50 Questions and Answers!

So, I came across a list of 50 questions about one's headcanon here.

I thought that I may as well answer them as far as the Truthseekerverse is concerned (or me personally where it can't apply to just that). Obviously some of these answers will be pretty obvious by now, but kaybe someone who hasn't read the fics yet will want to read these answers and maybe getting official word of god would be nice or some of you. Note that a lot of this isn't cast in stone.

The Princesses:
1. How old are Celestia and Luna?

Celestia is 2900. Luna is 2700, but she didn’t really age on the moon, so she’s still teenager-ish in many respects. Of course, it seems that in the show, they’re even older than this, now that we’ve seen Princess Twilight Sparkle.

2. How old is Cadance?

180. As an ascended alicorn, she ages faster than one born that way and she had already done most of her foalhood. She also rushed adolescence as was within her power as the alicorn of love. She still has some teenager-like tendencies though.

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

Celestia and Luna were born alicorns as their parents were alicorns as well. As Cadance has married an ordinary pony, she can have both alicorns and ordinary ponies as foals. Any alicorns would be demi-alicorns like herself and other ascended alicorns as they only had one alicorn parent. If Cadance married an alicorn stallion, they would have full alicorn children like Celestia and Luna.

4. Are Cadance and Twilight immortal?

No. They merely age approximately ten times slower. Celestia and Luna in turn age approximately ten times slower than they do. In the show, however, it seems that Celestia and Luna age even slower than I suspected.

5. Have there been other alicorns in the past?

Many. They aren’t immortal, so most died. During the period of segregation between the tribes, however, they mostly lived in exile as they were viewed as abominations.

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

They can technically write or veto any law unless the other sister disagrees. Celestia finds this inefficient and Luna finds it boring though. As such, they mostly serve as arbitrators. They also have the power to grant or strip noble titles. This is important as the nobility is slightly more powerful than the other two chains of command in normal circumstances. They also choose the highest ranked members of the Guard (and can hire and fire any members), a second chain of command and the one that is most powerful in wartime. The elected chain of command is not chosen by them (naturally), but they still outrank even the Chancellor.

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

As Prince-consort (referred to as Prince where the distinction is not important) and Commander, Shining holds a lot of power, but Cadance still outranks him. Also, as the Crystal Empire is now considered part of the territory of the Principality of Equestria, Celestia and Luna still outrank him as well.

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

Celestia was very sociable in her youth and had many friends. The past thousand years were too painful to get particularly close to anypony new though. She has mostly avoided romance for similar reasons, considering the loss of a lover to be more painful. She was also close to her parents and was friendly to most of her extended family, though she became more withdrawn with the deaths of most of them and Luna’s banishment though.

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)?

They’re mostly homogenous, though there are certain tendencies which still apply somewhat. Pegasi tend to respect athleticism, earth ponies, diligence and unicorns, decorum, for example. Again, these are minor tendencies. These can be exaggerated into stereotypes, but ponies tend to know members of the other two tribes well enough to not exaggerate too much.

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?

There would be, yes. Comes from working with different mediums. Such items aren’t terribly difficult to acquire though as they merely require a transporting pegasus.

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

Theoretically, it is possible. Practically, the difficulty with learning a new spell increases as it becomes less related to one’s talent very rapidly and it is not considered worth the effort to learn more than a few in most cases.

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

It totally exists. It is based on the earth pony’s relationship with the ground, what comes from the ground and the spacial dimensions which can be coaxed to act in different ways.

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?

This is obviously not canon based on what’s been learned later on, but it’s quite important to the Truthseekerverse, so here we go: Ponies do have a form of surname, but whether it is inherited from the mother or father is arbitrary. Similarly, upon marriage, whether the mare takes the stallion’s surname, the stallion takes the mare’s surname or they both keep their names is also decided mostly by convenience and aesthetics. Middle names are also sometimes given. Many ponies don’t really use their surname though and members of the Royal family do not have one as their title serves as an equivalent.

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

They finish High School, generally.

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

This is about the same as in Western humans.

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

The number of females is only slightly higher than the number of males, but as stallions are more likely to leave their hometown, the difference can appear stark in smaller villages like Ponyville.

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

They are awful about this! They don’t pay much attention to that which isn’t currently affecting them.

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

Applejack is 27, Rarity and Fluttershy are 26, Twilight, Pinkie and Rainbow are 25, Spike is chronologically 13 but mentally in his late adolescence and the CMC are 14.

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?

Canon says that she returned, so she did. Not for long though. Fluttershy and Rainbow’s relationship was slightly cooled by distance for a while, but they were always friends.

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

They were neighbourly, but did not spend a lot of time together and did not consider each other as candidates for getting close to.

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

Complicated. Adopted siblings were the older sibling later became legal guardian and where the younger helps out at the shop would be closest, I guess.

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?

She moved in with the Cakes as a teenager. She is an apprentice and worker who gets paid largely in free rent and sweets. She is also like a daughter to them.

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

Twilight had the best parents. Fluttershy had the “worst” is that they had the most difficulty understanding her and how to help her. They still tried though, which is a lot better than many real world parents.

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

At the time, they were in different classes. Cheerilee teaches more than one. But she mixes them up every year.

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

No, and not with current Equestrian medicine.

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

Aplebloom’s cutie mark will be a painting of an apple that is still being painted.

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

Sweetie Belle is less irritated by her parents, but is also less mollycoddled.

Side and Background Characters:
28. Is Mr. Cake the father of the Cake twins or not?

Yes.

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

They’re testing the waters. Big Mac is nervous and doesn’t want to rush things.

30. How did Prince Blueblood get his title?

He got it because his mother was upgraded from Duchess to Princess before his birth as a reward from Celestia. Duchess is still a high rank anyway due to the fact that they are descendents of Celestia’s family. Unfortunately, he was spoiled rotten.

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

Silver Spoon is less malicious, if that’s what you mean.

32. Is Zecora’s magic common among zebras?

Yes, but mixing potions from plants is her talent, so she’s better than they are at that particular aspect of magic. They have other magic as well.

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

Because she wanted to be an author before she started adventuring. She became Daring DO as research for her next book and things escalated. This lets her continue to live her dream while still fulfilling her duties. It also lets her edit classified information.

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

Lyra isn’t obsessed with humans specifically. She’s into anything that’s unusual.

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?)

Ponies instinctually tend to think of non-ponies as things that either need to be protected, or feared. Often both. This can be irritating to other sapient races, but can be worked around.

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?

Most nations are largely dominated by a small number of dominant races, with a few minorities. Exceptions are unusual, but exist.

37. Are minotaurs related to cows at all?

Yes. They are different tribes of the same race, in the same way that unicorns, pegasi and earth ponies are the three lagest tribes of the race of ponies. They are not related to humans. They merely have a humanoid shape.

38. Do all zebras rhyme?

Language is sacred in zebra culture. As such, they always limit their speech with quirks when speaking a language other than their native tongue. Rhyming is one way of doing this, but not the only one.

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

The difference is entirely in form. They are identical in function.

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

All of them do.

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?

Pony villages aren’t the type of place the typical buffalo would want to live, so largely cultural. Their territory only barely extends into Equestria as well.

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

Yes. Generally. With the exception of where there are contradictions.

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

A lot of things are not fully fixed and I adapt them as necessary or convenient.

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

I do tend to prefer it, but sometimes differences can lead in interesting directions, for which I’m glad.

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

Well, popularising something would be nice.

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

I guess. Some would come across as petty though. Or be for stuff that’s already controversial anyway.

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

Yes, I guess.

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

That would be natural, wouldn’t it? I try to avoid too much influence in that way though.

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

Being wrong can be interesting! That said, there are things that I’d dislike being wrong about because of symbolism and stuff. It really depends. I dislike the fact that the Elements can be used solo (and they explicitely can’t in my verse), but I accept that despite the fact that I don’t really like it.

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

Um, … Sorry that the next chapter’s taking a while? Been a bit busy.