Nov
22nd
2022
Random headcanons · 4:35pm Nov 22nd, 2022
Because I've got a lot of ideas in my head that want out but might not be able to find their way into a story.
- Despite Gabby's, Gallus's, and Gilda's best efforts, Griffonstone has a hard time fully accepting friendship. Part of this is because, friendly faces or not, the place is still a dunghole, so pragmatism is harder to overcome. But as more and more griffons get rid of their self-centeredness, they take a look around and decide to overhaul Griffonstone to be a nicer place to live. Sadly, they don't have the resources or infrastructure for that… but Equestria does, and these griffons are willing to join Equestria if it means they get access to those resources. Thus begins a movement to get Griffonstone annexed by Equestria. (Other griffons join in on this movement because Equestria is richer. Griffons gonna griffon.) One of Twilight's early problems as princess is convincing Griffonstone to stay Griffonstone and not get rolled into Equestria. An alliance? Absolutely, she'd love that. Full annexation? No.
- Although Luna's always patrolled dreams and dispelled nightmares, the "show up as herself to reassure the dreamer" thing only started after "Luna Eclipsed". Before Nightmare Moon, she never made herself known in dreams, so ponies had a harder time connecting her to her work; part of her transformation into Nightmare Moon also came from ponies not appreciating the large amount of work she did as Equestria's somniotic therapist. After seeing the ways Equestria changed since her banishment and Pipsqueak's response to her, she tried appearing in a few ponies' nightmares to get that personal interaction again, and it snowballed from there. It's not as efficient, so she can't do it as often as she likes, but the morale boost to the pony involved means it's far more effective when she does do it.
- Zebras are semi-frequently shown as still being nomadic in fanfics, but the biggest evidence they aren't comes from Zecora herself, if we assume her various rings are traditional. They look to be made of brass, and the facilities required for metalworking means that a metalworking society can't be nomadic, at least not entirely. (In my own fics, while the bulk of zebras are settled, a large portion of them still live nomadic/pastoral lifestyles.)
- Thanks to the various cloud cities, there are pegasi who live and die without ever touching the ground.
- Nobles are disproportionately unicorns thanks to the tribes' histories. From "Hearth's Warming Eve", the pegasus leader was a commander, making them a military junta, and so accomplishments would be awarded with promotions; the earth pony leader was a chancellor, making them a democracy, and so less likely to have an aristocracy in the first place; and the unicorn leader was a king (sending his daughter as his representative), making them a monarchy, presumably with all the aristocracy that entails. Once the tribes united, almost every noble in their new society was a unicorn. Nobility is hereditary, so nobles were likely to remain unicorns. Pegasi and earth ponies could become nobles by military accomplishments (the usual method of gaining a title), but with Equestria being relatively peaceful, chances for those accomplishments were few and far between. Ergo, inertia keeps most unicorns nobles.
- Half the reason alicorns are so magically strong is because they combine an earth pony's stamina with a unicorn's arcane ability.
Pony tribal genetics work through a system of polygenic circular dominance that only makes sense with magic. A tribal gene has three alleles, one for each tribe (call them E, U, and P), and they hold dominance in a rock-paper-scissors relationship: E > U > P > E. A pony has five of these genes. Among these five, whichever dominant allele appears most often is the tribe the pony will be. If two of these alleles appear with the same frequency, the dominant one wins out.
- Example 1: A pony has alleles PE, UE, UP, PP, and EP. Based on the relationship above, the dominant allele in each is P, E, U, P, and P. There are three P's, one E, and one U. There are more P's than any other allele, so the dominant tribe is P, making this pony a pegasus.
- Example 2: A pony has alleles PE, UE, UP, UU, and EU, for dominant alleles P, E, U, U, and E. E's and U's are tied for the greatest frequency and E is dominant over U, so the dominant tribe is E. This pony is an earth pony.
- In this system (and with the help of a Python script I wrote), I actually found a genetic combination for the Cakes that not only made Pound and Pumpkin's tribes possible, but greater than a 1/8 chance of happening. Greater than 1/4, if you don't care which twin is the pegasus and which is the unicorn. I might be able to get those odds even higher if I wanted to work.
- Equestria's easy access to magic means it's a bit stagnant in pure technology. Most of the time, this isn't much of a problem, but the number of magic-nullifying individuals or artifacts in recent years keeps sending magitech manufacturers for a loop.
- There are schools in Canterlot for gifted pegasi and earth ponies, just like there are for gifted unicorns. At some point, Celestia decided she wanted to keep in touch with younger generations, but didn't have the time for all three, so she decided to teach at the gifted unicorns school, as that was the magic she was most comfortable with. Her presence, combined with unicorn magic being flashier than pegasus or earth pony magic, meant CSGU grew in prominence to displace the other two, through no fault of their own.
- Pegasus feathers and earth pony hooves are as important for their magic as unicorn horns. Damage/remove them, and they have a much harder time with magic.
- Bezoars really do have their mythical panacea abilities. Actually using them, even if you get them after the goat is dead, is a controversial topic.
We kinda already know zebra society canonically
These are interesting headcanons and some appear to be the most logical answer to some question the show never answered.
I love your genetic scheme, and all the rest seem pretty logical , if you ignore G5 canon. (Which I do.)
Bezoars could be extracted with magic or mundane surgery. It might be considered in the same light as selling blood or organs; an unpleasant fact of life that ponies avoid talking about.
Zebra societies are probably as varied as pre-modern African and West Asian ones were. No need to limit them (like SciFi planets) to a single ecosystem and culture.
I believe I've mentioned before that Rainbow Dash seems to be going out of her way to do this. Poison Joke turning her wings upside down? Still not touching the ground on purpose. Worldwide magic drain (via pegasus, if you want a less stupid explanation)? Fly anyway because !@#$ you she's Rainbow Dash.
I can’t believe you really magic mathed out pony genetics.
And the other half is both of those tribal magics are run through the pegasus magic’s force amplification and inertial dampening effects that not only allow the pegasi to fly with such tiny wing surface to weight ratios, but to generate enough thrust to break the sound barrier or to collide with objects at extreme velocities with only minimal injuries.
And even that is only a consideration if you assume those particular traits are carried on the sex chromosomes. They might be entirely separate.
I lowkey love quite a few of these and dig nearly all the rest. Not that I needed further confirmation that your head canon is hardly ever not on point, but these are just so satisfying and delectable.
The problem, of course, comes with making a story to deliver them that isn't just a vehicle for exposition and head canon. As you opened the blog with. Isn't that always the way?
The problem is that, from Equestria's perspective, magic is as fundamental as any other force. Imagine having to design something to stay functional while knowing that someone might shut off gravity midway through the operation.
I personally believe that keratin plays a big role in magic channeling and has magical properties.
Hooves and feathers are both made of keratin. Unicorn horns are either pure keratin, or they are bone underneath a layer of flesh and a coat of thin fuzzy hair (hair being the keratin needed).
The other part is that ponies have been shown to use their manes as storage, and they have prehensile tails, despite the tails being entirely hair. The hair is pure keratin, and if keratin plays a role in magic channeling, it would make sense for manes and tails to have a few inherent magic abilities.
Celestia and Luna also have magic flowing hair, which I believe to be them channeling excess magic through the strands of keratin.
The genetics bit is needlessly overanalyzed. I approve.
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Alicorn manes as cooling fins? Headcanon accepted.
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This reminds me of the space battles on The Expanse, where the gravity situation can indeed change second to second.
Come to think of it, that would also apply to anything a pegasus carries during intense manoeuvring.