5.) Earlier this week I talked about how Cloudburst struggles with depression. Phoenix, being prone to depressive episodes herself, is pretty good at seeing right through her little sister's "I'm okay, really" mask. Phoenix worries about Cloudy a lot and checks in with her very frequently. As such, Phoenix is one of the few ponies Cloudy can sometimes drop her mask around. If Phoenix walks into Cloudy''s apartment to find her in a filthy sweatshirt and haggard from going days without sleep- well, Cloudy doesn't bother trying to play if off like a joke? Nix has seen it before, and she won't judge. She just herds Cloud into a bath and into fresh clothes, and puts on dumb movies until she hears her little sister snoring against her. It's just what big sisters do.

(This doesn't mean Phoenix doesn't occasionally get frustrated. She thought for sure some exercise would put Cloudpuff in a better mood! Feel better, dammit!)

6.) Phoenix is a talented knitter, having learned everything she knows from her Auntie Fluttershy. It's not a hobby she likes to share with many people- underneath her tough exterior, Phoenix worries a lot about being made fun of. But she's known Vogue a while, so maybe it wouldn't be so terrible to gift her with a hand-knitted shawl. It only took a couple dozen hours, no big deal. No need to look so gob-smacked, V, geez! Nix can make pretty things sometimes, if she puts her mind to it. It was n-no big deal. Really.

7.) garbage ot3 my beloved

i imagine twilight's reputation as a princess took a big hit from her....unconventional romantic partners, mostly in canterlot, where the nobility is obsessed with tradition and marriage and well-pruned family trees. many a gossip rag was printed decrying twilight's "degeneracy" and potential corrupting influence on the youth. at first twilight worried to death over this and exhausted herself trying to do damage control and assure the public she was a proper princess....before eventually she asks celestia what she should do. celestia shrugs and says do nothing, live your life, be happy. the people that matter won't mind, and the people who mind don't matter. while it did take twi some time to stop trying to please everyone, she did eventually learn, that celestia, as usual, was completely right.

and so, twilight is a happy unwed polyamorous baby mama dating a noodley chaos engine and a clinically depressed beefcake~

:iconcolbyr: : Twilight, stressing over 'unconventional' partners: Tia Tia Tia what do I DO

Celestia, happily married to a literal bug-monster that tried to kill her and take over her entire country years before: shoot ur shot my dude fuck the haters

as for the pride flags, Twilight is bisexual (as pony on the autistic spectrum, she's also wearing a rainbow infinity symbol as a show of autism awareness and pride). Troubleshoes is also bisexual. Discord is nonbinary (any pronoun will do) and omnisexual (attracted to people of all genders/orientations).

8.) Truffles is the dear darling daughter of Apple Bloom and Snails, conceived during a summer fling. Rather than force a relationship, AB and Snails decided to raise lil Truffie as friends and co-parents, which worked out really well for Truff, because presently she has four parents that adore and spoil her. AB, you see, went on to marry Diamond Tiara (whose attitude toward her stepdaughter is something like "I've only had Truffles for a day but if anything happened to her I'd kill everypony in this room and then myself") , while Snails eventually settled down with Snips (who plays the part of Truffles' aggressively fun/irresponsible uncle-father figure).

Despite her childhood love of baking, Truffles surprised everyone when her special talent turned out to be ecology. Adult Truffles is a scientist with an immense passion for studying the natural world, especially how ponies fit within it. She can often be spotted helping Auntie Applejack cultivate new variants of crops, sometimes creating entirely new species, playing god with enough maniacal glee to make Starlight and Twilight proud. Truffles is very sorry about that new bio-engineered crop of super-mega-death plundervines that ripped the family barn off its foundation. That project got away from her a little.

In her spare time, Truffles can be spotted baking with Miss Cupcake, catching and observing all manner of terrifying insects, teaching science lessons to foals at the local library, and repeatedly pondering if her humdrum (if satisfying) existence is enough for her glam rock superstar of a best friend, Prima Donna. Her pet fruit bat shown above is named Fritter.

9.) Raduga is gay and proud! The griffon country she hails from is rigidly traditional and conservative, to the point where anyone that deviates too far from the accepted norm is in danger of discrimination and violence. While Raduga's family have always privately accepted her, she knew she could never truly be herself back home. That's why she moved to Equestria! And while Equestria still has work to be done toward treatment of non-ponies, Raduga loves living somewhere she can be out, proud, and free!

Raduga has yet to meet her special somebody, but she does have a chubby black one-eyed ragdoll cat named Boris that loves her very much~

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oof so much content. and so concludes the all week lop-a-thon! thank you so much to everyone!