Rannil

"I was making a joke? Haha!? Funny me?" She said softly and her voice was filled with doubt. Azura Song felt like like she was making a fool out of herself this way, but the pony she was talking too didn't seem to mind and still wanted to help. She did wonder why she was so stumbling with words, back outside on the road she never had those problems, even when alone. Then an idea struck her. "Pretend you are on the road." She thought to herself. "Pretend you are on the road." She repeated in her mind. "Pretend you are on the road." The last one escaped her lips as a soft whisper, but Azura didn't notice, she started to feel a bit more confidant. "I mean... I am not really used to these parties... Alone... you know... you could help with, I guess, if you want." She said with a lot less confidence then she had hoped, but still it sounded a lot less foolish.

She was so surprised that another pony was talking to hear Azura Song barely heard what he said. But she knew how to reply, it's one of those etiquette that they kept repeating. "Greet, say your name, your job or role and why you are important." She nodded to the lesson in her head. "Greeting, I'm Azura Song. I'm new here and not really important." She said with less confidence each word, but she was nervously raising her voice slightly. Realizing she kinda sounded awkwardly stupid she smiled nervously and tried to laugh quietly, trying her best not to walk backwards. In the hopes she could pass it off as a joke. She felt like she just disappointed any teacher she ever had.

Azura Song quickly found her way to the ballroom by following the music. It was a long time ago she entered a place like this, okay this was way bigger, but it still felt familiar. All kind of memories buzzed in her head and she could almost envision her mother singing here. For a moment Azura smiled, sunken in memories and then she shook her head. That was the past and this was different, this was The Grand Galloping Gala! Suddenly she realized she most look weird, standing in the entrance like this. She quickly walked further inside and towards the wall. It was weird walking in a dress after all these years and she missed the weight of her guitar. The nice guard at the gate told her that only registered musicians could play inside, Azura would have made a fuzz out of it but her want to visit the gala was greater and she grudgingly had left her guitar in the care of the guard. For a moment she looked around, seeing what was happening until it stroke her. Back home she always had had a friend or a guardian that took her around, showed her the place and introduced her to ponies to talk to. She never visited a party alone before and she had no idea how to mingle on her own. She tried to get close to other ponies to start an conversation, but each time she started to feel nervously, took a few steps back and tried to look as blank as possible to avoid looking afraid or strange.

Updated! Change log: changed the last two verses of the song to reflect the story better. Split the 5th paragraph in the story into 3 new paragraphs and gave it more detail and a better explanation for her actions. Added a random misc part to the bottom with some minor related info. The reasoning behind her name and the names of her parents. In case you don't want to read all, or want to compare the old paragraphs to the new ones: Old version: She realized the city was to big She needed a smaller gig Her mind was set, goodbye city She no longer needed anyponies pity Now playing for a smaller crowd And now she enjoy the world out loud But sometimes she thinks back of the city And then gives all the ponies there her pity --- --- It was on one of those days she was introduced to the guitar, a far more modern instrument then others according her caretaker, and she couldn't take her eyes of it. Then her ponysitter got called away, leaving her alone with the instrument. Azura instantly took it and went to the roof. The sun was setting, but the city was still busy as ever. She saw the many tall buildings and the busy streets. And something inside her wanted to play, there and then, for the entire city, and so Azura did. She had played so many instruments in her life, but this one, this one instantly felt like a part or her, and she played for hours. When she was done she felt so happy, yet she got the feeling she didn't share her feelings with anypony in the city. It was there and then that she decided that she wanted to share her love for this instrument with the world, but that the city was too big and too cold for her. In the spur of the moment she collected some of her stuff and looked for the last time in the mirror. There she saw her cutie mark, the guitar she admired that night, and she felt it was a sign, she was going to do the right thing. She stole the guitar and fled her house, left the city and didn't look back once that day. Changed parts: She felt the city was so secluded And she didn't want her music excluded, Her mind was set, goodbye city She no longer needed anyponies pity Quickly outside the city her heart got warmed Everypony thanked her after she performed But sometimes she thinks back of the city And then gives all the ponies there her pity --- --- It was on one of those days she was introduced to the guitar, a far more modern instrument than others according to her caretaker, and she couldn't take her eyes of it. Then her ponysitter got called away, leaving her alone with the instrument. Azura instantly took it and went to the roof. The sun was setting, but the city was still as busy as ever. She saw the many tall buildings and the busy streets. And something inside her wanted to play, there and then, for the entire city, and so Azura did. She had played so many instruments in her life, but this one, this one instantly felt like a part of her, and she played for hours. At some point she fell asleep and was awoken by both her parents, both excitingly pointing out Azura had found her cutiemark. She had a big party and for a moment she felt like she had a normal family, it was a night and day she would never forget. But discovering her talent didn't mean Azura knew how she wanted to use it. Her mother adored the fact her daughter had a musical talent, like she always wanted. She tried to help Azura by letting her play at various places. But Azura disliked it, most of those places were high class and the attending ponies wanted calm music for in the background. But worse was that no almost no pony thanked her, especially the guests. Azura also tried to find her own way, by sneaking outside the house and playing on the streets. At least there she could play any type of music. Unlike the high class ponies she did get a compliment, or a coin, from the people that listened, but again most ponies walked past her ignoring her completely. The young pony slowly started to get the feeling her talents were wasted. She started to long to live the life Gallant Specter described in his stories. In those stories the world was filled with smaller cities where ponies were more open and always there, even for strangers. While in this big city, filled with so many ponies, barely anypony ever spoke a word to her. That night she decided that she wanted to travel the world to share her music with the ponies of outside the city. She collected some of her stuff, her guitar and looked in the mirror for the last time. . There she saw her cutiemark, and she felt she was going to do the right thing. Then she fled her house, left the city and didn't look back once that day.

The general idea was that she wanted feedback or at least see what other thought of her music and that was too hard for her to get close to the city, but from the stories she heard the world was "filled with small groups of ponies" (aka the friends her ponysitter made on his "adventures"). In hindsight that makes the whole roof scene less logic if she solely bases her decision of that. Going to rewrite that (soon) to make it a bit longer and point out a few things I forget to add. From a story perspective: Both parents agreed on the fancy and rare name of Azura, based on the azure color of their daughter. But then her mother, hopeful that their daughter will become a singer as well, also gave a her a second name of "Song". From a technical side: I believe I got the "Azura" part from a pony name generator, dunno which one. Azura is a rare name based on the word azure (duh?) which was already her color at the time, so a perfect fit. The 'Song' part just "sounded nice" and fitted with the "Traveling musician" idea I had, the chosen instrument came way later and "Azura Guitar" doesn't sound as well as "Azura Song". Besides that I tend to pronounce the entire name with a light melody (a-zhur-É™ so~ng) so I found it a perfect name for a musician. Also within the show most names tend to be 3 syllables, but because these parents are highclass ponies one could assume to might want longer and more impressive names. Also based on the "Apple family" Applebloom might not even have a talent for apples, but she was still named after apples.

[Azura Song] Drifter, Performer and Bard Sex: Female. Age: Filly. Species: Unicorn. Pelt Color: Azure. Mane/Tail Color & Style: White and Purple. The mane is uncombed and wild and sometimes gets compared to a flame. Eye Color: Deep orange. Cutie Mark: A Guitar with music notes (One single note and one double note). Physique: Elegant and slender (almost skinny). Picture: Self made, based on this template and a second template, which has been removed from deviant art, by Fanimusmaximus. Look, a Gala dress, made by a good friend of my who wants to remain anoymous. (Version without the hay bale) Made by a good friend of mine, Huntress-chan. Residence: Homeless, travels a lot. (born: Manehattan). Occupation: Wanderer, singer and lives of the kindness from others, whether it is payment for her songs or just a roof for the night. Motivation: Azura's cutie mark is a guitar, symbolizing her natural talent and love for the instrument. But when she discovered her cutie mark she also learned how trapped she felt in Manehattan and how much she wanted to explore the world, mainly because she wanted to share her talents with other ponies, something she couldn't do well in the big city. Likes: Entertaining ponies, almost everything related to music (singing, playing instruments, making songs, rhyming, etc), cherries Dislikes: Rules, ponies that enforce and stress over rules, mean ponies Character Summary: Let me share you a tale About a pony with a knot in her tail Born in the big cold city But she never felt home, what a pity Her mother was a famous singer Her dad a famous ringer Both were loved by the city But forgot their daughter, what a pity But one day she found her talent When she got a guitar from a gallant That night she played to the city But no one heard her, with a pity She felt the city was so secluded And she didn't want her music excluded, Her mind was set, goodbye city She no longer needed anyponies pity Quickly outside the city her heart got warmed Everypony thanked her after she performed But sometimes she thinks back of the city And then gives all the ponies there her pity That's how Azura sings her own story. The little Azura Song was born in the big city of Manehattan, a city that she always calls "cold, harsh and lonely" but in her heart she still has a spot for the city where she was born. The filly was always curious and tend to explore, but her parents didn't want her outside alone and it was always "don't do that" or "look out for that". And even outside the reach of her parents somepony else blocked her way, prevented her to explore or brought her back to her parents. Also at school she had a hard time fitting in, she never listened to the teachers and always refused to do schoolwork if she didn't understand why she had to learn it. So school ended in a lot of punishment and a lot of detention. It were these events that made her see the city as a prison. At the other side, she couldn't complain. Both her parents were successful ponies and she was always showered with gifts, clothing and general wealth. Her mother was a famous singer whose voice reaches dozens and dozens ponies in the city. Her father, she never knew what her father did except business. Both her parents were always busy and always prioritized work above their child. Between Azura's school and detention and her parents work she was lucky if she saw her parents for more than a couple of hours per week. But the few times she spend with her mother, her mother taught her to sing, to rhyme and many things about both music and the business around music. Her dad at the other hand was always busy, never resting and went from one company crisis to the next business trip, sometimes not coming home for weeks. The young filly couldn't say she hated her father, he was never home. She barely remembered him, except from pictures out old photo-albums. But even when her parents were busy and no one liked her at school she always found a comrade in her ponysitter. Gallant Specter, an old and worldwise pony. The first time they met was on a party where Azura's mother was the star. Although she loved to hear her mother singing, the party itself was to crowded and noisy so she walked outside. There she encountered Gallant Specter, who entertained the young pony with stories of his travels. Because the two hit if off, Azura's mother hired Galant Specter to take care of the youngling when her parents where busy with work. Azura Song liked her new pony sitter and he introduced the young filly to all kinds of new music and new instruments he picked up from the places he visited and also told her many stories about those places. It was on one of those days she was introduced to the guitar, a far more modern instrument than others according to her caretaker, and she couldn't take her eyes of it. Then her ponysitter got called away, leaving her alone with the instrument. Azura instantly took it and went to the roof. The sun was setting, but the city was still as busy as ever. She saw the many tall buildings and the busy streets. And something inside her wanted to play, there and then, for the entire city, and so Azura did. She had played so many instruments in her life, but this one, this one instantly felt like a part of her, and she played for hours. At some point she fell asleep and was awoken by both her parents, both excitingly pointing out Azura had found her cutie mark. She had a big party and for a moment she felt like she had a normal family, it was a night and day she would never forget. But discovering her talent didn't mean Azura knew how she wanted to use it. Her mother adored the fact her daughter had a musical talent, like she always wanted. She tried to help Azura by letting her play at various places. But Azura disliked it, most of those places were high class and the attending ponies wanted calm music for in the background. But worse was that no almost no pony thanked her, especially the guests. Azura also tried to find her own way, by sneaking outside the house and playing on the streets. At least there she could play any type of music. Unlike the high class ponies she did get a compliment, or a coin, from the people that listened, but again most ponies walked past her ignoring her completely. The young pony slowly started to get the feeling her talents were wasted. She started to long to live the life Gallant Specter described in his stories. In those stories the world was filled with smaller cities where ponies were more open and always there, even for strangers. While in this big city, filled with so many ponies, barely anypony ever spoke a word to her. That night she decided that she wanted to travel the world to share her music with the ponies of outside the city. She collected some of her stuff, her guitar and looked in the mirror for the last time. . There she saw her cutie mark, and she felt she was going to do the right thing. Then she fled her house, left the city and didn't look back once that day. Ever since Azura traveled the lands and visited all kinds of places and had many adventures. But living on the road also had her hardships, there were plenty of days she didn't had a lot to eat and needed to sleep outside. But she didn't care, she was enjoying every minute of it. But sometimes, in the middle of nights she thought back off home, wondering how her parents are doing and how mad her caretaker must have been. But the thought of the city sort of scared her, she loved the freedom of being dirty, walking besides the road and running without looking. She had the feeling she would be imprisoned again if she would return home. Misc Info Parents name: Hateur Bristle & Iridescence Shimmer Azura Song's names comes from her colour, Azure and the fact her mother wanted her to become a singer.

I don't want to get spoiled, so I avoid it, but I love reading the comments. You can almost bet 99% are just trolling around and I loved the overblown and weird rumors.

I would guess the similarity is in the same vain as Applejack and Big Macintosh. I think the "Sparkle" is a reference to her cutie mark, which are stars and sort of twinkle. The cutiemark itself is a/the symbol for the elements of harmony and those tend to sparkle as well. Or deeper, one could see the first starts twinkle in the twilight. I mean, the coincidence is there, but the two words are already linked and even somewhat generic paired together.

If you purely want to base it on how the ponies think, there is no or little hierarchy to be found. They don't really have a clear cut idea that one is better then an other. Even Rainbow Dash and Rarity, the more self centered of the bunch, don't see themselves any better. That said there are ponies that get ignored faster or go into action faster and based on that we already have two groups. "Problem solvers" and "Non problem solvers." The "problem solvers" are the ones going into action and either use intelligence (Twilight), Wisdom (Applejack) and Action (Rainbow Dash), with the different of intelligence and wisdom being the difference of book-smart and street-smart. Random action in the pony world tends to lead no where, and Rainbow Dash does a lot of that, but Applejack has sometimes a case of "action now" as well. We do see n the show a lot of example for Applejack prevents Rainbow Dash from doing something irrational. So Applejack clearly is higher then Rainbow Dash. When it comes to Applejack vs Twilight, we see that Applejack mostly uses common sense and mostly uses that to halt other ponies, more so then actually solving problems. Because these ponies are halted, Twilight gets her moment to think, so based on that we assume Applejack is giving Twilight thinking time, thus Twilight is higher. The "non problem solvers" either fulfill other roles, make the problem worse or even when have the answer get ignored. Those three would be Fluttershy, Pinky Pie and Rarity. First off, Rarity. You seem to like Rarity a lot, but she is mostly "the problem" (Most fashion episodes). And even when she can handle herself (Dog and Pony Show), she still is the problem and needs to be saved in the mind of the other ponies. She doesn't offer a lot of advise or solves a lot of problems, but at least she can voice herself, unlike Pinky Pie who gets ignored often and Fluttershy who gets almost always ignored. Fluttershy even held the answer in some cases, but either gets ignored, or she doesn't speak up. Pinky Pie tries to voice her concerns, but mostly got shot down. For the roles they fulfill it gets a bit harder for me to find the right words. Rarity does the looks, sees details, has expertise. Pinky Pie mostly tries to think out of the box, either bringing humor to ponies or the audience. Fluttershy has her animal expertise and because that in many cases knows the answer, but she doesn't act upon it. In list form we get: Twilight Sparkle: Problem solver (with logic and booksmart and magic) Apple Jack: Problem solver (with common snese)/Prevents other ponies from rushing in/Muscle Rainbow Dash: Muscle/Quick reactions to save other ponies. Rarity: Worries about the group looks/focuses on details Pinky Pie: Outside the box thinker (Which mostly fails)/Entertainer Fluttershy: Knowing how to deal with animals/Helping hand in peaceful need/Hidden last resort (Stare master) With the only difference of Rarity dropping a bit, not sure bout that, but when facing a problem she doesn't take any lead or offer any advise mostly, but when she wants to be heard, she gets heard. And the entire hierarchy is based on how often the other ponies listen to that pony. And me not being able to find single words to describe roles.

Don't forget the rainbow. Rainbows are fabulous in the mind of the public. There are a lot less people calling Apple Jack gay because she is a tomboy.

@Ginger Mint Heya, good to see there are people out there with a positive outlook on Princess Celestia. In general I wanted to state that Celestia doesn't have to be "mean" to play pranks or practical jokes. We have seen before, that at least in Ponyville, those kind of pranks are generally accepted (Think Griffon Brush Off). It is all in good fun and maybe except a couple of high class ponies I do expect most of the Gala can deal with it. And to be fair in earlier episodes it was hard to say whether Princess Celestia was doing such jokes on purpose or not (but there was an instance were she surprised Spike by personally getting the letter), but at the end of the Gala Epiode she says she invited the ponies "to living things up a bit"*, implying she knew the ponies would crash the party and she allowed it on purpose. It is hard to say of her other statements (best gala ever & the gala is always awful) were from er personal view or general view from the attendees. I can imagine that there were at least groups, like the wonderbolts, who could also share the feeling Celestia has over the Gala. Also I am sure some of the musicians enjoyed Pinky Pie's tries. But whether you see Celestia as a bored prankser or not, there is nothing to imply she doesn't care about her subjects *That line is up there with "Philomena playing a trick" while the bird was overdramatically faking her dead. Which made a lot of people shout out "Trollestia". (To be fair, it might have been explaining all the birds behavior, not just the faking dead) History is always written by the winners.

To be honest, we never have seen Princess Celestia in a true mentor role. She nods friendly when Twilight Sparkle, or her friends, gives a report, but ti lacks evaluation. Also the shows portrays Twilight as really wanting to have and be near the Princess, while the Princess is always busy or some chaos happens and even if the Princess isn't busy she never stays long. In those cases its more like "the mother that always busy" then a mentor, who should have time for her "Most Faithful Student" (but she has time for pranks? Hmhm). As for the entire Luna thing, barely anything in the show talks about the conflict, except a ponytale book, so... Say if I would write a story about that conflict, I would portray Princess Celestia cornered, out of options and she needs time. She would lack said 5 ponies to carry the elements of harmony, so she can only use the magic one to increase her powers, or though it out and hope such ponies will arise in the endless night. Or something like that. Anyway she choose to use magic to buy herself time and give the ponies peace, but the spell was a bit longer then expected. But your vision may vary. The internet loves the idea of Celestia putting Luna in the moon over something minor and based on the show it makes more sense then my idea.

At the one side I see Princess Celestia, as a ruler in a near utopia with total control, getting bored. She doesn't seem to want to be friends with the mane cast, but more have fun with them. We have seen many times that she starts a problem, mainly by withholding something (whether items, or information). In case of the Ticket Master she send 2 tickets, even though she had know there were at least 5 friends (Elements of Harmony) Twilight had made, and Spike. I am pretty sure she was watching it and like us viewers, having fun. Also the entire "phoenix problem", taking bird that is clearly sick looking to a city full of ponies that never seen a phoenix. She probably also had known Fluttershy is an animal friend and Celestia did know Fluttershy was the element of kindness. Look close at her facial expression, it betrays a friendly smirk, like silent laughter. She is enjoying what the ponies does, but as a ruler can't laugh out loud. Doesn't stop her from making the poor ponies do more comedy. The internet hasn't dubbed her Trollestia for no reason, and a lot of the internet pictures work because she has that smirk, that little spark in her eyes. At the other side we see a ruler that knows what she is doing. Whether it be for good or bad, she clearly knows her place in the world and how ponies react to her. We don't see a lot of her responsibilities in the show, but as we can gather from Twilight Sparkle, she doesn't have a lot of time for "her faithful student". One of the most interesting things I spotted was in the Cutie Mark Chronicles, is that most ponies see there mark appear of find it on their own. Yet Twilight Sparkle gets her pointed out, by the princess, by the horn of the princess, the one that shoots magic and stuff. Also Twilight Sparkle's cutie mark is a symbol for the elements of harmony and Princess Celestia was quite eager to get this pony as her student. Whether Celestia did or not not place Twilight Sparkle's cutiemark is questionable, but Princess Celestia did recognize it and did realize this was a pony that was going to stop Nightmare Moon. She was preparing and she knew what she was doing, all the day up to the defeat of Nightmare Moon, she had it all planned. Also I don't think the conflict was "Luna hving a tantrum.", our sources are small, but it seems both rulers were the same size back then, and something in either being saved from evil/trapped in the moon/Celestia's magic has reverted Luna to a younger stage. Maybe to get a second chance at learning as a child. If you assume Celestia has been planning her return for a long time, we can only expect that the conflict was a lot larger, and only a swift strike of Celestia prevented an ever lasting night. Tl:DR I guess Princess Celestia is a bored ruler that lacks enemies (and even if she had enemies she seems to be competent enough to quickly deal with them). So she just uses the manecast for some fun, maybe because she already used them as pawns to defeat Nightmare Moon.

As a side note: I have heard from people that they would want a t-shirt with a rainbow dash cutie mark, but are afraid that the mark will be confused with gay pride. I am far from experiences on this subject, but I guess in modern youth the teenagers see a rainbow more as gay symbol because the gay groups use it a lot in their image as well. Add that rainbow to a tomboyish girl and add a cup of internet and tadaa. Also, all ponies have been called gay for sake of fanfiction, shipping, pairing, whatever, my advise, don't worry about it, it's clearly all non canon or just internet shouting stuff.

Thanks for adding so much. And the awesome part you address mostly points I didn't touch, mainly family, so it fits together. I do want to discus some major points. First off, I made a fumble somewhere. the cutiemark backstory as presented to us happened at "Flight Camp" and I am pretty sure the pegasi that bullied Rainbow Dash are from "Flight School" (And wasn't Gilda also from "Flight School" and not "Flight Camp"?). So I thought Fluttershy also was from "Flight School", but she isn't. Maybe from a different school or homeschooled. But if she is homeschooled and her first interaction with ponies from the same age were bullies then her shyness makes all the more sense. Also it makes Rainbow Dash stepping in a lot more sense, Rainbow Dash has been bullied on school already. More interesting in is when I googled "flight school" I found this blog with this quote: Which would explain her mental breakdown in that episode, but I don't think that was said in the episode, but it might have been implied. Like I said before, you talk a lot more about family and it's a shame there are barely mention of parents. We have seen Twilight Sparkle's parents and all they did was encourage their daughter and turn into plans (both awesome things btw) and also Pinky Pie's parents, but they did nothing except being colorless and then partying (only one of those two is awesome). What did confuse me was Pinky Pie's grandmother, when Pinky Pie's talks about her grandmother it sounds like her grandmother is "just like Pinky Pie". But if if the rest of the family is way more serious, it either means that Pinky Pie overexaggerated the colorlessness in her life, or perhaps her grandmother was a Black Pink Sheep of the family. As for the rest of the parents, we can speculate, but one thing is sure, most parents trust that their kids can take care of themselves and they probably did got a lot from their parents. Shamefully I have a busy weekend, so i can't go in more detail, but thanks again for contributing. Thanks! Good to see people love this as much as I do.