Artist has a DNP on Derpibooru. Posted here with her permission.

So, up front I feel I need to say that none of the doodles, sketches, and ideas I’m posting now were ever part of or considered for the actual series so far as I know. They were just “what ifs” I did for my own amusement.

Top picture: some doodles of what I imagined some of the cast might look post high school/in their early 20s. Was going to do a full series but didn’t end up getting to finish.

Bottom picture: Trying to brainstorm ideas for what everyone might end up doing after graduation. Had plenty of thoughts but only ended up doodling out any for Rarity and AJ. One of the ideas I wanted to play with the most was in exploring options that weren’t explored in the FiM story– if this is a multiverse, by extension it supposes that there are no wrongs paths in life, only different ones. Since the characters in EQG are different people than their pony counterparts, this seemed only natural to explore further in the goals they might have in life, or in the paths they end up taking instead of the ones they might have originally thought.

Since AJ are Rarity were considered a couple by our team, coming up with a scenario where they would stay together after high school while still pursuing their own ambitions was quite a challenge. The thought here was that (with a foot in the door from Vignette) Rarity could get an apprenticeship with a world-renowned fashion designer in whatever this universe’s version of Paris would be. Despite not having much interest in going abroad, much less living there, AJ decides to go with her and they stay in a small apartment together that they worked together on fixing up and making as cozy and homey as possible. Rarity flourishes but works long hours; AJ doesn’t like it and feels lonely and cut off from everything she knows. One day at a cafe, she tastes an apple pastry she’s never had before and it sparks something in her. She ends up enrolling in a pastry school to pass the time and sparking a rivalry with one of her snooty classmates spurs her into working incredibly hard and becoming one of the top students in the class. Finding that she has more of a knack for “fancy-pants” pastries than she realized, she starts to find more of a place for herself and a sense of purpose there. She brings home croissants, Rarity brings home take-out, they eat together and talk about their day, and doze off on the couch watching TV. So life in Paris turned out to not be so bad after all, even though it’s not something she ever planned on.