#g1 was the best gen so thats why i take so much insp from it

[xenoredux]

can you please go into the big sibling pony lore?? im very interested

Damn I am so ready for this, I’ve written down too much about these guys at this point lmao. You asked for it anon, here comes a text dump.

(There’s also a smidge of Twinkle-Eye lore in here, but I promise it’s relevant. Btw, there’s some body horror and familial abandonment in the mix, so tread lightly if you don’t like those things okay thanks)

Big Siblings (a very old nickname given to them by ancient pony communities for their almost familial dedication to the vulnerable) are a subspecies of Earth pony defined by their shared ancestry, an ancestry other pony species are aware of but don't always grasp the depths of. All Big Siblings are descendants of one Bonnie the Great, a Clydesdale-esque miniature horse who is a part of many different cultures' legends. In the lore of some animals she's a bothersome, self-righteous stuck-up, but in the mythology of the ponies she's a bastion of wisdom, strength, and kindness.

Bonnie would go on to have children with an Earth pony, and their children would go on to form their own families, and so on and so forth. In this way Tex is maybe like 1/32nd related to Bonnie, but that's plenty to define him as a member of her bloodline.

This genetic throughline has lead to the frustrating habit of other ponies to assume anyone especially tall is a Big Sibling, or that if you have recent miniature horse ancestry then you MUST have descended from Bonnie. These statements are untrue, of course. Some Big Siblings are actually pretty short and lithe, and there's plenty of equine species outside of ponykind who can and do intermingle with ponyfolk.

Bonnie's bloodline has always held her heroism in high esteem, and so it's a part of their culture to pursue the same values as she did. We're talking about a culture that takes generosity and philanthropy very seriously. This means that every Big Sibling decides upon a mission to dedicate their lives to until they've either completed it or passed away. This mission may be passed down from one nuclear family's generation to the next, or it might be decided upon by the pony themself, or it might be related to a subculture they're familiar with. Doesn't matter how they come to discover their mission, all that matters is that they have one before they turn 18.

e.g. Tagalong Tex's mission is to protect Paradise Estates from The Gloom Witches, a grody little family line that goes back as far as his own. He initially picked them out because he was terrified that they were ruining the lives of the Estates' populace, but he quickly came to realize they suck too hard at what they do to make much of an impact. But alas, a mission cannot be abandoned, so he's stuck biding his time and gently snuffing out their efforts to wreak havoc with his friends.

Something else to keep in mind about these personal mission statements is that once a mission is complete, another one has to be selected. A Big Sibling is a protector from the beginning to the very end of their adult life, and they MUST choose another mission to undergo if/when they complete their first.

This cycle continues until the pony passes. It's a part of their moral code and is so ingrained in their culture that those who retire after a completed mission, even if it took them their whole lives to get through and they just wanna chill out in an easy chair and watch their stories, are shunned by not just their immediate families but every other one of Bonnie's descendants. This means that if ever the Gloom Witches are defeated, Tex will be forced to pack up and move elsewhere to help a different herd with their problems if he doesn't wanna be dead to everyone he's related to.

Another big part of the Big Sibling history is their alliance with Twinkle-Eyed ponies (I promise this is relevant lol). They've got the opposite of a blood feud going; even if two individuals from these subspecies don't like each other, they will respect each other.

See, generations back there was a Big Sibling named Applejack. Nobody can recall whether they were a boy, a girl, or neither, but they remember the pony's exploits. Applejack was even more nomadic then most Big Sibs, and they were very prolific. On a blizzardy February night where the moon was full, Applejack wandered into what the nearby pony populace called "The Haunted Mineshaft" as laying the townsfolks' fears about it to rest was their mission at the time. When they'd entered and followed whispery voices into its depths, they found a true horror.

Tens of ponies of all creeds, ones Applejack recognized from missing posters and newspaper stories, where chained up and being forced to mine gemstones from the cave walls. The slavedriver behind all of this was a Weremole named Pilferpaw. The hulking, ugly creature had used dark magic (from a stolen tome, of course) to remove the kidnapped ponies' eyes. He told them he'd return their sight to them if they "earned it back" with manual labor, but in truth he never had any way of restoring their sight and had planned to kill them when they'd outlived their usefulness.

Obviously Applejack was piiissed. The horse's great size made short work of the Weremole, and he was shoved into the deepest bowels of the cave, forever to be trapped in the dark. With the evil defeated, Applejack lead the prisoners into the sunrise, and each of them rejoiced. The only problem was that many of them desperately missed their vision, and so Applejack's next mission began.

Applejack spent months researching magical medical intervention before settling on a solution: they'd use a magical conduit to grant the ponies back their sight. The conduit they chose was something the survivors found both plentiful and ironically empowering. That conduit was, as you've probably guessed, the gemstones from Pilferpaw's mines.

The gems were placed painlessly into the ponies' sockets and each pony was enchanted during the next solar eclipse so that the spell would last forever and their vision would never be harmed again. Given the enchantment was backed by a celestial event, all descendants of Twinkle-Eyes have those same characteristic gemstone eyeballs, and they annually honor Applejack's memory in a celebration where all Big Sibs and Twinkle-Eyes are invited.

This is also part of why Trinkette has a thing for Tex. In fairness she mostly likes him because he's a gentle soul who is unconditionally supportive, but she also sees a lot of Applejack's legacy in him. Plus he's got, like, HUGE muscles and she's into that. It hurts her to know that if ever the witches are put away for good, he'll be forced to move away or risk being ostracized by his entire culture.