Facial Fur, Part 2 · 10:24pm Jun 21st, 2013
Ponies have fur. That's an established fact in the MLP canon. I talked a little while ago about what issues this fact presents to the beard-wearing population, and now I'm going to show that fur-related problems transcend gender barriers.
Exhibit A
Um, what? How is it possible for blushing to be seen through fur? It's not just bright-white-coat Rarity, either:
Exhibit B
Quick question: when was the last time you got a sunburn? For me, it was only a few weeks ago, when I was mowing the lawn. It hit my nose and cheeks pretty hard, as well as the back of my neck. Funnily enough, though, I wasn't burnt on top of my head. You know why? Because hair blocks light.
Exhibit C: Twilight is always relevant
Now, I'll grant that fur probably isn't as thick as my own luxurious 'do, and it's definitely shorter. Originally, I was going to suggest that pony fur is transparent, like a polar bear's. Polar bears have black skin and clear fur; their white color comes from the way their fur interferes with light. Something similar could happen with ponies, where each pony's coat color actually depends on fur length and arrangement. Blushing, then, would happen as an involuntary contraction of certain facial muscles, shifting the individual follicles such that they create a red or pink appearance.
Exhibit D
That's boring, so I came up with something better: pony blood is luminous. When a pony becomes sufficiently embarrassed, frustrated, or otherwise agitated enough to blush, her facial blood vessels dilate and bring blood closer to the surface of the skin. This is the same thing that happens in humans; the difference is that glowing pony blood is bright enough to show through a full coat of fur. Now, this may seem like pure speculation, but there's other evidence as well.
Exhibit E: ALWAYS RELEVANT
Bam. Glowing eyes. Obviously, this is due to the whites and irises of Twilight's eyes being lit up from within by her luminous blood (Spike gets a pass here, because who knows how dragons work). Quod Erat Demonstrandum.
Works for me!
Hmm? Okay. But does the blood continue to glow after it leaves the body? I'd like to think it stops glowing like how humans really do have blue blood but only because it's deoxinated. However it's your theory and I would like to be corrected if I am wrong.
1159680
Deoxygenated blood isn't blue. Your veins appear blue because they're really close to the surface of your (white) skin (for other ethnicities, veins are actually different colors), and the light hits them in weird ways. Oxygen-less blood is just dark red.
Pony blood stops glowing once it dries/clots. Just look at "It's About Time"; Twilight's papercut isn't a gleaming fissure in the side of her face.