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Description

I figured that since I did my own version of this AU idea a long time ago I’d redo it, complete with backstories.
I’m not really proud of how Rainbow Dash’s mane came out.

Twilight Sparkle

When Twilight failed her magic test, Princess Celestia felt bad for the young filly and sent her and her family away early to go make some friends in Ponyville. Because of this, she never went to the magic school for gifted students, nor was Shining Armor put into training to be a royal guard — thus, neither of them ever met Princess Cadence, and Queen Chrysalis was never invited into the Crystal Empire. However, Twilight’s failure also meant that Spike wasn’t born via magic, and lived his life as a normal dragon when Princess Celestia returned the little purple egg back to its nest. After Twilight graduated high school, Celestia sent her a note with a recommendation of several college classes willing to send her on the path to becoming a teacher for Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Students.

The first of the Mane Five Twilight met was Rarity due to her curiosity toward the jewelry store, ultimately leading her to meeting Jackie and Pinkamena Pie as well. Little did she know, she was slowly bonding with the three ponies, and Princess Celestia sent a letter to her encouraging her to quit her job as a teacher and become a librarian so, and I quote, “her friends could interact with her more often and she could be brought out of her shell”. Of course, the idea of friendship outraged Twilight, and after a few minutes of sulking, she remembered how rational she was and decided to list off the pros and cons of having friends. After sending her reply back to the princess telling her about her emotional roller coaster, she decided to take her advice into consideration and ultimately quit her job as a teacher.

Briefly after quitting, she discovered a small orphanage in Ponyville that was home to many abandoned foals and other creatures. Something drew her to it and she decided to walk in. To her surprise, a small, purple dragon immediately clung to her hooves. It was then that Twilight knew it must have been the dragon that was inside of the egg during her test at Celestia's school. Assuming it must have been fate for them to meet again, Twilight adopted the dragon herself, who she discovered was named Spike. Spike would end up being the closest thing Twilight would have to a first true friend due to her fear of friendship, but since she didn't know the first thing about friendship and kindness, Spike was treated more like a slave than a friend.

Rainbow Dash soon heard of Twilight's connection to Princess Celestia, and thus the two of them met. After gushing over Celestia, Rainbow decided to introduce Twilight to her friends, including Fluttershy.

Pinkie Pie
Without her canon jubilant attitude and contagious joy to liven up the farm, the Pie family began to grow more and more unkind and often kept to themselves. However, inspired by her grandmother (Granny Pie), Pinkamena decided to keep her spirits up as well as she could. Her best and only friend Rarity eventually became a jewelry salespony after moving to Rock Country, buying rocks and gems brought to her store by the rock farmers. Pinkamena actually found her gem creations quite pretty, and they often brightened her spirits every time she saw them — but unfortunately, this wasn’t enough to transform her into the cheerful party animal we all know and love from the show.
However, she was quite the prankster, which is how she bonded with her older sister Limestone rather than Rainbow Dash. Pinkamena is quiet and shy, not used to hanging around other ponies apart from her family and of course Rarity, who inspired and encouraged her to express herself through creativity, ultimately earning her her cutie mark. In fact, when Maud received her “Rocktorate” and moved to Ponyville, Pinkamena remembered her friend and decided she and her sister could be roommates, and the business was once again handed over, this time to their mother Cloudy Quartz. After the two reunited, Pinkamena and Rarity agreed that the former would become her assistant at the jewelry shop and start going by the nickname Pinkie.

Fluttershy

Fluttershy ended up getting in Rainbow Dash’s way right at the start of the infamous race, knocking both of them off the cloud far below. On instinct, Rainbow grabbed onto Fluttershy and flew down to the ground with a safe landing in a small field full of hiding animals. Not wanting to be seen near "a bunch of wimpy butterflies", she flew away, leaving Fluttershy to interact with her new animal friends. Although she cared immensely for them and always showed kindness, she never found out that she had a truly special talent, and thus never earned her original cutie mark. Rainbow Dash was often seen standing up for her fellow blank flank, but to make sure she was never picked on, she decided that instead of the sky, her place was on the ground.

At the age of 11, Fluttershy's love for animals inspired her to train to become a veterinarian when she got to college. This very decision earned her her cutie mark, and she managed to convince her parents to let her have her first pet: a baby white rabbit in which she named Angel. Both she and Rainbow Dash met up the following weekend to discuss their recent successes, and from then on out, the two pegasi became one another’s biggest fans.

Both families of Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy soon moved to Ponyville to make the two of them feel more comfortable. Fluttershy's attachment to the ground kept Mr. Shy away from his cloud collection, so he decided to pick up the hobby of art. Zephyr Breeze too liked the idea of painting, but he found it more of a game than a project, often splattering the walls of his childhood bedroom in vibrant colors. This inspired him to become a children's book illustrator so he could create crazy backgrounds for money, but since he just couldn't become committed, he would just commission ponies to buy his abstract art. Occasionally, he would prank weather ponies by carelessly painting clouds, getting the idea from Rainbow Dash. In fact, Rainbow and Fluttershy were so close, they saw one another as sisters, Zephyr often bugging the two fillies and pranking them as well.

Rainbow Dash
Fluttershy ended up getting in Rainbow Dash’s way right at the start of the infamous race, knocking both of them off the cloud far below. On instinct, Rainbow grabbed onto Fluttershy and flew down to the ground with a safe landing in a small field full of hiding animals. Not wanting to be seen near “a bunch of wimpy butterflies”, she flew away, leaving Fluttershy to interact with her new animal friends. Although she cared immensely for them and always showed kindness, she never found out that she had a truly special talent, and thus never earned her original cutie mark. Rainbow Dash was often seen standing up for her fellow blank flank, but to make sure she was never picked on, she decided that instead of the sky, her place was on the ground. She told her parents this, and she ended up being enrolled in several sporting events similar to that of the Running of the Leaves. Not wanting her hair to get in the way of anything, she chopped it off short, and this is actually where Scootaloo’s mane came into play.
At the age of 11, Fluttershy’s love for animals inspired her to train to become a veterinarian when she got to college. This very decision earned her her cutie mark, and she managed to convince her parents to let her have her first pet: a baby white rabbit in which she named Angel. Both she and Rainbow Dash met up the following weekend to discuss their recent successes, and from then on out, the two pegasi became one another’s biggest fans. Both families of Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy soon moved to Ponyville to make the two of them feel more comfortable. However, at one point, Rainbow wanted to remove her wings, but of course, her parents refused.
In response to this, Rainbow wasn’t allowed to fly for a few months as a lesson to teach her how valuable flying could be, and her overall flying speed was weakened as a result. Bow Hothoof and Windy Whistles soon came up with the idea to pretend to become Wonderbolts to make their daughter jealous and “become a regular pegasus again”, but when this failed, they decided to finally give up and try to see why their daughter liked being on the ground so much. Although she eventually became a poor flier, she was often described as being able to run like the wind, her new favorite activity being that of racing other ponies. In fact, she earned her cutie mark the moment she earned her first gold trophy, causing her overall recognition and admiration — especially from her parents and Scootaloo — to skyrocket (pun intended). Her newfound love for running caused her to stop being interested in the Wonderbolts, for they were all about flying.
Apple Bloom and Scootaloo met in school, the day of Diamond Tiara’s Cute-Ceañera, when Apple Bloom had revealed she had decided to talk about her long-lost sister for Family Appreciation Day. This got Scootaloo talking about Rainbow Dash, and of course, the two hit it off. Diamond Tiara’s Cute-Ceañera was also where the two ran into Sweetie Belle, so Apple Bloom decided to introduce her to Scootaloo, and eventually, they decided to come up with their new club. Their blossoming friendship allowed Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Jackie to meet one another, as well as the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie, so thanks to the CMC, the Elements of Harmony were brought together.

Applejack

Never being inspired to go back home, Applejack ended up staying in Manehattan with her Aunt and Uncle Orange. Rather than growing up alongside Apple Bloom and Big Macintosh, she was soon adopted by her new caretakers, and instead of being nicknamed “Applejack” by her father, she was nicknamed "Jackie" by her aunt and uncle. She began to lose all contact with her immediate family aside from letters, at least up until the day her parents were reported deceased. By then, she was a preteen and Apple Bloom was a toddler. Jackie hadn't seen her biological parents in years, but the news devastated her, and she begged her adoptive parents to move to Sweet Apple Acres.

Eventually, they agreed to move to Canterlot so they could still live the sophisticated life, but live closer to their family. Because of this, their Manehattan accents slowly morphed into one similar to Rarity's, but not one of them ever gained the familiar country accent. By then, Rarity's recent jewelry business began to grow more and more popular. Eventually, she decided to hand her business over to her childhood friend Pinkamena Pie and open up a new business in Ponyville, attracting Jackie to the little town all the way from Canterlot. Due to their love of the sophisticated life, they soon hit it off, Jackie telling Rarity all about Sweet Apple Acres, Manehattan, and Canterlot, and Rarity telling Jackie all about Rock Country and what all she knew about Ponyville.

Since Applejack wasn't there to wear her signature cowboy hat and ponytails, her siblings were forced to take her place. Thus, Big Macintosh and Apple Bloom formed a much stronger bond with one another. However, until she met her biological sister, Apple Bloom grew up thinking she was the only child of Big Macintosh and a mysterious mare that had died during childbirth, having no idea about Bright Mac and Buttercup. When Jackie returned, Granny Smith decided to start being honest with her grandchildren and tell them their real biological relationships, including what fates their real parents suffered.

Rarity
Although Rarity never discovered her special talent when she was supposed to, she decided she still wanted to do something creative with the large boulder she was led to by her own horn. From a young age, she sought out job offers and eventually found an open space in Rock Country. This led to her family moving to the rock farm when Cookie Crumbles was still pregnant with Sweetie Belle, and Rarity meeting and befriending the Pie twins sooner than Fluttershy.
Rarity was often out in the daylight, leading to a few freckles on each cheek. She never did her hair up fancy, nor did she wear eyeshadow or fake eyelashes, as the rock farm preferred modest mares and overall despised makeup. Although they thought she was a witch at first, the residents eventually found her magic useful, even more so when it led her to discovering her talent for gem-hunting and ultimately earning her cutie mark. Due to her magical ability, her parents encouraged her to teach Sweetie Belle her tricks as well. This caused both of them to eventually be sent to Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Students at an early age, following in Twilight’s hoofsteps.
Rarity soon became a jewelry salespony, buying rocks and gems brought to her store by the rock farmers. Pinkamena Pie actually found her gem creations quite pretty, and they often brightened her spirits every time she saw them, but unfortunately, this wasn’t enough to transform her into the cheerful party animal we all know and love from the show. Rarity’s jewelry business began to grow more and more popular. Eventually, she decided to hand her business over to Pinkamena and open up a new business in Ponyville, attracting Jackie Orange to the little town all the way from Canterlot.
Due to their love of the sophisticated life, they soon hit it off, Jackie telling Rarity all about Sweet Apple Acres, Manehattan, and Canterlot, and Rarity telling Jackie all about Rock Country and what all she knew about Ponyville. Jackie’s combination of fancy hair and eyeshadow despite her freckles inspired Rarity to start styling her mane, wearing her own shade of eyeshadow. It wasn’t long until the two ponies became friends, deciding to introduce one another to their families, which is how Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle met.

Bases (all belong to SelenaEde, as well as any extra resources used, such as Twilight's glasses)
Twilight: www.deviantart.com/selenaede/a…
Pinkie Pie: www.deviantart.com/selenaede/a…
Fluttershy: www.deviantart.com/selenaede/a…
Rainbow Dash: www.deviantart.com/selenaede/a…
Applejack: www.deviantart.com/selenaede/a…
Rarity: www.deviantart.com/selenaede/a…

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