#jaskbox

its always so embarrassing to fish for asks and then when someone asks something i clam up like "what do i even include." lol but ill try

that ^ is ruk'un, full name Ruk'un, Famed & Loved(WITH the comma). he comes from the middle of nowhere in northern Elsweyr, and he grew up with a whore of a father and like a billion younger siblings, with only one older

(dont read into their name meanings very much i know that theyre not super canon compliant but i do what i want)

ruk'un has a pretty strained relationship with his siblings, excluding bek'hur, pa'lan, and arbrnet. he used to be really irresponsible and he hasn't really apologized or made up for any of his mistakes, preferring to just disengage entirely

ruk'un's parents are named A'koll and Lii'ja. A'koll's had 5 wives since Lii'ja passed shortly after Ruk'un's birth, and this is a big point of contention amongst the family clan. A'koll runs a trade caravan that transports goods between north and south, and he's the sort of guy who always knows a guy who knows a guy. Lii'ja was a fierce warrior in her prime, but i'm not exactly sure on where and how these two's backstories connect(ignore the blurb on lii'ja's drawing)

outside of the other princesses and the few friends she had that survived Whinneystone, she doesn't have very many. she's taken a shining to the kitchen staff, though, and they're usually willing to humor her and include her in their work. castle staff seem to love her in general, since she says "thank you" more than any of the other princesses. she's implicitly re-teaching the others their manners LOL

honestly i haven't thought about the intricacies of the war very much. i can tell you what i *do* know, though.

the Griffons are currently trying to invade Equestria to get to a different country that they're at war with(what are they at war about? i don't know yet, sorry..), believing that Equestria is weak and old, so they'd be an easy target

Equestria has a vested interest in not being invaded

the Changeling Hive also has a vested interest in Equestria not being invaded(because pony love is their main food source)

Equestria and the Changeling Hive are allies, and nobody is happy about it

the Griffons gravely underestimated how strong Equestria is and are now paying the price for that

Equestria is not interested in conquest or expansion, only protecting what they already have

the other country the Griffons are at war with are not interested in invading Equestria, and wants nothing to do with Equestria, despite their calls for them to help stop the Griffons

i think the most plausible country the Griffons could be at war with would be Yakyakistan? but someone who is more knowledgable about MLP:FIM's geopolitics would probably have more insight on that than me.

Unbelievably.

in this AU Twilight is more neurotic and self-absorbed. she believed(or perhaps knew?) from the start that she would one day take Celestia's place and become an alicorn, and now that Sandwich has, in her mind, "taken" that chance from her she is going off the deep end mentally. Little does she know, Celestia sent her to Ponyville to find friends specifically so she'd grow out of this behavior and realize that her becoming a princess was *not* an inevitability, and that she had to make her peace with that. Only then would she have been able to prove herself worthy of her wings.

Twilight believes that Sandwich somehow had a hoof in Celestia's murder, that Sandwich is a bad omen and shouldn't be anywhere near Canterlot, especially in times like these. She stepped up to teach the filly magic so that she could keep a close eye on her, and perhaps manipulate her into her political puppet later on. It isn't working very well though, as she seems determined to make Sandwich dislike her as much as possible. She's not a great teacher, hell, she didn't even get the chance to finish being a student.

Since Sandwich moved into Canterlot Castle, Twilight hasn't been in Ponyville at all, and her friends are starting to worry. Letters from Cadence and Luna saying that her mental state has deteriorated don't help matters. Perhaps they should check in on their friend, and help Sandwich out in the process...

Can you tell me more about the relationship between cadence and Chrysalis in this au? Do the events of canterlot wedding still happen despite the war?

the Canterlot Wedding events happen almost exactly as they did in canon, they're quite recent, in fact. However, Chrysalis is a more nuanced person in this AU, believing that what she did was simply a matter of survival, to feed her subjects after a long period of starvation, rather than a conquest to dominate the world. Since then, after the Hive and Equestria allied against the Griffons(they allied quite recently, though the Hive had been providing assistance for a decade prior, it wasn't an official alliance until after the events of Canterlot Wedding), Equestria has struck a deal with Chrysalis, allowing her and her subjects to feed off of Equestrian love(in moderation) in exchange for military assistance and manufacturing Equestrian armor. They need all the help they can get after losing Celestia.

Cadence and Chrysalis are tentatively becoming friendly with each other. Cadence is a very forgiving pony, but she is also very protective of what she loves, and she needs to know that Chrysalis truly wants to put the past behind them before anything can bloom.

Chrysalis x Cadence x Shining does end up becoming a thing, a loooong way into the future.

Is the Crystal empire on the war front?

Yes, it's actually seen the most combat so far. Since it's one of Equestria's main economic hubs, the Griffons wish to capture it for themselves. If they gain control of the Crystal Empire, it would be a serious blow to Equestria. Cadence and Shining Armor are more than able to fight the Griffons off, and they have been, but the sheer amount of combat that the Empire is facing has made it stressful to keep up with. The Griffons are nothing if not stubborn.

Does little sandwich know anything about the war!?

She's been right in the middle of it. She doesn't understand all of the politics, but she does know that the war killed her family, and that she'll do anything she can to stop anybody else from getting killed, Griffon or Pony. Unfortunately, she's still a kid, so she can't really do much right now. It frustrates and upsets her.

Will she have to fight????

If Luna has anything to say about it, absolutely not. Unfortunately, though, you can't protect a kid from everything, so she will inevitably face combat again. As she gets older, she will probably be able to lead her own army under the guidance of Luna or Cadence.

Corn Starch was the "town beauty" who'd lived in Whinneystone for his entire life. After getting out of the Army at 25 and moving back home, he met 27-year-old Sourdough Savant, a newcomer who'd gotten out of the Wonderbolts a few months prior due to a severe injury. The two were smitten with each other near-instantly, and proclaimed that they were to be married. However, Missus Charcuterie, Starch's mother, opposed this to her very core, believing that Starch should marry the daughter of the town's mayor, Vignette. Sourdough, being from Cloudsdale and deeply amused by the country fairytale-ness of it all, let the argument draw out for a good six months until she finally put her hoof down and told Missus Charcuterie that if she wouldn't let her son marry her, then they'd have no choice but to elope to Ponyville. Charcuterie, having a vendetta against Ponyville due to receiving a bad batch of Sweet Apple Acres Zapp Apple Jam over thirty years ago, relented and allowed the two to marry. She would rather have her son marry a city-girl nobody than elope to Ponyville and mingle with those "unscrupulous hicks."

The two genuinely loved each other with every ounce of their being, it was really a "true love at first sight" type situation. They had Sandwich Bread at the ages of 45(Starch) and 47(Sourdough), after a number of pregnancies that didn't go as planned(though two later pregnancies were successful, i plan on designing Sandwich's younger siblings at some point...).

They bonded over their shared experience in the military, though Sourdough saw more combat than Starch did. Sourdough was an airborne medic, her job was to catch falling pegasi out of the sky and return them to the ground. Unfortunately, her back leg was blasted off by Griffon artillery and she became one of those fallen pegasi. She barely managed to glide towards the ground, saving her life. After being discharged, she decided to move to Whinneystone to get away from the war, since at the time Griffon forces hadn't reached that far.

Starch and Sourdough tried desperately to protect their children from the horrors of war, they wanted nothing more than to let their children have an innocent existence where there was no hurt, no pain. Things don't tend to work out that way, though.

They're buried in the charred backyard of the family bakery, alongside Starch's parents.

Also how would the Mane 6 react upon learning about how Twilight treats Sandwich? Can’t imagine they’d be thrilled with their friend’s behavior.

Twilight definitely could, and probably would, if Luna weren't there.

Luna is a very powerful alicorn, even despite her weakened post-banishment state. She is Celestia's sister, after all, and she is no less powerful than her sister. Her weaknesses lie not in magic, but in experience. Equestria is not the same place as it was a thousand years ago, and it takes more to run it now. She's doing well, but not as perfectly as Celestia was.

Twilight has no chance of standing up to Luna right now, the only way she would be able to kill Sandwich is while Luna is preoccupied outside of Canterlot, and she surely would not survive to take the throne for herself. But Twilight does deeply desire to get rid of Sandwich, by any means necessary. Right now, her strategy is to make Sandwich hate being a princess as much as possible, in hopes that she will run away and her seat will vacate, leaving Twilight the only worthy pony left to ascend.

Applejack in particular would have a LOT to say about Twilight's behavior. All of them think she's in the wrong, but Applejack in particular feels very strongly about treating children kindly and believes that Twilight is completely out of line. It would definitely put a strain on their friendship, all of their friendships. You can't help somepony who doesn't want to be helped.

I believe eventually Twilight would be able to get back on the road to redemption, but unfortunately it will take a while, and Sandwich is going to be in the middle of it.

nooo idea where you got that from.... i have no idea.... /j (yes, she most certainly is, though i doubt she's diagnosed right now. i'm autistic too! and i based her off of how i was as a child, though she's gone through a bit of a personality shift after so many traumatic events happening all in sequence.)