MLP Main 6 Reimagined

Apologies for such a long break in between posts, I've been working on this art piece for the past week or so!
Recently I have been binging the whole of the MLPFIM series after realizing that as a kid, I only watched up to S4A because I hated where the series was going, and despised Twilight being an alicorn + The School of Friendship, which goes against the message of the entire show.

With that, I made my own mane six 'reimagine' sheet and AU. I stuck to the original designs as close as I could, except for Fluttershy's lmao. These designs really just enhance the previous designs, as I wanted to toy with their silhouettes and the characteristics they had in the show, and to make designs more appealing to look at, albeit horrible to animate lol

Read More on the AU + Design Thoughts below

Twilight Sparkle — A gifted unicorn with ancient heritage. She spends most of her time studying, and fixating on various books, topics, and magic itself. She is the top student in her school, and hopes to get a degree in Magic, and later become a Magic Professor. In this AU, while she studies under Celestia, she is not her protege. Celestia, worried over her favorite student, sends her to a day trip to look over the Summer Sun Celebration, where she meets her future friends show-style. Her design is heavily inspired by The Last Unicorn, and medieval portrayals of regal, feathered unicorns.

Pinkie Pie — A super duper party pony who takes her job very seriously. She works at Sugarcube Corner as a part-time party planner, part-time baker, and is well loved by Ponyville's townies. Before Twilight coming to Ponyville, and later moving in, she knew the other four quite well, and enjoyed organizing Applejack's family reunions. For her design, I really wanted to lean in on her chaotic nature by adding more colors, and confetti perpetually stuck in her curly mane. At first, I thought of changing her species into a pegasus, but I enjoyed her magical properties as an Earth Pony too much to remove them. Instead, I headcanon that she, and other Earth Ponies have magic inside of them, which can be manifested in different ways. For Pinkie, that is harnessed through Pinkie Sense, and high energy, only being enhanced by her small size.

Applejack — Rancher, and apple farmer, Applejack is the head of Sweet Apple Acres (with Granny Smith and Big Mac/ Orchard Blossom's help). The business is the foundation of Ponyville, and without it, the town would go into economic despair. Apples are very important to horses, I guess. I wanted Applejack's design to reflect her massive strength, and of course, the Apple-Family genes. She is a work horse, either a shire or clydesdale, and is used to hard labor on the farm. Thinking about it now, I should've given her a few healed scars, but maybe in future art of her! I made her mane and tail shorter, as I thought her in-show counterpart would have a tough time working on the field with sticky, sweaty long hair always getting in the way. Like work horses in real life, I made it short so it would be out of the way while she did her job.

Rarity — An inspiring trendsetter fashionista, Rarity owns the Carousal Boutique and makes clothing for a living. She frequents town meetings, and has a seat in the council, often advocating for the repair of town parks, or old buildings that need refurbishing. She wears an ascot for that particular flourish a mare always needs. Being a unicorn, she trims the hair that grows down along her back to keep herself prim and proper, as she says. She finds unicorns that don't to be messy and dirty. She dare not fathom of how easily sweat and dirt gets in one's mane when so long and unkempt. Down her back, she still has a stripe of purple where her mane grows. Her design was heavily inspired by the one she has while making dresses, and the NightmareMoonverse manestyle. Like Twilight, she is also based on medieval unicorn portrayals, however, with some liberties of course.

Rainbow Dash — A daring, brave cloudbuster, working as part of the weather team in Ponyville to keep the weather on check for events and crops. However, she has bigger dreams to become on of the Wonderbolts, the most awe-inspiring, jaw-dropping fliers in all of Equestria. RD would bask in the fame, adoration, and praise like a reptile in the hot summer sun. Other than training, hoping, she can never muster up the courage to apply. While she show-boats and gloats about how awesome she is, RD suffers from severe anxiety, ADHD, and fear of rejection. In her design, I wanted RD to look more masculine and stream-lined than she does in the show. Her design never really spoke 'fast' to me. I still don't think this design truly did my vision justice, but I enjoy it for what it is. I darkened her mane colors a touch, and gave her feathered, colored hooves to make her look more like a bird instead of a pony with wings stuck on it.

Fluttershy — Shy, and rather fearful pegasus pony, Fluttershy boxes herself in close to the Everfree Forest, away from ponies who mock her appearance and lifestyle. She is part deer, and with the high separation and xenophobia of Equestria's ponies, she never could fit in. She looked far too deer to fit in with Ponyville and looked far too like a pony to fit in with her mother's herd. Instead, she chose an inbetween, only going into town for supplies and nothing else. It wasn't until meeting Twilight and the others, did she learn how to grow confident in her own skin, with lots of support of course. She finds great friendship and connection with Zecora, the zebra pony who lives in the Everfree Forest, and Discord later on. Her design is the only one I didn't really like in the main cast. It says soft, but it feels too safe for me. In my redesign, I leaned more heavily on a softer, lankier look. I made her wings fluffier, like Pipp's in G5, and gave her deer markings, ears, and hooves. I thought the brown block of hair was nice, but it could've used some dimension, and so I added a streak of yellow to tie it all in.