🐴 
IRL 🎠 stallion
[@NavelColt](/images/2757016#comment_9903897)
Typing up this for a second time because of a bug in Philomena that made my previous attempt not post at all. Apparently, if you open a page and type half your response in the morning and then return to finish at the end of the day, it doesn'’t actually post when you hit post. ~~Filing a bug report once I post this.
~~ See [bug \#148 on the Philomena GitHub](https://github.com/philomena-dev/philomena/issues/148).
There are at least four categories of fan fiction rather than merely canon-compliant vs. AU. As [@harasha456](/images/2757016#comment_9904204) pointed out, the same exact story may be canon-compliant in 2011 and then an AU in 2014.
1. Canon-compliant. It could fit into the existing story without modification.
2. Canon-inspired. The author and official writing team took diverging paths. Stories may retroactively be moved from canon-compliant to here due to later developments in the official media. A different timeline in the same Equestria.
3. Light AU. Think of all the stories set in an Equestria where Nightmare Moon won. It'’s recognizably Equestria but a different Equestria than FiM.
4. Very AU. EqG if it were a fan project rather than an official Hasbro series. Names, color palettes, and (sometimes) personalities are about all that is shared with the source material.
Typing up this for a second time because of a bug in Philomena that made my previous attempt not post at all. Apparently, if you open a page and type half your response in the morning and then return to finish at the end of the day, it doesn
There are at least four categories of fan fiction rather than merely canon-compliant vs. AU. As [@harasha456](/images/2757016#comment_9904204) pointed out, the same exact story may be canon-compliant in 2011 and then an AU in 2014.
1. Canon-compliant. It could fit into the existing story without modification.
2. Canon-inspired. The author and official writing team took diverging paths. Stories may retroactively be moved from canon-compliant to here due to later developments in the official media. A different timeline in the same Equestria.
3. Light AU. Think of all the stories set in an Equestria where Nightmare Moon won. It
4. Very AU. EqG if it were a fan project rather than an official Hasbro series. Names, color palettes, and (sometimes) personalities are about all that is shared with the source material.