So I'm slowly working on a headcannon on the skin colors of the Mane 6, both G4 and G5. Since there has been a controversy of a black Pinkie Pie artwork that was drawn badly, there has been a trend of some MLP characters with different skin colors. In this case, whats ya'll head cannons on the skin colors, for the G5 Mane 6, alongside the G4 version? Background characters works as well

7960923
Based on analysis of fanart, I've noticed it's common to go for the following:

Twilight: artists seem to be split on having Twilight as white or Black.
Fluttershy: Often depicted in such fanart as white.
Rarity: Like with Twilight, artists seem to be split on depicting her as white or Black
Applejack: Usually white, as her character is inspired by Appalachian mountain culture (where the population is predominantly white)
Pinkie Pie: Again, split between white and Black (I know the fanart you refer to, and that was unfortunate as she looks like a minstrel stereotype)
Rainbow Dash: Often depicted as white or Black, but there was one artists who depicted her as Hispanic.

For the G5 Mane 6, I would go with the ethnicities of the actors who play them. Thus:

Sunny: Mixed race if using Vanessa as reference, white if using Jenna Warren as reference (Vanessa Hudgens' mother is Filipino, in case you were wondering)
Hitch: White if using James Marsden as reference, mixed race if using J. J. Gerber as reference
Pipp: Hispanic if using Sofia Carson as reference, white if using A. J. Bridel as reference
Zipp: Black if using Liza Koshy as reference, Tamil-Canadian if using Matreiyi Ramakrishnan as reference (the Tamil are an ethnic group who originate in Southern India)
Izzy: Mixed race if using Kimiko Glenn as reference, possibly Indian if using Ana Sani as reference (Kimiko Glenn's mother is Japanese-American; I'm not 100% sure what ethnic group Ana Sani belongs to)
Misty: Mixed race (Bahia Watson is mixed race herself)

7960923
There have always been quite a few takes. The Manes all have white VAs, of course, and mostly lack any strong coding (which often comes out to "generic = white", but at the same time allows for most possibilities to not seem incongruous). I would probably say they were all white if I was
treating it as a puzzle to be deciphered, but if I was assigning them races I would be more varied.

7960942
Being from different ethnic groups was a relatively minor factor for the G4 manes, but is pretty key for the G5 ones, so combined with the more diverse voice actors I'm not sure about using that sort of basis... in particular, you seem to get totally different results for Pipp and Zipp.

7961040
This even applies to the adults. It's less of an issue for Argyle, as both Michael McKean and Robert Tinkler belong to the same ethnic group, but for Queen Haven you'd get the Pipp situation in reverse (Jane Krakowski is white, whereas Amanda Martinez has Hispanic ancestry), and Alphabittle would be Hitch in reverse (Phil LaMarr is African American whereas Andrew Jackson is white).

7961124
Well, I am a fan of colourblind voice casting... but for exactly that reason, ponies probably shouldn't be humanised on such a basis.

7961040

The Manes all have white VAs, of course

For main voice actors, anyways. In Bridle Gossip, Fluttershy was voiced by Blu Mankuma, and in Filli Vanilli, Alvin Sanders did Fluttershy's speaking voice, while Marcus Mosely was Fluttershy's singing voice, and all three of them are black.

--Sweetie Belle

7961153
Huh. Sweet trivia!

7961154
Yep. Marcus seems to be a member of the Sojourners, and is big as far as gospel music goes.

Of course, we're only talking main cast, too, otherwise Vincent Tong comes into the picture as Flash Sentry, Sandbar, Garble, etc...

I always find it interesting to lean more about the voice actors playing roles, especially since a lot of them get around a bunch.

--Sweetie Belle

7961149
This is why I use pony skin tones for my EqG stuff.