The Vale (Open MLP setting/species. Please do not post yet!)

[Dr. Paine]

Short version/vital info: The Vale is set in an alternate-universe Equestria and features a few major breaks from canon, including:

-Celestia and Luna are the only princesses (this is strictly due to cutting down on canon characters.)
-The Crystal Empire was never lost to the world, though its remote location means it's fairly self-contained. They do have a reigning Emperor/Empress, but ultimately do fall under Celestia's rule, should she ever give some kind of specific decree.

-Discord was never released.

-The Mane 6 are around, but more in a 'background pony' capacity-- no Elements of Harmony, and if for some reason they ever do come into play in this setting, they will probably be given to OCs because hey we're already in this deep. That said, I would prefer they just not come up at all.

-Most species are allowed for OCs in this setting, but there will be no starting alicorns. At all. Though Cadence and Twilight haven't earned their horn/wings here, we are following the rule of 'Princess/alicornhood is a title you earn through incredibly hard work and unique magic', and... well, I'm not totally discounting the idea of it happening at some point if this goes on for a while, but it's not likely. However, I will happily accept: Bat ponies (pegasus only), Crystal ponies (mostly earth ponies, but pegasi and unicorns will be accepted), donkeys, griffins, zebras (as this is diverging from canon, I will allow unicorn or pegasus zebras)... and since they're so popular on CS, deer (however, I'm going to have to draw the line at deer/pony hybrids in this place xD). Diamond Dogs, Changelings, whatever Sombra is, Draconequi... pretty much anything not listed above will not be allowed.

-This setting also has a unique unicorn offshoot, though they do not have any special name (yet). These unicorns are:

• Taller and slimmer than the average pony (somewhere between Fleur and the Saddle Arabian ponies... horses... whatever they qualify as.
• Have longer, clearly spiraled horns-- they sort of bulge out instead of having flat sides like usual MLP ponies. These horns can sometimes be a different (single, there won't be any spectrum horns or anything like that) color from their main body, usually the same color as their hooves.
• Have cloven hooves and long fetlocks, the latter of which are always the same color as their manes.
• Some (applies to males and females) of these ponies have little goatee-beards, but this is completely optional.
• Long, lion-like tails, with a long fluff of fur at the end.

-There are virtually none of these unicorns outside the Vale, though a rare few have left for various reasons over the centuries. More often, outsiders will wind up finding their way into the Vale, and be kind of... well, not allowed to leave. The unicorns of the Vale are are incredibly concerned with their privacy, and do not like to risk outsiders revealing where they are.

-These unicorns do get cutie marks.

-Aside from a rare outsider, there are no pegasi or earth ponies here. However, these unicorns have developed magic for weather control, and a few are even capable of 'flight'-- they can create little pats of ice from water vapor in the air, and run along them, though they must always work in pairs due to the high risk of injury in that job.

-The Vale is a large island, located in... I'm calling it a lake, the big blue area between the Crystal Empire and the Crystal mountains. The residents there have cultivated a thick forest that runs around the outer edge of the island, and is filled with dangerous beasts (more on them later). However, the rest of the land is mostly made up of grassland, some hilly areas and some flat places, and a few smaller forests/groves; as well as orchards and farmland. These ponies do not have real 'roads', the most you'll see are well-kept dirt paths, and houses are usually very modest and fairly undecorated. The only exception is the royal castle, which also serves as the overall social hub of the Vale.

-The Vale is ruled by a Queen, though she has more or less abdicated the throne and a descendant now rules in her stead.

-Despite their best efforts to keep the Vale a secret, it is heard of in the outside world... as the subject of a fairy tale, and any pony who proposes the idea that it actually does exist is usually dismissed as a crackpot.

-The ponies here, whether outsiders or born and raised there, tend to live half again or twice as long as average ponies, and have a curious resistance to most disease, and heal quickly from injury.

More detailed information will appear in the next few posts.

[Dr. Paine]

There is a legend passed down through all of Equestria, one hundreds of years old.

The story goes that, once upon a time, there was a society of unicorns hidden away from the rest of ponykind. Queen Panacea and her husband, King Knight Light, were just and true leaders, never wavering in their duty to support their people. Knight Light often joined the royal guard on their patrols, while Panacea would go among the sick, healing them or offering comfort if they were beyond her help.

Time passed, and soon the royal family welcomed their first and only child, a young filly named Gilded Gleam. But she was born too early and was often sickly, rarely able to leave even her bedroom for fear of collapse. Years went on and Princess Gleam grew steadily weaker, until one winter, she fell deathly ill. Panacea and Knight Light were devastated, and sought help from every pony they could; every healer and herbalist who lived in the Vale, but it was no use. Each day, the princess grew weaker, and was barely able to even open her eyes when Panacea decided to take matters into her own hooves. On the longest night of the year, when the moon was high and full overhead, the Queen carefully tucked her little filly into a cart, wheeling her down to a small, hidden cavern beneath the palace. Strange, luminous mosses and crystals lined the walls, but they were not what the Queen sought-- instead, she came to a halt before a small pool of perfectly clear, still water.

By this time, Gilded Gleam's breathing had become a shallow, slow rattle, the rise and fall of her chest nearly invisible. With tears in her eyes, Panacea lowered her head, touching the glowing tip of her horn to the water's surface. Ripples of light slowly spread across the pool as the glow spread. The Queen had no care for her own well-being now, no concern about how much magic she was infusing into the water, even as her legs grew weak and her thoughts clouded. With one final burst of magic, she collapsed, while the pool glowed as bright as the sun. Panacea slowly tugged at the cart, pulling Gleam out and nudging her to the water's edge.

"Drink," was all the Queen could manage. Gilded Gleam lowered her muzzle to the water just as her mother fainted, falling open-mouthed, half into the water.

And then she awoke.

Panacea scrambled to her hooves, feeling more alert and alive than she had for months... and next to her, Gilded Gleam stood tall and strong, the picture of health. The two ran out of the cave then, letting out a loud cheer into the night and waking most of the castle, soon spiraling into an impromptu celebration that lasted until well after the dawn.

Most stories end there, but a few versions still exist with an... expanded ending. Those versions say that as the years rolled on, Knight Light grew old and weary as all ponies do... yet Panacea remained young and healthy, while Gilded Gleam seemed to have scarcely aged a day, still just a tiny filly. A wild thought entered Panacea's mind, and she led her husband down to the pool below the castle, and told him to drink. Immediately, his coat grew shiny and clear, his mane back to its flaming red and gold, the weight of the years vanishing before the Queen's very eyes.

The Pool of Life is the main reason why the unicorns of the Vale value their privacy so much. In trying to save her daughter, Queen Panacea expended all of her magic into blessing the water, inadvertently creating a pool that could cure all ills, and bring a pony on the edge of death back to the prime of their life. After drinking from the pool, a pony will not be affected by age (commonly referred to as 'stuck') or disease for around ten years-- after that, unless they drink again, they will become 'unstuck' and resume aging as normal. (It is also worth noting that, while they heal exceptionally fast, they can still be killed through injury or starvation.)

Only a handful of ponies have ever gone past their natural lifespan this way, and of those, only a half-dozen or so are still around; among them Queen Panacea. Knight Light refused to drink a second time and died a natural death, while Gilded Gleam elected to live a normal life once she began aging again; and her descendants still rule to this day.

Stealing a drink from the pool without royal permission is an offense punishable by death. The only times the magic water is given out is when there is a pony who is gravely ill, who has performed a truly incredible feat, or is considered an indispensable part of the Vale-- often guards, scryers and healers in that latter case.

Now, you may wonder, what happens to ponies who have prolonged their life for an exceptionally long time? Well... they become husks, for lack of a better phrase. No longer able to access the pool, these ponies rapidly age and even decay, but have become so infused with magic that they cannot die, not naturally. They roam the forests surrounding the Vale, devoid of memory, reason, anything aside from base instincts to attack and destroy anything that might be a threat... with is virtually everything. At the last count, there were about fifty of these husks roaming the forests.

[Dr. Paine]

-wip-