Where Ponies are just DYING to get in...

[Boss_Hoss1]

In a private RP, the topic came up of cemetaries when city sights were being pointed out in passing as a dark and scary place.

This made me think since Halloween is on it's way and some adventures will inevitably include spooky graveyards and/or Zombponies...

Since like war and rutting, the inevitable end is off-screen but assumed to be taking place somewhere. But after that...

Are there any locations or guidlines for cemetaries in-game? (Aside from being far enough out of town to not be seen by the writers and animators of FiM... I have a tenative idea for Cloudsdale citizens to have theirs on the highest ponts of land visible from Cloudsdale (aside from Canterlot.)

I think it a natural idea that if Pegasus must go in the ground, a least make it as close to the sky as possible.. Perhaps aboveground crypts like New Orleans so they arent actually IN the ground? (and for extra creepieness in Halloween adventures? )

[Manestream]

I answered a similar question about setting earlier, I think it applies to your question. Instead of schools though, your asking about cemeteries. Here you go:

---------------------------------

When RPing, its okay for you to make locations out of a whim for the importance of storyline or setting- what should be understood is that these places arent typically cannon, and may or may not ever be cannon; they are 'in the moment filler' if you would. If a place becomes popular enough to be used in multiple RP's, then it starts to become a type of community landmark, and then might make it into actual board-cannon when we draw up maps of each city.

The trick when creating locations like this is to be more descriptive about the setting, or what your pony notices; its not about building the school and staff up from the ground to every detail- you dont even have to give it a name; or if you do initials would work just fine. Leaving the reader wondering is sometimes what keeps the reader reading. If your pony is having a brief interaction with a teacher, you may not even have to describe the teacher- or even disclose what the teacher is saying, for example:

Buttercup opened her mouth to ask the question she'd been waiting all day for- this was it! "Hey teach, I was wondering if-" she quickly stopped herself and changed her tactics as the mare behind the desk gave a loud sigh at the nickname.

"aw, well i mean, i didnt mean to, i mean..." Buttercups heart sank as her teacher told her yet again how much she didnt like being called 'teach'.

"Yes ma'am, but-" Buttercup sighed as her teacher rolled over her again- not having any word for disagreement.

"but I jus' wanna ask you if-!" Her teacher's hard glare sent Buttercup's questions packing. Defeated, and deflated, she moseyed out into the hall with the rest of her classmates. The halls of the school passed by without notice, and before long she found herself on the familiar trail home.

The teacher is a minor character, as is the school a minor setting- to get the point of the scene across (but leaving out whatever the focus of Buttercup's question is for ambiguity), and as so i dont need to set up a whole bunch of information about the school, or the teacher, or what Buttercup thinks about the school and teacher. If its really important to the core of the story, then its okay to embellish. If its not, then you can focus on the details that make the experience important, and not have to worry about cannonizing every building or location your pony visits.

Hope this helps

-----------------------------------

In this way you can create a cemetery however you like- just dont try to cannonize it as the 'way things are'. Make it a unique location. Maybe its just one grave, atop a hill. Maybe they THINK its a catacombs, but it turns out to be something else. The thought about having graves in the sky is both cute and mortifying depending on how i envision it- but thats part of your discretion as an RPer in an RP. As long as you dont claim it to be cannon, you can get away with creating whatever immediate setting you might need, as long as its presented as believable, and in good taste.