It all depends on how formulaic you want to design the encounters. If you want to rule out physical confrontation (which I think doesnt really fit the theme), you could set up skill challenges, where you have to overcome an obstacle with skill checks. For example: you need to convince a guardspony of your innocence. You got a skill representing your conversation capabilities, so does the guard. now you and the guard make comparing skill checks. If after, say, 3 rounds of that you got more successes then the guard, he is convinced that you are innocent. If the obstacle is inanimate, I would set up 2 different perimeters. Lets say you need to repair a bridge. Your Pony got a woodworks skill, ranging, say, from 1-10. The GM sets up a fixed value you need to be able to repair the bridge with skill alone. If it's lower you need to make skillchecks to find out if you are able to do it, if it's higher, you only need to check if it's a time sensitive situation. However, and here comes where in my eyes the fun of Pen&Paper RPG comes in, the GM can allow his/her players to explain how they do it, and give them a bonus on their checks or make their checks easier. Like, say, you are a pegasus and explain that you use your flying to speed up the bridge repair. Or you got a really good explanation why you can't be the one who stole the princesses priced pet. I hope that makes sense.