#table scraps

any land that was originally on their side of the border belongs to the islanders, and it's theirs to govern as they wish. relations have been good so there are a lot of equestrian residents, and a lot of islander residents on the other side

firstly, I wanted the herd to be modeled off a specific tribe. the arikara people were picked because of their traditionally semi-nomadic lifestyle, but coincidentally also would traditionally style horns in their hair so they looked like parts of their own bodies. which was cool. I also thought it was like. kind of weird???? that there was a specific Native American Species. so. there would be native coded dragons, griffons, ponies, and hippocampus as background and side characters just like. throughout the show. and lastly I just thought it'd be fun if braeburn and strongheart were reimagined as being reincarnations of the tex and wigwam toys

the arikara herd always had a tradition of stampeding alongside a river that stretched from one end of the continent to the other. when the two came together, the equestrians helped to extend that river as a show of good faith, and the herd has complete ownership of one side. now villages, towns, and cities are dotted all along the other side of the river.

braeburn is the new mayor of one such riverside town. he was close childhood friends with kaakeehāni, and both were very close with applejack. having heard of her adventures with her new friends, he summons them all to "settle things". he's begun expanding. out onto the bisons side of the river, and he swears up and down that it was legally signed away and that arinasāwax is unfairly going back on his word. of course. this is not true. braeburn wanted to expand and felt it was "unfair" the bison were taking up equestrian land, even though they've owned it for several generations now

applejack would spend most of the episode on his side, refusing to even entertain the idea that he would be lying. eventually he admits it and she's shaken in her identity as an apple. as a whole it would be about not letting who your family is (or who they're supposed to be) put too much weight on your identity as a person.

twilight and fluttershy would spend most of the episode "both sides"ing the issue. it would still be an early episode and twilight is very new to being an element of harmony. so far conflict has largely been settled by finding a middle ground. she has to learn that's not always the case. for fluttershy it would be about learning to accept conflict is sometimes necessary, even though it's scary

rainbow dash and rarity would spend most of the episode with kaakeehāni, and then doing good-cop-bad-cop to braeburn. ultimately rainbow dash would have to intimidate him into confessing. they don't have lessons to learn today

and pinkie would spend it trying to mediate between all these differing viewpoints. running around like a chicken with her head cut off trying to make sure no one is mad at each other. of course, the fragile new friend group doesn't break up like she fears, and she learns to be a little more confident in her relationships