Thank you.

OOOOOhhhhhh! It's so dark, and sad. Yet, it looks beautiful. Excellent effect with the sparkle tears.

Yup, now you get more questions! Why'd Forge adopt Ember & Lucky? Is Firefly Forge's friend of Ursa's? (or both?)
And this does mess up some of the later pics that show Ursa and Forge together *with* Jenna. How'd he come back to life?
(Ricky ricardo tone) "Pouncy - you've got some splainin to do!"

Sparkles rule!

I've been waiting for this. :)
Ember and Lucky's mother died shortly after giving birth to Ember and their father was unable to raise them propperly. They were looked after by their aunts, Firefly and Twilight, until Firefly found Forge and brought him into the picture. When Forge and Ember met they ended up being "lost in time" for a considerable amount of time and Forge came to feel Ember was like his daughter. Since he believed in keeping families together he also addopted Lucky as well.

Firefly met Forge before she met Ursa. However the first Phoenix team was based on pairs, Forge and Ember/Firestar were the first pair, followed by Megan/Flare and then Ursa and Firefly/Fireflight as the final pair of the original team. By then time Jenna was born Firefly was probably Ursa's best friend.

Next respsonse for the final question.

Made a mistake there. The second pair was Megan/Flare and Sundance/Sunfire.

And for the final question. Does this mess up Forge apearing in pics that post date this image? Nope, don't worry there is no contradiction. Forge was indeed killed protecting Ursa, or so everyone, including Forge, believed. Forge found himself in a place he thought was Purgatory (gotta love Sunday School) where the spirit of Ember and Lucky's mother, Dawnstar, guided him through a "spiritual purification." He also found out about Ursa's pregnancy while there. At the end of the journy he found out he was in a Bardo, a place of transition between life and death. He was also told he could turn back and return to life. So after clibing the "Mountain of Life" and then taking a dive off the "Leap of Faith," all the while cursing "damned litteralism," Forge found himself back with the team and a 3 months pregnant Ursa. Shortly there after the pair were married in a ceremony presided over by Zummi. After his trip he was also able to tell Ember and Lucky that their mother was still looking after them.

Ok, that makes sense. So how come Dawnstar couldn't 'come back to life' too?
I mean, if you're gonna let one do it, you should let everyone do it, right?
Hmm, Megan and Sundance - Wow, I would've guessed Megan would remain with either Wind Whistler or Applejack. I liked Wind whistler.....:)

Two factors prevent Dawnstar from returning. First she'd already passed through the Bardo to the "other side," Forge got stopped before he could pass all the way through. Second Forge is a part of the Phoenix Force and the name isn't just metaphor. When he died he lost his "illusion of mortallity" and passed into the "avatar state." He didn't like that much so he restored his own "illusion of mortallity" so he could stay with his family.

As for Megs and Dance, well I've collected as many of the old toys as I could and Megan always came with Sundance. Besides in Escape from Catrina they made such a cute team. ;) Applejack... dang it's been too long since I last drew her, gotta get out the DVD and get a new model sheet made for her. Wind Whistler is a part of the herd that Megan and Sundance are in. It's quite a herd too, it also contains Fizzy, Tex, Twilight and Firefly. As for poor Forge and Ursa, they got "drafted" to be the herd's alpha pair (They spend a lot of time being quite tired with this group ;) ).

Hmm... I didn't post that Wind Whistler pic, did I? I'll toss it up before bed. ;)

I see. It all makes such perfect sense now!
Admittedly, I never had a lot of 'franchise' toys growing up - nor was I into them. So most of what I know of the ponies comes from the animated series. And I did have to cheat a bit when writing the last response. Had to check to see whom it was besides Wind Whistler that Megan was usually paired with in the shows. Granted, she helped everyone. But she generally stayed beside one or two of the ponies most of the time.
Very groovy.
Hehe, do ya think Forge met Ang or one of his many incarnations during his 'avatar state'? >:)

Heh, it takes a lot of work to keep this mess making sense. :)

That was the only dissapointing thing for me in the show that Sundance and Baby Sundance didn't interact with Megan and Molly all that much. You always had to have at least one pegasus in a show to cross the kids between the two worlds.

Forge hasn't met Ang yet that I know of but with this crew ya' never know what's up next.

Impressive. :)

Thanks, Pepe, after this thing ate so many hours of my life it had better be. ;)

Very emotional... A great pic generally speaking. Especially beautiful art, big sentiments do inspire you :)

Thanks, I'm kinda tired of the stories only existing inside my head. Got a terrible urge to put so much on paper right now.