History WMG / MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicSettingEquestrianCulture

** Humans would probably be the BadassNormal in pony mythology. We lack magic, special powers, or even physical strength but because of our cunning and dexterity we can do things that would seem damn near impossible to ponies. It took a goddess and some of their most powerful weapons in order to send someone to the moon? We've expand our domain into other planets. They need to find water, diamonds, gold, and other resources in nature? We can create our own water, gold, diamonds, and etc. (Mind you it is impractical and expensive but we are capable of it.) They use spears, cannons, and whatever their magic can preform? We have weapons that can wipe out entire cities in a blink of an eye.

** Humans probably have a reputation of being amazingly creative and intelligent pony fiction.
** Humans would have to be geniuses (at least) to make it work. If there were some Lost Tech mythical accomplishment humans are supposed to have done (like the Net) then maybe. Problem is, the Ponies can arguably say that anything a Human can do, there's a Pony that can do it better. It does't help that the Ponies have a PhysicalGod who can raise the Sun at will on their side. Humans may win out through cunning and familiarity with Fighting Dirty, but that's not exactly something a Pony would admire now would it?

** Why the heck would anypony want to be a Human of all things? Compared to a Pony we are extremely fragile, have no wings, magic horn, or simple hardy strength. Our furless hide/skin is soft and tears easy, we have teeth that are small and pathetic compared to a Pony (or practically any other creature RL or not) and we're slow as heck to boot since we have to balance on only two legs to travel. Hands aren't that big an advantage if you consider that Pony's seem able to use tools just fine, Pony's aren't stupid, have progressed to the point of being able to urbanize and have trains. Becoming a Human seems like a horrible punishment, and considering that most humans are omnivores that has historically eaten almost every other animal (including horses/Ponies), it would be a monsterous assault on Pony sensabilities.

** Always thought this exactly because of Lyra. my headcanon is that Lyra is what ponies call an "Anthro" which means she's the pony equivalent of a Furry. seeing as I see at least 50% of the ponies we've seen in Ponyville are kids or Mane Six age (young adults) (and I feel this is merely because most of the Adults are WORKING during the day, possibly even commuting to the closest big city), I think Lyra is also a Young Adult whoses just the pony version of a Furry :P I bet she even secretly is making a Human Cosplay.

Why the heck would anypony want to be a Human of all things? Compared to a Pony we are extremely fragile, have no wings, magic horn, or simple hardy strength. Our furless hide/skin is soft and tears easy, we have teeth that are small and pathetic compared to a Pony (or practically any other creature RL or not) and we're slow as heck to boot since we have to balance on only two legs to travel.

Hands aren't that big an advantage if you consider that Pony's seem able to use tools just fine, Pony's aren't stupid, have progressed to the point of being able to urbanize and have trains.

Becoming a Human seems like a horrible punishment, and considering that most humans are omnivores that has historically eaten almost every other animal (including horses/Ponies), it would be a monsterous assault on Pony sensabilities.

Rainbow Dash mentioned "faster than a bullet" and named her pet "tank," and Pinkie Pie does have a party cannon. Firearms are more or less canon [[IncrediblyLamePun (ha ha ha)]] in one form or another. However, we never saw one used at the Royal wedding (except, again, Pinkie's party cannon) even though we saw hundreds of spear wielding [[RedshirtArmy (and rather useless)]] guards. However, all those guards are unicorns. What use could a gun be to them or to Unicorns in general? They already can blast things at range with magic, the only weapon they need is a close range melee weapon. Pegasus don't logically need guns as much either, since they can easily go close to the speed of many bullets and could do a lot of damage just by ramming into some pony (Rainbow Dash was able to get up to Mach 5 before she burst through to a Sonic Rainboom). The only ponies in Equestria that really need guns are the [[CloserToEarth down to Earth]] Ponies, with no ability to quickly get from one target to another or have no ranged attacks.

Ever wondered why there are few, if any Earth Pony Guards or how they were [[RedshirtArmy defeated so easily?]] The guards at the Canterlot Wedding were probably new recruits fresh from training. Now normally, in important ceremonial events such as this, it's often the experienced guards who are kept...[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin well, in guard.]] But it could be that the experienced troops were too far away to reach or giving the recruits a chance to shine in duty. As for the latter, well [[CurbSstompBattle we know what happened.]] The Earth Pony Guard are probably heavy hitters considering Earth Ponies are physically the strongest and are in charge of heavy weaponry such as tanks and artillery. The reason we don't see any Earth Guards patrolling the streets is that the Royal Guard doesn't want to take the chances of collateral damage.

[[WMGL Nudity isn't a big an issue as posture among ponies.]]

[[WMG: It is traditional to burn one or more Wendigos on Hearth's Warming Eve.]]
An ''outdated'' tradtion to be sure, but... at the time of Equestria's founding, Wendigos had apparently grown so populous as to not only force ponies to migrate but also to nearly threaten the new land themselves. Therefore, Wendigo hunts were common and, after Clover the clever documented HOW to burn a Wendigo, the bodies were often thrown to the flame. When it was realized how pretty the flames were, the ponies connected them with Hearth's Warming Eve, and so they would almost always set them ablaze on that special day. In modern times, this act is seen as somewhat reprehensible, in addition ot the Wendigos being an endangered species; very few ponies, outside the heritage obsessed unicorns of Canterlot, still practice this tradition.

Rainbow Dash mentioned "faster than a bullet" and named her pet "tank," and Pinkie Pie does have a party cannon. Firearms are more or less canon (ha ha ha) in one form or another. However, we never saw one used at the Royal wedding (except, again, Pinkie's cannon) even though we saw hundreds of spear wielding (and rather useless) guards. However, all those guards are unicorns. What use could a gun be to them or to Unicorns in general? They already can blast things at range with magic, the only weapon they need is a close range melee weapon. Pegasus don't logically need guns as much either, since they can easily go close to the speed of many bullets and could do a lot of damage just by ramming into some pony (Rainbow Dash was able to get up to Mach 5 before she burst through to a Sonic Rainboom). The only people in Equestria that really need guns are the down to Earth Ponies, with no ability to quickly get from one target to another or have no ranged attacks.

It's established that Filthy Rich's male ancestor was also named Filthy. Thus name inheritance is likely to be a factor in naming convention.

[[WMG: Humans, the Earth, and its various cultural trappings are fictional in Equestria.]]
Humans are mythological creatures which are popular subjects of fantasy literature in Equestria. Many of the elements of these stories (such as the fictional fantasy kingdom of France)have entered the popular consciousness. When ponies refer to something from the human world, they are actually making references to these stories. Everypony knows what a human skull and hand looks like just like almost anyone in the real world can identify a dragon even though they don't exist.
* This would probably explain (in fanon) Lyra Heartstrings's obsession with humans and human culture, going so far as sitting like a human and wanting to be one. After all, we know dragons don't exist, but which little kid doesn't want to be one at some point or other - even into adulthood?
** Always thought this exactly because of Lyra. my headcanon is that Lyra is what ponies call an "Anthro" which means she's the pony equivalent of a Furry. seeing as I see at least 50% of the ponies we've seen in Ponyville are kids or Mane Six age (young adults) (and I feel this is merely because most of the Adults are WORKING during the day, possibly even commuting to the closest big city), I think Lyra is also a Young Adult whoses just the pony version of a Furry :P I bet she even secretly is making a Human Cosplay.

[[WMG: There's a Winter Moon Celebration.]]
The Summer Sun Celebration celebrates the longest day of the year. Wouldn't it also make sense that there'd be a likewise celebration for the longest night? It's much the same, except it has Luna raising the moon, though until her freedom, Celestia handled that one too. We might see this eventually.

[[WMG: Nightmare Night was originally a Tax Collection event]]
Originally Luna was in charge of the Equestria's finances, and she would come to collect taxes annually on Nightmare Night, starting off the tradition of a holding a fair to collect the year's tribute. Naturally many would show up disguised in order to evade Taxes. The macabre theme reflected the whole inevitability of Taxes. However after Luna turned to evil, that night became associated with Nightmare Moon. Add one thousand years of cultural evolution and the original purpose of the event was forgotten. But it still remains vestigially as the Candy Tribute.

[[WMG: Nightmare Night and how it fits with the pilot]]
The story of the fight between Celestia and Luna/NMM is true. It was recorded as such.
Over time as the story was told to younger ponies, they began dismissing it as an "old pony's tale" and NMM transformed from a true threat into a boogeyman, used to get fillies to eat their vegetables. Nightmare Night and NMM came together due to their similar names over the course of 1000 years. When NMM returned in S1, the ponies were all shocked that their boogeyman was ''real''.

[[WMG: It is traditional to suspend school for a day once someone gets their cutie mark.]]
Probably to increase confidence in the young filly by giving them a chance to show off in front of the entire class. Or because it's a good chance for a nice class activity. It's either this, or Cheerilee is a very laid-back teacher.
* Alternately, Cheerilee had scheduled some physical exercise for later that afternoon, and when she saw Apple Bloom's new cutie mark, decided to leverage it into an earlier-than-planned workout.
* Cheerilee ''is'' a child of the 80s, after all. Maybe it was nostalgia for her youth.

[[WMG: The Hearth's Warming Eve pageant is traditionally reinterpreted by the actors chosen to play it.]]
Because really, what are the odds that the Earth Pony Chancellor was a CloudCuckoolander like Pinkie Pie? Besides, this is before Celestia's time - the leaders' real names and personalities may be lost to history. So when actors are chosen to portray the pageant, they apply their own personalities and interpretations to the story. If, say, the Crusaders and three classmates performed their own pageant at school, the leaders would be very different ponies, although the overall story would be the same.
* While we don't really know how far back the events go, it wouldn't be ''totally'' unrealistic if relevent info, such as the leaders names and personalities, survived in records to the present day. After all, we know the names of a great deal of the names of the pharohs going back 5000 years.

[[WMG: It is traditional to burn one or more Wendigos on Hearth's Warming Eve.]]
An ''outdated'' tradtion to be sure, but... at the time of Equestria's founding, Wendigos had apparently grown so populous as to not only force ponies to migrate but also to nearly threaten the new land themselves. Therefore, Wendigo hunts were common and, after Clover the clever documented HOW to burn a Wendigo, the bodies were often thrown to the flame. When it was realized how pretty the flames were, the ponies connected them with Hearth's Warming Eve, and so they would almost always set them ablaze on that special day. In modern times, this act is seen as somewhat reprehensible, in addition ot the Wendigos being an endangered species; very few ponies, outside the heritage obsessed unicorns of Canterlot, still practice this tradition.

[[WMG:Ponies inherit the “first name” of their same gendered parent]]
Upon marriage they traditionally do not change their names.
This is the only inheritable name system that makes sense.
For example take Filthy Rich and daughter Diamond Tiara.
It's established that Filthy Rich's male ancestor was also named Filthy. Thus name inheritance is likely to be a factor in naming convention.
Also we have Shining Armor and Twilight Sparkle in the same generation with completely different names
Example study, the Apples:
Applebloom and Applejack and are both mares, while Big Macintosh does not appear to have Apple in his name and is a stallion.
Example genealogy. Granny Smith marries Grandpa Macintosh, produces a colt name Papa Macintosh. Unknown Grandpa marries Granny Apple, produces filly named Mama Apple.
Papa Macintosh and Mama Apple produce current generation of apples. Applejack and Applebloom inherit name from mother, big Macintosh inherits name from father.
One exceptions: Rarity and Sweetie Belle; Rarity would seem to be the kind of pony to drop a name, sort of like Chanel in real life. Likely her given name was something like Rarity Belle. Like wise her mother is likewise named Something Belle.
Likewise we can surmise that Twilight’s mother is likely Twilight something, as hinted by her resemblance to G1 twilight. Judging by the lack of armor on the father's cutie mark, it's likely Twilight’s father is name is Shining Something, possibly Shining Moon.
The only potential wrench in this are the Cakes. It possible that both were born with the name Cake. Thus it possible they were both distant(or rather squicky, not so distant) relatives. Thus both their children of both genders are named Cake.
It also possible that they were a slightly more liberal family and one spouse changed his/her name.
Also the collective family name is passed along matrilineal lines.
EG Granny smith's family is called the Smith family, however since her son is the father to the Apples, the subsequent generation is referred to as the Apple clan.
[[WMG: Humans, the Earth, and its various cultural trappings are fictional in Equestria.]]
Humans are mythological creatures which are popular subjects of fantasy literature in Equestria. Many of the elements of these stories (such as the fictional fantasy kingdom of France)have entered the popular consciousness. When ponies refer to something from the human world, they are actually making references to these stories. Everypony knows what a human skull and hand looks like just like almost anyone in the real world can identify a dragon even though they don't exist.
* This would probably explain (in fanon) Lyra Heartstrings's obsession with humans and human culture, going so far as sitting like a human and wanting to be one. After all, we know dragons don't exist, but which little kid doesn't want to be one at some point or other - even into adulthood?
** Always thought this exactly because of Lyra. my headcanon is that Lyra is what ponies call an "Anthro" which means she's the pony equivalent of a Furry. seeing as I see at least 50% of the ponies we've seen in Ponyville are kids or Mane Six age (young adults) (and I feel this is merely because most of the Adults are WORKING during the day, possibly even commuting to the closest big city), I think Lyra is also a Young Adult whoses just the pony version of a Furry :P I bet she even secretly is making a Human Cosplay.

[[WMG: Most of the male ponies are drafted to Equestria Army.]]
This is the reason why there are so few male ponies.
* The real question this raises is why is there a need for a draft? A secret war perhaps? But against who?
** ''Stallion with a winged skull cutie mark and a high-peaked combination cap:'' We shall purge the Universe of the Foul Forces of [[CareBears Care-a-Lot]]! Glory to the First Stallion to Die! FOR THE PRINCESS!
** Or, going with the AfterTheEnd theory, the last surviving pockets of humans are putting up a resistance and need to be exterminated.
** Also, it makes a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draft_horse great pun]].
** So what's Big Mac's excuse, discharge due to injury?
*** Exception due to being the sole male provider within the immediate family?
** They're stationed at the border between Eqestria and the Griffon homeland; settlers ner the edge would otherwise get eaten.
* Or, if they're more like IRL horses, mares tend to be leaders and stallions tend to do more of the fighting. Stallions that aren't strong enough to become herd stallions tend to join bachelor herds of other stallions & train to get stronger. Since bands of rowdy young males will cause trouble unsupervised, or go looking for adventure and chances to impress the fillies, over Equestria's history these male bands took over responsibility for defense of the kingdom, dealing with things like the Parasprite infestation in Phillydelphia and most of the monsters that show up on the show all the time, at least the ones that make trouble.
** So there are two Equestrias: the 'civilian'/matriarchal Equestria shown in the show, which is the old, the young, mares and the few stallions able to avoid being kicked out by the other stallions as competition because they're strong (Big Macintosh) or really good at something (Mr. Cake), and the 'male' Equestria, a genderflipped AmazonBrigade focused on training (in civilian pursuits as well as combat), making it into Celestia's forces proper (fighting the good fight and impressing the fillies) and so on?
* Definitely useful for something like [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7043707/1/PonyCraft_Friends_of_Equestria this]].

[[WMG: There is about a 50/50 split between colts and fillies in Equestria]]
The reason there seems to be more females than males is pure dumb luck; Ponyville just happens to have a population disparity favoring fillies. If you were to go visit a larger city like Fillydelphia or Manehattan, you'd get a much more accurate cross-section of the Equestrian population as a whole. Most of the straight fillies in Ponyville are either single, or in long-distance relationships.

[[WMG: Horseshoes are used as throwing weapons.]]
Either nopony wears horseshoes anymore in lieu of advancement in footwear technology, or horseshoes are a (negative) status symbol used as punishment. Having permanent horseshoes implies one is being forced into labor to atone for a crime. Due to their aerodynamic nature, however, horseshoes are used as highly symbolic thrown weapons, perhaps associated with law enforcement or JUSTICE in general. This also elevates Applejack and Rainbow Dash's game of horseshoes into the pony equivalent of [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotAwesome a knife-throwing contest.]]
* Hmm. As shown in "Owl's Well That Ends Well" and "Look Before You Sleep", Twilight Sparkle does seem to keep one mounted over her mantel, the traditional place to display a firearm or other weapon, two mounted above her bed (for quick access in case she's woken by an intruder), as well as at least one, presumably more, cached away in various drawers where no one can see them; if you view them as weapons, that... [[CrazyPrepared doesn't actually seem out of character for Twilight]].

[[WMG: "Anybody" and "anypony" are both valid in speech.]]
Rainbow Dash says "and I couldn't risk a goody four-shoes like you giving that ticket away to just anybody!". Probably a slip of the tongue that was missed, but it's perfectly possible that anybody is correct with the presence of (or when talking about) characters like Spike, the sea serpent, the dragon in the mountain, Zecora, and Gilda. You know, not ponies. Hell, Rainbow Dash could've been accounting for the possibility that Twilight could give it to Spike.
* Twilight specifically uses "anybody" in ''Over a Barrel'' when lamenting the feud between the ponies and buffalo, because neither of them will "be reasonable".

[[WMG: Ponyville is a multiracial experiment.]]
Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy could have spent their whole lives without meeting a single wingless pony, barely paying attention to the world under the clouds. Finding an unicorn in the wild west of Equestria is almost as difficult. But princess Celestia decided to take a small city, founded by earth ponies, and encourage immigration of both unicorns and pegasi. Ponyville is now considered a fairly unique case by sociologists and biologists alike.
* Then why didn't they know about zebras? Not to mention the xenophobia in that episode. Kind of weird for a community whose hat would be diversity.
** Zebras aren't ponies, as Twilight Sparkle said in that episode. And even a successful blend between three kinds isn't automatically ready to welcome a fourth.
* Also, we see both Earth Ponies and Unicorns in Manehattan in "Cutie Mark Chronicles".
** Yet still no pegasus.
* This theory could very well be true. Appleloosa is mostly an earth pony town, Cloudsdale is a completely pegasus city, and from what we've seen of Canterlot, it seems to have a unicorn majority, according to the ponies seen in the "At The Gala" song.

[[WMG: 'Everfree' is a Pony euphemism for death.]]
Thus, the Everfree Forest is, in less gentle terms, the [[IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace Forest of Death]].
* So when a pony dies, others would say they've been 'Everfreed'? Sounds a bit like [[ReleasedToElsewhere a certain other euphemism]] [[TheGiver from a popular book...]]

[[WMG:''Supernaturals'' was originally written in Zebra, and was rather poorly translated into Pony.]]
Using the word ''supernatural'' to mean ''a super, natural medication'' is just a ''bit'' of a stretch. However, it's possible that Zebra uses the same words for ''nature'' and ''natural remedy''. Thus, somepony at some point translated a book about traditional remedies from Zebra into Pony; unfortunately, this equine had a somewhat dodgy grasp of one of the languages, with the result that ''Super Natural Remedies'' became ''Supernaturals''.

Zecora probably has a copy in the original Zebra as well, and presumably obtained a Pony copy in case she ever needed a pony to help her with some formulation.

[[WMG: The name "Rarity" is actually a [[OneSteveLimit very common one]].]]
The mane cast eventually finds other ponies that share that name, which would make our Rarity feel sad and begins to think that she's not special any longer. but they eventually learn that you're still a unique pony regardless of what kind of name you have.

[[WMG: Environmental management is Equestria's version of compulsory military service.]]
Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy's regular careers are in environmental management (weather maintenance and animal care respectively), but everyone else pitches in in Winter Wrap-Up. Rarity and Pinkie Pie have regular jobs, yet they switch straight into nest-making and ice-scoring on the designated day without a second thought for what else they'd be doing that day. It seems to be taken for granted that the whole town (and probably the whole country) steps away from their usual pursuits to handle Winter Wrap-Up (and probably a few other dates throughout the year), similar to the way that some countries require all citizens to perform a few weekends of military training per year.

[[WMG: Equestria is actually a highly militarized society, but they specialize more in non-lethal methods.]]
Despite Celestia practically being a living god, she has a very hooves-off approach to any dangers that affect the world, trusting the ponies themselves to deal with their own problems. The reason they can deal with a rampaging dragon, without resorting to the medieval method of just slaying it, is because they've been receiving covert training their entire lives. Training so covert, that even the trainers (read as, the adult ponies) don't even know they're giving it. Young ponies are encouraged to find their own special talent, whatever it may be, and once it's discovered, the Cutie Mark appears. This mark is both easy identification ("A rainbow lightning bolt. That's Rainbow Dash.", for example) and an easy way to tell just what the pony's talent is, ("She can fly very fast.") Part of the training is recognizing when a specific talent is needed. Combining the three, one can easily determine just who, and what, to look for to solve it. Part of this training is the focus on finding nonviolent, peaceful methods of resolving a problem; diversion, persuasion, compromise, sometimes intimidation, humiliation, and shame.
With this training, and sort of military, in place, Equestria's means of defense is exactly where it belongs; in the hooves of the average pony, who, without knowing, have been conditioned and trained to know exactly who to go to and what to in the context of any given emergency.
* Of course, this begs the question of Equestria's equivalent of RightWingMilitiaFanatics...

[[WMG: Calling a pony "lame" is a mortal insult.]]
In RealLife, if a horse or pony becomes fully lame, it is often put down, as the horse is unlikely ever to be able to walk, let alone run or work, again. (This is less true in the modern day, but was very true in previous eras.) When Gilda calls the ponies of Ponyville "lame", she's saying that she thinks they're all worthless and hopes they all die. Gilda hates ponies.
* Alternatively, hailing from a different culture, doesn't quite get the full implications of the insult.
* Apple Bloom felt mortified when Sweetie Belle mentioned the idiom "Break a leg". So "lame" and similar connotations about the inability to walk under your own power might be more negative to ponyfolk.
* And it's not the only topic like this, either. Consider now the term "horse's ass." Foals typically leave their mother's womb via the rear exit, so calling a pony a "horse's ass" could probably serve as a YourMom slam. Unless, of course, said pony's birth is what made his mother into a HotMom. Then he might not mind so much.

[[WMG: Equestira has a naming ceremony similar to ''Genpuku'']]
''Genpuku'' is a Japanese coming of age ceremony which marks entry into adulthood. A part of said ceremony is the giving of an adult name to the child. There is a high number of ponies who have names very appropriate to their Cutie Marks, suggesting that it's not uncommon for ponies to change or choose a new name for themselves that reflect their Cutie Marks. The Cuteceañera could be, or at least started out as, a ceremony which made these name choices official. How widely this is observed may vary from pony family to pony family, and there may be those who keep their original name (Twilight Sparkle had her name pre-Cutie Mark), or choose a different one entirely (possible Cherilee)

[[WMG: Offensive magic is forbidden from being taught in Equestria.]]
Twilight doesn't seem to do things like fling fireballs or ice beams at her enemies when it seems to be a good time to do so. Offensive magic is probably either banned or limited as a way of keeping peace.
* Considering that Twilight caused quite a bit of trouble in ''Lesson Zero'' with just "regular" magic, that's probably a good idea.
** Jossed as of ''A Canterlot Wedding'' - Twilight Sparkle definitely throws magic blasts around. Though that could of course be self-thought from some obscure books.
** The same episode also has the brief BeamOWar between Celestia and Chrysalis. More likely, most ponies just don't see much ''need'' for dedicated combat magic in their everyday lives -- earth ponies and pegasi can't learn it anyway and unicorns already have their always-handy telekinesis. Why waste time on spells that can ''only'' be used to hurt another living being if you're a civilian and that's not even your job?

[[WMG: The standard ranged weapon for Equestrian guards is the [[SufferTheSlings sling]].]]
In "May The Best Pet Win!", Rainbow Dash mentions being as fast as a bullet. Assuming that this isn't just a throwaway gag line, this sounds like it implies guns... but may be talking about sling bullets instead. A sling would be much easier for an earth pony or pegasus to handle than a bow, after all.

[[WMG: The ponies of Equestria use the same naming conventions as [[HorseRacing Horse Racing]].]]
...thus explaining the inconsistency of names. Sometimes, a pony is named after an obvious physical characteristic (Rainbow Dash's mane or Pinkie Pie's pinkness), sometimes the name has to do with their personality (Fluttershy's shyness), follows a theme (Applejack and the Apple family), and sometimes the name just sounds cool (Rarity) or ironic (Twilight Sparkle).

And, well, come on. Just tell me that "Red Rum", "Man o' War", or "Seabiscuit" (for example) would sound out-of-place as names for characters in the show.

[[WMG: The word "cutie" in "cutie mark" is a corruption of an archaic word for "talent".]]
Somepony, probably a literary great, made a pun and the term "cutie mark" stuck.

[[WMG: Ponies call their heaven "Elysium".]]
We now know that Tartarus is pony hell. Since Tartarus is hell in Greek mythology, and Elysium is heaven, calling their heaven Elysium would make sense.
* Aside from how calling Tartarus "hell" and Elysium "heaven" is a gross oversimplification Twilight only stated that there were monsters imprisoned in Tartarus.
** In [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tartarus historical Tartarus]], Tartarus was the actually Greek equivalent of Hell - it not only housed all the evil monsters that were threats to the gods (much as Twilight mentions), but there was also a section as punishment for sinners, where the punishment justifies the crime.
*** The Greeks didn't have a concept of sin, just pissing off the JerkassGods.
* Tartarus is Hell at least [[{{Hell}} according to Neil Gaiman]]. (see page quote)

[[WMG: The Princesses imprisoned their divine predecessors and the Windigos and a host of other creatures in Tartarus]]
It's how that section of the Underworld was primarily used in the Greek myths.

[[WMG: 'Tartarus' is used as a curse word in Equestrian language.]]
Whether it be hell or not, it's very clear that all manner of bad things are in that place, so saying something like "Go to Tartarus!" would be quite harsh.

[[WMG: In the same vein, so is "[[Film/YoungFrankenstein blücher]]"]]
Even if it ''isn't'' actually the German word for "glue", it's mere mention will make any equine rear in terror.
* This troper is now curious as to what curse word "blucher" would replace...

[[WMG: Similar to the above, "feather" is a lighter versions of a PrecisionFStrike.]]
And since some bronies say "buck" to replace the f-word, perhaps "feather-bucking" or something could be legitimate curse. If "feather" is equivalent to a lighter curse word though, that makes Rainbow Dash calling Ditzy Doo a "featherbrain" quite harsh.
And now I think an entire dictionary of Equestrian swear words should be made.

[[WMG: Most foodstuffs made by ponies are not fit for human consumption.]]
Since equines have different dietary needs then human beings (not just a near absence of meat products and the presence of certain plants), their cuisine probably developed to be quite different from human ones. For example, there's probably double the amount of salt in the baked goods then what is considered normal for baked goods made for people.

[[WMG: Adult ponies without cutie marks are seen as incredibly creepy, because they don't exist naturally]]
A cutie mark is what makes you individual. If you don't have one, you're either a soulless freak or [[PsychopathicManchild just a foal]]. In dystopian cinema ponies have barcodes for cutie marks, [[CloningBlues clones have no cutie marks]] and ponies of mystery will not have them, ala TheBlank.
* So it's like StoryOfTheBlanks?

[[WMG: The Gray Unicorn guards aren't part of the royal guard]]
Rather, they're Praetorians, of sorts. The other regiments are bodyguards for the princesses, but the unicorn guard are tasked with defending Canterlot exclusively and are the only military force allowed within its walls.

[[WMG: Guns are an Earth pony invention.]]
Rainbow Dash mentioned "faster than a bullet" and named her pet "tank," and Pinkie Pie does have a party cannon. Firearms are more or less canon (ha ha ha) in one form or another. However, we never saw one used at the Royal wedding (except, again, Pinkie's cannon) even though we saw hundreds of spear wielding (and rather useless) guards. However, all those guards are unicorns. What use could a gun be to them or to Unicorns in general? They already can blast things at range with magic, the only weapon they need is a close range melee weapon. Pegasus don't logically need guns as much either, since they can easily go close to the speed of many bullets and could do a lot of damage just by ramming into some pony (Rainbow Dash was able to get up to Mach 5 before she burst through to a Sonic Rainboom). The only people in Equestria that really need guns are the down to Earth Ponies, with no ability to quickly get from one target to another or have no ranged attacks.

[[BrutalHonesty Yes, this]] ''[[BrutalHonesty is]]'' [[BrutalHonesty in part a]] [[TakeThat jab]] [[BrutalHonesty at the whole pervasive "Celestia ZOMG goddess!" meme]]. But consider that religion isn't actually ever brought up in the show, and then look at the world from the ponies' perspective: Day and night are managed by their very own royalty, magic as practiced by unicorns is essentially just another science with practical applications, and they ''know'' who's in charge of the weather, who [[PaintingTheFrostOnWindows paints the frost on their windows]], and generally how the world works. And suddenly the notion that if they ever held them in the first place, ponies may well long have {{outgrown such silly superstitions}} doesn't seem all ''that'' farfetched anymore..