I think now that I can post, I oughta tell people about one of my mlp au ideas...
This is a simple swap au... with a mane 4!
The severely underused combo of Starlight, Trixie, Discord and Thorax! They're all ponies, and each have a special talent or profession relating to drama (Starlight is a wip).

In order, the pegasus Pantomime (discord) is a puppeteer! He's pretty laissez faire, but he loves joking around with his friends, sometimes he takes it too far with pranking, but in contrast to his canon counterpart, he is much more open about his feelings, and definitely will not be turning the world upside down in the course of a friendship lesson.

Starlight Glimmer is the leader! She's an extremely talented mage, and she's very creative and resourceful. She loses her temper a lot, but currently I don't have a specific job/hobby for her other than "The smart one in charge" (perhaps a stage manager/acting agent type? not sure!) Consider her in need of the most character work.

Trixie Lulamoon is of course, a stage magician! She is very catty, and sports a big ego. She is less inherently talented at magic than Starlight, but is more confident with performance and capturing the awe of the audience with her bright lights and beguiling spectacles.

And finally, Thorax! He actually doesn't have a pony name yet, so if anyone has any cool ideas I'd really appreciate it. He's a pegasus, and has a knack for acting. He finds it easy to fit into any role! He is the "bleeding heart" of the group, and his passion for theater comes from a desire to share his love of the craft with the world!

My goal with this au is to have it really mimic the mlp:fim vibe, while having a distinct aesthetic and format. For example, I imagine their hometown being styled after a different era, perhaps! And the main 4 don't even have elements to help them solve problems, which parallels how these four defeated the changelings in the main show without the help of any elements or princesses.

As for conflicts and villains, I've posted some doodles already, but our 4 princesses return in this au as the antagonists to these guys! Celestia and Luna are a wip, but Cadence is an evil love queen (think queen of hearts from Alice in Wonderland), and Twilight is this universes Spirit of Chaos, a draconequus named Paradox (mad scientist type).

I hope Cohostians find this au interesting !! I have more designs than just these four, so stay tuned ;)