nations, curbing monster attack, and policing Equestrian settlements. General policy is to strike hard and fast against any threat to Equestria, either destroying it, or containing it and delaying the threat until one of the Princesses to show to face it personally.

The officer corps of the Royal Guard is made up of highly trained, professional soldiers who graduated from Equestria’s military academy, West Hoof. Non-Commissioned Officers are selected from the ranks due to good performance, and are invaluable to the daily running of the Guard.

The Long Patrol is the arm of the Royal Guard focused on patrolling Equestria’s borders and more dangerous geographic areas like the Everfree Forest, and with monster hunting. The unit is largely made up of new Guardponies looking to prove themselves by fulfilling a dangerous assignment, more antisocial members of the Guard, and those sent into the Long Patrol on punishment. It generally has a reputation as one of the deadliest units in the Royal Guard, if only because it sees far more combat action than any other formation.

The Night Guard has recently been reestablished as a formation in its own right under Princess Luna, serving as her retinue and ceremonial bodyguards. The Night Guard is notable for their unique uniforms and color schemes, as well as an unusual cosmetic enchantment that makes pegasi appear to have bat-wings.

The rank structure of the Royal Guard is as follows:

Private: The basic soldier
Corporal: Leads a five pony team.
Sergeant: Leads a ten pony squad.
Senior Non-Commissioned Officers: Generally long-serving soldiers with specialist skills.
Officer Cadet: West Hoof Students and veteran soldiers going through Officer Candidate School.
2nd Lieutenant: Lowest Rank of Commissioned Officer, rarely given actual field commands.
1st Lieutenant: Commands a Platoon consisting of several squads.
Captain: Commands a Company consisting of several platoons.
Major: Typically either support staff, or in command of elite/prestigious companies.
Colonel: Commands a Battalion consisting of several companies.
Brigadier: Commands a Brigade consisting of several battalions.
Lt. Commander: Commands one of the three divisions of the Guard. Since there are three Lt. Commanders, it is traditional to have an earth pony, a pegasus, and a unicorn for the three posts, even though Guard units are fully integrated (aside from the mage corps, flying units, and other formations that require one breed's unique skills).
Captain of the Guard: Holds overall Command of the Equestrian Royal Guard.

The Gendarmerie is focused on maintaining law and order in Equestria. Much like their queens, the Gendarmerie has sweeping theoretical powers, but in practice rarely exercises them. Most guardponies find that a softer touch usually produces far better results. The Gendarmerie is technically a fourth branch of the armed services, but in practice it has a strong tradition of independent operation, and their members only serve as soldiers in times of crisis. The Watch-Commander of Gendarmes holds a rank equivalent to that of Lt. Commander.

Griffons, Griffonia, & Westmarch

Griffons are native to a large continent to the east of Equestria, across the ocean. Griffons and ponies have had a long and often difficult history. Prior to the rise of Celestia and Luna, griffons frequently raided Equestria’s shores for wealth, slaves, and food. Manehatten and its surrounding environs were even occupied by griffon raiders (commonly known as reivers) and used as a base for attacks into the interior of Equestria.

The rise of Celestia and Luna heralded the end of griffonkind as a major threat to Equestria. Luna personally led the armies of Equestria in a campaign that expelled the griffons from Manehatten and inflicted devastating losses and destruction upon the Griffonian homeland.

A brief upsurge in reiver activity roughly coinciding with the Lunar Rebellion led to the Westmarch Seizure, where Equestria severed the coastal territory of Westmarch from Griffonia proper. After a brief period of direct rule from Canterlot, Westmarch was granted independence under local griffon leadership, though the nation remains under the economic, political, and cultural influence of Equestria.

Griffonia is ruled over by a High King or Queen, and retains a feudal system with an extremely powerful nobility. The High King/Queen is in practice often little more than a puppet of whichever faction installed them into power. Any shift of loyalties within the various court factions is likely to result in the deposition of the current monarch, who is replaced by the favored claimant of the new dominant faction. The inherently unstable nature of Griffonia’s government has impeded any efforts at maintaining coherent foreign and domestic policy. Even the capital of Griffonia is subject to frequent change, as each faction prefers to keep their puppet monarch close at hand (or rather, talon).

Westmarch has a substantially different system of government, whose original foundation was crafted by Celestia with the intention of retaining a stable and pro-Equestria regime. Westmarch is a republic dominated by several dozen prominent trading magnate families. While this has not completely suppressed the griffon tendency towards political infighting, it has resulted in most conflicts being economic in nature, and political violence is usually limited to to small street scuffles or assassinations. As Equestria is by far Westmarch’s largest trading partner, the trading families remain firmly in favor of a pro-Equestrian stance on foreign policy. The capital of Westmarch is Lubeak; Clawburg and Brefon are also major trade cities.

After more than eight hundred years of separation, the divide between inhabitants of Griffonia and Westmarch is substantial. While both states are inhabited by griffons, citizens of Westmarch see little connection to Griffonia beyond basic biology, and there is almost no desire for reunification. Westmarch griffons see their inland counterparts as bloodthirsty barbarians, while Griffonians view the inhabitants of Westmarch as little more than puppets of Equestria, frequently citing the fact that almost all Westmarch griffons are vegetarians and Wesmarch’s substantial hippogriff population as signs of ‘ponification’.

Despite this cultural divide, Griffonia continues to maintain its claims to Westmarch. The loss of Westmarch is widely seen as the event that marked the end of Griffonia as a major power, and subsequently regaining it must be the first step to restoring griffon greatness. No doubt, many monarchs also hope that the prestige of reclaiming their long-lost territory might also allow them sufficient political capital to rein in the factional infighting that has long plagued the kingdom. Almost every High King of Queen states their intention to one day reclaim Westmarch, though the current political and military situation makes that promise an empty one.

Religion

Religion in Equestria tends to be highly decentralized and unorganized, and there is no official state religion. However, veneration of Princesses Celestia and Luna is near-universal, though outright worship is uncommon and discouraged by the throne. This veneration takes numerous forms, largely depending upon the background and interests of the pony in question.

There are a few deranged individuals who worship entities such as Discord, Chrysalis, Sombra, or other dark beings. The only proscribed religion to ever hold any significant number of members, the Cult of Nightmare Moon, effectively disbanded following Princess Luna’s redemption and return.

There are numerous minor cults spread throughout Equestria. The precise nature of these cults can vary considerably: some, like the Cult of the Unconquerable Sun, are simply a more organized and codified version of the common veneration of Celestia. Others, such as the Cult of Shadow, center around venerating a particularly notable pony and following the teachings. Finally, many local cults engage in various practices intended to appease local spirits, entities, or forces of nature, such as going through long series of rituals to ensure a productive zap apple harvest.

Racial Relations

Officially, all three races of pony--earth pony, pegasus, and unicorn--are by and large viewed as equals among each other. There may be individual outliers who express a sense of racial superiority of one species over the other two, but as with gender and gender identity it is considered socially unacceptable to express these opinions in public.

Despite the equity of species, not all roles in society are open to just anypony. There are a few undeniable biological difference between the three pony races: only unicorns can cast spells, and only pegasi have wings, restricting jobs which require those abilities. In practice, many other jobs are effectively restricted to one race—for example, few earth ponies or pegasi can match the fine manipulation of unicorn telekinesis, and earth ponies innate magical connection to the ground makes them far better farmers than the other pony races.

In regards to other species, racism is rarely prevalent, although not impossible. However, in some, this can stem from general ignorance as opposed to actual hate (for example, Lyra’s aversion to goats). In most cases, non-pony species have an easy time fitting into Equestria, as seen with Zecora and Iron Will. Westmarch griffons are also reasonably common, especially in coastal areas, but it is almost unheard of for Griffonian griffons to visit Equestria. Even some Diamond Dogs have integrated into Equestria society, something that Cloud Kicker discovered—and quickly regretted.

Ponies are capable of producing offspring with donkeys (the resulting offspring are known as mules) and griffons (creating hippogriffs). While a changeling can impregnate a pony (or several other intelligent species), the resulting offspring will simply be another changeling, and pregnancy itself will be extremely dangerous for the mare. While other races can engage in sexual relations with ponies, these unions will produce no offspring.

Family

Most Equestrian families follow the conventional formula of the nuclear family, though numerous exceptions exist. While polygamy and polyandry are legal in Equestria, such unions are comparatively rare due to the numerous complications arising from such unions. Earth ponies, due to their agrarian background, tend to maintain larger extended families than pegasi or unicorns. There is no particular stigma attached to any unconventional family structure, save those that are clearly unhealthy or involve incest.

In ancient Pegasopolis families were largely organized into extended households called clans, who all lived together in large compounds known as clanholds. Clans frequently used adoption as a means of recruiting particularly talented ponies into the family’s ranks, consolidating their family’s power. However, the fall of Pegasopolis in the Lunar Rebellion led to the collapse of the old clan system. Those clans which survived the war itself mostly disbanded or gradually abandoned the traditional clan structure.

The only major clan still in existence are the Kickers. A number of the clan’s tradition have altered over the years to match changes within Equestria. Perhaps their most notable practice is the use of patrimonial inheritance: upon death all of a Kicker’s possessions beyond their immediate personal effects pass into a single collective property pool controlled by the clan’s materfamilias or paterfamilias. The Kicker Patrimony consists of holdings ranging from iron mines and forges to restaurants and brothels, though many are related to the Guard in some fashion. Most Kickers who do not opt for a career in the Royal Guard are engaged in the management of the clan patrimony.

Magic in Equestria

All ponies are magical, with their brand of magic determined by their breed. Earth ponies have an innate connection with the land, and have greater endurance and strength. The occasional earth pony will even possess special powers in exchange for typical earth pony magic. Pegasi can fly and manipulate or even create weather. Unicorns, however, are usually considered the most magical of the three pony races, as they can cast spells and are better able to harness certain magical forces.

Virtually all unicorns can perform telekinesis and illumination. Unicorns also typically have moments of epiphany to learn additional spells, usually in relation to their special talents. These moments usually happen when a unicorn discovers their special talent (such as when Rarity learned her gem finding spell at the same time she earned her cutie mark). Though rarer, it is far from unheard of unicorn to learn addition spells spontaneously throughout their life. All spells learned in this manner are considered a unicorn’s “natural spells.”

Unicorns can also learn additional spells from spellbooks or other unicorns. It is rule of thumb that it is easier to learn spells from another unicorn given the student can watch his/her teacher cast the spell and see the flow of magic. Learning a spell from a book typically takes considerably more time and effort to do. As a result, it is common for friends and family who are also unicorns to assist one another in learning spells, or even to pay another unicorn for assistance.

As a general rule, it is easiest for a unicorn to learn spells relating to their special talent. Typically the less a spell has to do with their special talent, the harder it will be to learn the spell. It can even be nearly impossible for a unicorn to learn a spell if it is diametrically opposed to their special talent (For example, Rarity might have a hard time casting a spell that destroyed beauty, while Twilight might struggle with a spell that created a magical dead zone).

The alicorn, or unicorn horn as it is known in popular lexicon, is considered a sensitive organ. The magical powers that flow through it and its physiological nature make it sensitive to extreme abuse. A strike to the horn will cause a unicorn great pain and cause them to be unable to cast spells for at least a few seconds. The effect is even worse when a unicorn is in the process of casting or maintaining a spell. In addition to disrupting the spell, the blow is described as being as painful as being struck in the groin.

Unicorns are classed by their sheer magical muscle. While the different classes do not reflect how good a unicorn is at learning spells, it does affect with how much ease they will be able to cast certain spells due to power needs. Some spells, such as teleportation, are simply impossible for all but the strongest of Alphas. Since casting spells not relating to pony’s special talent requires more effort, higher-ranked unicorns tend to have a relatively easier time learning such spells.

It bears reiterating that these rankings only reflect a pony’s magical muscle/potential. An untrained unicorn is capable of little more than crude spells and destructive bursts of wild magic, regardless of their potential. A particularly intelligent, creative, experienced, or dedicated unicorn is entirely capable of outperforming unicorns with far greater stores of raw power. For example, Clover the Clever became one of Unicornia’s most famous Archmagi despite having a slightly below average level of raw magical ability.

Being more powerful can mean a unicorn has more options in life, but also adds restrictions. For instance, it is a crime for a high-level unicorn to become intoxicated due to the danger such a unicorn with inhibited judgment stands to his/her fellow ponies. There is a strong social taboo against excessive discussion of a unicorn’s magical potential. Discussing a high rating is often seen as bragging, and in the case of Alphas can lead to some uneasiness (an Alpha could easily reduce a town to chaos with a single spell). For Epsilons and below, calling attention to their ranking is akin to discussing other handicaps.

Alphas are extremely powerful, and extraordinarily rare among unicorns. Twilight Sparkle is an Alpha Plus, and her brother, Shining Armor, is also an Alpha given he has enough power to shield a major city from attack. Betas are the next most powerful, and while not as powerful as Alphas, are still quite powerful, and usually possess a number of spells not relating to their talents. Betas make up about ten percent of the unicorn population, and are generally considered magically gifted. Gammas are considered above average for unicorns, though they usually specialize in spells relating to their special talent and don't branch out much past that. Deltas are considered average and the majority of unicorns are ranked in this class, and are generally only good with spells relating to their special talent and simple general-use spells. Epsilons are below average ranked unicorns who only know a few basic spells directly tied to their special talent. Those unicorns ranked below Epsilon are considered to be magically disabled and often struggle with even basic telekinesis or illumination spells.

Alicorns, naturally, break the ratings scale entirely.

The Laws of Magic

Unicorns as a breed possess a vast variety of spells, most of which are helpful to themselves and the ponies around them. But with power comes the potential for abuse or worse. Many spells that can be used benevolently could potentially be turned to harmful use. There are also many spell that can only be used for malicious intent. There also comes the risk of corruption. Certain spells, rituals, and magical items can corrupt the unicorn using them. This can lead to a greater desire to use those foul sources, and befouls the mind and soul of the pony involved.

As a result, magic is regulated by the Laws of Magic; a series of laws outlined at the founding of Equestria. Any spell breaking with the Laws of Magic is considered black magic and comes with the most severe of penalties. However, some allowance are made for cases of severe emotional distress or if the pony in question has had their free will compromised. As Equestria’s justice system values offering mercy to the truly repentant, minor or unintended offenses will often be forgiven, provided the offender refrains from any further illegal activity.

1. Thou Shalt Not Murder With Magic.

Murder is of course illegal in Equestria, but doubly so when magic is used as the instrument. Especially considering murdering other sapient creatures can quickly corrupt a unicorns mind and spirit, and the damage that can be caused with the right spells.

There is a distinction between those who commit an act of murder and those to kill out of self defense, the defense of others, and as part of military service. It has been demonstrated that in the latter cases that the weight of the deeds weights much lighter on the unicorns involved.

2. Thou Shalt Not Transform Another Against Their Will.

While most low level forms of transformation magic is only temporary, it is still considered a form of assault in Equestria if done against the being’s will. More severe is permanent or long term transformation. In the worst cases, a badly done transformation spell can cause significant physiological or psychological damage to the victim.

Transformations are allowed if a pony or other sapient being permits himself/herself to be transformed, and there are many potential beneficial uses for such spells.

3. Thou Shalt Not Invade the Mind of Another.

Forcibly entering another sapient creatures mind is considered a profound violation of the pony involved. In addition to violating the privacy and sanctity of the pony person, such invasions can cause significant damage to the pony’s mind.

There is no penalty if one pony or sapient being allows another into their mind given such an act avoids invasions of privacy and any psychological damage.

4. Thou Shalt Not Bind the Will of Another.

It is highly illegal to bind the will of another being with magical mental control. Committing such an act can do major harm to a sapient beings psyche as his free will is constrained and is forced to do things s/he would not otherwise do.

5. Thou Shalt Not Commit Necromancy.

Creating or controlling the undead is highly illegal in Equestria and is considered a perversion against Harmony. Most undead are either actively hunted and destroyed if malicious, or consulted and encouraged to go the hereafter if considered relatively harmless.

6. Thou Shalt Not Alter the Timeline.

It is scientifically proven that it is impossible to change the past. Those few ponies that do travel back in time in order to do so inevitably fail and produce closed time loops, more often than not causing the very event they sought to prevent. Those attempting to move forward in time face the hazard of becoming stuck at that future point in time, especially since moving forward is considerably easier than moving back (as one would need to do to return to their point of origin).

That said, the potential damage that could be done by attempting to change the past, attempting to bring knowledge from the future, or create time paradoxes is such that the risk is not tolerated.

7. Thou Shalt Not Seek the Aid of Forbidden Powers.

Equestria is faced with a great number of threats. Discord, beings from the lower planes and those that lie between the stars, the changelings, Nightmare Moon, Elder Gods, and many, many others. A multitude of those beings would be more than happy to offer any number of temptations to ponies in order to move forward their own plots. As a result, attempting to contact and seek aid from such beings is considered highly illegal.

Some allowances is made for royal mages and special cases, but these are more the exception rather than the rule.

While Time Turner's "reset" would normally violate the Sixth Law of Magic, he gets by on a technicality.

The Universe, much like ponies, has a short term memory lasting for a universal constant of 42 seconds. Nopony knows why this number is important, it just is.
During this short period the time line spreads out into a infinite number of potential possibilities, but only one is observed by the various life forms of the universe. This one observed reality becomes more 'real' and after forty two seconds becomes The Past.

Astute readers would have noticed 42 seconds is as far back as Turner can twist time, it's not so much a personal limit as a universal one. When Turner activates his reset, time scrolls back and then flies down another timeline where Turner has somehow figured out what was about to happen. While technically a paradox, the effect is so small in the grand scheme that the universe's public servants regard it as waste of time to chase up. While it will normally go unnoticed, time sensitive ponies may feel a jolt of Déjà vu and the more skilled may actually witness it if they're nearby.

This of course annoys the universe after a while. It doesn't like Turner and Turner isn't overly fond of the universe either. It's response is to toss bad luck in Turner's direction and Turner will, in turn, take this bad luck and try to use it to his advantage.

Despite getting one past the universal bureaucracy, Turner's reset is still illegal under Equestrian law and Turner isn't in a rush to tell them about it. In fact, the thought of somepony discovering this keeps him up at night.

There is one pony in Ponyville capable of witnessing it, but so far Turner hasn't been noticed yet. Luna help him if she does.

*Also, If there was any doubt Chengar is a Dresden Files fan, it's gone now. Though it should have been obvious by now.
**Also, No, I didn't think this up on the spot.

1003992
This comes up specifically in Winning in Las Pegasus, right? I haven't detected any time manipulation shenanigans in the Winningverse works I've read so far, but I don't intend to read WLP, so it'd be good to spell it out for those like me.

I could see a bestiary, a character list with profiles of major characters (and the more important minor characters), and a timeline of major events being useful both to help readers keep everything straight, and to help authors new to the Winningverse avoid breaking canonicity too egregiously, though I couldn't say just how far each of these should be taken (I suppose just start with the big stuff, and fill in more minor points as they come up?). This is where a wiki-type system of some sort would really come in handy.

A few matters to inquire:
> "few earth ponies or pegasi can match the fine manipulation of unicorn telekinesis"
Does that mean Earth Ponies and Pegasi can use telekinesis?
If yes, via magic or innate ability such as psychokinesis?

> Will there be any lore and legends?
E.g.:
Mare in The Moon,
Elements of Harmony,
Alicorn Amulet,
Mirror Pool,
etc

Unicorn ratings go from Alpha to Epsilon? Really? Now I'm wondering if Pinkie slips soma into Sugarcube Corner's stock...

I'm going to save this and refer to it where my setting and the Winningverse cross paths or butt heads.
Good stuff, and though my headcanon and yours might disagree ("Full broadside!") I can work around or gloss over them.
Good stuff, all around.
Naturally, I'll chime in with suggestions and/or problems I've noticed.

1003952

The Laws of Magic

Judging from your previous works tis Quite clear where you have stolen this from.

I thank thee for providing such information, but have a single question:

Alicorns, naturally, break the ratings scale entirely.

I that all alicorns, or just natural ones like the Royal Pony Sisters? Cadance only seems to be that powerful when channeling the power of love, which is her Talent (Spoilers which is a bit odd because if you have read search for the Crystal heart spell it is revealed that she was born a Pegasus. A Pegasus with a talent for magic? end Spoilers) What About Twilight, Would/Will Twilicorn Break the Scale? Or does "Alpha Plus" mean she has already broken it. On a related Note, Can Winningverse Alicorns Combine the Different Types of Pony Magic? Like Channeling Inherent Earth pony magic into an age spell to make plants grow faster?

I apologize if I seem Pushy here

Thanks for making this! It was quite informative and interesting to read.

Is there an established thing for 'bat ponies', or has that yet to be worked in?

These moments usually happen when a unicorn discovers there special talent ...

Should be their.

As I see it, immortality is not an alicorn trait. Celestia and Luna are exceptions - their duties demand it. Their immortality may also stem from the fact that they are the only 'true' alicons: Twilight (and possibly Cadance) were made into alicorns, not born them.

Being rendered an alicorn of course has its benefits, such as having access to the racial abilities of all three pony types, strengthening of magical/phhysical abilities and possibly an extended life span, but in all other respects they're the same as any other pony - they can get sick from diseases and even die from them, an accident (a crash or a fall) would kill them if they were unable to take action.

In theory, any of the three breeds can become an alicorn but the likelihood of any breed but a unicorn becoming one is exceeding slim, as a unicorn's magical ability gives then an excessive advantage.

1004620 The Thesdrals, you mean. Those are, by one or two accounts/headcanon, Luna's ponies, and make up the bulk of the Night Guards. That's a tough call, and they seem interesting.

Quick note, Chengar.
Depending on how you want to handle it, I'd have to say there'd probably be at least two military academies: West Hoof, which is implied to be strictly Guard (implied location Manehattan), and the Canterlot Military Academy, which handles Guards, Gendarmerie and anything else, for example my Coast Patrol (Coast Guard/Navy/Marines). Flight Camp and Flight School could equate to the USAF Academy (Wonderbolts).
Main reason: "Back in the day", each pony Type (probably each city) would have had its own Academy, due to distances and specialization. After the Rebellion, Canterlot would have centralized almost everything for easier administration (and control). With protest, naturally, but everypony'd see the advantages. Loyal areas would be left alone, obviously.
Comments?

Ooh, I have to say that this is a definite godsend. Laying down some ground rules for this universe should help avoid internal inconsistencies...

Also, it's interesting to see you adapt the Seven Laws to the FiM setting... especially as it shows us exactly where and when Twilight (and other ponies, of course, but mostly Twilight) have broken them and gotten away with it scot-free. Of particular note (to myself, at any rate) are the 3rd and 4th rules, as one or both of them would have made Twilight's "reformation spell" plan in Keep Calm and Flutter On highly illegal, had Discord not closed that option for her... Huh, it's almost as if he was actually looking out for her.

...Just why are books with spells like that lying around in a public library, anyway?

I'm also curious to know more about the stance on humans and thestrals. for humans namely, how do they get here, what are they like how do are they handled etcs. i've seen a few humans in the winningverse and it's interesting

1004292
Earth ponies and pegasi can't use telekinesis. However, some of them might be good enough with their hooves/mouths to handle just about any task requiring precise manipulation.

1004480
In fairness, most of that section was actually written by Ponibius However, I would say that the Dresden Files laws are just a sensible moral system for handling magic.

My personal inclination is to peg Cadance at around the same level as Twilight (Pre-Alicorn), but with far more experience offset by a narrower field of specialization.

1004620
Nothing established yet—to be honest, I'm inclined to think it was just a glamour on their armor similar to the uniform spells on Royal Guard armor.

1004695
I'm inclined to agree on that point. Every indication we've seen so far from canon is that Cadance is significantly below Celestia and Luna in terms of power and ability.

1004739
I'm actually inclined to disagree on that point The Guard really just isn't big enough to need more than one academy for training up their officers. There are several boot camps for handling the enlisted ponies though, and those most likely would be split up according to breed.

1005070
Yeah, there's a reason the section on how the laws are enforced is substantially different from how they are in the source of inspiration. The Equestrian justice system in general seems to go fairly easy on most offenses as long as the pony in question admits their mistake and apologizes.

Gah... must not allow my own "canons" for my own story to be overwritten. And it's easier for some than others...
Anyway, spotted a few errors. If you've already fixed when I post this well... a'ight...

These moments usually happen when a unicorn discovers there special talent

their

All spells learned in this manner are considered a unicorn’s “natural spells.”

Natural spells referring to the spells they learn when they discover their cutie mark? Cause if that's the case, then the grammatical reference needs to be looked at again (at the moment, it seems that any spells they "spontaneously learn" are called "natural spells").
... Or am I misunderstanding and those are just spells they learn randomly that has nothing to do with studies or special talent?

created a magical dead zone

Have any of you been looking at my notes for my story? Deadzones are a huge deal there.
that's "creates" btw

I hope you don't mind if I adapt a few things that does not contradict with my own story, will you?

Another thing I noticed is that Equestria seems to be fairly unicorn-centered, in that most of their laws addresses restrictions to unicorn magic. It doesn't mention any abuse of magic on the pegasi or earth ponies. A pegasus (or group, rather) for instance can legally create a hurricane just for kicks. It may throw off weather patterns around that area, which would probably get problematic, even if no direct property damage is done.

While it is true that unicorns have more versatility, I wonder if there's ever been any... complaints about those laws.

1005193

I'm actually inclined to disagree on that point The Guard really just isn't big enough to need more than one academy for training up their officers. There are several boot camps for handling the enlisted ponies though, and those most likely would be split up according to breed.

Okay, I can work with that. I'll just have Canterlot's combination boot camp/officer-candidate school calling itself an Academy because of those pretentious Unicorns.

Woah. This is awesome. Going straight into my bookmarks. I'll have fun integrating the unicorn class system into my story now that I have a clear definition of them. Wisp is definitely beta...

Also, prior to season 3, Discord of course is seen as a menace by most. But what about after his little change of heart?

1003992

Thanks for helping to explain some of how Time Turner's ability works, and how he loopholes his way around the law. Beside, those pretentious unicorns should just leave good honest earth ponies alone to do their business, right?

And you can blame me for outlining the Laws of Magic given its important in an upcoming story of mine. The Dresden Files' Laws of Magic just struck me as a practical list of forbidden magic.

1004279

Comma keeps up at least a basic timeline here. It does outline which stories happen when.

1004292

To answer your question on lore and legends, at last for myself I'm tempted to leave such things to stories for when they become relevant. At least we haven't hammered out many specifics. Now if readers ask us to cover certain topics...

1004480

Yeah, you can blame me for pulling inspiration from the obvious source. It just struck me as a good idea for a magic law/morality system for magic.

Twilight is on the verge of breaking the system entirely as an Alpha Plus (when Celestia says you beat out over 30 generations of unicorns...). We might have to wait for what the show gives us, but I wouldn't be surprised if being an alicorn pushes her unicorn magic even further in addition to giving her pegasi and earth pony magic.

It is theoretically possible to mix the other types of magic. Though I figure that would take a lot of study and effort to pull off. Luna was show to be able to spontaneously summon lightning storms, for instance. Which might involve both pegasi and unicorn magic.

1005070

Yeah, there are significant adaptations to make the Laws of Magic work for the FIM universe. They are less stringent, and make designed to prevent the malicious use of magic. There is considerable more leeway and room for mistakes and bad judgement.

For the reformation spell, I would say that it is probably a geas. Twilight would probably threaten to re-stonify Discord if he didn't accept a geas. reformation spell. Kinda like an enforced parole. Still pretty darn grey though. At least I hope the show wasn't thinking flat up mind rape, even of Discord, is alright.

1005690

Spells a unicorn learns spontaneously are called natural spells for the sake of the Winningverse. This is due to them coming "naturally" to a unicorn, rather then through careful study and research. This would have been the main method unicorns learned new spells, in addition to one unicorn teaching another, until writing was invented, and spell research became more common.

For myself I don't mind if you take anything here and use it for your own stories. I would consider it more of a compliment then anything.

There are of course other law addressing other issues if that is a concern of yours. Going around creating tornadoes in town isn't going to make you any friends, and would probably be breaking several laws like damage to property, assault, and improper use of a tornado.

And have there been complaints about the laws of magic? Yes, yes there have been.

1005962

If you are referring to the Seventh Law of Magic, I would say that Discord is no longer considered a Forbidden Power. Now how many ponies trust his change of heart and want to listen to him after centuries of tradition and history...

1006644

I didn't necessarily mean the Seventh Law, just in general. Thanks for the answer, that's all I need to know if I ever do anything with that.

1006644

Comma keeps up at least a basic timeline here. It does outline which stories happen when.

Awesome, thanks for the link! Now I wish there was a way to follow threads...

Another question: in Magical Mystery Cure, Princess Celestia explicitly states that in creating an entirely new spell, Twilight did something that's never been done before (or something very similar to that). For obvious reasons (namely, mostly because it came up after most of them were written), plenty of fics play fast and loose with that. Is there an "official stance" on the matter in regards to the Winningverse? (Yeah, this is the stuff I spend all my time thinking about. )

With same-sex reproduction, one method mentioned was transformation magic. Is that implying the gametes of the two ponies are magically-influenced to become sexually/genetically compatible or is it one participant temporarily having the genitalia altered for methods of "proper" conception? Or is it either?

And for the Magic of Love. In a nutshell, it's pure strength of will and affection from both ponies that allows for the conception of a foal, yes?

1006790

You're welcome.

To be honest, we got nothing where the season 3 finale is concerned. The simple fact of the matter is that we have thus far been given a complete lack of information on what this new magic is. All we got is a nonsense little rhyme, and that it might be friendship related. That's pretty much it. This new form of magic hasn't even been named yet. Give me some information and I can form some theories like you've seen here, but as of right now I don't have anything.

As of right now, whatever new magic Twilight came up with is largely irrelevant to me and I don't even plan on exploring it.

1007109
Ehh, fine by me; like I said, I just spend waaay too much time focused on unimportant details like that (probably 'cause of the years I've spent editing wikis).

1006644The question is, dose Twilight's raw magical power mean that her newly gained Earth pony and Pegasus magic is automatically as strong as her preexisting Unicorn magic? And does her Talent for magic extend to non unicorn magic? if the Answer to either of those is yes, than by Season four she may very well have recreated Discord's "Chocolate rain that makes apples swell to the size of a grown pony" Spell*, she would probably use water instead of chocolate though.

*Do you think that is the Use that Celestia found for Discord's magic? Carful application of that and similar spells would probably end world hunger.

1007068Well, it is possible to fuse two egg cells together in order to produce an embryo, and to be honest when magical same sex reproduction was brought up first I thought that was what happened. Until it is directly confirmed otherwise that is still my Head Canon for how it works.

Speaking of Head Canon, *rereads first post* Head Canon acquired!

1007196 I figured. And yeah, accepting first post as additional head-canon too!

1004708

The Thesdrals

by all the gods, what a fool I've been...

shit dude, a year-and-a-half of headcanon just vaporized in one word...good job

not quite though, since they seem a bit more draconic than nocturnal...oh well, good call anyway

1007068

Between two females the Magic of Love pretty much takes care of the biological necessities to get one of the females pregnant. It is also possible to pay for expensive transformation magics to help give one the females the equipment necessary in order to get her mate pregnant.

With two males they need a willing female to carry the foal when the Magic of Love is involved. Their other option is to purchase transformation magic to turn one of the males female for the duration needed to cause a pregnancy and then carry the foal to term.

And yes, it is the pure force of will and affection between the two ponies that causes a foal to be conceived.

1007168

Oh it's an important detail. Shame the show didn't give us any information to work off of.

1007178

Hard to say at this point. My inclination would be yes to her talent, not sure how she will measure up on the power scale of things. I figure the who will be covering that by the time Winning Pony catches up to that, or it becomes relevant.

1007286

Hard to say at this point. My inclination would be yes to her talent, not sure how she will measure up on the power scale of things. I figure the who will be covering that by the time Winning Pony catches up to that, or it becomes relevant.

Who is the who?

1007436

I misspelled "how." Twilight's power level where earth pony and pegasi magic will probably be covered in season 4, and I wouldn't' be surprised if it is about average.

1006644
Go full throttle on it~

I'm sure that there's bound to be a few legendary feats by the great Kicker Clan, specially during the war.
Maybe even legendary artifacts, legendary creatures, etc. That's kinda how things spin out of proportion;

Next question though; any plans to cover the mythology of Tartarus and/or the demons in it?

1007242 The Thredrals for MLP are, going by descriptions, spectral ponies, although there's a good view in two banner pics across the top of the page.
I'd go with there being more Thesdrals (or Thestrals, if you prefer Potter spelling) than anypony knows, as I kinda like the idea that you can't see them unless you've faced or witnessed death. That would explain why you never see Luna with more than two Night Guards, but the work gets done by the bulk of the Night Guards, which is primarily a corps of Thesdrals..

1009919
While this is a fascinating idea - and it really is - you're kinda putting words into the mouths of Winningverse 'canon', on a thread that was intended to clarify things that have been decided already by the verse's creators.

on a separate note, go right ahead and write that in a story, I'd totally read it

Thought I had posted a question on hippogrifs. Guess not.

I realize that they are considered an anathema by Griffonia.
I also bet that they are pretty much accepted by Equestrians.
What's the general reaction to them in Westmarch?

Could you comment on this?

Thanks

1012694
Westmarch is very accepting towards Hippogriffs.

Updated the main post with a breakdown of ranks for the Guard.

1004480
where can I find/read that Cadance story?

1063663
It's a published kids book. Though the canocity is questionable at best.
You can find it on the internet wherever you can find the comic series.

1063663 It is an official chapter book of Questionable Canocity. it's one of those wide strokes things were parts are cannon but others aren't, ya know what i mean. here's the TV tropes page.

The canonicity of the chapter book is questionable, but it works well enough until/unless there's a reason to go against it or the show contradicts it. If nothing else, it's handy for shooting down the fanon notion that only unicorns can become alicorns.

1065477
I'd never heard that one...cool

Now this is going to be a weird question...

Word of god says Twilight "Won't outlive her friends", this could mean two things.
1) Twilight is biologically mortal.
2) Twilight and the rest of the mane 6 are biologically immortal. (thank you elements of harmony)

I've been assuming the latter, but I'll probably need to know for sure, for reasons. (Nopony ever listens to Zathras)

1073451
The current Winningverse fanon is that alicorns other than the sisters are mortal, but exceptionally healthy for mortals. The only way for an alicorn to stop being mortal is for them to get Luna or Celestia's mantle, and the Sisters are kind of using those at the moment (though Celestia did have Luna's sitting around for a thousand years or so).

1003952 Thankyou, this answers pretty much all my questions concerning griffons in the Winningverse and the thread I made regarding them has been appropriately deleted. I apologize for the delay, graduating from high school and getting ready for college kept me out of the forums for awhile.

1007286A thought occurs to me. Is power of love reproduction limited to Homosexual couples. it is stated that between two females the love magic take care of the Biological necessities for reproduction to occur. what if it is a Heterosexual couple that ordinarily would not be able to reproduce, such as one half of the couple being sterile, or thee couple being different Species?

1119822

It hasn't really been covered in a story yet, but I would say yes to the Magic of Love being able to bridge the gap between heterosexual couples under at least some circumstances, at least where gestation is concerned. If there are other complications not relating to gestation, then the mare involved might be in trouble.

The Magic of Love probably isn’t going to be able to bridge species gaps. Though I’m not going to give a 100% no considering someone might want to explore that in the future.