#rnr!au

Fandom: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic (specifically the "Rock'n'Royal AU" by @earthsong9405)

Rating: T

Keywords: F/F, Rarity/Twilight Sparkle, Romance, Comedy, Anthro, AU

Read it on: Fimfiction, Fanfiction.net, AO3, dA

Cover art by @earthsong9405

Alrighty so I still don’t quite have a name for the band but meh, I guess we’ll figure it out as we go! Wanna talk about some of the characters anyhow. C:

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The Band: Goes by the name of Rock’n’Royal, I decided that the band that Twi leads is almost entirely indie, in which they don’t have a record label or anything of the sort and make their own way through the industry. Since starting, the band has reached a staggering amount of success and has been approached several times with the offer of a label, but those offers are ultimately turned down in favor of doing things their way. The genre of music they play is generally classified as “rock” or perhaps “alternative rock”, but the band is too experimental and collaborative for it to be stuck in one specific niche.

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Twilight Sparkle: The cute dork who somehow managed to elevate herself into rock stardom, Twilight is the lead singer, guitarist, and what’s essentially the manager of the band. Twilight in this AU is far more confident in her abilities, sometimes to the point of being borderline cocky, but when she isn’t on stage she’s still the same bookworm who gets flustered at some of the sweetest gestures and will gladly talk your ear off about the newest scientific discovery: the fans eat it all up. She’s known as “The Princess” or “Your Highness” to her fans; not something she came up with, but she goes along with it.

Trixie Lulamoon: The loudmouth of the group and every bit the showoff, Trixie plays the keytar and is the secondary vocalist. She’s also the primary lyricist of the band: Twilight can sing and can write the general tune of the song, but when it comes to lyrics she’s... pretty bad. Given her talent for talking up hype, Trixie’s often in charge of promoting the band however she can, whether that be blogging about their tours or making posters or bragging: the band has skill, but if it weren’t for Trixie’s constant promoting and networking they wouldn’t be as well known as they currently are. Twi might be the leader, but Trixie’s often the one who is in the limelight and in front of cameras as the voice of the band (Twi’s still a bit camera shy). She’s referred to as “The Great and Powerful” by their fans. Yes, she is definitely the source of it.

Big Macintosh: The big, big, big boi of the group and the only stallion of the band, Big Mac provides his talents in the form of drumming. Sometimes the group does acapella, in which he provides the bass and even sometimes lead vocals. Mac rarely speaks and is known as the silent one of the group, but give him a pair of drum sticks and he’ll go wild. Like his sister, he can play one hell of a banjo. He’s often referred to as “The Gentle Knight” of the band: looming, silent, protective presence, there’s no real need for a bodyguard with him around.

Fluttershy: The newest member of the band, Fluttershy brings to the group her talent with the bass guitar, violin, and piano. Fluttershy’s known Twilight for most of her life and her inclusion into the band started when Twi asked Shy to play the violin for one of their tracks. The song went viral and, when it came time to feature it in a concert, Twi asked Fluttershy if she’d be willing to be the one to play her own part: it wouldn’t be the same if they got some random player to do it. She agreed, and despite her nervousness of being on stage, once she got to playing all of it momentarily disappears. The crowd ate it up and kept asking about the “quiet little fae” playing the violin, and it eventually escalated to Fluttershy becoming a part of the band officially. Nervousness aside, Shy does like the attention she gets but in small doses, so while she’s willing to play on stage she often opts out of interviews or, when she does go, she’s seen clinging to one of her bandmates (most often Twilight or Big Mac). She’s known to the fans as “The Fae” or “The Maiden”.

Applejack: Despite being best buds with Twi and the sister of Big Mac, AJ isn’t actually a part of the band. Well... at least officially. She often acts as the band’s tour-bus driver and, when Twi freaks out a bit, the band manager. She’s the one who helps keep everyone in line and focused on the task at hand, so I guess that makes her more of the manager than it does Twily (who mostly focuses on scheduling and making sure they make appointments on time). She may not be an official member but she has played with the band some, able to take up bass and one hell of a banjo and even vocals. As far as the fans are concerned, she’s as much a part of the band’s official lineup as anyone else. Known for her sincerity and honesty, she’s sometimes called “The Honest Knight” or the “Noble Mare”. There’s also, of course, “Country Beef”, of which both Apple siblings are referred to as. The fans love them some muscular Apple farmers.

Spike: Young roadie of the band and near constant companion to Twilight, Spike helps set up and tear down the equipment for the band’s shows and to keep the band on schedule. He’s resourceful and reliable and takes after Twi’s need to keep everything on schedule, but unlike Twi he’s able to roll with the punches more and, if something does go off schedule, figure out a way to remain on task on the fly. Spike also handles the mail the group gets, ranging from fanmail to inquiries to bills, so on. I’m also considering making him the band’s merch artist: I can see Spike being talented at art for his age and they allowed him to design some of their merch. Spikey works more behind the scenes but he gets his fair share of attention; Twi isn’t afraid to brag about him.

Rarity: Upcoming fashionista fresh out of college, Rarity’s the mare who has the skill and dedication to make it, now she just needs the chance. She runs her own online boutique that has been fairly successful, but she wants to aim higher, to work in the fashion industry and hopefully alongside some of her idols. When she lands an interview with one of the biggest name-brand boutiques in Equestria, she hits a creative block that lasts for weeks and leaves her stressed and nearly pulling her mane out. Rainbow brings her to a concert that helps her out of that block, but when the interview ends badly thanks to some stuffy stuck up unwilling to give her a chance, she finds her start in a way she didn’t anticipate: she becomes Twi’s band’s costume designer for their upcoming tour.

Rainbow Dash: An aspiring athlete pursuing a career in professional sports (and to join her dream team, The Wonderbolts), Dash is Rarity’s roommate and best friend since childhood. She works at a weather factory to make ends meet but trains and practices as often as she can to keep in tip-top shape in hopes of scoring a place on the Wonderbolt’s armature team the next coming annual tryout session. She also has a surprisingly entrenched grasp on painting, so much so that she has a decent online following for her work and even offers commissions as a sort of side-hustle for some extra cash. RD is supportive of Rarity’s endeavors into her career (and vice versa) and often acts as a creative buff for Rarity, helping her out when the stress gets to be too much. Her latest success of pulling Rarebear out of a funk is bringing her to her favorite indie band, but she didn’t exactly expect it to go the way it did! That’s alright though: that just equates to a road trip, so of course she tags along.

Pinkie Pie: Works at the bakery Rarity and Rainbow frequent, Pinkie’s as sweet and as excitable as she always has been. She’s known the pair for about 4 years now, providing cupcakes and coffee all throughout college, and they’ve been good friends ever since with the bakery being the unofficial “hangout spot” for them. When Rarity snags the job as the band’s costume designer and asks if Rainbow and Pinkie want to come, Pinkie is almost forced to go by Donut Joe; of the four years she’s worked for him, not once has she taken any vacation days and it’s about time she takes some time away from work. I’m thinking in this AU Pinkie might be a bit of a workaholic, if only because she might be one of the main sources of income for her family ever since her father fell ill. This is subject to change but we’ll see.

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Celestia: A retired music icon who has taken up politics and opened up her own school, Celestia was once known (and still is) as the Queen of Rock. Celestia’s school is well known for their stellar Magi-science program and their arts program (including music), and while she no longer personally teaches there she still does visit the school often and offers workshops and mentoring. She is one of the sources of Twilight’s desire to become a rockstar, the others being Shining Armor (who had his own indie band before ultimately disbanding for the military) and Luna. She doesn’t have any official say in what the band does, but she is a source of advice and wisdom who’s willing to offer a tip or two to help the band succeed.

Luna: Retired music icon who’s settled more into the musical world than Celestia has, Luna was once (and still is) hailed as one of the best drummers in Equestria. She and Celestia were a trio-band with Discord back in their hay-day, with Celly as the vocalist and guitarist, Luna as the drummer and songwriter,  and Discord as bass guitarist. While both have ultimately stepped away from the limelight, Luna found her own calling in being a professional songwriter and lyricist. Like Celestia, Luna holds workshops and mentorship programs at Celly’s school. Whereas Twilight became Celestia’s star pupil, Trixie became Luna’s, and the two’s friendship and eventual collaboration into a band was born out of a friendly rivalry from it.

Discord: Retired music icon who has found his calling in musical management, Discord was once part of Celly and Lulu’s band (called LCD). He was primarily the bass guitarist but he’s well-known for being able to play almost any instrument in existence. No one really knows how he managed that, but there ya go: due to his talent he’s often hailed as the “Lord of music”. When the band ultimately disbanded in favor of retirement and pursuing their own careers in other areas, Discord remained interested in having some part in a band and, surprisingly, became a professional band manager and head of his own record label company. Given how spontaneous and chaotic he is, one would think this wouldn’t really work in the music industry... but to everyone’s surprise, it has. He isn’t quite mentor material like Luna and Celestia, but his own methods of teaching and guiding seem to have an overall positive effect, even if sometimes there’s controversy when he’s near.

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Apple Bloom: The youngest member of the esteemed Apple family, AB is just as enthusiastic about music as she is apple bucking. More over, she’s far more interested in how the technology of music works than actually playing it, though she has quite the soft spot for the banjo and its simplicity (thanks to her older siblings). Apple Bloom often is made to stay home with Granny Smith when her older sibs strike out on tour, but this time she really, really wants to go. And by george she’s gonna make it happen!

Sweetie Belle: The young sister of Rarity with an affinity for music, Sweetie Belle swears that one day she’ll be a rockstar. She got hooked onto this notion after seeing a Rock’n’Royal concert on TV, and she couldn’t tear her eyes away from the lead singer as she shred on the guitar, or the very pretty blue mare playing some sort of piano-like guitar and flipping her mane like it was an art. And in that moment, Sweetie knew exactly what she wanted to be when she grew up. In this AU I’m thinking Rarity’s parents are a bit more... neglectful, than they actually are in canon (or in my headcanon), so Sweetie lives with Rarity. That means wherever Rarebear goes, Sweetie goes, and because of it she’ll soon get to meet a couple of kids who’ll become her bestest friends.

Fandom: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic (specifically the "Rock'n'Royal AU" by @earthsong9405)

Rating: T

Keywords: F/F, Rarity/Twilight Sparkle, Romance, Comedy, Anthro, AU

Read it on: Fimfiction, Fanfiction.net, AO3, dA

Cover art by @earthsong9405​

Fandom: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic (specifically the "Rock'n'Royal AU" by @earthsong9405)

Rating: T

Keywords: F/F, Rarity/Twilight Sparkle, Romance, Comedy, Anthro, AU

Read it on: Fimfiction, Fanfiction.net, AO3, dA

Now finally on multiple platforms and with new cover art (by @earthsong9405​ of course)!

Fandom: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic (specifically the "Rock'n'Royal AU" by @earthsong9405)

Rating: T

Keywords: F/F, Rarity/Twilight Sparkle, Romance, Comedy, Anthro, AU

Read it on: Fimfiction, Fanfiction.net (later), AO3 (later)

Sheesh, it feels like this one took forever. Anyway.

Some quick fun little snippets of detail about the Rock’n’Royal!AU! :3 

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-Twilight, as seen in this image HERE, is muscular and fit in this AU. She wasn’t always like this however; when she first set out to start the band she was tall, lanky, and a bit scrawny, a bit of an oddball in stature in comparison to her family. Applejack (and Shining) figured it’d help her image as a “rockstar” if she got more fit, so AJ set her on the workout regime that she goes by. At first Twi hated it, but the longer she went about it the more she enjoyed the workouts (the bonus being that it helped her with her magic control), and since then it’s always been an integral part of her morning routines.

TL:DR- in this AU AJ and Twi are workout buds because Twi, scrawny as a noodle, went “I wanna be a rockstar! :D” And AJ essentially said “Not with yer arms so tiny you ain’t” and helped her become moderate beefy.

-Pinkie’s almost borderline workaholic in this AU. Bubbly and happy as she seems, she doesn’t go out as often as she often would otherwise because she is one of the main sources of income for her family. Her father has long since passed and her mother can’t work due to falling very ill. Between herself and her sisters, they’ve managed to be able to take care of their mother as well as the family rock farm, but it’s been tough, so much so that talk of just giving up the generations-old farm may be something they have to resort to. That’s not including Pinkie paying her own way through college.

-Rarity is the caretaker of Sweetie Belle, at this point more of a mother to her than their own mother in this AU. While Sweetie does go and stay for weekends at their parents, she lives with Rarity: this is because their parents, while not abusive, are pretty neglectful in this AU. They constantly leave for vacations,  they often “forgot” to feed their daughters when around, sometimes they’d leave spontaneously and would lock all the doors of the house and... forget, that their children were at school, or forget to pick them up from school... they claim simple “forgetfulness” when their negligence is referred to, and this has been the case ever since Rarity was young, even before Sweetie was born. Rainbow and her family were there the whole time, letting Rarity and when she was born, Sweetie) stay at their house for as long as they needed or even (in Rainbow’s case) actually breaking into Rarity’s house to unlock the doors for her so she and Sweetie could get inside. This is why Rarity is essentially the parental figure to her baby sister and why she has very, very little trust in her parents.

-Shining Armor was once the leader of an indie band himself while in highschool! Unlike Twilight, though, his band was moreso a hobby and not so much something he wanted to pursue as a career. Despite this, he’s one of the reasons why Twi became so adamant about becoming a musician. Fun Fact: he’s the one who taught Twily how to play guitar when she was little.

-Rainbow and Scoots are cousins in this AU. How? One of Scoots’ moms are the little sister of Rainbow’s father! Despite being cousins their relationships is moreso big sister-little sister, and Scoots looks up to big cuz’ Rainbow quite a bit. Because Scootaloo visits Rainbow often, she’s already met Sweetie Belle and they have become fast friends.

-The Apple Family are not only famous across Equestria, they have the most sought-after produce and merchandise. As such, they are in very, very good financial standing, to the point that AJ, Big Mac, and Apple Bloom don’t have to constantly tend to the farm and hire workers for them. The siblings still prefer to work the farm themselves, ever since Big Mac became part of Rock’n’Royal (and by default, AJ) they simply don’t have the time to do so anymore, so Granny just hires works to do the tending for her (she, of course, is still out there overseeing everything)

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Mmmm... I dunno. One of the ideas Chibi supplied was that Twilight was often called “The Princess” or “Your Highness” due to her role as the band’s lead guitarist and singer (aaaaand maybe some of the fan worship that came with the band’s growing fame) and I just can’t pass that up, so maybe something more along the lines of royalty? I guess the band’s name doesn’t really need to reflect that though... I kinda like Dark Matter though. o: More suggestions are of course welcome though!

As for who’s in the band as of right now:

-Twilight, of course, is the lead singer and lead guitarist.

-Trixie as the rhythm guitarist (often plays the keytar but can play the electric guitar fine) and secondary vocalist. She is also the lyricist of the band: Twi can sing and come up with the general melody of the songs, but she’s pretty bad at coming up with the words for it (which is kinda funny given how good she is with them otherwise).

-Big Mac as the drummer and, when the group sings acapella, the bass. Can also play a mean banjo.

-Fluttershy’s the newest member of the band and she plays the violin and the piano. I also find it kinda amusing if she knew how to play bass very well, as a sort of nod to her “Flutterguy” voice.

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So these are subject to change because I haven’t fully made my mind up about it yet. On one side I love the idea that the band is like fam and I can easily put in Pinkie and AJ to replace Big Mac and Trixie, and have the Mane 6′s friendship form like that.

But on the other hand I really like the idea of the Mane 6 becoming best friends despite not all of them being in the band (hence two members of them not being in the Mane 6 group), so their relationship between one another grows because of something else and not so much because of the band itself. It would also be something I haven’t really done before: having characters other than the Mane 6 being kinda center stage, and I think it may be what I need to do something different for myself in AUs.