Headcanon stuff · 12:22am Apr 12th, 2014
So, I found this blog post recently that asked fifty questions about the reader's personal headcanon and suggested that they answer them. I don't normally respond to things like this, particularly since it kind of reminds me of the tagging thing, but I don't think this is the same and it seemed like an interesting subject. So I thought, just for once, why not? Feel free to skip this if you don't care about my half-baked thoughts, and I apologise for the notification you received if that's the case. Otherwise, here are my fifty answers.
The Princesses:
1. How old are Celestia and Luna? Over a thousand. How much over a thousand, I don't know. A century or two at most.
2. How old is Cadance? Late twenties? Early thirties? She was already a teenager when Twilight was really little.
3. Were Celestia and Luna always alicorns, or did they ascend? Ascend. Twilight's and Cadance's ascensions seem to imply that being an alicorn means you totally understand friendship or harmony or love or some crap. It's the end result of a personal journey and a symbol of accomplishment. To be born an alicorn no longer makes sense after seasons three and four.
4. Are Cadance and Twilight immortal? Not necessarily, but they could be if they wanted. I personally believe that Celestia and Luna are immortal for reasons unrelated to being alicorns. Age spells are my guess, since we know those are a thing. Further, I also don't think that even the royal sisters really intended to live as long as they have done. I'm not saying that I think Celestia will just let herself die now, because she must see how much better off Equestria is with her than without her, but I think she only decided to live this long in the first place because she knew Luna would be coming back one day and wanted to wait for her.
5. Have there been other alicorns in the past? Totally. I'm sure that in over a thousand years, Cadance and Twilight aren't the first to ever ascend. I don't think there are any others currently, though.
6. How much authority do Celestia and Luna have in Equestria? As long as they don't break their own laws, I guess they can do whatever they want. They probably have veto power and can impose their will at any level of the chain of command if they so feel like it, even if they delegate most of their duties. I imagine that if they were less restrained than they are, Equestria could be quite the dictatorship.
7. Does Shining Armor rule The Crystal Empire along side of Cadance? Yes, but not with equal power. He's the Albert to her Victoria. But he probably doesn't like to exercise his power much. I don't think he's the kind of guy who'd be comfortable with that.
8. Other than Twilight, Luna, and Cadance, what relationships have been important to Celestia in her lifetime (students, close friends, lovers, family)? I think she's probably had hundreds of students throughout the ages and considered all of them her close friends. She gets familiar with the palace staff that she interacts with a lot, and she probably would have made friends in the course of interacting with foreign countries as well. Going by the comics, she was also very close with Starswirl. I'm not sure if she ever had a lover, but those same comics seem to be implying that she had a thing with an alternate universe Sombra once. The comics are weird.
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 think the cultures are far more homogenous now than they were in the past, but there are old race-specific customs still hanging around. Ponyville's way of wrapping-up winter is said to be old earth pony tradition, for one thing.
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 Cloudsdale has any trouble importing items from the ground. I imagine that most Cloudsdale homes look a lot like Dash's. But I don't think the reverse is true. Cloudsdale probably has plenty of mundane, everyday items fashioned out of cloud, just for convenience. I don't think those would be that common outside of other cloud cities.
11. Can all unicorns learn all spells, given the time and effort spent practicing them, or is magical talent usually limited in some way? Learn all spells? Yes. Though, like many, I've adopted the idea that unicorns are usually only able to show any skill with spells related to their talent, so if their talent isn't related to magic in some way then they're going to have a bad time doing that. Perform all spells, on the other hand? No. There's a clear limit on how much magical power each unicorn has, that power level can vary, and it's clear that some spells require more magic than others. It's probably fair to say that there are a lot of spells that most unicorns would be physically unable to cast because they're simply not powerful enough. Like how there are some weights that an average human just simply can't lift.
12. Earth pony magic: Does it exist? What is it? Yeah. Earth ponies are naturally stronger, tougher and faster, some of them to absurd degrees. Like those four earth ponies from season one who were pulling that train. A steam engine pulls at something like 1800 horsepower. Big Mac and Maud are also good examples. Also farming magic and some shit I guess.
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 believe that Equestrians name themselves however the fuck they feel like. Some ponies have surnames, like Pinkie or the Cakes. Some have family names, but don't really seem to incorporate the family name into their actual names, like Big Mac and Granny Smith. And some just have one-word names, like Rarity and Fluttershy, because they're hipsters and adhering to sensible naming conventions is too mainstream. Seriously, of everything about Equestria, naming is the thing that makes the least sense, and I refuse to try and untangle that mess. (Though, me and Draven did once come up with a fun theory that human names exist in Equestria, but are used as middle names there. It explains Pinkamena Diane Pie. And it also makes Trixie funnier in retrospect to imagine her as one of those people who call themselves by their middle name because they're too embarassed by their actual one. Lulamoon lol.)
14. How much formal schooling is an average, middle class pony expected to complete? I imagine it to be roughly equivalent to the real world.
15. What’s the average lifespan for a pony? At what age is a pony expected to be independent of their parents? I think a healthy pony who doesn't stress themselves too heavily can expect to live for a very long time by our standards. Granny Smith is basically stated to be over a hundred (probably not a deliberate choice on the part of the show staff, but it's canon now, so too late for that!), and nobody seems to bat an eyelid at her still being active. Ponies probably aren't expected to be independent any sooner or later than humans are, but I think they can be independent a lot sooner, if they wish (see: AJ walking to Manehattan by herself).
16. Are there roughly an equal number of male and female ponies? Roughly. Yeah. Though I still can't help but view Equestria as a matriarchal society. Most of its important historical figures are either mares or are portrayed as mares. Starswirl's the big exception, but he faded from popular memory. The only other male figure to influence history as much as him was Discord.
17. How informed are most ponies about things that happen in other parts of Equestria? What about other parts of the world? Equestria has been shown to have a media network. We know they have newspapers and stuff. Then again, I can't ignore how much nobody seems to acknowledge Princess Twilight. Hmm... I guess the explanation that makes the most sense is that unless an event is just too big to ignore (the legend of Nightmare Moon was real and she's back now, the capital came under siege from an army of bug monsters, there is now a new country somewhere in the north inhabited by ponies made of crystal, etc.) then nobody cares. Equestrian media doesn't report on real news because the culture of gossip and celebrity-worship is even worse than in our world. Equestria is actually a dystopia where ponyfied TMZ rules the day. Element of Kindness? Who the fuck's that? Oh shit, is that Fluttershy, the famous fashion model?! BRB, getting photograpghs!
The Main Characters:
18. How old are the Mane Six? Spike? The CMC? As of season four, I make Dash twenty-one. Fluttershy is probably the same age since I think they shared a class. Pinkie is a year younger than Fluttershy, so she must be twenty. That makes sense, right? Couldn't even guess at the others. I always think of Rarity as the oldest of the group, but that's all I have. The CMC and Spike... no clue. They could be anything between eleven and fifteen right now. I do think they've been maturing a lot recently, so I'm leaning towards the older end of the spectrum, but I'm never 100% sure.
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 don't think so. Dash moving to Ponyville on her birthday suggests to me that she left home as soon as she was able, and I think Fluttershy did the same. They probably left Cloudsdale together. It'd be fitting for the element of loyalty to stick by her friend like that.
20. Rarity and Applejack both seem to have grown up in Ponyville. What were their interactions like before the show? I don't think that they'd have had much reason to interact before meeting Twilight. By the same reason, they probably wouldn't have argued much before. No reason to piss off someone you don't know.
21. What do Twilight and Spike consider their relationship to be? Emotionally, I think Twilight takes a sort of motherly/big sisterly role with Spike, but I don't think that they consider their relationship as familial. I think if either of them were asked, they'd call it a friendship. Twilight addresses him as her assistant, after all, not her little brother. Spike and Shining are total bros, though.
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? The Cakes keep Pinkie around because they're a swinging couple and they know she's always up for a good time. I want to say apprentice. At least, I think it started that way. Maybe it is a straight employment and she rents a room now, but she must have learned baking from somewhere, and we know that she came to Ponyville when she was very young.
23. Who among the Mane Six had the best parents growing up? The worst parents? Twilight clearly had the best parents. Pinkie had the worst, by virtue of them basically being Puritans. Then again, AJ's are dead, so depending on how you think of it, maybe hers were the worst?
24. Why didn’t the CMC hang out more/know each other before Call of the Cutie? Guess they just didn't meet? They hung out with other people? Sweetie definitely did. And she had terrible friends before she met the Crusaders.
25. Is Scootaloo an orphan? Will she ever be able to fly? I don't see why she would learn to fly. I don't think her talent involves flying, so there's no narrative reason for it. Orphaned? I... don't know. Honestly, I've never really cared. I leave that up to fanfic writers to decide, and I am awaiting a definite answer from the show. I know that I definitely don't believe she's homeless.
26. Will Apple Bloom’s cutie mark involve an apple in some way, even if it’s unrelated to farming or baking? Sure.
27. How is Sweetie Belle’s relationship with their parents different than Rarity’s was? I don't think she's as embarassed of them as Rarity is.
Side and Background Characters:
28. Is Mr. Cake the father of the Cake twins or not? He is, but I like to believe he was plagued by doubts for a long time over it.
29. Are Big Mac and Cheerilee an item, romantically? I don't think they know themselves, honestly. Since the love poison incident, I think they have discovered an attraction, but I don't think anything has actually come of it yet. That may change.
30. How did Prince Blueblood get his title? I said before that I think there have been other alicorns previously, right? I think every time someone ascends, Celestia gives them their own royal title, and all their descendants from then on are royalty too. Every new ascended prince and princess starts their own royal house. Blueblood the first must have been an alicorn who was adopted into the royal family, much like Cadance. This theory of previous alicorn princes and princesses may seem a bit out there, but it's what makes the most sense to me considering all the times in the series there have been stories of princes and princesses in the legends and yet people's thoughts didn't immediately jump to Celestia and/or Luna. Think of the story of the prince and princess supposedly affected by the love poison, for example. Or even better, in the pilot, Twilight somehow didn't know that Nightmare Moon's sister who banished her and took control of the sun and moon was the same alicorn princess as Celestia.
31. Is Silver Spoon equally as bad as Diamond Tiara? No, but she's easily influenced, and she has the potential to be just as bad if she doesn't get out soon.
32. Is Zecora’s magic common among zebras? About as common as magic is among ponies.
33. Why does Daring Do publish her stories as fiction? I haven't the faintest fucking idea. Maybe she finds it funny?
34. Do you have a strong headcanon for any non-speaking or one line background ponies that you want to share? I consider the Doctor Whooves thing canon. We've had so many blatant references by now, it might as well be.
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?) If it speaks, it has the same rights as everything else that speaks. What makes the species different is what they're physically able to do. That talking chimera thing probably wouldn't ever be given a job where it'll be asked to move clouds. I'll also specify that it just needs to speak. It doesn't necessarily need to speak Equestrian. A lot of the animals we've seen, like the goats, could just be foreigners who haven't got the language down. I admittedly have no basis for that, but it's a possibility. If it doesn't speak... I don't know. We treat different animals in different ways on Earth, but then again, we're human. Since ponies don't eat meat, I'd imagine that most animals in Equestria are under pony protection. Fluttershy can't be the only one of her kind.
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? Like Equestria is primarily for ponies, there are probably other nations primarily for other species too. The griffins must have their own kingdom. But I don't think that every species has its own nation. Most intelligent species more likely just set up wherever they please in the borders of an already existing nation and are left to their own devices. The comics seem to suggest that Celestia lets individual groups of other species living in Equestria self-govern, as was the case with the rock lobsters.
37. Are minotaurs related to cows at all? Oh, sure. Cow + Discord fucking around = minotaur.
38. Do all zebras rhyme? No. Dear lord, no.
39. Do zebra cutie marks work the same way as pony cutie marks? I doubt it. Zecora's looks abstract as fuck.
40. Do any species have types of magic, other than ponies and zebras? I think most species have some kind of magic. What form it takes and how they channel it is a different matter.
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? Cultural.
Headcanon and You:
42. Do you consider official sources other than the show (comics, card game text, movies, novels, etc.) to be canon? Definitely, but there's a heirarchy. Show and movies first, then comics, then novels, then card text and toys and shit. Word of god from Faust and other show creators fits in there somewhere. Everything is canon until something is contradicted. In the event of a contradiction, I give precedence to the higher source in the heirarchy. The show's word on a matter is always final, which is why I really hope to see a direct tie-in with the comics some day.
43. Do you have one headcanon that you always use, or do you switch depending on projects? I switch as I learn new things. When writing, I like to keep canon compliant whenever possible.
44. Can you easily accept the headcanons of different writers? Do you prefer when stories match your headcanon? My headcanon is mine. I like seeing interesting alternatives in fanfics. I love seeing a creative take on the changelings, for example, even if most changeling fics aren't compatible with the comic portrayal.
45. Is there a part of your headcanon that you wish was more popular among writers? I would definitely like to see more fics explore the idea that all alicorns are futa. Not really. Maybe it'd be cool to see more fics based on the comics, but I read enough as it is.
46. Is there a popular piece of headcanon that other writers use that you dislike? Homeless Scootaloo is too often used for melodrama, and Pinkie literally being aware of the fourth wall or being a reality-warper is something I can never take seriously. Also, Fausticorn as God is fucking stupid, and even moreso since season three.
47. Have you ever written a story or blogpost just to explain some part of your headcanon (other than this one)? Not just to do so, but it's come up.
48. Does your headcanon influence things like your favorite pony, ship, or episode? No.
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. The show shatters my headcanon all the time, and I find it rarely correlates to my enjoyment of an episode. Anyone who's read Human can probably tell that I once really brought into the "princesses as goddesses" theory, but I didn't mind that much when Canterlot Wedding and Magical Mystery Cure wiped the floor with those ideas.
50. Is there something that wasn't asked about here, but you feel like you need to explain to everyone? Pegasi reproduce through eggs, Discord really is Q, and MLP exists in the Warhammer 40K universe. I mean, no. No there isn't.
Thank you very much for stating that not all zebra rhyme.
Very interesting stuff you got here. I'm inclined to do it myself.
And I can't help it but..
AJ's dead parents, confirmed for being total dead pricks.
I enjoyed reading this.