Editing Don't Rest Your Hooves (section)

== Mechanics ==

You will need many six-sided dice, in sets of four different colours. What colours you use isn't important (I like pink!), but dice of the same colour should be kept together.  There should also be a sets of tokens in two different styles: one nice (Skittles!) and one not-so-nice (sour gummies? saltwater licorice?)

Everypony starts with a pool of 3 dice in '''Friendship''' (nice bright dice, like white).  This represents your normal innate abilities, and your capacity to compromise and resolve problems in mundane ways.

The Stablemaster will also have a pool of dice, called '''Discord Dice''' (dark dice, like red or black).  These represent the effort required to overcome adversity, or the resolve of whoever is opposing you.  Sometimes this may be more than three dice, but the Stablemaster will not roll all of them every time.

Whenever you are '''resolving a conflict''', you would roll your Friendship dice along with other dice you would use (described below), and count how many dice show values 1-3 -- these are called "successes". The Stablemaster would do the same with Discord dice.  If your dice show more successes than your opponent, the conflict resolves in your favour. If the Stablemaster's dice show more successes, then things certainly do not go your way.

To see how things get resolved, look at the dice again.  Find the highest die; in case of ties, discard the highest die of each colour and repeat. Whichever pool of dice has the highest number is '''the tone of the resolution'''.  If the conflict resolves with a tone of Friendship, then things work out well even if not everyone gets what they want.  If the conflict resolves with a tone of Discord, then someone is upset.  The Stablemaster gets a '''Chaos Candy''', putting a not-so-nice token on the table for her to use.  She can use as many Chaos Candy as she wants during a conflict to discard any die showing a '6'.  Each Chaos Candy she spends turns into an '''Harmony Candy''', giving one of the nice tokens to the Pony players.  Each Harmony Candy can be spent in a conflict to add a '1' to a Pony's Friendship pool of dice.  Harmony Candy don't turn into anything else, but you may wish to refrain from eating them after you spend them, don't want to run out later.

Sometimes, the problems that Ponies have to face will have more Discord than what Friendship alone can overcome.  There are two more abilities that Ponies can use: their Spark, and the Power of their Cutie Mark. These use differently coloured dice, rolled with your Friendship dice, and they have their own effects when they set the tone of a resolution.

A Pony's '''Spark''' is a jewel of virtue in their their personality.   This Spark is always something selfless, something to offer to those around you.  Some examples are: a capacity for great Kindness, unwavering Loyalty, or a humbling Honesty.  Anytime you roll your dice in a conflict, you may also add a Spark die to increase your chances of success.  When you do this, you will always roll that many Spark dice from then on; it's as if you start the game rolling zero Spark dice.  A Pony's Spark is so powerful in can insure success: if you roll less successes than Spark dice, just count how many Spark you used instead (i.e. you rolled 2,5,5 with Friendship and 4,4 with Spark for one success, but you have two Spark dice so you can just say you have two successes.) It's tempting and powerful to play out your role in a simple fable, and it gets easier the more you do it, but be careful: if you ever get up to rolling six Spark dice, you've lost your independence, and you've become just a 'Nother Pony in the Crowd (NPC).  Furthermore, if your Spark dice is what sets the tone of the resolution, then someone in the conflict has learned a valuable lesson related to your Spark, and you add ANOTHER Spark die to what you already have.  The only way to resist the temptation to use your Spark is from the help of your friends. If the tone of the resolution is Friendship, you can drop a Spark die.

A Pony's '''Power''' of their Cutie Mark is your magical ability to change the world right away to be a better place.  It's a powerful gift, but it's hard not to feel a bit superior when you can take short-cuts like this.  When you use the Power of your Cutie Mark, you can add up to 6 Power dice to any die roll.  Unlike Spark, you can use all six at any time, and you aren't forced to use your Cutie Mark every time.  There is a catch.  If the tone of the resolution is your Power, then you've gotten quite upset about something in the conflict, and you must check off one of your responses and the PC will behave accordingly for the rest of the scene.  If an "aggressive" reaction is checked off, then she will be hostile, brazen, or reckless.  If a "passive" reaction is checked off, then she will retreat, be sullen, bitter, or sneaky.  If you don't have any "passive" reactions left, you will have to use an "aggressive" one, and vice-versa.  If there are any Harmony Candies available, any Pony can spend it to help another Pony to regain one of their crossed-off Reactions, and remind their friend they don't have to be alone.

There is a danger to relying on your Power more often than your friends: after you've crossed off your last reaction, your frequent use of power has made you feel aloof and separate from others, and one of your Friendship dice is replaced with one of your six Power dice permanently.  You regain your composure, so your three Reactions are regained, but you are also a little more distant and cool.  If a Pony loses all three Friendship dice this way, she's stopped caring about anyone but herself, and becomes not just yet 'Nother Pony in the Crowd, but also a villain of the story using as many Discord dice as the Power dice (including the two permanent ones) she used in the last conflict that pushed her too far.