Bookplayer's 50 Questions About Headcanon · 9:36pm Apr 10th, 2014
Because I love bookplayer and also headcanon.
The Princesses
1. How old are Celestia and Luna?
As old as the sun and the moon.
2. How old is Cadance?
Fuck, I don't know. She was normal-sized when Twilight was a kid. Maybe twice as old as Twilight?
3. Were Celestia and Luna always alicorns, or did they ascend?
They were always alicorns.
4. Are Cadance and Twilight immortal?
No.
5. Have there been other alicorns in the past?
I have never considered this as a possibility until this moment.
6. How much authority do Celestia and Luna have in Equestria?
Their word is law, but they generally just let ponies get on with things themselves.
7. Does Shining Armor rule The Crystal Empire along side of Cadance?
Does the First Lady rule America?
8. Other than Twilight, Luna, and Cadance, what relationships have been important to Celestia in her lifetime (students, close friends, lovers, family)?
Other students, the occasional lover.
Ponies and Equestrian Culture
9. Are there still cultural differences between earth ponies, pegasi, and unicorns, or is the culture homogeneous by the time shown in canon? Are there cultural stereotypes (positive or negative)?
There are cultural differences and stereotypes; I have no idea what they are, but they exist.
10. Are there foods or items native to Cloudsdale that are uncommon on the ground? Are there foods or items on the ground that are uncommon in Cloudsdale?
Honestly I think they have to import food. Can't really grow anything in the clouds...
11. Can all unicorns learn all spells, given the time and effort spent practicing them, or is magical talent usually limited in some way?
Any unicorn can theoretically learn any spell, but spells aligned with their special talent/cutie mark are much easier and/or more powerful. Twilight is unusual, perhaps unique, in that her special talent is magic itself, so all spells are much easier/more powerful for her.
12. Earth pony magic: Does it exist? What is it?
It exists, but it's more subtle than unicorn magic. An attuning to the seasons and cycles of the world, an innate understanding of plants and crops.
13. Some pony families we’ve seen seem to have naming conventions (the Apples, Twilight’s family) and others don’t appear to (Rarity’s family, Pinkie’s family), which is more common? Are there reasons for one or the other?
I have no fucking idea and I wish rules existed for this.
14. How much formal schooling is an average, middle class pony expected to complete?
In the more agrarian areas, maybe middle/high school. In the cities, at least high school, maybe college.
15. What’s the average lifespan for a pony? At what age is a pony expected to be independent of their parents?
I more or less map them to American humans for this.
16. Are there roughly an equal number of male and female ponies?
While I like the idea of females outnumbering males, it seems like for the species to perpetuate itself they need to be more or less 50/50.
17. How informed are most ponies about things that happen in other parts of Equestria? What about other parts of the world?
It varies from pony to pony, just as it does with humans. Some ponies don't care, others are deeply interested and engaged.
The Main Characters
18. How old are the Mane Six? Spike? The CMC?
The Mane Six are in the early 20s. Spike is no more than 10; the CMC are a little younger.
19. Did Fluttershy remain on the ground after getting her cutie mark? Were she and Rainbow Dash friends all along, or did they drift apart for a while?
Fluttershy only returned to Cloudsdale long enough to wrap up her affairs there. This probably took a few months, more if she had to finish schooling. She regularly visited the ground during this time. She and Rainbow always stayed in touch, even if they didn't see each other constantly. Fluttershy moved to Ponyville first; Rainbow followed her after some time.
20. Rarity and Applejack both seem to have grown up in Ponyville. What were their interactions like before the show?
They had very little to do with one another; their prior social circles didn't have much in the way of overlap.
21. What do Twilight and Spike consider their relationship to be?
I don't think they think about it at all. It doesn't feel like anything out of the ordinary for them. From the outside, they're some mix of elements of sister/brother, mother/son, and boss/assistant, in that order.
22. When did Pinkie move in with the Cakes? Is she a worker who rents a room, an apprentice, or is there some other relationship?
I'm really curious about this one. I like to think she's an apprentice of some kind, or maybe they're distantly related and that's why the Cakes put up with her.
23. Who among the Mane Six had the best parents growing up? The worst parents?
Best parents -- AJ. Evident from how deeply concerned about and proud of she is when it comes to the farm and Apple family name. Worst parents -- RD. Evident from how independent and brash she is.
24. Why didn’t the CMC hang out more/know each other before Call of the Cutie?
They hung out in the pilot! And Sweetie/Scootaloo seemed to have an existing friendship, to which they invited Apple Bloom in the thoughtless way of young children. Apple Bloom was probably too busy adjusting to a life in public school, away from the farm, to notice them or spend much energy making friends.
25. Is Scootaloo an orphan? Will she ever be able to fly?
I do sort of like the idea that she's an orphan, and I definitely don't think she can fly.
26. Will Apple Bloom’s cutie mark involve an apple in some way, even if it’s unrelated to farming or baking?
Yes.
27. How is Sweetie Belle’s relationship with their parents different than Rarity’s was?
She's much closer to her parents than Rarity is. Rarity struck out on her own at the earliest possible age, and her parents babied Sweetie Belle even more thoroughly to make up for that hole.
Side and Background Characters
28. Is Mr. Cake the father of the Cake twins or not?
Yes.
29. Are Big Mac and Cheerilee an item, romantically?
Yes.
30. How did Prince Blueblood get his title?
He gave it to himself, and no one cared enough to correct him.
31. Is Silver Spoon equally as bad as Diamond Tiara?
Who's more foolish, the fool or the fool who follows him?
32. Is Zecora’s magic common among zebras?
Yes.
33. Why does Daring Do publish her stories as fiction?
To avoid being swarmed by ponyrazzi.
34. Do you have a strong headcanon for any non-speaking or one line background ponies that you want to share?
No.
Other Species
35. Does Equestria differentiate between speaking and non-speaking species, in terms of respect, rights and legal responsibilities? Is there some other line or scale used? (For example, how are cows classified? Diamond Dogs? A chimera?)
Sapient beings (generally defined as those capable of language acquisition) are accorded more rights than non-sapient beings (creatures who have some level of intelligence above pure instinct but below the ability to form a fully-functioning member of society).
Part of me likes the idea that there's an unspoken highest class for beings who have cutie marks (i.e. ponies uber alles), but the rest of me thinks that's too dark for Equestria.
36. Do other speaking species form their own nations, or are all nations largely integrated, with some having larger populations of a species than others?
Each species formed its own nation; how open or closed they are is up to them. Griffons are pretty private and don't have many visitors or spend much time in the other nations. Diamond Dogs are like Jewish people, and have distinct communities within various nations, without one to call their own.
37. Are minotaurs related to cows at all?
That's not how genetics works.
38. Do all zebras rhyme?
No. Zecora was banished from the zebra homeland for it.
39. Do zebra cutie marks work the same way as pony cutie marks?
Yes.
40. Do any species have types of magic, other than ponies and zebras?
No. They're a little bit resented for it, but most species understand it means more work for them, not less (weather control, etc).
41. Is the lack of buffalo presence in Equestria cultural, or simply because most pony towns aren’t built to accommodate a full grown buffalo?
More the first, but obviously the second makes it hard for them to integrate.
Headcanon and You
42. Do you consider official sources other than the show (comics, card game text, movies, novels, etc.) to be canon?
They're soft canon -- canonical until contradicted by the show. See Star Wars's Expanded Universe, Star Trek's beta canon, etc.
43. Do you have one headcanon that you always use, or do you switch depending on projects?
I use whatever headcanon fits, although there's been very little overlap in my projects to date; no reason they couldn't all take place in the same universe.
44. Can you easily accept the headcanons of different writers? Do you prefer when stories match your headcanon?
It's nice when stories match my headcanon, but it's my headcanon -- why would I expect anyone else to follow it?
45. Is there a part of your headcanon that you wish was more popular among writers?
Not that I can think of. I like everyone having their own interpretation.
46. Is there a popular piece of headcanon that other writers use that you dislike?
Anything where Celestia is a weird evil dictator or rapist.
47. Have you ever written a story or blogpost just to explain some part of your headcanon (other than this one)?
Yeah, I'm gonna link to it at the end here.
48. Does your headcanon influence things like your favorite pony, ship, or episode?
Does yours... not? How would that work?
49. Would it bother you if the show proved part of your headcanon wrong? Any specific piece that would really bother you to lose?
Not really.
50. Is there something that wasn't asked about here, but you feel like you need to explain to everyone?
Equestria is Earth, millions of years from now, after a devastating nuclear disaster and/or war. That's why there are so many reference to modern day life and human culture (ponies don't need doorknobs) -- they built their civilization out of the long-forgotten wreckage of ours, but little bits and pieces have filtered down to them. I go into more detail about that here.
Everyone's a critic.
Yeah...no.
That's perhaps the best one line theory I've heard since this one
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I literally made it up on the spot because I'd never thought about it. But it's mine now and no one will be able to convince me otherwise, I'm so serious.
Ooh, so very close to a scientific basis. The species would perpetuate itself just fine with loads of females and few males, as long as they weren't monogamous. Or even if they were, but just had tons of foals. But there is a reason that sexually reproducing species tend to a 1:1 sex ratio. It is called Fisher's principle, and it boils down to this: if the ratio is not 1:1, a newborn member of the rarer sex has better reproductive prospects than a newborn member of the more common sex, and so traits that predispose an organism to produce offspring of the rarer sex will result in more grandchildren, so the trait is advantageous and will spread (which moves the ratio towards 1:1).
Of course, if you run with the idea that lesbian couples can have foals (without a sperm donor) because magic, a sex ratio skewed in favor of mares becomes quite plausible.
I enjoy all of these, but I have to admit my fave was your Prince Blueblood answer. I chuckled.
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I like knowing the science behind this. Thanks!
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He's just... such a tool.