My Top 6 G1 MLP Characters

Well, looks like I may be presenting a 'G1 is more Hardcore than G4' panel at Trotcon so to celebrate:

My Personal Top 6 G1 MLP Characters:

1. Wind Whistler - I've harped on her before but this pegasus mare is awesome. She's an extremely intelligent and often downright cunning pony who often jumps up to be the leader in a crisis. She does have some issues with being wordy / technobable and favors logic over emotions to the point that she's extremely stoic. I just find her awesome as she just doesn't fit with the rest of the ponies at all and would probably be more at home in Star Trek. Given what happened in 'Crunch the Rockdog' where she sacrificed Truly to get a chance of hitting the Rockdog with the heartstone to save everypony else she'd pass that 'Bridge Officer's Test' quite easily.

Closest G4 Equivalent: Twilight Sparkle - if she was mixed with Mr. Spock.

2. Fizzy - This Pony. This pony single hoofedly broke my brain. She's a happy-go-lucky, klutzy, scatterbrained unicorn mare who has the power of creating and controlling bubbles and who has the occasional moments of awesome (like drawing off the fire from the demon trees in the Shadow Forest so that everypony else could escape). She is also the most prominent of the few 'Twinkle-Eyed Ponies' who have gems for eyes. She's pretty much the Derpy/Ditzy Doo of G1.

Then I found out the official canon back story of the 'Twinkle-Eyed Ponies':  Turns out Fizzy spent a good bit of her life as an horribly mistreated slave forced to work in a hazardous mine by the 'Jewel Wizard'. She lost her sight but when she was rescued by Applejack (who killed the Jewel Wizard and destroyed his gem throne). Some of the magical gem shrapnel from the exploding jewel throne embedded itself in her corneas and thanks to the gems she regained her sight. Dear feaking gods. It would be like finding out G4 Derpy/Ditzy's official back story is that she was horrible mistreated by an abusive alcoholic father and her eyes are that way because she was once nearly beaten to death before Applejack saved her by killing her father. Yeah. Anyway, I now have immense levels of respect for Fizzy.

Since the original page hosting the comic got overloaded:

Applejack's Amazing Adventure - 1
Applejack's Amazing Adventure - 2
Applejack's Amazing Adventure - 3 
Applejack's Amazing Adventure - 4

Closest G4 Equivalent: Derpy/Ditzy Doo

3. Gusty -  Ah G1's Action Mare. Gusty is an impatient brave headstrong white colored unicorn mare with a red striped mane who is always rushing headlong into a fight and usually getting her flank handed to her as a result. She also isn't a smart pony and she has a bad habit of whining, being the occasional grouch, and dropping wisecracks. But she'll be a whiny grouchy and an ass one moment then in the next moment the kindest, bravest, and most noble pony in the show. Hrmmm... This all sounds familiar... One big problem with her is that her voice (done by Nancy Cartwright) sounds rather close to Bart Simpson's voice so its kinda jarring.

Closest G4 Equivalent: I'm going to cheat here with a fan work - but it fits so well: Blackjack from FoE: Project Horizons.

4. Paradise - She's a pegasus mare in a magical land who loves legends and fantasy and once asked "Why can't my life be more like a fairy tale?". Then again she lives in Ponyland, which seems to be full of slavers, crazed evil overlords, sealed ancient evils all about the place, and a lot of the G1 MLP stories feature near apocalypses. Yeah, I'd want to escape that place and live in a generic happy fantasy land too. She usually is the storyteller or dropping lore exposition. She also has a glorious epic fail trying to hammer a nail.

Closest G4 Equivalent: Going by her card description of being obsessed by legends and fairy tales: Sugar Grape

4. North Star - An adventurous explorer pegasus mare with a compass and star cutie mark. She had a Big Damn Hero moment in Return of Tambelon by hitting the ancient bell and thus screwing with the source of Grogar & Tambelon's powerful magic while the other ponies distracted Grogar. She also is a mare who cannot resist a big door with a 'Don't Touch' sign on it despite a warning that the door holds back an ancient evil (she's probably not safe around big red buttons ether).

Closest G4 Equivalent: Daring Do.

5. Heart Throb - A romance loving pegasus mare who is all about sharing love and dreams of meeting her Prince Charming... And she pictures him as a human - which is a bit disturbing especially when the fantasy comes to life and starts reciprocating. She's usually more on the funny side since most of the episodes are action & adventures.

Closest G4 Equivalent: Princess Cadance with a bit of Rarity and... Lyra...

Honorable Mention: Masquerade - This twinkle-eyed pegasus mare is master of disguise, infiltration, and general spying. She doesn't show up much (or does she?) but where she does she has rather interesting skill set and used in plans such as posing as Grogar's second-in-command bray from a distance in costume.

Closest G4 Equivalent: Not sure... Maybe Con Mane with a dash of Dash & Pinkie?

I knew there was a white stallion associated with rising the sun somewhere in Indic lore! Finally managed to track him down (despite the fact that he's been more or less staring me in the face for a while now):

It's Hayagriva and his Vedic prototype Dadhikrāvan!

Sridhara Babu - Hayagriva. The Horse-Headed Deity in Indian Culture

One of the several hymns dedicated to the cosmic stallion Dadhikrāvan who ushers in the morning:

Rig Veda Hymn 4:39 Dadhikrās. (Griffith Translation)

1. Now give we praise to Dadhikrās the rapid, and mention in our laud the Earth and Heaven.
May the Dawns flushing move me to exertion, and bear me safely over every trouble.
2 I praise the mighty Steed who fills my spirit, the Stallion Dadhikrāvan rich in bounties,
Whom, swift of foot and shining bright as Agni, ye, Varuṇa and Mitra, gave to Pūrus.
3 Him who hath honoured, when the flame is kindled at break of dawn, the Courser Dadhikrāvan,
Him, of one mind with Varuṇa and Mitra may Aditi make free from all transgression.
4 When we remember mighty Dadhikrāvan our food and strength, then the blest name of Maruts,
Varuṇa, Mitra, we invoke for welfare, and Agni, and the thunder-wielding Indra.
5 Both sides invoke him as they call on Indra when they stir forth and turn to sacrificing.
To us have Varuṇa and Mitra granted the Courser Dadhikrās, a guide for mortals.
6 So have I glorified with praise strong Dadhikrāvan, conquering Steed.
Sweet may he make our mouths; may he prolong the days we have to live.
Source: http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/rigveda/rv04039.htm

The stuff I end up spouting off... Victory Star ♦♦♦ made a post about linking ponies with Greek gods... So I ended up writing a wall of text on Pegasus & Rainbow Dash.

If we're going Greek... We have a horse god here.

Pegasus is Chrysaor's brother. It's a weird version of the 'Horse Twins' myth like the Indic Asvins and the (also) Greek Dioscuri (Castor & Pollux). In this variant though instead of two horsemen, one who is mortal and one who is immortal, what resulted from Poseidon and Medusa was a mortal human and his brother... an immortal horse god. Later myths paired him with Perseus and Heracles because flying around on a divine winged horse is the pimpin-est ride yo.

If anyone owns him it's Zeus who made him the bearer of his Thunderbolts and some weather functions (this probably happened due to his link with a Luwian weather god named pihassas who is ether his origin or a deity who was fused with him later in lore and the fact that the rising of his constellation marked the beginning of Spring and the start of the seasonal rainstorms in Greece - Winter Wrap-up! tongue ). His other side is that he is the horse of the muses and there are several springs Hippocrene sacred to Pegasus & the Muses in Greece where he stuck the ground with his hooves and the waters of inspiration burst forth from the ground.

If Pegasus had a pony it would have to be Rainbow Dash - because let's face it she's Pegasus' own Pegasus: Head of the Ponyville Weather Patrol, Inspired the rest of the mane six to get their cutie marks with her bursting Sonic Rainboom, her emphasis on action, her heroics, et cetera.

Also nit-picky but you're thinking Helios whom Apollo was connected with... The appropate deity connections would be:
Helios & Selene (Greek) or Sol & Luna (Roman).

Interesting enough in the story book that came with the molded toys Princess Luna is called Princess Selena.

Luna & Leia

Did I miss anything?
Yesterday: Princess Luna, she's so cute you'll forget she turned into a monster and tried to cloak the world in eternal night during an omnicidal fit of jealousy.



Today: Princess Leia who contrary to reports is no hologram like certain rappers.

Happy National Princess Week!

Yes it's National Princess Week!

A marketing ploy claiming to celebrate the sparkle and wonder of every princess — real, aspiring, or imagined.


First up since it's Sunday Let's Celebrate Princess Celestia, the Ruler of Equestria! The most magical pony and the only pony with wings and a horn!

Red Roses and White Lilies!

Quick bit:



The the Royal Wedding DJ Game: Red Roses and White Lilies... MLP:FiM why are you so awesome?

If you don't understand:

Robert Schuler (“W. B. Yeats: Artist or Alchemist?” Review of English Studies 22:37ff) interprets this last line as relating to Yeats's interest in sexual magic. Schuler also notes that the lily and rose in alchemical literature symbolize the moon and the sun, the white and red tinctures in the alchemical process. More detail can be found in Gorski's Yeats and Alchemy (State University of New York, 1996).

Source: http://www.tarotpassages.com/old_moonstruck/oneill/1.htm

Lyra is a Bard

This is probably just coincidence but there is a reason I occasionally refer to Lyra as a Bard and it's more than just because she has a Lyre on her flank. I prepared this when doing a presentation on My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and Indo-European Mythology. Again this is maybe coincidence but it's always stood out to me.



Anyways in Figure 1 we have Lyra Heartstrings. Figure 2 is the Awen symbol, Awen is the Welsh word for inspiration and often poetic or musical inspiration. It was invented by Edward Williams (aka. Iolo Morganwg) and is often used as symbol for gorseddau in Britain and used by such groups as The National Gorsedd of the Bards of the Isle of Britain and The Cornish Gorsedh as well as Meso-Druidic and Neo-Druidic Groups. The gorseddau are big promoters of traditional literary scholarship, music, and poetry. As seen in Figure 4 they typically wear a shade of blue as a traditional Bardic color (the National Gorsedd of the Bards of the Isle of Britain having an interesting shade for this discussion). Finally compare the Awen Symbol with Lyra's Cutie Mark (Figure 4) and notice how it very much resembles the three line Awen Symbol put into a Lyre or Harp. It's probably just a coincidence but its always looked like it to me.