• All of the Major MLP Themed Locations to Visit and Make Friends at in Second Life!

    A LOT of you made ponies since we posted up the Open Pony article back on May 9th, but one bit of feedback a lot of people are seeing is that the newer people have no idea what to do now that they have their cartoon horse made. Second Life is a huge game and finding things can be pretty daunting. If you search for My Little Pony in the in-game browser, there is a good chance you will find a pony "sim" (the Second Life name for server), but you probably won't find many people there. Where is everyone hanging out?


    This post will hopefully give you a little bit of direction on where to go next. Pony Town is where the guide originally had you begin, but it's more of a display piece than a hangout these days. I'm not going to bombard you with words here about everything there is to know about each area since we have a separate community focused post coming up, but I will give you some links to check out and hopefully find some other pony fans to talk to and interact with. At the end of the day, Second Life is a social game. There aren't ladders to battle it out on or stats to level up (outside of specific sims that are essentially games of their own). Your pony is simply an avatar to customize and hang out with other cartoon horse enthusiasts with.


    Anyway, get a location guide below!




    Some general notes before I begin:

    • There are three levels of maturity on Second Life - General, Moderate, and Adult. General being the squeaky clean safe sims, Moderate being places where adult content is not allowed but more mature themes may be present, and Adult, where pretty much anything goes in terms of violence and NSFW material. I'll tag each in the title.
    • Sims have their own set of specific rules which they will usually deliver to you via notecard when you enter, so just being labeled "adult" doesn't give people free reign to do anything they want. It could limit it to only allowing adult content inside your personal private houses, or have specific adult topics completely banned altogether. 
    • Regardless of what sim you enter, be sure to read the rules and understand that they will definitely ban you if you do anything at all trollish. It's no secret that the game has been a target for abuse since it first appeared, so most people have a zero-tolerance policy in place for causing trouble. Don't do anything you wouldn't do at a public venue in real life until you know the culture of each particular place. 
    • Use the in-game Radar to find people. Sims can be huge, and this gives you an idea of who is in the area. 


    Neighberry - Moderate


    Neighberry is the most active Moderate level sim, complete with weekly events (which you can find on their Discord server), holiday games with lots of freebies to deck your pony in, and tons of residential and commercial areas to explore. You will find everyone's uniquely crafted houses along with shops to buy things for Open Pony, or older ponies if you've picked up a different model.

    Outside of event times, most people in Neighberry are hanging in their houses, though there are common areas where you might run into some ponies chatting or playing games.



    Trotsdale - Moderate

    When exploring Neighberry, you might actually find yourself accidentally wandering into Trotsdale. Technically it is a separate sim, but the two are connected. While the former is more of a city, Trotsdale has a much more rustic nature feel. There are different biomes including the trees you see above, along with beaches and more jungle style areas to check out. Like Neighberry, events in either area are what you want to keep an eye out for if you are looking for people, as most hang in their houses.



    Luna's Empire - Adult

    Luna's Empire is the biggest pony sim for the most part. You will almost always find people hanging out and talking during US prime time, though things can be pretty slow in the morning when most people chill in their houses.

    This is also the most "anything goes" sim of what I'm are covering here, so be wary of the adult tag if that sort of thing bothers you. There are people with anatomically correct ponies, and also a pretty big group of furries.

    This is also home to the H-Mart tower. which has a full gift shop filled with free stuff for your OpenPony along with a bunch of shops from people that create assets for it. If you want sunglasses, shirts, hats, full outfits, and a bunch of other accessories completely free, this is definitely something you want to visit.  Also ride the elevator up tot he night club. It's probably one of the coolest in Second Life. 



    Grab your vault suit and PipBuck cause it's Fallout time! Deigh-Trot Wasteland is actually really new and has attracted a bunch of Fallout Equestria enthusiasts who also have outfits and characters from the FoE fandom. Like Trotsdale's tie to Neighberry, this is connected to Luna's Empire directly so you can walk right over to it after visiting the H-Mart tower if you'd like.

    Due to the topic at hand, this is an adult sim, so avoid it if you want to stay clear of that. The wasteland isn't known for being safe, though in my experience it's usually just ponies running around with heavy weapons.


    Moonshine Springs is another sim with a pretty active little set of ponies that hang out in it's central area near the stage. Adult content is only allowed in a specific adult room, though some people have anatomically correct ponies so be wary of that. Like the other sims, they sometimes run events and give out freebies for OpenPony and older models. 


    Ponyville - General


    This is where we start you out if you are following the OpenPony tutorial.  Step through the doorway in the HMART store and you will find yourself in Pony Town proper. It is essentially Ponyville re-created, with completely separate linked areas for major locales in the show. You will find Sweet Apple Acres in its own dedicated area, Twilight's castle, a giant maze as the Everfree Forest, and lots of small explorable buildings if you click around and visit the landmarks. 
     
    Despite being an absolutely humongous place to wander around in, it's usually pretty empty population-wise. Take a group here, but outside of the people creating ponies in the HMART store or just hanging out in there, don't expect many to be in the actual town.


    Vanhoover - Adult


    If you want a bit of Canada with your pony, Vanhoover is a neat little place to check out for some snow and pine. It's another sim not a lot of people actually hang out in,  but you can take some pretty amazing screenshots of you and your friends, or just hang in the woods or a cabin on the slopes. What it lacks in population, it makes up for in looks.



    A lot of people tend to run events in this sim as opposed to hang out in it. It's a complete recreation of Canterlot, including a fully explorable castle with dance hall. If you end up getting involved in the community, expect to wander over here for karaoke or more high-end parties.

    Whinny Hollow University was created to be a place to teach others how to make things, be it via drawing or 3D modeling. Since Second Life is so customizable, it attracts a lot of top talent who want to build their very own pony objects, and a few run workshops here to help out the community. There are video rooms and galleries of stuff people have made, along with general hangout places that you can usually find a few people gathered at.


    Timesville - Moderate

    Timesville is an oldschool pony sim and one of the more active Moderate level ones. During the day you will usually find a group of ponies in the central area, along with furries. Apparently this is one of the few pony sims that is actually endorsed by the Second Life staff.



    Whitetail Woods is a fully nature themed sim filled with a big open lake in the middle and forest surrounding it.  Think of it like a summer camp setting. 

    This one is usually empty, though a good chunk of the cabins are rented out so you might people in a few of those. This is another one of those pretty destinations to take a group for pictures or roleplay, but even during prime time it's rare to see people mingling.


    This is a neat one in the sense that it's an RP sim. There is an ongoing story here based on the idea that Celestia has commissioned a group of ponies to work together in exploring and establishing a settlement in a place called Winding Woods. There is a "Game Master" controlling the overall story as events take place, though you are free to explore and do your own things when the narrative isn't currently in progress.  It's not a place to find people on your typical day, but reading the rules and information at the entrance could give you an idea on how you could get involved.




    Trot Springs - Moderate


    This is another city style sim with lots of unique architecture to check out. There are huge mansions, comfy common areas, and a terrifying demon Luna that actually locks her gaze on your character if you get close enough and fly around her. Very creepy! 

    The few times I've been here there wasn't anyone around, so consider it another location to visit with friends.


    Our final pony sim is Red Misery Basin, a unique location composed of a city on one side and a forest on the other with an almost psychadelic atmosphere if you make sure to have "use environment settings" on in your viewer. It's another one to check out for the scenery, but not the best for finding people.




    And that about covers it for major pony locations to visit! There are thousands of other sims out there to explore if you find a fun group of friends to play with. Everything from futuristic cities, real world locations re-created, haunted theme parks, alternate realities, and bizaare funhouses filled with riddles. You could even hop into a random-mode portal and hope it sends you somewhere fun. Second Life is ancient, and there are relics from even the early days of the internet. You never know what you will run into, both amazing and horrifying. 

     

    Here's that creepy post-apocalyptic carnival I mentioned earlier and some of the ponies I visited it with. Once you find a fun group to hang with, going out on field trips to weird places is always entertaining. Hopefully this post gave you some tools to find ponies and make some friends!