50 Questions

50 Questions, as Questioned By bookplayer

I mostly answer from my own opinions as if they were fact, to streamline the process.

The Princesses:

1. How old are Celestia and Luna?

Well, I'd say they're just over 1000 (for the purposes of my own stories, they're 1038 and 1036 respectively). They deposed Discord early in their adulthood. On that note, I also like to think Discord's 'rule' and the unification of Equestria we were told of overlapped each other; this'd imply that Discord ruled something other than Equestria, perhaps the world, before it came into being.

2. How old is Cadance?

Same age as Shining Armor, which for me would be 25.

3. Were Celestia and Luna always alicorns, or did they ascend?

Yes, I believe they did. I headcanon Luna being the first to accomplish it, through the ideal of 'willpower', much like Twilight with 'friendship'. Celestia ascended through 'zeal' afterwards. On that note, I believe Luna was a pegasus, and Celestia an earth pony, before their transformations.

4. Are Cadance and Twilight immortal?

Not at all. I believe the sisters found their immortality independent of their ascension.

5. Have there been other alicorns in the past?

Nope, but there have been ponies with the capability to ascend. Celestia most likely tutors ponies she believes have that capability, and exclusively unicorns for a trifecta of sorts. Why she does this hinges on the headcanon I'm using, so I'll leave it at that.

6. How much authority do Celestia and Luna have in Equestria?

Celestia and Luna deliberately kept the title 'princess' after their parents passed, long ago. In that state, they don't have much royal power. They instead are advisors of sorts, and help to manage economic and foreign affairs (respectively, whence Luna rejoins her sister, but before then it's a one horse show).

7. Does Shining Armor rule The Crystal Empire along side of Cadance?

Yes, I don't see why not. I don't see Cadance as having a real tie to the crown of the Crystal Empire, by blood or some lifespan finagling, so she has nothing really on him there.

8. Other than Twilight, Luna, and Cadance, what relationships have been important to Celestia in her lifetime (students, close friends, lovers, family)?

This'd depend on the headcanon I have in mind, but I believe Celestia took on a student after they rescued their country from Discord, but that pony was... far from the most righteous, no matter what headcanon; this is why she takes a distant approach with future students, like Sunset and Twilight, but her personality makes 'distant' look 'chummy', so neither Sunset or Twilight took notice. What we already know is that she was best friends, I'd dare say, with Star Swirl in his time, thanks to the comics.

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)?

I wouldn't say they were homogenous, nor is there complete understanding between races to this day. They simply have aspects that are theirs alone, but they share these things, like the weather, crops and knowledge. Likewise, I think melting pot towns like Ponyville aren't exactly common either. As for stereotypes, I think they're be a mix of both, but nothing biting or malicious. I have this pet idea that pegasi are often seen as cowards, despite their more militant culture, since they can just blast off from any sort of personal conflicts. For unicorns, there'd be an age-old conception that they're liars, since their most notable city is curled up around Canterlot like some snake.

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?

I don't think so. I think they'd be without food stuffs you'd have to spend a great amount of time close to the ground to come across (so all their confections would be imported), and they take a gatherer approach to finding food at ground level. Of course, anything they prepare would taste like ozone, kinda.

11. Can all unicorns learn all spells, given the time and effort spent practicing them, or is magical talent usually limited in some way?

This is the hairiest thing about my headcanons, this topic. For the most part... I think magical talent is tied to mental acuity, as well as physical fitness if the spells in question have a great physical strain, like moving a gigantic space bear, or summoning a whirlpool of earth. This is assuming you have the ability to process the forces required to pull off these feats, and I don't think 'how much power it takes to lift a giant space bear' meditation classes are easy to find. I like to think unicorns benefit from the utility of magic, rather than the raw power (pegasi have the untamed weather on the raw power front). Still, there's no limit to what a creative mind can do with it.

12. Earth pony magic: Does it exist? What is it?

Absolutely. I think pegasi are limited to controlling more transient things, like the weather, where as unicorns just will their raw tools into existence with their mind. Earth ponies control less transient things: the makeup of materials, like plants and rocks. Their capabilities would be absurd at the highest possible level, but I like to think it's not so easy. Unicorns can be skilled at any number of concepts, whereas earth ponies build an affinity for a particular type of thing; that could be extrapolated to explain why Applejack can kick trees clear of their roots from the ground unaided, or Maud can jackhammer moving rock slides into harmless dust. On the flipside, Maud couldn't woodchip a logslide to harmless bits and Applejack couldn't kick Tom over. Sure, there are more creative ways for them to use their magic, but unicorns already have that covered in the cosmic rock-paper-scissors, so those 'creative' things are mostly parlor tricks.

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?

At this point, I'd also like to point out the even/odd syllable convention. Most ponies have a three syllable name, where as royalty, aristocrats or wannabes have two or four syllables. Along with the more thematic conventions, we have this to work with. I think most ponies you'd find would stick to the three syllable, self-referential variety of name, like Pinkie Pie or Rarity. We come to wonder how a pony parent names their kid ahead of time, to match their cutie mark. Well, I think a pony changing their name is a common thing in Equestria. For Pinkie and Rarity, their names were pretty vague or shorthanded to something else, so they probably didn't need to do this. But, perhaps, maybe Fluttershy did? Her name is... odd, all things considered. Maybe she gave herself a new name at a young age, and thus came up with that oddity?

On the other hand, there would be families that WANT to shoehorn their children to some degree, or to carry a family name in the world of randomly colored ponies. Sure, an Apple could stick to the family biz, but why would their name stop them? Maybe a 'Honeycrisp' could be a welder, or 'Jazz Apple' a musician. For Twilight, her mother probably wanted to impart something extra to her daughter, and thus named her Twilight as well? Maybe the mares in her family have always had the name Twilight, for some arbitrary reason.

14. How much formal schooling is an average, middle class pony expected to complete?

From the age of 5 to 12, I think most ponies would be in school. They're not obligated to complete any more education, since most ponies would have their way by then.

15. What’s the average lifespan for a pony? At what age is a pony expected to be independent of their parents?

I'm running with the idea that ponies are considered adults at 16, so they're expected to either continue education, or become able at some craft by then (societal expectation, anyways). For when they should be independent, that depends on what they choose to do. I think it wouldn't be strange to see a 14-year-old pony on their own in Equestria, for example. As for the lifespan, maybe the average has 10-12 years on our own.

16. Are there roughly an equal number of male and female ponies?

Yeah, I think they're equal. I know it's against fanon, but I'm in the camp of 'make MLP ponies less like our ponies when possible'.

17. How informed are most ponies about things that happen in other parts of Equestria? What about other parts of the world?

Not very, considering some of the episodes we've seen. Still, I think they'd be well informed about some of their neighbors; perhaps the griffons and minotaurs, most of all. Mostly superficial things, but still.

The Main Characters:

18. How old are the Mane Six? Spike? The CMC?

For my heacanoning, I run with the assumption that Spike is 12. This means that the Rainboom also occurred 12 years ago. For the rest:

Twilight - 18
Rainbow - 17, close to 18
Pinkie Pie - 19
Fluttershy - 20
Applejack -21
Rarity - 22 (she was fairly old in Sweetie's flashback after all)
Apple Bloom - 8
Sweetie Belle - 8 and one half (children count these things)
Scootaloo - 9

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?

I think they drifted apart after she permanently moved there, shortly after. On that note, I also think at least one of her parents is an earth pony, so it's not totally absurd.

20. Rarity and Applejack both seem to have grown up in Ponyville. What were their interactions like before the show?

The were likely pretty distant, but familiar due to parental meddling. They could barely get along in season 1 most of the time, so they needed to get used to each other even then.

21. What do Twilight and Spike consider their relationship to be?

Since I think the idea that a six year old raising a child is absurd, I don't see this is a mother/son relationship. It was semi-confirmed by Lauren that Spike was raised by Celestia, anyways. I see them as a brother/sister thing. Heck, he and Shining might have got along famously too.

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 think it's a combination of the first two, really. I can see her hamming up the starving traveler routine outside their bakery one day, and they take pity and let her stay a while. But then, one thing lead to another...

Anyways, I believe she would have been twelve at the time.

23. Who among the Mane Six had the best parents growing up? The worst parents?

Worst? Rarity, perhaps. Maybe they were more like 'friends' than 'parents', and so Rarity saw fit to be the responsible one most of the time. They weren't neglectful (maybe), but they didn't parent very well either. With Fluttershy, I mentioned earlier that she changed her name. Maybe her family are in Photo Finish's vein, and she was named Shutterfly before. However, she soon proved to despise that path, so she spoonerism'd her name some time before going to flight school. In her case, I can see her as being a distant child, who doesn't feel worse off being away from them; but that was her choice, and not a reflection of their ability as parents.

I'd say Applejack had the best parenting, with Granny Smith taking the torch by herself at some point. If Applejack sees them as a standard, it'd explain her near-manic behavior with Apple Bloom...

24. Why didn’t the CMC hang out more/know each other before Call of the Cutie?

Scootaloo recently moved into Ponyville, maybe not even a few days before the pilot. I imagine that Rarity, while a Ponyville native, didn't live there her whole life; rather, they moved somewhere else for a time in her late childhood, when Sweetie was born, and then moved back recently, making her the fish out of water too. It was a matter of time after they were in the same town... God help us all.

25. Is Scootaloo an orphan? Will she ever be able to fly?

No, I don't think she's an orphan. I have a storied heacanon on the subject that involves her being raised by her homeless family and getting the money to move to Ponyville from the lottery, but that's a prototype. And no, I don't think she will. It's a meta reason: since Fluttershy demonstrates a pegasus who is least like the quintessential, Rainbow Dash, living nothing like a pegasus, I though Scootaloo would be a pegasus just like the quintessential, but living her own way.

26. Will Apple Bloom’s cutie mark involve an apple in some way, even if it’s unrelated to farming or baking?

Eh... seeing as how the story I had in mind for her goes, I never considered this. But no, I don't think it would, if her talent weren't apple-related. I like the idea that Apple Bloom would grow a distaste for farm life when she gets older.

27. How is Sweetie Belle’s relationship with their parents different than Rarity’s was?

Going with the not-a-parent thing, I think Sweetie loves them, for being lenient and fun. She's a sweetie, so she loves crabby Rarity just the same. Of course, Rarity's trying her best to keep things together, but we've seen her slip up.

Side and Background Characters:

28. Is Mr. Cake the father of the Cake twins or not?

No, I don't think he is. I think that story has more to it than what was hinted, though.

29. Are Big Mac and Cheerilee an item, romantically?

Maybe they go to the same book club (no Twilights allowed), but otherwise, no. Just friends!

30. How did Prince Blueblood get his title?

I don't doubt Celestia had some children over her years. Her title is ceremonial (to her especially), but that didn't stop later generations from capitalizing.

31. Is Silver Spoon equally as bad as Diamond Tiara?

Yep. I think they're a gruesome twosome, but Diamond's the natural leader (with this, I'd also like to say that I believe leadership is her special talent. She is pretty exceptional, seeing how she elevated a fricken' school newspaper into the premiere gossip rag on virtually no budget, after all).

32. Is Zecora’s magic common among zebras?

Common? No, but the most prolific research on her alchemy might have come from her kin.

33. Why does Daring Do publish her stories as fiction?

I believe that, before a certain incident, Daring was at the end of her rope. A normal pony, trying to fight a sun demon on her own, and no one believed her tales. However, she meets her ghost writer, a literal ghost, in a mysterious, far away tomb. The ghost saved her from certain death after a basilisk attack by cursing her, conscripting her forever more into being a royal guard of the pharaoh of that tomb. Thus, she has real superpowers now. Since Ahuizotl and her rogues gallery have undermined her career as an archaeologist at every turn, she was basically penniless. The ghost kindly offered to chronicle her tales to earn her extra money on the side, but, unbeknownst to her...

34. Do you have a strong headcanon for any non-speaking or one line background ponies that you want to share?

Roseluck ran away from her wealthy family at a young age to live in Ponyville, to escape the pressures her family pushed onto her. I have this vague idea of her winding up in a love triangle with Luna and Applejack, but I haven't taken it far.

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?)

For Diamond Dogs and chimeras, they're a race that roams the land. The number of dogs and chimeras in Equestria, for example, isn't enough to be considered even a minority. On the topic of cows, I like to think they're actually like every other animal, in that they have enough intelligence to speak, but not on par with ponies or the like. It's just that cow speak is more widespread than bluejay speak, or bear speak.

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?

For the most part, yes, they're like Equestria. That isn't to say no country exists where there's a good mix of the races.

37. Are minotaurs related to cows at all?

Nope. Griffons would have to be related to every species with lion bits too, then... but what if they have no 'lion bits'? What then?!

38. Do all zebras rhyme?

Nope. Zecora's just quirky, even by their standards. Heck, even by Equestrian standards.

39. Do zebra cutie marks work the same way as pony cutie marks?

I don't see why not. For donkeys and zebras, cutie marks could happen, but very rarely.

40. Do any species have types of magic, other than ponies and zebras?

Ponies, by and large, have the most present magical abilities. Still, other races have them. Griffons have sensing magic, deer communication magic, zebras... chi perhaps, 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?

I'd say cultural.

Headcanon and You:

42. Do you consider official sources other than the show (comics, card game text, movies, novels, etc.) to be canon?

Of course. It's more ideas to work with. However, I acknowledge that very, very few fans have consumed these sources, or even know of them, so because of that they're secondary canon in practice. I take them to heart, personally.

43. Do you have one headcanon that you always use, or do you switch depending on projects?

I switch, yeah. I have a more vague headcanon, to use for smaller stories. I'm not above undermining my own for a story or two. For the most part, I have one singular headcanon, with two timelines, depending on whether I want crossover elements involved. I developed this one when working on a crossover with Mother (which is known for having barely an continuity between titles, so I felt like I had more liberty connecting it to MLP in the absolute most subtle ways possible).

44. Can you easily accept the headcanons of different writers? Do you prefer when stories match your headcanon?

I don't expect to find anyone who matches mine at this point, so I can accept it for the sake of their story.

45. Is there a part of your headcanon that you wish was more popular among writers?

Yeah, mostly concerning alicorns and earth ponies. I'd like to see more earth pony magic shenanigans, for one. With alicorns, I want to see less focus on immortality, especially the immortality of Twilight or Cadance, since that was half-debunked in the past. I also see them (or the sisters if not the other two) often portrayed as godlike, which I do not care for either.

46. Is there a popular piece of headcanon that other writers use that you dislike?

Nothing in particular. However, I don't like when characters are warped around one aspect of themselves, like dumb hick AJ, tyrannical Celestia or warrior Princess Luna; socially awkward Twilight, St-st-st-stuttershy or jock Dash, etc.

47. Have you ever written a story or blogpost just to explain some part of your headcanon (other than this one)?

Well, not yet. One I am working on is literally just a headcanon dump, so much so that I couldn't even summarize the plot at this point; it's about Celestia's life leading to the present. And I don't blog at all, so there's that.

48. Does your headcanon influence things like your favorite pony, ship, or episode?

Kinda? I develop headcanon as I plan stories, so in a way, yes. I love Diamond Tiara, Apple Bloom and Celestia now, and I just so happen to be writing stories for all of them. I am ashamed to admit, however, that I dislike Twilight Sparkle because of this, with the headcanon that she didn't earn her wings. I wasn't a fan to begin with, so I might have been reaching for more.

49. Would it bother you if the show proved part of your headcanon wrong? Any specific piece that would really bother you to lose?

Twilight being immortal, Scootaloo being an orphan, or AJ's parents being alive. Everything else, I'll acquiesce to because it's so tangential, like government or alicorn powers.

50. Is there something that wasn't asked about here, but you feel like you need to explain to everyone?

Sunset Shimmer needs a spinoff! She wasn't done proper justice! Instead of shoehorning Twilight into an antihero, you can just write Sunset for all your contrarian foil needs!

Nah, I ain't serious maybe. Trixie gets the rival bit way too much with Sunset around though.