Once Upon A Pony Story: Friends Re-united Super special Nirvana brag (pic heavy)

[Taffeta]

This is a really special brag for me, and because it's so special, and so grail-y, I've tried to make it worth the occasion.

The backstory to this thread:

When I was a kid, I loved to write stories. I still love to write stories. The first proper coherent stories I wrote were written when I was about nine or ten through to twelve, and were heavily influenced by the Enid Blyton and Elinor Brent-Dyer books I devoured at that age. Consequently, they chronicled the adventures of my then favourite pony, Magic Star, and her friends at pony boarding school - Cherries Jubilee and Paradise. The idea behind her magic came from the UK fact file calling her the "Most magical pony in ponyland", and her mysterious magic in the UK comics.

My story went on to become the basis for the first long story I ever wrote, and sparked off my writing in a big way. Writing is still my favourite pastime, and so this story is still very special to me.

I had Cherries Jubilee as a child. I never liked her, so I included her in the story to build my fondness for her. I changed her childhood nickname to C.J (before this I had called her Cherries), and made her Magic Star's trusty best friend. My other favourite at this time (maybe because of the Revolt of Paradise Estate) was Paradise, so she became their other friend.

As a child, I never thought about things like where ponies were released. To me, they existed, and that was all I needed to know. As I got older, and began collecting properly, I began to look for Magic Star and Paradise from my childhood imagination.

Magic Star came from a local Car Boot Sale, but I soon found that Paradise - the Paradise I needed - didn't exist. Hasbro's list mentions her, and she appears as a prototype in one publicity document - but there was no regular release of Paradise. I had the So Soft through trade early on, but since I didn't know about SS ponies as a kid, SS Paradise is *not* the pony in my story.

Then, I discovered they made a proper regular Paradise in Brazil.

I have spent a long time since then trying to obtain this Paradise, to reunite my childhood story cast. And, at long last, thanks to Bibi's absolute awesomeness, I have achieved my goal.

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The following photos I took as a memento of this nostalgic occasion. I recently found pages from my old childhood pony stories, and so I decided to do some pictures and type up some quotes to share with all of you. (Please remember, I wrote this when I was nine. xD)

All ponies who appear in the photos are characters in my childhood story.

The Surprise Incident

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"Any volunteers to look after Paradise?" Miss Sunbeam asked us. I raised my hoof. Paradise looked angrily at me, but her scowl faded and she gazed instead at the floor.
"Thank you,Star,"Miss Sunbeam added. I think she was quite relieved someone volunteered!

~Magic Star

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"So, you're the new girl I..." I closed my mouth, realising what I was going to say.
"We heard about," C.J came to my rescue, giving me a dark look. I quickly apologised, but I was trying not to look at Paradise's bemused expression.

~Magic Star

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"C.J?" she said. "What sort of a name is that?"
"Cherries Jubilee," C.J replied, glad to change the subject. Everything else that was said then I don't remember. I have the most awkward timing...yes, you guessed it! I did it again! Twice in one day, too! After that, we had to tell Paradise the truth about my magic...

~Magic Star

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I've also got a big mouth. Her sister, Surprise, is sick, only I'm not supposed to know. Except I spilled the beans. We had no alternative but to tell her the truth.
"Someone tried to kill her! They poisoned her with something! She won't die. I can't let her!"
Paradise walked over, and C.J filled her in. Paradise sat down suddenly.
"Not Surprise! Oh, what will I do if she dies?"
"I'll use my healing power to help her as best I can," I said.

~Magic Star

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"What is it, Paradise? Oh - you're worried about Surprise? Well, I can tell you she'll be fine!"

~Magic Star

Thank you for reading and sharing a little piece of my childhood imagination with my ponies and I

Bibi, Paradise has a permanent home for life now, and though I can't promise she won't be dressed up or photographed again in random mad photo stories in the future, she will be very much loved here as my inner nine year old has a party.

Thank you so much for helping me bring her and her friends together for good!

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Reunited at last this side of the rainbow: Star, C.J and Paradise

Next to find the story chapters introducing them to Princess Pearl...>.>

[stickied 29/5/15 - kiwimlp ]
unstickied 2/6/15

[baby_gusty]

Oh my what a beautiful story!! Thank you so much for sharing  I could see myself in your story, I wrote a lot of stuff as well and always enjoyed a good book. Magic Star was my first pony so I could really relate  You should do more photos and writing down the histofy in a little picture-book to save for future you, I'm sure you'll love it later! And huuge congrats to brazil Paradise, she's amazing!!

[ladybastilla]

This is totally awesome! Alas I did not do this with ponies as a kid, but I've been working on a story and am working toward getting the ponies I need to do photos to go with it. Brazil Paradise is gorgeous, by the way. It must be such a wonderful feeling to have the Paradise you envisioned as a child with the other ponies in your tales at last. Thanks so much for sharing this.

[Taffeta]

Thank you guys! I admit, I love doing photos and photostories with ponies and always have - only my accessories for this one were a bit limited, with all my playsets in the attic and most of the other bits locked away in my cupboard. I had to improvise a bit, hence the "budget cuts" xD.

When we were kids, my sister and I used to take a pony away with us each. We'd take them to places and take photos of them visiting stuff. I think we did it once with Jem dolls, as well - I found a whole lot of photos from a Jem holiday shoot a few months back. The last couple of times I went abroad (Prague and Helsinki) I bought G4 ponies there and took pictures of them in those places. This is a bit different though. It's very nostalgic, looking at my (very ugly) childhood handwriting (it hasn't got better!) and the ponies I wrote about.

I included Tootsie in the pictures because although I didn't have a quote with her in it, in my story she was ditzy and always cheerful - and because in the comics when she mixed up her words lollipops appeared, I had to use her xD. Pollipop Latch was a catchword for her in the UK, to make lollipops grow in random places.

These three do hold a special place in my heart, though. I always regretted not being able to afford Paradise years ago when I saw her on ebay a few times - I was still a student at the time. Now this one came up right before I end up back in study and on a limited budget - I think it was meant to be I love the Brazilian ponies, but this one is the most special of all

[hathorcat]

Awwww....thats a lovely way to tell the story! She is stunning

[Spinky69er]

Such a creative brag story!!!! Thanks for sharing

[aquamarinemolly]

That was absolutely beautiful! My favorite part was the lollipop lunch:) Congratulations on your truly lovely new pony <3

[doxiechic16]

Congratulations on getting Paradise and thank you for sharing your wonderful story and photographs!

I especially loved the first photo where Paradise arrives in Miss Sunbeam's class.  For some reason, the little purse/bag that Paradise is carrying on her wing struck me as super adorable.   

[Taffeta]

Thankyou! She borrowed the bag from Sportstime for the occasion

[Bibinettepony]

  It is me who thank you deeply Taffeta! I always love Paradise in the cartoon and as a pony. She was a very beloved pony for sure however for my new project I got to reduce a bit. BUT I have really no regrets when I see the AMAZING and FULL OF LOVE's life you will give her!!

I am really in love with your personal story and your pony story, this is sooooo CUTE!! 

I know that Paradise will be HAPPY FOREVER  even if I think she was happy here in France, she will definitively have a real BETTER LIFE with her new story friends than here, placed in a vitrine  I used to brush her hair etc but she lived no awesome adventures!! 

so from my whole heart thank for giving her all this  ENJOY 

[achab1984]

That was very creative!

[Ivaness]

I giggled at your pictures so much! They're adorable!  I have a soft spot for Paradise too. Her colors are amazing and she's even better looking as a NSS!

[Taffeta]

@ Bibi She will be very loved I've only been waiting what, 24 years for her? (Wow, I'm getting old ><). She has been sitting out on my cabinet the last three days with Star and CJ, but today she's joined the cupboard herd for the first time and is currently being bemused by Brazilian Wind Whistler's exaggerated stories of how she got to England. (I think she must be trilingual - Portuguese, French and now English Ponies are so clever).

@ Hathorcat, Achab Thank you! When it comes to stuff like this I tend to get pretty silly

@Ivaness - isn't she, though? As a kid I knew she didn't come with Paradise Estate, because one of my best friends had the estate but no Paradise. I wasn't sure if she really existed or was a mythical not real cartoon-only pony (which is what Truly and Cupcake were to me as a child) but I thought she did because she is in the factfile listings, even though Truly and Cupcake aren't. (That was my gauge as what was a real pony from the early years when I was a kid xD)

Spoiler

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You can see her name is on here, ironically RIGHT under Magic Star's....and...

Spoiler

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Here she's not only pictured but it's practically advertised as being Paradise's home!

My list from Hasbro UK lists her as being sold with Paradise Estate and I have the Hasbro UK booklet image Pranceatron sent me years back which shows the prototype Paradise, so there were lots of reasons as a kid in the UK to believe she was real and out there somewhere waiting to be found:

Spoiler

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Proto-Paradise also has straight hair; I think that my Brazilian one is a dead ringer for her, actually, since the SS Paradise I have and most of the ones I've seen online have curls or hair that was once curly.

I don't know why Hasbro UK teased us so much We had so many ponies in comics and stuff here that we never had on our shop shelves, but even Hasbro thought this one existed :-/. I can only think that they pulled her at the last minute because the Estate was already so expensive (£60 was a lot of money back in 1987 - heck, it's still a lot of money, really)

I had my pony heart broken a lot by Hasbro as a kid, because I was also obsessed with Glory and Medley and Powder, who were in our comics but also not sold here. Hasbro UK were mean...I doubt they even realised the impact advertising a pony that never got sold had on young girls, since I've spoken to so many UK pony collectors who all say the same thing about wanting those advertised-but-not-sold characters as a child.

But, as they say, it all ended happily and finally Paradise is where she belongs. I am going to be sorting through playsets and stuff this summer, hopefully - so maybe she'll finally get her Estate, too,by the time I'm done (if it hasn't fallen apart up in the attic ><).

[kiwimlp]

What a stunning pony to own in your childhood.  I really enjoyed your picture story. Congrats and thanks for sharing

[Ivaness]

You weren't lying that Hasbro put the estate as Paradise's home.  :*( How cruel of them, you get the house but not the hostess!  Poor Paradise being kept out of her home!  I am so glad you've gotten your childhood pony friends back together, Paradise will be happy to be back in her rightful house. Hehe.

Glory is my favorite too! I have a tiny army starting of her and Baby Glory.