50 Headcanons Survey

Last updated in: August 14th, 2014

..... Well, no time like the present

The Princesses:
1. How old are Celestia and Luna?
- Anywhere from 6000 - 2000
2. How old is Cadance?
- Relatively young. 25 - 35
3. Were Celestia and Luna always alicorns, or did they ascend?
- Whatever I want.
4. Are Cadance and Twilight immortal?
- Not yet. Depends on how things play out in canon, and how I want to define how alicorns work. (4 years later: Probably whatever I feel like)
5. Have there been other alicorns in the past?
- Whatever I want. If there are, then Tia & Lu were born alicorns. Vice versa.
6. How much authority do Celestia and Luna have in Equestria?
- Tries to avoid ruling directly, and lets the parliament or whatever do most of the stuff. Will step up in times of crisis, where fast action is required.
7. Does Shining Armor rule The Crystal Empire along side of Cadance?
- Probably. Advisor at least. Sparkle family important family. Something I don’t often care enough to bother with writing a story about.
8. Other than Twilight, Luna, and Cadance, what relationships have been important to Celestia in her lifetime (students, close friends, lovers, family)?
- Celestia probably did something. I tend to avoid thinking about it and let others do the worldbuillding since I’m bad at it.
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)?
- Yes, there are still biases. Pegasi have a lot of stuff they do in the air that the ground bound are incapable of replicating without a lot of magical or technological assistance. Stereotypes exist, but coming up with stereotypes that make me feel like it will take a while.
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?
- Probably some places have fish/meat, but considering it was mostly canon that everyone imported food from the EarthTerrasi, most cuisine should be similar (outside of fancy/not fancy stuff)
11. Can all unicorns learn all spells, given the time and effort spent practicing them, or is magical talent usually limited in some way?
- I’m a proponent of everyone being able to learn anything, though it will take a lot more effort if it is outside of their talent.
12. Earth pony magic: Does it exist? What is it?
- See above. I also have an extensive blog about the topic. On the subject of unique traits, it is biased to be focused more around the hooves (like what most people think), however they are also magically strong across their whole body. This makes it easier for a Terrasire to do bodily enhancement, or localized area of effect, but poorer at focused targets.
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?
- If the family has a long history of something important, I guess, though some families just don’t bother even if they probably could. Also, haha, Pinkie’s family are the Pies now. Though at this point, if the Six have families, they could probably justify getting a family name.
14. How much formal schooling is an average, middle class pony expected to complete?
- Considering cutie marks, I say somewhere around high-school equivalent. Colleges are for ponies who really want to specialize or branch out.
15. What’s the average lifespan for a pony? At what age is a pony expected to be independent of their parents?
- Human analogue is fine.
16. Are there roughly an equal number of male and female ponies?
- Probably some a minor bias towards females.
17. How informed are most ponies about things that happen in other parts of Equestria? What about other parts of the world?
- Depends on how well the newspapers are sourced/spread. Small towns probably get less news from other cities unless its big.
The Main Characters:
18. How old are the Mane Six? Spike? The CMC?
- The Six, somewhere around early to mid twenties. I’m just gonna use human numbers because otherwise it gets confusing. Though, with the whole high school grads thing, 16-18 is probably adult by their standards. Spike would be early high school age, and the CMC mid to late middle school.
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 assume someone went to pick her up, since she was probably middle school aged and had parents who would probably be alarmed if their daughter vanished in the middle of the school day. RD would probably be horrified to find out she forgot about her friend and go help find her. Loyalty, ya’know.
20. Rarity and Applejack both seem to have grown up in Ponyville. What were their interactions like before the show?
- Amicable, if rarely interacting, neighbors.
21. What do Twilight and Spike consider their relationship to be?
- His Big one, and Her Little one (--The Descendant)
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?
- Probably within a year after the rainbow boom. I assume the Cakes are distant relatives, and Pinkie went to work with them as an apprentice who eventually became like an adopted daughter.
23. Who among the Mane Six had the best parents growing up? The worst parents?
- Worst, uh, Pinkie Pie had a dreary childhood, I guess, but I don’t know if her parents were actively bad, perhaps somewhat stuck in their ways.
Best, coinflip. They all seem decent, now that (4 years after this sheet was passed around) the parents all got their episodes.
24. Why didn’t the CMC hang out more/know each other before Call of the Cutie?
- Depression blinds you.
25. Is Scootaloo an orphan? Will she ever be able to fly?
- Imma go with the ‘lives with lesbian aunts’ theory, because its amusing. Though I rarely write with clean-state canon situations, so it is unlikely to stay that way (Scootaling, Scootaling everywhere). Fly, with magitek, probably.
26. Will Apple Bloom’s cutie mark involve an apple in some way, even if it’s unrelated to farming or baking?
- Ha ha, fuck I’m late. I’ll still stand that the canon color choices suck.
27. How is Sweetie Belle’s relationship with their parents different than Rarity’s was?
- I dunno
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?
- Depends on the timeline and the butterfly wings
30. How did Prince Blueblood get his title?
- Bloodline from that Heartswarming thing.
31. Is Silver Spoon equally as bad as Diamond Tiara?
- I kinda see Silver as more of a lackey.
32. Is Zecora’s magic common among zebras?
- On the level of Twilight to unicorns, I guess.
33. Why does Daring Do publish her stories as fiction?
- Easier to keep a secret identity?
34. Do you have a strong headcanon for any non-speaking or one line background ponies that you want to share?
- Derpy is a chameleon chimera.
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?)
- Oh boy, I’m not touching that. Cows are freaking weird.
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?
- Both, nations with some immigration.
37. Are minotaurs related to cows at all?
- Nooooo?
38. Do all zebras rhyme?
- No. Probably a shaman thing.
39. Do zebra cutie marks work the same way as pony cutie marks?
- Probably? I figure they’re more abstract that ponies’ are.
40. Do any species have types of magic, other than ponies and zebras?
- You bet there are. What it is ... I’ll get back to you on that.
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?
- Considering yaks, I think its mostly they don’t want to leave their area.
Headcanon and You:
42. Do you consider official sources other than the show (comics, card game text, movies, novels, etc.) to be canon?
- Whatever I feel like
43. Do you have one headcanon that you always use, or do you switch depending on projects?
- See above
44. Can you easily accept the headcanons of different writers? Do you prefer when stories match your headcanon?
- There’s some stuff that makes me go nope, but on the whole I’m here for stories that do new things.
45. Is there a part of your headcanon that you wish was more popular among writers?
- I wish people were more creative with TF2 pony swaps. And crossovers in general.
46. Is there a popular piece of headcanon that other writers use that you dislike?
- Can’t think one up at the moment
47. Have you ever written a story or blogpost just to explain some part of your headcanon (other than this one)?
- If you’ve been following me for a while, this should be obvious.
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?
- I pick and choose what I want, so no, I don’t care.
       50. Is there something that wasn't asked about here, but you feel like you need to explain to everyone?
- Terrasire is a better name for Earth Pony. I will die on this hill.