#yes to gizmo and moonshade occasionally being their own mystery gang; the others guest star in these adventures from time to time

[enquire]

Mystic Moonshade

I think I finally figured out what to do with Mikako, so here we are.

This design was a little more out there, as I went for making her a zebra/okapi/pony hybrid!

My intent was to give her a connection to other forms of magic, and give her a bit of a mysterious vibe. The one zebra in MLP we get, Zecora, is an expert in potions and obscure medicinal magic/plants, and is a general example of a pony who uses alternative magic in a way.

I think Equestria's non-unicorn based magic; things like alchemy, potions, charms, earth pony and pegasi magic, curses, magical creatures, and of course, spirits, ghosts, and the like, would fit in well with the 'ultimate excorcist' talent. So Moonshade is an expert in all things supernatural, and obscure. (since magic is an everyday thing in Equestria after all) Still focuses most of all on the departed, but she has a lot of knowledge /interest in various stuff.

Her okapi aspects came from wanting to give her extra horns (which might be capable of producing some slightly different magic) and because the markings give here a bit more a mysterious vibe which I liked. It's a bit more detailed, but I think it's fine for now at least. Her unicorn horn functions the same way any other unicorn's would.

Anyway, on to her little background info segment:

Mystic Moonshade is passionate about Equestria's strangest and most unknown phenomena. Ever since she got her cutie mark, she's been uncovering secrets and solving mysteries; from hauntings to ancient artifacts, Moonshade explains the unexplainable. Either via science, magic, or through healing the hearts and minds of the ponies involved.

She's discovered and named several new creatures, placated spirits, and even managed to lift the decades old curse or two. But her biggest strength might not lie in the supernatural, but rather in soothing the hearts of those faced with the problems and occurrences she is called to solve.

When she was just a filly far too young to remember her parents or where she came from, Moonshade fell into a river and almost drowned. She was swept far away, only managing to survive by clinging to a hollow log.

She was spotted by a pony named Spark Stardust, not far from Canterlot, who immediately dived in after the tiny filly. After rescuing Moonshade, he brought her home to stay with himself and his son, Gizmo.

She couldn't offer any explanation as to how she had gotten there, or much of any information about herself beyond her name. The Equestrian Guard opened an investigation into her parents, but without much to go off of, and a huge distance potentially between Canterlot and where she had fallen into the river, they had very little success.

No pony ever came forward looking for a missing filly matching her description, and the leads quickly ran dry. After a year, Moonshade had already begun to become a part of the Stardust family, so when the time came that Moonshade was officially labeled an orphan, Spark decided to adopt her.

It took some time for Gizmo and Moonshade to adjust to it, but in time, they became extremely close. Nowadays, the two of them are often seen together, and both support the other in any way they can. Gizmo has created multiple inventions in order to help Moonshade in her work, including a arguably effective ghost detector, and a more practical set of very durable saddlebags with locks for when Moonshade comes across an item with less than stable properties, or that is particularly valuable. Meanwhile, Gizmo's go-to unicorn for help testing his inventions is his sister. They have participated in many experiments together, both scientific, magic, and everything in between.

Gizmo's inventions often rely on magic as much as science, and most of his knowledge on the subject came from Moonshade. He also has gone on many of his sister's quests and travels, helping her bust myths and the occasional ghost.

Moonshade has an uncanny ability to read other ponies. While she cannot read others' thoughts, or anything like that, she can sometimes sense more hidden emotions, and other things like that. If Moonshade says somepony is giving her a bad vibe, it's probably with good reason. This leads to her both being an excellent judge of character and being very good at noticing when something is wrong. For example, she was the first one to pick up on and understand Saber's invisible wounds even though he almost never lets a single glimpse show on the outside. She also has a knack for sniffing out secrets.

This ability of hers only gives her insight into where to direct her attentions, though; it doesn't reveal all, and in fact can sometimes be altogether unhelpful, as the feeling that something is wrong without being able to pinpoint what can be quite frustrating.

Moonshade is more of an extrovert than her brother, being fine with meeting various strangers for her work, and the one responsible for introducing her brother to many of his acquaintances and friends.

Out of the group besides her brother, she is closest with Thrift, as the three of them were childhood friends. She also managed to get Ember to warm up to her impressively fast, despite them not knowing each other for as long or and living in different places. The two of them bonded over their penchant for unraveling supposedly unsolvable puzzles, and reading. Whenever Ember visits Canterlot, she makes it a priority to spend time hunting through the cities many bookshops with her.

Moonshade is not as close with Saber as he is with Gizmo, but they are still good friends, and with Gizmo and/or Thrift often around they are often drawn together regardless. (and happy for it) Saber is one of the few ponies Moonshade often finds herself spending time with in comfortable silence.

It's not like she and Clover aren't not friends, but for some reason, there always seems to be a bit more distance between them, and Moonshade is a bit bugged by the fact that she knows very little about him compared to everypony else. Despite him being very close with some of her closest friends, she is more familiar with most of her acquaintances than she is with him. And for whatever reason, they never seem to end up one on one, either.

I think that's it for her! I always start these background posts thinking 'I don't have enough lore for this one yet' but then end up filling up the post by the end haha. To be honest, I struggled a lot with her design, and going a more unique route helped me land somewhere, but I'm still not entirely sure about it. I'll have to think about it.

Also, I think "mystic" moonshade is alright, but perhaps another first name could be better. Also, Spark Stardust for Hanzo is still up in the air. I'll see if it sticks... I wanted he and Gizmo to have a family naming convention that fit with Stardust Industries, but it is a bit unusual to have the exact same word in their names by MLP standards... I was going for something like the Pie family names, but I'm not too sure about "Spark." It's just okay.

Saber Frost, Cold Steel, and Radiant Ember are my favorite names so far. Coming up with pony names is surprisingly fun. It's great when I can get some phonetic similarities in as well haha. (Radiant Ember - Rei Mekaru anyone?)