A Question for Fiction - What Would Paradise Estate Actually Be Like?

[Al-1701]

One thing that bugged me in My Little Pony and Friends was Paradise Estate was a little too "on-model".  Even as a kid it was hard to swallow the ponies, who everyone wanted dead, would give away a fortified castle for a house that didn't have a fence around the back.  Even making it bigger on the inside to solve the space issue, it felt like the ponies downgraded because it was the new playset.

And it was clearly the superior playset compared to Dream Castle.  It was larger, more detailed, and well thought out.  The Dream Castle playset was three walls with towers between them and an assortment of typical castle accessories.  Paradise Estate had actual rooms with the appropriate accessories.

However, the specials made Dream Castle seem like the perfect home for the ponies.  It was a fortress they could seek safety within and the ballroom at the end of Escape From Catrina was gorgeous.  They took those three walls and made them so much more.  But the series didn't do much to make Paradise Estate seem more like the playset outside of adding square footage.

So, fair reader, without the budget constraints, what do you think Paradise Estate would be in media (television, comics, prose)?  How would you make it more than what the playset is in reality?

I like an idea some have proposed that Paradise Estate, going by Paradise's backcard story, is an abandoned walled town or outpost North Star and Paradise found.  The two side buildings would hold small apartments, common areas, a kitchen and dining hall, and a nursery.  Between them would be an open area with tables and chairs and a swimming pool under a glass roof.  However, and I like the idea, add a manor as the back with rooms like a library, ballroom, and meeting room.

Anyway, Paradise Estate.  How would you make its fiction depiction as superior to Dream Castle as the playset was?

[LadyMoondancer]

Well, we know it's poorly built because it started falling apart shortly after they moved in . . .

I think my idea, for fanfic, was that it was an isolated hippie commune.  It was nowhere near Dream Castle.  It was just out in the middle of nowhere.

[Al-1701]

"Welcome to Paradise Estate, man.  I'm surprised you found it."

[Pokeyonekenobie]

It used to belong to Night Shade and he sold it to Mr. Moochik to pay off some of his debts.  The ponies saw it as a good real estate investment with all of the amenities it had and since their castle was outdated and in need of serious remodeling anyway (all those attacks on the ponies had taken their toll on the foundation of the castle), they gave it to the Grundles and moved.  (This wasn't really as nice of a move as they wanted everyone to think because the Grundles spent a lot of time and money trying to fix up the place so it was useable.) Mr. Moochik failed to inform the ponies of the serious magical termite issues in Paradise Estate so there was a lengthy court battle over who was going to pay for it and by the time everything was sorted out the Grundles had decided it was easier to get the flutter ponies to de-smooze Grundle Land and they moved back, leaving Dream Castle to fall into ruin.  However, the legend of Dream Castle was passed down through the pony generations and was later rediscovered by a young explorer named Daring Do...

[Bekuno]

I like your idea Al, especially because you're basing it on a backcard story.

When I think of the name without putting too much thought into the building itself, I think of a spa / resort for really rich ponies.

Then I started thinking some silly stuff:
What if it was actually a big scam run by a villain that was eventually chased out, leaving the place to become abandoned? That would give it a reason to be run down, because it would have been abandoned by the owners. Or it could have been taken over and rebuilt to add all the amenities (library, nursery, etc).

[Leave a Whisper]

Well, we know it's poorly built because it started falling apart shortly after they moved in . . .

I think my idea, for fanfic, was that it was an isolated hippie commune.  It was nowhere near Dream Castle.  It was just out in the middle of nowhere.

 


I imagine it would be a magically enhanced space, like in Harry Potter and is a large house with several bedrooms , kitchen indoor pool and an atrium room.

Let's just say if Barbie was a pony, this would be her house.

Post Merge: September 12, 2016, 05:31:25 PM

It used to belong to Night Shade and he sold it to Mr. Moochik to pay off some of his debts.  The ponies saw it as a good real estate investment with all of the amenities it had and since their castle was outdated and in need of serious remodeling anyway (all those attacks on the ponies had taken their toll on the foundation of the castle), they gave it to the Grundles and moved.  (This wasn't really as nice of a move as they wanted everyone to think because the Grundles spent a lot of time and money trying to fix up the place so it was useable.) Mr. Moochik failed to inform the ponies of the serious magical termite issues in Paradise Estate so there was a lengthy court battle over who was going to pay for it and by the time everything was sorted out the Grundles had decided it was easier to get the flutter ponies to de-smooze Grundle Land and they moved back, leaving Dream Castle to fall into ruin.  However, the legend of Dream Castle was passed down through the pony generations and was later rediscovered by a young explorer named Daring Do...

Head canon accepted 

[Skeen]

In my head PE was always like a ponified version of the Golden Girls' house. 

[Carrehz]

In my head PE was always like a ponified version of the Golden Girls' house.

I love it!

[Aurora]

I guess if I were ever going to really think about it, I would assume the playset is only part of the whole. They couldn't actually sell anything that held every pony in Ponyland, so this is the closest it was gonna get. But Paradise Estate, the whole thing, went on and on and on forever, like a town or a hippie commune. Like the opposite of the front facades on Wild West Towns.

I love reading everyone else's little mini-stories! I love you guys!

[LadyMoondancer]

I was watching Fawlty Towers last night and I changed my mind . . . It's obviously a run-down hotel, poorly run by a frentic, angry, rude pony.

[ponyqueen]

In my head PE was always like a ponified version of the Golden Girls' house.

Lol I love that show! I am re-binge watching all seasons right now! I'm currently on season 3- the girls are having their garage converted into a guest room. 

[Al-1701]

I was watching Fawlty Towers last night and I changed my mind . . . It's obviously a run-down hotel, poorly run by a frentic, angry, rude pony.

Maybe that's why Cheeries Jubilee was so up in Paradise's grill in Revolt of Paradise Estate.

I do think it's more like a walled outpost, maybe a big trading center in its heyday.  It has all of the facilities the ponies had in Dream Castle only with more practical space.  There is a manor house for a lord/lady with many of the facilities Dream Castle had.  There are apartments, shops, and eateries for the citizens and visitors.  The open area is a large square with tables and chairs and an Olympic-sized swimming pool in a glass structure.