One reason Dungeons & Dragons is still around after all these years — 2014 is D&D’s 40th anniversary — is that the premise is almost infinitely extensible, limited only by imagination. Erin Palette, whose site I wandered onto in search of something else, presents a recent variation on the theme:
A young wizard discovers an ancient prophecy which states that, within two days, the deposed Goddess of the Moon — who has been imprisoned for a thousand years due to a failed coup against her older sister, the Goddess of the Sun — will escape her imprisonment, vanquish her sister, and cover the lands in everlasting night!
This young wizard tries to tell everyone of the impending apocalypse, but being a young student, is ignored and instead given menial tasks to perform. Lo and behold, the prophecy does come to pass, and the student knows that the only way to defeat the Moon Goddess and reinstate the rule of the benevolent Sun Goddess is to find and utilize an ancient artifact. To that end, she recruits a diverse group of individuals with conflicting personalities but complementary skills.
Pure D&D. And also the first episode of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic.
If you’d like to DM in this universe, here is a set of pony alignments:
Further exposition here. And this conclusion seems inarguable: “Equestria: half Dark Sun, half Gamma World. If that doesn’t get your gamer juices flowing there’s something wrong with you.”