MLP Sins of Friendship origins discussion

[SilverMint]

The premise seems fairly solid. However, I'm confused as to the motivations of the seven mane characters: Are they looking to overthrow Sheol? Escape Altestria? And what do they hope to achieve with the Elements of Harmony? All in all, they seem to be defined characters, but I'm also wondering if there's too much of a black-and-white/good-vs.-evil kind of deal. Will we learn Sheol's side of the story in this? How does he feel about being born out of negative feelings? Is he like Discord in that he's an insane, powerful entity who simply wants to rule for the power, or does he have an overarching plan once he takes over Altestria?

I know you probably have these answers all thought-out. I was just trying to get a feel for the story's themes before I comment on subject any further.

[Greed]

The premise seems fairly solid. However, I'm confused as to the motivations of the seven mane characters: Are they looking to overthrow Sheol? Escape Altestria? And what do they hope to achieve with the Elements of Harmony? All in all, they seem to be defined characters, but I'm also wondering if there's too much of a black-and-white/good-vs.-evil kind of deal. Will we learn Sheol's side of the story in this? How does he feel about being born out of negative feelings? Is he like Discord in that he's an insane, powerful entity who simply wants to rule for the power, or does he have an overarching plan once he takes over Altestria? I know you probably have these answers all thought-out. I was just trying to get a feel for the story's themes before I comment on subject any further.

No, no that's great that you want to know more, i'm glad people are interested. I'll answer what questions i can without spoiling anything.

The 7 Sins are looking to overthrow Sheol in order to stop him from corrupting all of Altestria. Now Altestria IS the opposite of Equestria in terms of its character but the residents are much like those in Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas, in that they live in a dark, twisted world, but they are happy there. What Sheol's influence does it turn the land from dark to evil, from twisted to complete nightmare, and any Altestrian pony that spends too long under Sheol's 'shadow' loses their willpower and becomes a pawn for Sheol to use. Greed learnt that if Sheol was to gain complete control of Altestria then the arcane magic that flow through the land, and link it to Equestria, would allow Sheol to breach the dimensional barriers and extent his influence to other realms.

The Elements of Harmony are the force that once governed order and balance in both realms, however when Nightmare Moon broke the orbs, and the spirits found living avatars in the form of the Man 6, then the power of the Elements was lost in Altestria. This allowed the negative emotional energies from Equestria, expunged due to the Elements' presence, to build up in Altestria and thus eventually form Sheol and the Sins. Greed surmises that if the Elements are returned to Altestria then their power might be enough to banish Sheol forever, what he doesn't know is that the Elements are no longer objects, but ponies.

Although it has a good vs evil vibe to it, i hope that it isn't too mushy, heroic, paladin vs black knight kind of action, if you et what i mean. The fact that the heroes are basically incarnations of the Seven Deadly Sins, albeit with more personality that just what their names suggest, and that Sheol's name itself has biblical references, as well as meaning Pit or Grave, would make it more interesting. The Sins don't want to banish all darkness, indeed if they did that, then nopony in Altestria would survive, they simply want to end Sheol's tyranny before it's too late.

I can't tell you about Sheol's part in the story without spoiling it, but rest assured that we learn a lot about him, his motivations, and feelings.

Thank you for taking the time to comment and ask questions, i enjoy answering them.

Josh