Fanon / My Little Pony

The My Little Pony franchise has a lot of fan belief, especially when it comes to Friendship is Magic.

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Generation One

• Moondancer and Glory as lesbian mates. This is due to an official figurine depicting them as being married (the figure had Moondancer as a male).
• Almost all ponies are gay or bisexual, especially the mares. Common duos are Fizzy/Wind Whistler, Glory/Applejack, and Moondancer/Glory, though anyone goes with anyone.
• Nachtlicht (Nightlight) and Sunlight are a Night and Day Duo and are either siblings (sometimes even fraternal twins) or at least related. Both ponies are Rainbow Ponies with similar names but have never been confirmed as related. They often have a Sibling Yin-Yang comparable to fanon Celestia and Luna, though they usually aren't depicted as Semi-Divine.
• There are a few foals, like Lucky and Ember, who aren't identical to their parents (not that they are even shown to have any). Foals like Baby Applejack and Baby Surprise are often presented as younger clones created by the Mirror or they being outright younger versions of their mothers taken from an Alternate Universe (this comes from the UK comics). Alternatively, when foals are born they look identical to their same-sexed parent. When they grow up their colors and Cutie Marks change. They also choose a new name.
• In general, the idea that baby ponies choose new names in a Naming Ceremony is commonplace. Every pony is named "Baby [x]" and shares the name of a parent, but at a later date they're given an individual name.
• Majesty is usually considered the The High Queen, or at least "head princess", of Ponyland. This is because she was packed with Dream Castle and in the UK comics is the only pony who can use all types of magic (others are restricted to one type of spell). Majesty has never officially been deemed a princess, despite seeming like one (she even has a pet dragon — Spike — like the Princess Ponies). She's just a pony whose special talent is magic.
• Dream Valley/Ponyland takes place in another universe from the normal human world. This is implied in the specials, movie, and TV series but never outright stated.
• Dragons are sometimes depicted as pets for ponies. This is due to an official coloring book depicting them as so and because of the fact that so many royal ponies have baby dragons as their servants.
• Megan being thirteen or fourteen is common. She has a Vague Age in the cartoon.
• When depicted, winged unicorns were usually called "unipeg" (though due to G4 "alicorn" is accepted). Unipeg are thought of as a myth, and usually are more powerful than unicorns, though sometimes they're born, usually due to particular circumstances. According to some fanon unipeg give off the illusion of being a pegasus or unicorn around others in order to blend in and avoid troubles.
• Megan will eventually stop visiting the ponies as she grows older and all but forget about them.
• Possibly due to their existence as The Scrappy or due the preference for Megan in Rescue from Midnight Castle over the animated series, Megan's siblings are usually ignored. She's presented as an only child most of the time (or her siblings are at least off-screen and not with her in Dream Valley).
• Bonbon from My Little Pony Tales is overweight and the reason her weight changes often is due to her continuously losing weight and gaining weight.
• Melody Really Gets Around, and isn't particularly picky on the pony's gender.
• Patch's Weirdness Magnet status is the result of an unknown parentage, and/or is fated for greatness by the unicorns she meets in the episode "Up, Up, and Away".
• Similarly, Clover has some form of Psychic Powers due to her constantly changing fortunes. Something lightly hinted at in the series itself, though far from anything conclusive.
• It's usually assumed that Baby Ponies are given Affectionate Nicknames to differentiate them from their mothers. For example, Baby Applejack would be "AJ", "Jackie", "Apple", etc.
• Ponies worship the rainbow (which is usually capitalized as "Rainbow").
• Grogar is a Necromancer. This became Ascended Fanon when Friendship is Magic depicted him as resurrecting another villain who had previously been killed/banished/blown to pieces. That is until it was revealed that said "Grogar" was just Discord in disguise. But it's still an example of sorts.
• The names of Megan's parents are Margaret and Daniel, and Danny and Molly are named after them.

Generation Two

• Silver Swirl as a Really 700 Years Old demi-god or goddess. Her son tends to get Adapted Out in fanworks.

Generation Three

• "Core 7" is the Fan Nickname for the late G3, and G3.5, group of ponies: Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Cheerilee, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, Toola-Roola, and Starsong.
• Minty and Pinkie Pie are the One True Pairing of G3.
• G1 and G3 take place in alternate universes. While arguably canon in the cartoons, it's unknown in the toyline. Another fanon is it takes place millenia after G1.
• Due to the fanon that her G4 counterpart is a Butch Lesbian, Rainbow Dash is depicted as a Lipstick Lesbian.
• Humans are a fictional creature.
• Males literally don't exist in G3. Either that or as a Furry Reminder they live separate from females. Another alternative is that they live in a lesbian settlement, coming from the jokes of Situational Sexuality in the franchise and the lack of stallions.
• Due to the fact there are almost no unicorns and pegasus in the toy line, and the fact that pegasus live on an island in the cartoon while Earth ponies live in Ponyville and unicorns live in Unicornia, it's presumed the races are largely segregated.
• There's a theory that there was a war or some sort of Inferred Holocaust centuries prior to G3 that caused the ponies to segregate. It's often cited Fantastic Racism was the reason. This concept comes from a throwaway line on one of the toy boxes.
• Toola Roola's hairstyle is sometimes interpreted as dreadlocks.
• Starcatcher is more than a regular pegasus, as her wishes granted by ponies seem to come true in a fashion, her more detailed animation, and the ethereal voice. Either as an alicorn in disguise, or a pegasus with unique magic.

Generation Four

General

• Any pony with an hourglass cutie mark is actually a Time Lord. This started with Dr. Hooves/Time Turner, a background pony with a hourglass cutie mark and a suspicious resemblance to the Tenth Doctor, but has since spread to include other background ponies with the same cutie mark. This theory is well on its way to ascension, and Time Turner's voice actor has confirmed that he played his character as being the Doctor as a pony.
• Fanon has My Little Pony TV Specials and My Little Pony 'n Friends taking place in the past, or at least the characters from G1 existing in G4 (usually minus the humans).
  • When in the present, the most common to appear in fanworks are Surprise, Twilight, Posey, Sparkler, and Firefly. Surprise is often a relative of Pinkie, though her being an unrelated Wonderbolt has become more popular due to the fact one of the mares has her coloring. Twilight is typically Twilight Sparkle's mom, which gained some support when Twilight Sparkle's mother, whose coloring is somewhat similar to G1 Twilight's, was introduced as "Twilight Velvet". Twilight's dad has been referred to as "Nightlight" a lot, since his coloring is so similar to a G1 mare by the same name and it goes with a theme naming as his wife and daughter are both called "Twilight". Alternatively, he is also known to be called "Orion" from time to time. Firefly is often thought to be Dash's mom (or at least a close relative) and less commonly Posey is often Fluttershy's mom. Alternatively, G3 Dash is portrayed as G4 Dash's mom whose love for fashion and "frou-frou" things embarrasses her rough-and-tumble daughter. These were ultimately jossed.
  • When in the past, Dream Valley/Ponyland is assumed to have been the first pony culture, from which Equestria eventually grew or descended. Sometimes this is identified with the pre-Windigo pony tribes in "Hearth's Warming Eve", which may be treated as themselves descended from the original G1 ponies and still living in Dream Valley. The G1 main characters may be the G4 cast's distant ancestors — G1 Applejack is a popular choice as the original matriarch or founder of the G4 Apple clan — or their previous incarnations. Similarly, G1 Spike is treated as G4 Spike's ancestor — generally either his father or grandfather or a similar close relation, on the assumption that dragon lifespans would bridge the time gap with a generation or two — while the Rainbow of Light is treated as a predecessor of the Elements of Harmony when they're not different names for the same thing. Other G1 characters, including Megan and her siblings, may be remembered as ancient legendary figures. This take gained some support late in Friendship is Magic's run through Gusty, called "Gusty the Great", being described as an ancient pony hero from long before Equestria's establishment.
  • Among the villains, it's not uncommon to see G1's Crunch the Rockdog linked to G4's diamond dogs in some manner (usually as their progenitor, hero or god) and, after the G4 movie, for Catrina to be described as an Abyssinian, G4's race of cat people. Other fans suggest that, like Tirek, if the rest of the villains from G1 are still alive, they may be sealed in Tartarus as well.
• Fans oft calculate the height of an average pony to be between three to four feet.
• Fans assume that mares undergo estrus (or "being in heat") just like real horses, and it's treated roughly like how human women treat periods.
• The Royal Guard is often portrayed in fanart or fanfiction as having primitive gunpowder weapons like muzzle-loading cannons or arquebuses, even though the only references to firearms are Pinkie Pie's party cannon and Rainbow Dash mentioning a "bullet" during the "Find a Pet Song" (which could reference sling bullets instead of firearm bullets).

• Fanon concerning religion:
  • Celestia — and by extension Luna — even having godlike power or any sort of divine status in the first place is this; pony religion, if it exists, has yet to make a distinct appearance on the show, and inasmuch as fair comparisons are even possible the princesses never seem to display magic quite beyond that of very powerful non-winged unicorns. However, as they were clearly treated as special and powerful figures from the start, and direct control of celestial mechanics is typically something associated with gods, this resulted in the early fandom tending to assume that they were actually divine despite this never actually being stated as such. As a result, many popular headcanons involve them being deities of some level or another, from "merely" Physical Gods to some higher form of life in equine shape. Ancillary headcanons were later appended to this in order to explain their numerous defeats against the show's villains, usually revolving them either underestimating their opponents or deliberately throwing fights to limit collateral damage or give other ponies a chance to prove themselves. These particular fanons, however, have tended to decline in popularity over time.
  • Insofar as religion goes, popular choices include faiths that worship Celestia against her own wishes and cults dedicated to Nightmare Moon and Discord, often with the intent of releasing them from imprisonment and/or brining them back to full villainous power.
  • When it comes to characters following human religions, Rarity and her family are often depicted as Jewish. Pinkie is usually some sort of Christian as her family resemble the Anabaptist Amish. Twilight is typically depicted as an atheist. Diamond Tiara is occasionally written as Jewish too due to her fitting Jewish American Princess stereotypes.
  • Applejack and sometimes Pinkie are usually the Token Religious Teammates.
• For ponies with a two part name, the second half is often treated as a surname. The series itself is wishy-washy on this. In the episode "Cutie Mark Chronicles". Pinkie Pie's full name (as said by her parents) is "Pinkamena Diane Pie" and Twilight is also referred to as "Miss Sparkle" in the same episode. Yet Twilight's father Night Light is called "Mr. Sparkle" and her mother is called Twilight Velvet, while Fluttershy's unnamed parents are "Mr. and Mrs. Shy" (despite the fact Fluttershy has Only One Name). One possible explanation for this could be that the parents adopt the last name of their foals when being referred to by their honorifics.
• In many fan works, especially in the shipping fics, lesbian ponies are called "filly foolers" or "mare munchers" while gay ponies are "colt cuddlers" or "stallion stuffers". This can be a hateful slur (like "dyke" or "fag") or a polite but informal term (like "gay" or "lesbian"). "Jackmare" (a jack is a male donkey) and "gelding" (a castrated horse) are less often used as the equivalent of "dyke" and "fag".
• Fanon associated with "humanized" depictions of the characters:
  • Generally speaking, outside of art specifically based on Equestria Girls, characters will be given human skin colors but retain their in-show hair colors.
  • When the cast is "humanized" in fanart, Twilight is often given a brown-skinned ethnicity, most often African-American or Indian — many artists choose to because the darker skin tone looks best with the palette of purples, and because of concept art for Equestria Girls that depicted Twilight with brown skin◊; one of the most popular pony fanartists, Yamino, also claims Twilight reminds her of a Sri Lankan she once knew — or just Ambiguously Brown. She's also often depicted as wearing lavender sweater vests, usually over white dress shirts, and skirts with leggings underneath or dress pants, for a generally nerdy or academic look. Twilight usually keeps her hime cut from her pony form, with her hair being waist length like in EG, but a lot of fan-artists also shorten her hair into a prim-and-proper bob haircut, or shoulder length. Giving her glasses like her EG human world counterpart has also become popular.
  • Human Rainbow Dash is almost always drawn as flat-chested and short. She dresses tomboyishly, often in sweatshirts, track jackets (often with goggles) or tank tops; her hairstyle differs more than most other characters, but short ponytails/having an undercut are popular. Skin tones vary from white to Ambiguously Brown.
  • It's common to draw Rarity as either extremely pale or black; Asian is also a popular choice. She's usually drawn with a slim, curvy build but is sometimes portrayed as chubby in fanart as an Aesop that beauty comes in all sizes; and that Carousel Boutique is a plus-sized store. She generally dresses stylishly and lady-like (typically she either wears fashion from The Roaring '20s or dress suits).
  • Pinkie almost always wears either a pink t-shirt with her cutie mark on it and jeans or a poofy dress. She's also rather likely to be portrayed as chubby due to her love of eating sweets. Probably because of her curly hair, African American Pinkie Pie is gradually becoming another popular interpretation.
  • Applejack's blonde hair, green eyes, and Texan drawl mean that she is almost always white, usually with a deep tan to resemble her coat color, with most fan artists tending to ignore the idea of her having dark skin, and the fact that there are POC in the south, too. Regardless, she usually wears cowboy-ish clothing (typically with short shorts, no matter how impractical that really is).
  • Fluttershy is a Statuesque Stunner, due to being a model in one episode and being depicted as a lanky filly. Human Fluttershy is almost always depicted as wearing sweaters/long skirts or long sleeved dresses, with her clothes almost always being yellow to match her fur color as a mare, but occasionally green to match her theme of loving nature.
  • Human Celestia has rather dark skin (being a sun goddess and all), with Luna being very pale (though some present them as both being dark skinned but Luna being the lighter one). However, it's also very popular to have Celestia be the light-skinned one and Luna with dark skin based off their coat colors, with the latter being particularly common as it goes well with Luna's dark blue hair.
  • It's all but mandatory to draw a fully clothed human Gilda in a bomber jacket.
  • Fluttershy and Rarity are occasionally portrayed as Muslim women wearing hijabs, with Muslim Fluttershy being the more common of the two.
  • Human Spike with a fauxhawk or mohawk to represent his crest is most common, though generic spiky hair pops up too.
  • Scootaloo having leg prosthesics or being in a wheelchair is common as a counterpart to her inability to fly.
  • Flying for Pegasi is often changed into running, though occasionally you'll see it made into flying with jet planes or riding a motorcycle. As a result, Rainbow Dash is often depicted wearing goggles.
  • Human Diamond Tiara is occasionally drawn as Latina due to the fact she had a cutecenera (a party thrown for her cutie mark acquisition, which is a pun on "quinceneara", which is a term for a Latina girl's fifteenth birthday, though it should be noted that cuteceneras are a pony thing in general).
  • Humanized Octavia is drawn as dark skinned almost as frequently as she is with a lighter skin tone.
  • Humanized Trixie is often Ambiguously Brown.
• Lauren Faust, the main creator of the series, drew herself as a pony, namely an alicorn. Alicorn Original Characters or self-inserts are greatly discouraged due to them being commonly perceived as self-inserts, but since Lauren is the show's creator, she gets to have an alicorn OC. A few artists have even gone on to say that she is Celestia and Luna's mother in-universe, while others have her as a deity (thus the common use of "oh my Faust" in fanfics). One comic names her alicorn "Tau Sunflare". However, most just call Lauren Faust's alicorn "Fausticorn" or simply "Lauren Faust". Occasionally known as "Queen Faust".
• Bonnie Zacherle, creator of My Little Pony, is also usually depicted as an alicorn ("Bonniecorn"), often as Fausticorn's teacher.
• Since some episodes have confirmed that Equestria uses the same days of the week as Earth, people have assumed the ponies use the same months as well, but not the same years. Many fanfic writers make Nightmare Moon's banishment as Year Zero. Modern day Equestria, then, as of this writing, is in the year 1002 CE (Celestial Era, a play-on-words with Common Era). Sometimes, they use "ANM" (After Nightmare Moon), or alternatively, "RPL" (Return of Princess Luna). But the latter much more so.
• On the subject of time, many fans believe that one year passes for each season of the show. There's really nothing to support this: The opening of season 4 suggests that everything up to that point happened over the course of one year. And "Tanks for the Memories" from season 5 explicitly happens less than a year after "May the Best Pet Win" from season 2.
• Fanon associated with gender:
  • Because she views her femininity as her best trait, Rarity is often headcanoned as a transgender mare.
  • Fluttershy is frequently depicted as a trans mare as well. This is often due to her lanky form as a foal and her reaction to the poison joke (it gives her a stallion's voice).
  • Androgynous ponies such as Scootaloo, Babs Seed, Vinyl Scratch, and Rainbow Dash are interpreted by the fandom as being a trans colt, trans filly, agender, and everything in-between.
  • Also, Spike's gender. He's been raised by mares all his life, virtually never associates himself with other males, and in "Dragon Quest" was (in some fan's eyes) taught the Aesop that masculinity isn't all it's cracked up to be. Him being genderqueer is the most common interpretation.
  • Due to the fact she wore a blue ribbon in flashbacks, something usually done for male horses, some consider Cadance a trans mare.
  • The background pony Caramel is sometimes (usually non-seriously) seen as trans, as mares have used his design as well.
  • Thanks to a popular fan-artist, Snails as nonbinary or as a trans filly isn't uncommon.
  • Because Trixie was originally written as a male character, as well as certain stallion-associated design quirks from her early appearances, fan-works and head-cannons about her being a trans mare pop up.
  • Fleur de Lis is commonly written as a trans mare due to her androgynous voice and tall height.
• Characters often go by specific names when their genders are swapped:
  • Rainbow Dash becomes Rainbow Blitz, Twilight Sparkle becomes Dusk Shine, Rarity becomes Elusive, Fluttershy becomes Butterscotch, Pinkie Pie becomes Bubble Berry (or occasionally Berry Bubble), and Spike becomes Barbara. Applejack's name is usually considered gender-neutral and left alone. The fic mostly responsible for this is On a Cross and Arrow.
  • Apple Bloom becomes Applebuck, Sweetie Belle becomes either Sweepy Bell or Silver Bell, and Scootaloo becomes Scooteroll.
  • Celestia and Luna usually become Solaris and Artemis; Solaris either has a red-and-orange mane, a beard, or both. Princess Cadance is usually called Prince Bolero, while Shining Armor becomes Gleaming Shield.
  • Discord typically becomes Eris, while Queen Chrysalis gets called King Metamorphosis and King Sombra becomes Queen Umbra.
  • When not referred to as Barbara, the female Spike is sometimes called Spines.
• Pinkie Pie's full name, Pinkamena, is often given to her sad, straight-haired persona seen in "Party of One". There's a theory that Pinkamena is psychopathic.

Main and Side Characters

The Mane Six

• The widespread view that Rainbow Dash, the athletic tomboy with rainbow hair, is a lesbian. Although Lauren Faust has gone on record chiding people for making this assumption, since tomboy doesn't equal lesbian. An Inversion is also somewhat popular, that she's the only one out of her friends (besides Spike) that is straight. Some fanfics depict Dash as bisexual instead of either gay or straight. One episode showed a scene in the future that implied that Rainbow Dash and Applejack now live together, but it's open to interpretation whether they're lovers or roommates.
• When it comes to the Mane Six's sexualities, Twilight Sparkle (and less commonly, Fluttershy), is often headcanoned to be asexual (though bisexual is also common, the former’s mane is even the colors of the bisexual pride flag), Pinkie Pie is almost ALWAYS pansexual (like Twilight, likely because her color scree resembles the pansexual pride flag), Rainbow Dash is lesbian (see above), Applejack will either be completely straight or completely homosexual, and although Rarity is the only one in the Mane Six who has shown attraction to stallions before, only half of the fandom sees her as completely straight, while another side argues she’s gay and her "attraction" to the stallions she’s interacted with was compulsive heterosexuality. The other half sees her as bisexual, homo/heteroflexible, a hetero/biromantic of any sexuality, etc. Pansexual Princess Cadance is also popular, as the princess of love. Celestia and Luna are often bisexual and have had various female and male lovers over the centuries.
• Fans seem to have grown attached to the idea that as a foal, Twilight Sparkle liked to build book forts. According to Twilight Sparkle and the Crystal Heart Spell, Twilight really did build book forts as a foal.
• Pinkie's family has been given nicknames: Inkie, Blinkie, Clyde and Sue. This was jossed by Pinkie Pie and the Rockin' Ponypalooa Party!. Her parents' names are Igneous Rock and Cloudy Quartz (father and mother respectively), and her sisters are Maud Pie, Marble Pie (the grey one) and Limestone Pie (the bluish one). It was assumed by fans that Limestone and Marble were twins, but eventually it was shown that Marble and Pinkie are twins.
• Rainbow Dash's middle name is sometimes given as "Danger". Others say Rainbow Dash's middle name is "Miriam".
• Applejack's trademark cowboy hat is often stated in fanon to be a family heirloom from her father, who is himself assumed to be deceased, and she's thought to be very protective of it. Jossed by Hot Topic's Hot Minute with Applejack. She won it bobbing for apples. This hasn't stopped some from marrying the two sides together. Further Jossed by the S4 episode "Somepony to Watch Over Me", where it's revealed that she has a whole closet of the things. This also hasn't stopped some from marrying the two sides together, with less sincerity. "Best Gift Ever" muddles canon up by having Applejack mention that her hat was given to her by her father.
• Some fans have joked that Rarity's sensitivity to being called a mule means she was raised by them (which was later debunked). Her sensitivity towards mules has also led her to being depicted as Innocently Insensitive in fanworks, often saying accidentally racist things about non-ponies.
• On a more Squick-ish part of Fanon, it's a popular belief that Applebloom is Applejack's and Mac's child, and that Sweetie Belle is Rarity's illegitimate child with someone. Since the airing of "Sisterhooves Social", it's been revealed that Rarity and Sweetie Belle were not raised by mules, and that not only is Sweetie Belle not Rarity's child, she lives with hers and Rarity's parents! That hasn't totally displaced the "Sweetie Belle is Rarity's illegitimate child" bit, although it required fanon-holders to get a bit more creative about it. Some people also portray Apple Bloom as either still Applejack's illegitimate daughter but Mac is not the father, or adopted.
• Applejack is typically an orphan, to explain why such a family-centric person's parents have never been show despite routine visits to her family home. The show all but confirmed that Applejack's parents are dead. Seeing as one writer gave an explanation that Applejack's parents are either dead or travel a lot, some fans combine the two ideas and believe that the parents initially travelled a lot before dying on one of their travels.
• When depicted as actual horse breeds, Pinkie Pie is a Shetland and the Apples usually have some sort of draft horse in them. In fanart that depicts the characters as less stylized, the Apple siblings will be taller than other horses and more muscular as a result.
• A lot of people write Pinkie as hating her full name or refusing to be called it, despite no evidence suggesting that she dislikes the name "Pinkamena Diane Pie".
• The ages of the characters have never been decided on enough to be fanon, but some ideas are still commonly used. Either Twilight or Rainbow Dash are the youngest, between 17-23 at the start, while Rarity or Fluttershy is the oldest at 23-30. Everything else is up in the air. The Cutie Mark Crusaders are speculated to be preteens, due to episodes like "Forever Filly" having them talk about growing up and fans linking cutie marks to puberty, but all we know about their canon ages is that they're significantly older than five, but not teens yet.
  • Based on Pinkie's canon birthday of May 3, a statement of hers saying that she was born on a Tuesday, materials like Equestria Girls treating the mane six as teenagers or young adults and assuming the series takes place in a similar year to real life, some fans have started guessing that Pinkie was born in 1994 and is most likely in her early twenties.
• Due to her friendly and affectionate nature, Pinkie being the type that Really Gets Around pops up a lot, treating sex as another fun activity to share with others. Alternatively, her childish nature gets exaggerated to the point where she doesn't understand sexuality.
• Fluttershy as a Covert Pervert appears often.
• A persistent piece of fanon is that Rainbow Dash and Applejack hate skirts and dresses. Applejack canonically dislikes "fancy" or impractical clothing, but it's never been shown that they actually hate skirts themselves. Rainbow herself does have a strong aversion towards anything she perceives as "frou-frou", although that generally includes both any sort of formal wear and anything vaguely "nerdy". They have both been depicted wearing them at multiple times.
• Before Twilight was confirmed to be the "Princess of Friendship", fans who depicted her as an alicorn had her as the "Princess of Magic".
• Pinkie Pie being a Fourth-Wall Observer. Word of God initially denied this several times, to no avail, and then later ran with it and made it canon. In the show, she does have some Medium Awareness, but it is mainly through one-time gags such as shaking the camera or preventing an Iris Out. Contrast that to the fanart, where she's basically a non-violent version of Deadpool, constantly acknowledging her existence as a fictional character.
• Pinkie Pie looks nothing like the rest of her family. The general fan consensus is that she resembles one of her grandparents (usually her maternal grandmother).
• In fan works Applejack tends to call her parents "Mama and Papa", "Ma and Pa", etc. In canon she mainly uses "Mom and Dad", though in "Best Gift Ever" she does use "Pops".

The princesses:

• Celestia and Luna:
  • Celestia having a pink mane as a filly is near omnipresent fanon, due to the stylized depiction from the intro depicting her with pink hair. This was assumed to have either grown into her current ethereal one as she aged or to have suddenly turned into it when she banished Nightmare Moon. The second option was Jossed by flashbacks showing both sisters having their ethereal manes as far back as their confrontation with Discord, while the Legends of Magic comics show that as a filly, her mane was indeed made of regular hair but was chiefly blue and green with pink tips. Celestia's pink mane is further Jossed in My Little Pony: Make Your Mark, where a flashback in "Sunny Side Up" shows a filly who's implied to be her younger self having the same-colored mane that she has as an adult.
  • Luna was originally depicted as a small alicorn with a short, light blue mane. In her season 2 reappearance she appeared taller and with a mane similar to Celestia. Originally fans thought her season 1 style was how her mane looked when she was imprisoned but flashbacks jossed that. Fans then began writing her original mane-style as her filly hairstyle. This was later confirmed in the Legends of Magic comics.
  • A popular fanon is Luna calls Celestia "Celly" or "Tia" as an Affectionate Nickname. The Journal of the Two Sisters canonized the spelling "Celie", however fans still more commonly use "Celly".
  • Luna being introverted was common during season 1. Eventually her Shrinking Violet "Woona" persona was scrapped (though it pops up in works of her as a foal), but Luna is still depicted as less social than Celestia.
  • Princess Celestia, aka Trollestia or Molestia, is behind everything. (Except Discord.) She is largely hands-off for most of the events in the series, but just about any unusual negative event where the Mane Cast learns a lesson about friendship is laid at her feet by some fan or another. Much more on the relevant page.
  • Princess Celestia being Semi-Divine or otherwise having access to godlike magical power. This originated during seasons one and two, where a very sharp divide was visible between Celestia and all other ponies, and very little was known about her besides her being immortal, moving the celestial bodies, and being associated with a lot of heavenly and angelic imagery. As the show went on, Celestia never really demonstrated magical power beyond the bounds of the show's other various powerful beings (save her talent for moving the sun which could be depleted by a mere six unicorns), she lost most fights she got into, and magical attacks affected her the same as anybody else. The only exception to this was her evil counterpart, Daybreaker, claiming that she secretly knows that she's strong and doesn't need Luna, but Daybreaker was a figure in the nightmare of another character so being representative of Celestia is Fanon itself (albeit supposed by the semi-canon comics). Ultimately, Celestia in canon is portrayed as a teacher and adminstrator first and foremost, and there is very little emphasis on her personal magical might.
  • Celestia being The Juggernaut who protected Equestria during the millennia between Luna's banishment and the series premiere. This seems to be justified In-Universe with Equestria being the main dominant power in the world combined with the many, many times it has to deal with invasions and monster attacks in the series proper. This stems from Celestia having to constantly protect a country with a high incident rate while at the same time having no Luna, Pillars and Elements to help her. If she really was incompetent as portrayed in the show due to The Worf Effect, Equestria by that logic should have been a Crapsack World from being conquered over and over by the time of the series premiere, which isn't the case. There are two different kinds of popular fanfics that are in line with this: 1) Celestia being a walking Story-Breaker Power during her solo reign, or 2) Celestia giving a The Gloves Come Off speech before dealing a Curb-Stomp Battle in present day.
  • Princess Luna being confirmed to be corrupted into Nightmare Moon by an outside force was the source of many fanon, with Discord and King Sombra being both being popular candidates for the culprit. Once the comics showed it was caused by a separate entity, this fanon fell out of favor due to cheapening Luna's tragedy and redemption if she was evil due to being possessed/brainwashed/manipulated as opposed to of her own free will and the show and comics moving away from this notion.
  • Many fans believe that Celestia and Luna were not born as alicorns. This is supported by Cadance and Twilight having been transformed into alicorns, but it's unknown if the sisters are "natural" alicorns or not. The Journal of the Two Sisters implies they were but "The Crystalling" gives fuel for otherwise by their stating Flurry Heart was the first alicorn born in Equestrian history (Word of God state that this refers to them being born before or outside Equestria). If they were born alicorns, this is usually the reason given for why they're still young looking and over 1000 years old, while "ascended" alicorns age normally and don't have ethereal manes. The series makes this ambiguous as unicorns can have ethereal manes and Twilight herself becomes a tall, ethereal maned alicorn in the series finale. If Celestia and Luna were not born alicorns, when it comes to what species they were originally, fans usually opt for both being unicorns. The second most popular choice is earth pony, with pegasus mainly only being an option if the other isn't a pegasus (like the Cake twins or if they're half-siblings).
  • In fanworks revolving around Celestia and Luna's fillyhoods (especially those that have them being born as non-alicorn), they're often presenting as living in the very distant past as Partially Civilized Animals who live in herds and are hunted by predators. This may involve them having a tribal society and it's not unheard of them to live when humans still existed.
  • Quite a few fans write Celestia and Luna as half-siblings or adopted siblings. Their parents have never been depicted in canon, but it's assumed they're full-blooded sisters. Sometimes this is just used as an excuse to ship them together, sometimes it's used when they're presented as not actually being horses, and other times it's used in pre-ascension works in order to depict them as being of different races.
  • John Joseco's Ask Gaming Princess Luna blog has firmly rooted the fanon that Princess Luna loves video games into the brony community. A huge portion of the fan art of her just chilling out will involve a video game controller of some kind. All of this is in spite of the fact that Luna has never so much as mentioned video games in any official material.
  • Celestia and Luna are often depicted as having been married several times throughout their lives. This may or may not include having had (mortal) children as well. Sometimes, those foals are used to explain where Blueblood descended from.
  • Celestia and Luna were orphaned as children.
  • A lot of fanworks involve Celestia and Luna using illusion or transformation magic to appear as normal ponies in order to relax as civilians. Thanks to Sunny Skies All Day Long, Celestia is sometimes depicted as a pegasus called "Sunny Skies".
  • Fans speculate that Celestia has fire or heat powers. Many fanworks revolve around a more serious/angry, dark, or evil version of her that uses fire/heat powers, most commonly referred to as "Solar Flare". The Season 7 episode "A Royal Problem" eventually canonized this interpretation. In a nightmare, Starlight Glimmer dreams a Celestia equivalent of Nightmare Moon named "Daybreaker", with a fiery blaze for a mane and the ability to breathe fire.
  • Celestia holding a "Day Court" where she gives out judgements, hears petitions and arbitrates disputes is a popular fandom conceit. A lot of her visitors will be nobles trying to get tax breaks. The idea of Luna having a "Night Court" afflicted with varying degrees of corruption has also become rather popular.
  • Thanks to a popular fanfic, Progress, Luna has an abacus which she treats as her baby.
• Princess Cadance:
  • Cadance is frequently described as the "Princess of Love" (whether romantic or in general) in fanworks, although this title isn't mentioned in official media. A deleted scene from the movie states that she embodies "family".
  • Cadance is an orphan. This is due to her parents never being referenced.
  • Some fans, like Silver Quill, imagine Cadance as being something of an adrenaline junkie who looks forward to the dark forces threatening Equestria and beyond so she can indulge in some action outside of the boring, peaceful, day-to-day rule of the Crystal Empire.
• As a teenager, Flurry Heart is usually depicted as a Rebellious Princess. Often times she's also either an Emo Teen or a goth. Alternatively, she takes after her father and joins the Royal Guard.

CMC and other foals

• Prior to the Cutie Mark Crusaders getting their cutie marks, any future-set fic that starred the CMC or any of the other foals in the series almost always had them in the same occupations. Though, the whole cutie mark thing makes them much more plausible than some other forms of Fanon:
  • Applebloom becomes a handy-pony.
  • Sweetie Belle becomes a singer.
  • Scootaloo becomes a dancer or stunt-mare.
  • Twist becomes a candy maker.
  • Snails becomes a scientist, usually an entomologist.
  • Snips becomes a barber or an apprentice tailor to Rarity.
  • Pipsqueak becomes an explorer or a deckhand on a airship.
  • Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara usually become business mares.
• Cute dorks Twist, Snips, and Snails almost always grow into fine-looking adults.
• Several possible explanations have been proposed for why Scootaloo isn't able to fly. Even Fluttershy had awkwardly passed the occasional flight exam when she was Scootaloo's age. The most common explanation is that she's physically disabled. This translates into human Scootaloo having a prosthetic leg, such as here, here and this fanfiction. This appears to be jossed in the Equestria Girls series, although whether she has some form of other disability is unknown.
• Scootaloo is often depicted as an orphan, to explain why her parents are never seen. Her having having same-sex parents often pops up when it's averted. This is later jossed. Her parents are a straight couple and are just very busy, thus explaining their absence. Scootaloo is often taken care of by two aunts, who are heavily implied to be a couple.
• Sweetie Belle either living with Rarity or at least spending much of her time at Rarity's. This is due to the fact that in the show, Sweetie spends a lot of her time around her sister and has a room in Rarity's house, and that Rarity usually takes the role of the parental authority figure around Sweetie Belle. Their parents, by contrast, only appeared once or twice and almost completely fade from relevance after the show's midpoint. Some stories portray them as actively neglectful parents, forcing Rarity to pick up their slack and raise her sister herself. "Forever Filly" has Rarity missing Sweetie Belle and wanting to spend time with her, jossing the idea that the sisters live together.
• Diamond Tiara:
  • Prior to her reveal, most fans wrote Diamond Tiara's mother as being deceased. This was often used to give Diamond a Freudian Excuse or make her at least seem more sympathetic.
  • Many works centered around Diamond Tiara up her mother's abusive behavior. Often times this includes being an Alcoholic Parent or physical abuse. In canon her mother's abuse being primarily verbal and emotional but there's no real guarantee physical didn't happen off-screen. Prior to her canon portrayal, Diamond's mom was usually a nice mother who died when she was younger.

Family Members

• Big Macintosh often has a Gag Penis, which sort of makes sense if you know horse anatomy. Some elements of fanon also include him being called "Lil' Macintosh" as a colt and him being called "Big Mac" as a nickname (which eventually became canon).

Others

• An old fanon is that Spike is either a rare type of wingless dragon or that he has a Fictional Disability. This was later debunked when he molted and grew wings.
• G3/G3.5 Cheerilee and the G4 Cheerilee are the same character, with the G4 Cheerilee reminiscing about her "college days" as a childhood education/development major (the G3/3.5 theme song mentions her reading stories to other ponies).
• It's not exactly rare to see Cheerilee as Scootaloo's sister, half-sister, or sister figure due to the fact they were siblings in G3. It's also not uncommon for Cheerilee to be the sister of a background pony called "Berry Punch" due to their similar colours. The comics revealed that Cheerilee does have a twin sister named Cherry Blossom. This is a Mythology Gag to the fact that her G3 Core 7 design reused the look of a pony by that name.
• It was largely assumed that Trixie was Driven to Suicide in "No Second Prances" (in which she tries to do a stunt involving diving into a manticore's mouth). It was already common in fanworks to portray her as depressed and suicidal, but the episode helped boost the idea. Her appearances in the Season 6 finale and the Season 7 opener, where she's the complete opposite of "depressed and suicidal", suggest that if this was the case it isn't anymore.
• Sunset Shimmer:
  • Sunset Shimmer's human counterpart is either presumed dead, or as living somewhere outside of the show's Canterlot setting, in order to explain why they never appeared through the series.
  • Sunset Shimmer, thanks to her cutie mark and Celestia's apparent concern for her well-being (the first thing she does when Twilight returns at the end of the first Equestria Girls movie is specifically ask about Sunset's safety), has many fan works portray her as either Celestia's biological or adopted daughter. Such works inevitably have this double as Sunset's Freudian Excuse as well, framing her initial hunger for power and desire to be an alicorn as a case of believing such was necessary to truly gain her mother's love.
  • Fan-works often give Sunset Shimmer a history of Self-Harm, suicidal ideation, and/or drug use. Depending on the work, this either started after her defeat in the first Equestria Girls movie, the later "Anon-a-Miss" incident, or predates her first appearance entirely to be a result of a Dark and Troubled Past created by the writer.
  • Sunset Shimmer having become an alicorn, typically during the events of Rainbow Rocks, but not realizing it until she happens to go through the portal and back into Equestria. Jossed in Forgotten Friendship, where she's still a unicorn.
  • Due to their sun-themed names and cutie marks, as well as having very similar color schemes, fans who don't subscribe to the idea of Sunset being Celestia's daughter like to think of Sunburst and Sunset Shimmer as siblings. In such cases, Sunset is invariably the elder one: both to explain Stellar Flare's My Beloved Smother tendencies towards Sunburst (out of fear of losing another child) and Sunburst's own insecurities (feeling he has to somehow live up to Sunset's status as a prodigy who studied directly under Celestia).
• Luster Dawn, Twilight's student in the Distant Finale, is often portrayed as Starlight and Sunburst's daughter.
• Trixie's father Jack Pot either walked out when she was very little (or even before her birth) for career reasons or he doesn't even know she exists.
• Diamond Tiara's father Filthy Rich is often assumed to be an Upper-Class Twit or Corrupt Corporate Executive on par with Lucius Malfoy, even though his few appearances in the series proper display him as a Reasonable Authority Figure whose worst fault is blithely going on and on about his extremely boring job. He's also sometimes portrayed as actively spoiling Diamond Tiara and allowing her to be the little Jerkass that she is. More commonly, though, he does try to straighten her out, but he just can't make it stick.
• Spoiled Rich is often thought to have had cosmetic surgery due to the lines under her eyes and unnaturally shaped nose. Seeing how she looked more normal as Spoiled Milk has enforced this fanon somewhat.
• The oddity of their twins species and looks has caused fans to speculate that Mr. and Mrs. Cake are in an open relationship. Carrot knows that the kids aren't his but doesn't care. If this was the case, though, he'd be embarrassed about his open relationship, since it would have made his explanation to the protagonists a lie.
• Due to their interactions in School Daze, fans potray Thorax as somehow related to Ocellus, either as her uncle or older brother (the latter due to theory that her parents only "adopted her" and her true mother is Queen Chrysalis due to below mentioned fanon concerning Changelings and her).

Fanon associated with psychology/neurology:

• Twilight having OCD and/or autism is common.
• Maud Pie being autistic.
• Pinkie Pie having ADHD, depression (and she acts happy to cope), or bipolar disorder. Fans also sometimes place her on the Autism Spectrum, albeit on a different part than Maud or Twilight.
• Rarity having OCD due to her Obsessively Organized traits is common.
• Rainbow having ADHD, with her tendancy to remain airborn even by hover a few feet off the ground being seen as a means of stimming. In addition, her obsession with the Wonderbolts and Daring Do are often portrayed as special interests in works that put her on the Autism Spectrum.
• Applejack being a Stepford Smiler that suffers from depression.
• When characters have emotional breakdowns relating to their talants (such as Pinkie Pie falling into a slump in "Party of One" and Twilight having a nervous breakdown in "Lesson Zero"), it's speculated to be actual temporary insanity as the result of the pony's special talent failing, dubbed "Cutie Mark Failure Insanity Syndrome".

Background Characters

• Names for background characters that appeared in as little as one scene in one episode. Sometimes they're named for their cutie marks (Lyra and Bon-Bon for their lyre mark and wrapped candy mark, respectively). Sometimes the name is decided by the fans in a somewhat-official poll (the unicorn DJ in "Suited For Success" is named Vinyl Scratch, with a stage name of DJ PON-3). And sometimes, the name just comes out of nowhere; the mustachioed sea serpent that appeared in the pilot episode is now known as Steven Magnet due to Youtube's hilariously bad speech-to-text translator. The show canonized Steven's name as "Stephen Magnet".
• Derpy Hooves:
  • The gray pegasus extra in My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. Spotted with wonky eyes in a very brief shot, she was quickly embraced by the show's adult viewers as "Derpy Hooves" and cast by one fanfic writer as a mail carrier. There are varying interpretations of her personality (though generally she has always been a Cute Clumsy Girl), but her name and occupation are generally agreed on.
  • Frequently, Derpy has a daughter named Dinky Hooves, a greyish-purple unicorn with a blonde mane that first appeared in "Winter Wrap Up", and is a Good Parent to Dinky and extremely protective of her. Occasionally her daughter will be the child of either Pokey Pierce, his Palette Swap Ponet (who is also a purple unicorn with a blonde mane), or another background pony. If shipped with Doctor Whooves, she'll be the adopted daughter of his. Although the show more heavily hints Dinky Doo is the daughter of Carrot Top/Golden Harvest and Written Script, fans of the show insist that Dinky is Derpy's daughter. Mostly, it's because Dinky looks so much like a younger Derpy.
  • Due to the fact Dinky has been shown with another unicorn dubbed "Sparkler" (or "Amethyst") at the Sisterhood Social, it's not uncommon for Sparkler to be Derpy's teenage daughter. Because she looks different from the rest of her family, she is usually either adopted or is Dinky's half-sister.
  • Derpy has been confirmed for the postal service, and in "The Last Roundup," Rainbow Dash addressed her by name. According to this leaked storyboard◊, the makers of the show consider Derpy to be her name.
  • Also, after "The Last Roundup", her personality has started to consistently be Derpy just being a clumsy but hardworking mare.
  • Derpy is frequently Doctor Whooves' companion; if not, Twilight Sparkle or Colgate (Minuette) takes that role.
  • Since "Winter Wrap Up" and some Word of God saying they might use Derpy's character design for a named character, many fans have used Ditzy Doo as Derpy's "real" name (with "Derpy" being a nickname), usually the ones who play her up as being smarter than she looks. Other less popular names include "Bubbles", "Bright Eyes", and "Muffins".
  • Oh yes, Derpy's possible mental disability. Her eyes are crossed, she's constantly bumping into things, and she has a deep voice. Fan interpretation rages from being completely able bodied/minded, deaf, visually impaired (as a result of strabismus), intellectually disabled, and several others. According to one episode, she gained her lazy eyes during her foalhood.
  • Derpy (sometimes Doctor Whooves) is often portrayed as being the leader of the Secondary/Background Six, a group that consists of herself, Whooves, Lyra, Bon Bon, Octavia, and Vinyl Scratch, even though these characters haven't been shown all together and are often split into pairs (Derpy and Doctor, Lyra and Bon Bon, and Octavia and Vinyl).
• Bon Bon:
  • Bonbon is named for a G1 pony with a similar Cutie Mark and colors.
  • Bonbon will occasionally be a Jerkass due to the way she acted in her early speaking roles.
  • Every time Bonbon has a line before Season 5, she speaks with a different voice. This had led to the belief that Bonbon is a voice actress or (after the Season 2 finale aired) a changeling.
  • Bonbon being a nickname while "Sweetie Drops" is her actual name.
  • Bonbon is sometimes depicted as owning a sweets shop, or being a candy maker.
  • Bonbon with a feeder fetish towards Lyra is a pretty common joke fanon.
  • Early on in the fandom, Bonbon and Lyra originally were often considered parents to a filly named Tootsie Flute. By season 3, most fans had dropped Tootsie as their child. Bonbon and Lyra are usually portrayed as childless.
  • Bizarrely, the truth about Bonbon turned out to be even stranger than the fanon, as episode 100 revealed that she's actually a former secret government agent called 'Sweetie Drops', now living undercover for her own protection. Specifically, she was part of a monster-hunting squad before said squad was disbanded by Celestia (though her being in disguise could explain her different voices if she ever needs to go incognito.)
• Lyra:
  • Lyra having an obsession with humans due to her slouching on a bench like a human being in the background in one episode. Many fan takes on this have been seen, from mimicking human behavior, to her obsession with attaining hands, to her dream of becoming a human being herself. The one episode where she had a prominent speaking role, "Slice of Life," didn't have her mention humans at all, though she did sit like one at the end of that episode, and in "The Big Mac Question" she visibly proposes like one.
  • Lyra and Bonbon are the fandom's One True Pairing. No matter what, they're always a couple. Occasionally they'll have a child together, and occasionally Colgate will get in the way of their romance (though she's commonly shipped with Berry Punch), but typically they're a couple. The show presented Lyra and Bonbon as very close but didn't say they were officially a couple... until Season 9 confirmed they got married, though given that reveal it's no stretch to assume they've been a couple since Season 5.
  • Lyra's profession is usually given as being a harpist, given her name and Cutie Mark. Due to the "impoverished musician" cliche, Lyra is often written as having difficulties getting work.
• Vinyl Scratch and Octavia:
  • Vinyl Scratch and Octavia are starting to become the fandom's second One True Pairing, due to very well-written fanfics such as Allegrezza and The Vinyl Scratch Tapes. This is semi-Ascended Fanon as the show has presented Bonbon and Lyra, along with Octavia and Vinyl, as roommates.
  • Some say Vinyl Scratch's middle name is "Jennifer" or "Agatha".
  • Vinyl has red eyes in fanon. This was Jossed in the season 2 finale, where she is shown to have cerise eyes, similar to Rainbow Dash's.
• Octavia:
  • One bit of persistent fanon is Octavia's mother being a Beloved Smother. This goes from the usual Education Mama-type, in which she demands Octavia practice her cello so she can join a prestigious orchestra, all the way up to an Evil Matriarch who actively attempts to sabotage her relationship with Vinyl Scratch (due to a related bit of fanon that Octavia's mother is very homophobic).
  • It's not uncommon to see Lyra and Octavia as sisters, with Octavia being the "successful" one while Lyra is in her sister's shadow.
  • Octavia used to be depicted as being one of Pinkie's sisters, though the fanon has died out and was ultimately jossed.
  • Fiddlesticks is the Fan Nickname of one of Octavia's Palette Swap. They're sometimes written as cousins or sisters. As a result, Octavia is seen as being distantly related to Applejack.
  • Before she was confirmed to be "Octavia Melody", Octavia's full name was often given as "Octavia Philharmonica".
• There's a pony dubbed "Berry Punch" by fans thought to be an alcoholic because of a scene in "Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000" where she dramatically frowns at the prospect of not having any cider (though that has a slight Word of God on its side). She originally went by "Over-Protective Parent Pony" due to a scene where she pulled her filly into her house when Zecora went near, so despite being an alcoholic she's seen as a good, if overprotective, (usually single) parent. Her daughter is called either "Ruby Pinch" or "Berry Pinch" depending on whom you ask. Berry's occasionally shipped with another pony dubbed "Colgate", though not nearly as much as other Fanon duos. Berry Punch is commonly depicted as Cheerilee's relative (usually sister) due to their similar looks .Berry Punch's grape-based cutie mark leads fans to believe she either owns a bar or a winery.
• One of the background ponies, dubbed "Wind Whistler" due to her resemblance with the G1 pony, is often depicted as an Attention Whore.
• Two background ponies, one called "Pokey Pierce" by fans and the other with the canon name "Caramel", are often considered Camp Gay. Though occasionally Caramel will be paired with Applejack or Twilight, and Pokey with Pinkie.
• After her appearance in "Hurricane Fluttershy", the background pony Blossomforth is often portrayed as a contortionist based on her contorted pose in that episode.
• Cloudchaser and Flitter as twin sisters, or a couple (sometimes both). They look like sisters but it's left ambiguous in canon what their relationship is.

Villains and Antagonists

• Changelings and Queen Chrysalis:
  • A popular fanon is that Queen Chrysalis is not only the changeling queen, she is also the central point of a Changeling Hive Mind. Changelings may be either mindless drones or individuals "wired" into the hive's mental network. Individual changelings are usually somewhat simple-minded, and only seem to be effective when fighting en masse (i.e.: Zerg Rush). Even absent a hive mind, they're often portrayed as behaving like eusocial insects, with Chrysalis being the mother of the race.
  • Several older headcanons posited that multiple changeling queens and hives existed, some adapted for preying upon other species.
  • It was also popular to think that Changelings are Equestria's version of the Zerg. There's also the theory that the Changelings are twisted versions of the G1 Flutter Ponies, potentially cursed from a bargain with Discord, Grogar or another powerful villain, with Chrysalis herself being Rosedust. Both were jossed.
• Discord:
  • It's become common in the fandom to have Discord be the reason there are so few alicorns, among other things. Another quite common one is that Discord's brutal Break the Cutie on Twilight and resulting mental anguish were the cause of her mental breakdown in "Lesson Zero".
  • Discord is often shown to be Luna and Celestia's childhood friend, until something went wrong. Either as a follow-up or alternative, he is also shown to have been in love with Celestia. In other cases, he used to be Starswirl the Bearded, whose attempt to become an alicorn went horribly wrong (this was later tossed when Starswirl appeared as an independent character) or Celestia and Luna's blood or adopted brother.
• People often make King Sombra's normal, non-Living Shadow form Large and in Charge, going with the whole "royalty = bigger" thing the show has going. This actually seems to be Canon as well: his in-show size looks at least roughly between Celestia's and Luna's, while his comics self varies from being simply a big stallion by normal standards to being practically eye-level with Celestia.
• The Sirens:
  • The Sirens are typically written as a trio of sisters. In canon, their relationship is unclarified.
  • How long the Sirens have been in the human world. They were banished from Equestria by Starswirl the Bearded around a thousand years ago, so fanon has them as immortals that have been roaming the human world for centuries.

Worldbuilding and Setting

• Some fans assume that each of the pony races age at different rates and have different lifespans, with unicorns living much longer then earth ponies (similar to elves and humans). Pegasi lifespans vary, but usually they live as long as unicorns. It's generally more common, however, for fans assume the opposite, saying that earth ponies have longer lifespans than unicorns due to the earth ponies having a stronger connection to the planet, and unicorns "burning brightly, but for a (relatively) short time"; Granny Smith is often treated as at least an octogenarian and sometimes as a centenarian or supercentenarian, due to having been alive since before Ponyville's founding. Pegasi are still considered middle-of-the-road. Yet another faction has pegasi dead-last in the lifespans department. While unicorns may be "magical elves" and earth Ponies are "connected to the earth", pegasi live fast and die young. This comes from them being more prone to injury (flying ponies and cloud cities mean long falls) and wing failure as they get older.
• Another pervasive idea is that earth ponies are often looked down upon by both the pegasi and unicorns for being "inferior" due to a lack of wings or magic. Fans also assume that there is a sort of Fantastic Caste System in place with the unicorns on the top as royalty, pegasi just below them as a warrior caste, and the earth ponies at the bottom. Nevermind the fact that this sort of thinking almost drove them all to near-extinction according to the Hearth's Warming Eve pageant as only earth ponies could grow enough food to support all three races until the influence of the Windigos began causing the harvests to fail.
  • Possibly as a backlash against this sort of thinking, some fanfic writers write earth ponies as the Jack of All Trades, while pegasi and unicorns suffer from Crippling Overspecialization.
  • When it comes to fantastic slurs, "mud pony" and "dirt pony" get thrown around a lot for earth ponies. "Pinhead" and "narwhal" are more common for unicorns, and "featherbrains" and "birdbrains" for pegasi.
• The presence of an Equestrian nobility is very popular, despite no nobles actually appearing in the show — there is a loose royal family, including the Princesses and the one-shot character Prince Blueblood, and there are a lot of rich upper-crust members, but actual titled nobility never appears. These are typically depicted as corrupt, arrogant, racist/speciesist/tribalist (i.e., they're unicorns and look down on non-unicorns or -alicorns), and generally shallow and conceited. They're also constantly angling for tax breaks in Celestia's court.
• It's not uncommon to see humans depicted as fictional or mythological beings in Equestria, and occasionally G3, similar to how most people view pegasi or unicorns. Another popular theory is that humans did exist at one point, but have either since gone extinct or have traveled to another planet. Equestria Girls eventually revealed that humans do exist in an alternate reality accessible via portal, though whether they existed in Equestria is still unknown; relatedly, not all fans consider the Equestria Girls to be "actual" humans.
• Keeping in the theme of Furry Reminder that makes occasional appearances in Friendship is Magic, a popular bit of fanon is that ponies still do occasionally graze. That is, walk outside and eat the grass right from the ground. Most ponies only do this as a last resort or in emergency situations, since this is similar to a person on Earth digging through garbage or foraging in a forest. However, it isn't unusual to have whole lawns of specific kinds of grasses and plants planted specifically for grazing. Especially if it's a savored variety. They do canonically eat hay sometimes, but they're never seen grazing.
• In "Luna Eclisped" the carriage of the Princess is pulled by two pegasi guards with bat wings and darker furs and armors than usually. Since the episode took place on Nightmare Night, the pony version of Halloween, it was probably just them wearing costumes. Many fans, however, liked the idea of Luna having her own guard of bat-winged pegasi and there’s quite a bit of fan art of the "Night Guard". As a result, "bat ponies" (or thestrals, as they are sometimes called), have taken off in the fandom. They're generally depicted as nocturnal and fruit-eaters; mango, specifically, is often treated as a favorite food. They generally live either in caves or in jungles south of Equestria, and have some sort of connection to Princess Luna. Two characters in particular, both female, seem to pop up regularly in fan-art and fanfiction, named Angel (from The Golden Armor) and Midnight Blossom (from the NSFW Clopfic A Tryst at Midnight).
• As unicorns and pegasi have canon abilities unique to their races (magic and flying/weather control, respectively), it's very common for fans to portray the earth ponies as having Super-Strength and/or Green Thumb abilities so that their general power level is even with the other races. The former, while not outright stated, is implied, as earth ponies like Big Macintosh, Applejack and Maud Pie are sometimes portrayed as performing feats of considerable physical strength, while in "Twilight's Kingdom" Tirek is explicitly said to have been stealing the earth ponies' strength.
• Alicorns:
  • A common fanon makes a distinction between "true" or "natural" and "ascended" alicorns, with the former being born as alicorns and constituting a true race, whereas the latter are ponies of other types that become alicorns later in life. This was generally used to explain the differences between Celestia and Luna on the one hand and Cadence and Twilight on the others; "true alicorns" are thus considered to be distinguished by greater height and magical power, ethereal manes, and agelessness/immortality. "True alicorns" are also typically treated as having once been a widespread race, but to have died out or diminished for various reasons; Celestia and Luna are thus typically depicted as the last ones left. A number of canonical developments later began to contradict this belief, such as ethereal manes being related to a unicorn or alicorn's magical abilities — highly magical unicorns from later seasons, like Mistmane and Gusty the Great, are also depicted with such manes. Eventually, the finale shows Twilight gaining an ethereal mane and Celestia-like build herself, further eroding distinctions between different types of alicorns.
  • For fans who believe all alicorns are essentially immortal (or at least are incredibly long lived), it's often assumed that Cadance and Twilight will grow taller and gain flowing manes within a few millenia. Either they're not powerful enough yet or they are too young. A comic, later adapted into an episode, supports the theory that their manes are related to their power level by showing very powerful mythical unicorns with ethereal manes. The finale also shows that Twilight does end up tall and ethereal-maned within a few decades of becoming an alicorn.
• Word of God is the series takes place in a universe with Schizo Tech, but fanon prefers to have it take place in a Retro Universe. It doesn't help that even canon sways on whether it's in the past but has modern-esque technology or if it's modern day with a vintage aesthetic.
• Mule OCs are rare in the fandom, but when they appear they're pretty much guaranteed to suffer from Half-Breed Discrimination when it comes to either ponies as a whole or the pony side of their family.
• Pony pregnancies are eleven months long. This is a Furry Reminder because real life pony pregnancies are that long.
• Early on, fans thought that the ponies lived on a planet called "Equestria" where they were the dominant species and that Celestia ruled the planet (after all, she does control the celestial bodies). Eventually, the series itself clarified that "Equestria" is only one country on a larger planet. Fans still usually refer to the planet as either "Equestria" or "Equus".
• Ponies are the dominant species on the series' planet. This dates back to season 1 focusing on ponies, and is also based on two ponies holding control over the celestial bodies. Later seasons show more species and their home nations, but Equestria nonetheless remains the largest and most well-organized.
• Due to the number of stallions versus mares shown on-screen at any time, many fans assume there to be an actual disparity in gender populations. Whether this is genetic or merely some sort of segregation depends on the author. Also serves as an unintentional Furry Reminder, as real-life horse herds will only have a few stallions at most. And, seeing as two mares rule, they also assume that like real horse herds, ponies are matriarchal. Also possibly explained in some fics that Ponyville is a mostly lesbian town. Other settlements are more balanced and heterosexual in nature. As of Season 6, the actual ratio is close to 1:1.
• Unicorn horns are usually portrayed as erogenous zones (especially in fanart), most likely due to their phallic appearance.
• Similarly, unshorn fetlocks are kinky or sexual. This came from a piece of fanart that had Luna (who was imprisoned in the moon for the last thousand years) shocked to see stallions walking around with unshorn fetlocks, and generally treating it much the way a Victorian transported to modern America would react to (gasp!) bare legs.
• Pegasus wings are also treated as erogenous zones. Mostly comes up in Twilight Sparkle/Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie/Rainbow Dash drawings.
• Particularly in the early fandom, a common assumption was that most of the setting's major species were subdivided into a handful of major kinds in a manner similar to the unicorn/pegasus/earth divided of the ponies. This were sometimes patterned directly after the ponies' in a magic, flying, and earth/nature/regular trifecta, or else used an original pattern. This was especially common for the dragons, as it helped to explain the differences between Spike and the two adults seen, particularly his lack of wings. A common element, which was usually present even when distinct races weren't, was for other species to have an immortal, godlike ruler analogous to Celestia and Luna, often overseeing some other part of the natural world. This gradually fell by the wayside as more of each species' culture was seen; dragons, for instance, were shown to all be winged firebreathers by default, although the idea of Spike being some sort of otherwise unseen "earth dragon" persisted until "Molt Down" aired.
• Griffins:
  • Fandom held for a while that griffons came from a separate kingdom since only two showed up in the early seasons (Gilda and Gustav). Supporting evidence came in "Rainbow Falls" and "Equestria Games" where teams of griffons were seen competing in the flying relay, if only in the background. This kingdom or culture is often characterized as a powerful, aggressive empire or a collection of Barbarian Tribes. It tends to be based on historic European states and cultures, chiefly Germanic ones. A Griffon kingdom or empire tends to be the most common choice for Equestria's primary cultural, political or military rival. The presence of a griffon state became canon in season five when the griffon homeland of Griffinstone was introduced, but most other details were not — Griffinstone is generally presented as a failed nation of apathetic citizens in no position to challenge anyone over anything.
  • Griffins are depicted as actively carnivorous. They're usually depicted eating the less anthropomorphic animals, though some fanworks also depict them as being willing, or having historically been willing, to consume sapient beings. As some myths describe griffins as preying on horses, griffins are historically enemies with ponies, though the animosity has dwindled down to just tension and Fantastic Racism over the years. Even when griffins don't eat sapient creatures, ponies and other herbivores find their diet unnerving and frightening.
• Zebras are typically depicted as living in a continent or country based on Africa (specifically on the central African savannahs) and has having a culture based on historic African cultures (the degree of specificity, mix-and-matching and accuracy varies from portrayal to portrayal). They usually live in tribes or independent villages, but may be united into a single nation; in these cases, they may replace the griffins as Equestria's main foreign rival or form a trifecta of world powers alongside ponies and griffins. They usually have a special aptitude for or familiarity with making potions, poultices and similar forms of "natural magic", and may or may not speak in rhyme — in general, a lot of portrayals depict them as an entire species of Zecoras. Alternatively, they may be a fourth pony tribe alongside earth ponies, pegasi and unicorns. If they're an independent species, they may have their own variants; in this case, "regular" zebras may live alongside abadas, unicorn-like creatures from certain African myths.
• Deer are often portrayed as an equivalent to elves in the form of long-lived, magical and reclusive forest-dwellers. Canon has tended to portray them as simple animals instead, although the "Root of the Problem" comic arc also portrayed deer as forest wardens living in a Hidden Elf Village.
• Certain punny Fantasy Counterpart Culture names have caught on amongst fans, such as "Prance" (France), "Germaneigh" (Germany), "Neighpon" (Japan/Nippon) and "Zebrabwe" (Zimbabwe, more generally a nonspecific African country/zebra homeland).
• In the show, the Ursas Major and Minor are chiefly portrayed as one type of unusual creatures among many in the show's stable of magical beasts, without any implications of further similar creatures. It's however relatively common for fan works to extrapolate a further series of "star beasts" based on additional constellations. These are most often based on animal constellations such as Leo, Pisces, Cancer, and the like. Constellations based on in-universe intelligent species (like Taurus or Draco) are somewhat rarer but still fairly recurrent, while ones based on humans are usually absent but may be redesigned to be ponies instead. Beyond that, their specific rarity, intelligence, origins, nature and abilities vary significantly from work to work, although it's fairly common for them to have some sort of link to Princess Luna.
• The mountain on which Canterlot is built, which is not identified by name in the show, is sometimes referred to as the Canterhorn.

Other/Uncategorized

• Some of the toy ponies, often dubbed "Hasbro's recolors" or "HasbrOCs" due to the fact that most of the official artwork is recolored versions of stock artwork for the Mane Cast, have Fanon personalities:
  • Firecracker Burst is often known as a Yandere or Genki Girl Pyromaniac.
  • Dewdrop Dazzle◊ is typically a Parody Sue who is obsessed with friendship.
  • Minty typically has her G3 personality rather than her G1 one. She treats socks as Serious Business and is often an old friend of Pinkie's.
  • Cupcake◊ (a G1 pony who's been in all the gens) is frequently either the polar-opposite of Pinkie Pie (who may or may not be Yandere), or is a companion to Pinkie due to their love of cupcakes.
  • Similarly, toyline-only pony Star Swirl is often thought to be the descendant of Star Swirl the Bearded, due to them sharing a name. However, the fandom generally Retcons her into a unicorn rather than go with her canon earth pony depiction.
• Fanon abounds about various characters' Trademark Favorite Foods:
  • As noted above, Derpy is almost always associated with muffins, even though she was only one among a number of ponies in the scene that originated the idea. It eventually became an Ascended Meme, as her collectors' toy had muffins on the box art, and a later episode shows her with a muffin clip on her bag. "Slice of Life" eventually showed her with a basket of muffins and after the controversy surrounding her name, "Muffins" ended up being used as a placeholder.
  • Soarin' is generally treated as being obsessed with pie after "Best Night Ever". In particular, Rainbow Dash first gets into the Wonderbolts' good graces when she saves Soarin's pie, and when he eats it he does so by sticking his face into it.
  • Pinkie Pie's love for sweets is canon, but fanon holds that she has a particular fondness for cupcakes due to the fact that an early episode showed her singing a brief song about them. In the actual show she likes cupcakes just fine, but it's never implied that she likes them more than any other type of baked good.
  • According to the fans, Celestia really, really, really, likes cake. This stems almost entirely from a brief gag in "Ponyville Confidential" when the CMC publish a photo of Celestia messily eating a slice of cake. It doesn't help that the very next episode shows Celestia as a judge in a dessert competition, gazing longingly at a cake. Naturally, "Cakelestia" became extremely popular, even though she's not shown eating cake outside of those two episodes. Less common, Celestia liking banana a lot pops up due to a popular fan animation. Also, tea, due to her pulling a tea-related prank in "A Bird in the Hoof", although it's famously averted in Princess Celestia Hates Tea.
  • After "Twilight Time" showed Twilight messily devouring multiple hayburgers, fans have treated it as her go-to meal. Her liking wine is popular too due to her seemingly trying to drink some in the first episode (but accidentally drinking hot sauce instead).
  • In fanworks, Luna is fond of making (and drinking) moonshine. This moonshine is different from actual moonshine in that it's made using rays of moonlight. Often times, real moonshine also exists in the series as something ponies made to emulate Luna's moonshine. This fanon likely stems from Drop of Moonshine.
  • Rarity being fond of wine pops up due to her being high-class and sophisticated.
• Many fan artists draw unicorns in the "classical unicorn" design (unshorn fetlocks, cloven hooves, lion tail, etc), especially when it comes to unicorns in the past. Rarity and alicorns are also both often drawn as classic unicorns due to being perceived as elegant.
• Before Flurry Heart was introduced, fanworks portrayed toy-only character Princess Skyla as Princess Cadance and Shining Armor's daughter. She still occasionally pops up as Flurry Heart's younger sister.
• Most characters' names are taken at face value but some are assumed to be nicknames, similar to how Pinkie's full name is "Pinkamena". For example, it's not that uncommon for fans to depict Trixie's full name as "Beatrix Lulamoon".
• Fanworks dealing with genderbending or trans characters near always have magic that can change a pony's sex being widely available in Equestria.
• Lavender Unicorn Syndrome is a fan term used to describe the tendency of fan fiction writers to refer to characters by their description as opposed to their name. Specifically, writers will often call Twilight Sparkle "the lavender unicorn". It's also very common to call Pinkie Pie the "Pink Party Pony".
• Due to Pinkie's full name being Pinkamena Diane Pie, it's a common headcanon that ponies tend to have more common human middle names, such as Rainbow Miriam Dash.
• Saddles exist and are kinky fetish gear; this meshes with varying degrees of awkwardness with the presence of saddles as fashion accessories in Season 1, and it makes the canonical place Saddle Arabia have an awkward name. Similarly, there exists "rocking horse" skiis that a pony's hooves are tied to, which are used in BDSM play.

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