bookplayer's thing · 10:52am Apr 11th, 2014
Bookplayer posted a thing that would normally piss me off if I saw it in my feed, but it's about pony worldbuilding and shit so it's actually interesting. Answer it yourself if you like!
The Princesses:
1. How old are Celestia and Luna?
I have multiple answers to this.
2. How old is Cadance?
Less than 200.
3. Were Celestia and Luna always alicorns, or did they ascend?
I also have multiple answers to this. My favorite two are 1) they were created by the magical fire in HWE, 2) They ascended a matter of minutes before they turned Discord to stone.
4. Are Cadance and Twilight immortal?
Yes. Or there's my wild theory about reincarnation. Or if I ever have reason to write about "lesser alicorns," I'll work with that idea and with the question of what the difference is.
5. Have there been other alicorns in the past?
No, except in one of my ideas, and now I'm thinking about alicorns being killed in battle.
6. How much authority do Celestia and Luna have in Equestria?
They delegate some things, but could change anything they wanted with unquestioned authority.
7. Does Shining Armor rule The Crystal Empire along side of Cadance?
Shit, I never thought of this. I'm gonna say no. He's not an alicorn.
8. Other than Twilight, Luna, and Cadance, what relationships have been important to Celestia in her lifetime?
Uh. Hmm. Well, there's plenty of fanfiction written about this already.
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)?
Canon gives us PLENTY of evidence that there are still cultural differences. Strict canon does not show us cultural stereotypes for obvious reasons, but there clearly should be.
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?
They eat uncooked food in Cloudsdale. They like to manufacture... I dunno, awesome weather-magic stuff that you wouldn't see on the ground. This is gonna come into play in what I'm writing, and I haven't figured it out yet.
11. Can all unicorns learn all spells, given the time and effort spent practicing them, or is magical talent usually limited in some way?
Most unicorns are really lousy at magic. Cutie mark-related spells are intuitive to them; some unicorns don't need to study or practice at all.
12. Earth pony magic: Does it exist? What is it?
I wrote about this! tl;dr it doesn't, but having a good heart is a form of pony magic just like unicorn and pegasus magic.
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?
"Clan" names are a case by case basis. Note that the Apples don't have a naming convention so much as a tradition of apple-based names. I do not know what to say about the Cakes.
14. How much formal schooling is an average, middle class pony expected to complete?
Bookplayer, you think too much.
15. What’s the average lifespan for a pony? At what age is a pony expected to be independent of their parents?
I have never come up with any decent answer to the paradox that makes Granny several hundred years old. Perhaps Winter Wrap-Up predates the settling of Ponyville by a long time and we're getting some slight miscommunication there.
16. Are there roughly an equal number of male and female ponies?
How I wish I could stick with my headcanon of male ponies studding themselves out because there are so few. Sadly, this headcanon has been busted every which way.
17. How informed are most ponies about things that happen in other parts of Equestria? What about other parts of the world?
Ponies canonically suck at disseminating any kind of information. Seriously.
The Main Characters:
18. How old are the Mane Six? Spike? The CMC?
In the latest thing I'm writing, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy are both 22, and Spike is 10.
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?
Good question. Where were her parents? But it is my firm headcanon that she shortly came to live on the ground. Also good question as to whether she lost touch with Rainbow Dash for a while. I like to think that after Rainbow Dash "dropped out" of flight school, she came to live on the ground with Fluttershy.
20. Rarity and Applejack both seem to have grown up in Ponyville. What were their interactions like before the show?
Canon gives us absolutely no clues. It's possible they didn't even interact, and they became friends in the time between episodes.
21. What do Twilight and Spike consider their relationship to be?
They're the perfect team.
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?
This is a very interesting question that I have never sufficiently thought about.
23. Who among the Mane Six had the best parents growing up? The worst parents?
don't think about TMB don't think about TMB don't think about TMB
24. Why didn’t the CMC hang out more/know each other before Call of the Cutie?
Because Apple Bloom and Scootaloo were loners, I guess.
25. Is Scootaloo an orphan? Will she ever be able to fly?
She's handicapped and has a single mom. Her dad who the hell knows. It's like a Disney movie--the parents are there for as long as it's convenient for them to exist.
26. Will Apple Bloom’s cutie mark involve an apple in some way, even if it’s unrelated to farming or baking?
Yes because it's hard to imagine her NOT having a cutie mark that marks her as part of the Apple family. Nearly all Apple cousins do. Cutie marks represent more than just your profession, and a big part of Bloom's identity is her family.
27. How is Sweetie Belle’s relationship with their parents different than Rarity’s was?
dont think about it dont think about it dont think about it
Side and Background Characters:
28. Is Mr. Cake the father of the Cake twins or not?
Oh COME THE FUCK ON. Fuck this question.
29. Are Big Mac and Cheerilee an item, romantically?
Canon tries to tell us no. I can see an interpretation of them becoming close after the events of that episode, but I prefer to think that it's a very close "friendzone" arrangement. Reading Cheerilee's fangirl faint as a playful joke between friends is cute to me.
30. How did Prince Blueblood get his title?
Relation to the ancient Platinum bloodline.
31. Is Silver Spoon equally as bad as Diamond Tiara?
Wasn't there a moment or two where she was portrayed as a suck-up to DT?
32. Is Zecora’s magic common among zebras?
No. She's some kind of awesome guru. Not unique, but a trained expert.
33. Why does Daring Do publish her stories as fiction?
To avoid having to answer questions about it.
34. Do you have a strong headcanon for any non-speaking or one line background ponies that you want to share?
I am in love with Cloudchaser.
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?)
It's too late at night for me to be thinking this hard.
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?
Their own nations. Equestria seems pretty homogenous.
37. Are minotaurs related to cows at all?
Oh god.
38. Do all zebras rhyme?
No.
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?
Probably.
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?
Uh.
Headcanon and You:
42. Do you consider official sources other than the show (comics, card game text, movies, novels, etc.) to be canon?
When it's convenient. This often means "no."
43. Do you have one headcanon that you always use, or do you switch depending on projects?
I don't have a constant headcanon so much as I re-use my headcanon-y ideas unless I have reason not to.
44. Can you easily accept the headcanons of different writers? Do you prefer when stories match your headcanon?
If a fic is worthy of my respect, then it's *awesome* when it goes against my headcanon, because it shows me new ideas.
45. Is there a part of your headcanon that you wish was more popular among writers?
Gilda is Rainbow Dash's jilted ex-girlfriend. I have no idea why this isn't more common. It's so obvious.
46. Is there a popular piece of headcanon that other writers use that you dislike?
Where to begin?
47. Have you ever written a story or blogpost just to explain some part of your headcanon (other than this one)?
All the damn time.
48. Does your headcanon influence things like your favorite pony, ship, or episode?
I gotta do some soul-searching here. How much of my love for Applejack is honestly from canon?
49. Would it bother you if the show proved part of your headcanon wrong? Any specific piece that would really bother you to lose?
Nah. I've already lost some things that I liked, and it's no big deal.
50. Is there something that wasn't asked about here, but you feel like you need to explain to everyone?
I have many ideas that I love that I wouldn't consider "headcanon." I'm sure they aren't true in strict-canon, but it would be cool if they were. I have three separate ideas in mind for Starswirl, I once wrote up an idea doc about a pantheon of alicorn godesses and how the m6 would come to replace each one of them, I like the idea of pegasus free love and I'm writing about it right now... I am adapatable by nature, and so is my writing.
I am intrigued by literally everything about your fiftieth answer.