/tan/ - Board-tans

Aryanne Hoofler is a white "earth pony" (a regular pony, one of three pony races presented in the show) with blue eyes and a blond mane. On her flank she bears a "cutie mark" (a tattoo-like symbol unique to each pony denoting a particular talent of theirs) consisting of a swastika inside a stylised pink heart. Generally she's naked, although she can also be drawn wearing various articles of nazi uniform clothing. Aryanne is the only board-tan of the cast to be a carryover from halfchan's /mlp/ pre-Exodus, and was intentionally designed as a nazi to both make fun of the "love and tolerance" meme in the fandom at the time, and because the absurdity of a nazi in such an innocent show as My Little Pony was funny.

Aryanne hails from the national socialist nation of "Germaney" (a fan-invented country in the show's fictional setting of Equestria) which is at war with the "Hoofiet Union". On the battlefield, she has risen to fame/infamy for her fervor and high kill count. Aryanne is a dedicated believer in the nazi philosophy and may possibly suffer a hidden inferiority complex over being just a simple earth pony (ranked only above zebras in the social hierarchy), which may explain her excessive action. However, she also gets sexual satisfaction out of dominating those she views as beneath her, so ponies unfortunate enough to be captured by her are just as likely to be roped into a hardcore BDSM session as they are to be killed outright.

Some people prefer to portray Aryanne as an over the top caricature of a nazi, some prefer to characterise her as a typical pony from the show who just happens to casually spout nazi propaganda. Either way she is dangerous and deadly to those who fall on her bad side (or even her good side, depending on how psychotic the author chooses to portray Aryanne).

Aryanne's war buddies include mad scientist Franziska and Air Force pilot Kyrie, who is less fanatic about the doctrine but willing to join in the occasional sexual escapade with her. Through mysterious nazi science (magic may have been involved) Franziska was also able to gift Aryanne and Kyrie a daughter in the form of Luftkrieg. On the battlefield, Aryanne also has a longstanding rivalry with a communist pony named Veronika.

Ruby is a cream-coloured unicorn with blue eyes and a curly red mane and tail. Her cutie mark is a golden ring with a ruby on top, signifying her talent at crafting rings and other jewellery. She does not wear clothes.

Among the dysfunctional cast of /pone/, Ruby is probably the most normal one. An optimistic pony with a lust for life, Ruby tries to have fun with everything she does. However, she's levelheaded enough to know when it's not appropriate and she needs to get serious. Ruby generally treats everyone with politeness and a smile, and is most in line with what one might expect a typical pony from the show to be like. The only time this falls apart is when she's behind a computer. Behind her abrasive online persona "Rudy", she'll merrily shitpost to her heart's content. Some people choose to interpret Ruby's cheeriness as a facade to hide depression, but generally it's taken at face value.

Ruby's backstory is essentially multiple choice, should people choose to regard it at all. Originally, she started out as an anon's OC who pictured her working as a jeweller in Canterlot (the show's capital city) with her assistant Silver Locket (a shy cyan blue earth pony), and who imagined her being a cousin of Rarity (one of the show's main characters - this part of her characterisation is almost unanimously rejected by the board).

A later CYOA starring Ruby ignored most of this and transported her to "Las Pegasus", a gambling city, as a homeless pony who'd fallen on hard times after graduation and was barely making ends meet by working as a dealer in a casino. She made plans to rob it with some help in order to get her big break and open a legitimate business, but as the story was never properly finished, the outcome of her operation remains unknown.

With one character being inherited from /mlp/ and the other being a random anon's OC, at one point some people decided /pone/ needed a board-tan designed by the board for the board. Thus was born Red.

Red is a cream-coloured earth pony (later redesigned as a pegasus because people liked the idea of all three races being represented, but it's generally left to individual preference how anyone wants to portray her) with a wild unkempt red mane and hair. She either has no cutie mark, as an allegory for both her and the board's as of yet unfilled potential, or, more commonly, a "spoiler" symbol to symbolise the board's one feature /mlp/ doesn't have: it allows porn when it's spoilered. The one piece of clothing Red always wears is a black bandana featuring 8chan's infinity logo around her neck.

Compared to the other board-tans, Red is fairly dour. She's cynical and unpleasant to most people under normal circumstances, with a particular hatred towards authority figures (especially Royal Guards), but she holds no grudges and as long as there's enough rum to go around, she loves a good party and will freely share her booze with anyone. Red claims to be one quarter "Saddle Arabian" (this may be a fabrication on her part), but other than an expressed disgust towards all things related to pigs it's not a part of her character. Red also swears like a sailor, appropriate given that she is a pirate. Aboard her ship "The Crippled Midget", she sails the seas and lives life to the fullest, not bothering to care about tomorrow as long as she's got wind in the sails, money in the chest and a bottle in hoof.

Red has a near-identical colour scheme to Ruby. This is no coincidence: the anon who offered the first concept of Red understood the board's desire for a collectively made mascot, but sympathised with Ruby and her fans enough to throw it in as a reference. Because of that, it is now generally accepted that Red and Ruby are sisters when they appear together. A more obscure theory is that they're the same pony: set in a scenario where Ruby's casino heist (see above) failed, Ruby would have been tortured, had her horn snapped off, and been thrown in a river and left for dead, until the current dragged her to sea and she was scooped up by a passing pirate ship. The shock of the experience would have completely changed her outlook on life, and Punished "Red" Ruby took up a new name to reflect that. In this scenario, "Red" is always depicted as an "earth pony" (with her hair obscuring the stump of her broken horn) with no cutie mark (which she would have painted over to hide her identity).

Sometime late 2015, a CYOA was started on /pone/ starring a nameless sketched pony. The idea was that the board would gradually fill her in with features. She was a blank canvas ready to become whatever the board decreed she should become.

/pone/ had other plans.

Sketchy, as the board took to calling her, is a basic sketch of a pony. Her only detailed features are her face, ears, stubby tail, and naughty bits. She sometimes has a (fake) pink mane, one of the few actual gifts participating posters gave her.

Sketchy is very docile and naive, with close to no knowledge of the world. She relies on anons to guide her actions and advise her. Because of that she's both killed and been killed multiple times, something which has possibly left her traumatised. She certainly does not enjoy her dreams.

For all the suffering they put her through, Sketchy's meek innocence appealed to the board, who eventually accepted her as a fourth board-tan.

Sketchy is alone in the world, although a sister named Messy has been suggested.

Although each of the board-tan ponies have their own adventures, meta ensemble stories have been written where they all live together in the /pone/ mansion in "Infinity Acres", sometimes with a beleaguered anon through whom the audience can self-insert. (All stories can be considered separate, so continuity is not a problem.) In these scenarios Red and Aryanne tend to butt heads while Ruby tries to keep the peace (in vain) and Sketchy ends up silently taking Red's abuse when she remembers her existence.