50 Questions - Yes, I am doing this too.

So Bookplayer had a blog recently about 50 questions to answer. There's a lot about pony culture and world-building, so I figured it'd be a good exercise to get some elements of my head-canon down in writing.

The Princesses:
1. How old are Celestia and Luna?
~3700 years old each.
2. How old is Cadance?
40 years old.
3. Were Celestia and Luna always alicorns, or did they ascend?
Ascended, though with great help from the outside.
4. Are Cadance and Twilight immortal?
You're just asking this to tick off people who cling to Meghan McCarthy's words, aren't you? Alright, I'm not afraid of you. No, and neither are Luna and Celestia, although all four of them are going to live longer than humanity has existed.
5. Have there been other alicorns in the past?
Yes, one, the first and only one that legend says gave up their power to ensure the peace and survival of the pony race thousands of years before Celestia and Luna lived.
6. How much authority do Celestia and Luna have in Equestria?
They head the executive branch of Equestria's government and because their rule has been immensely popular they functionally have authority in courts and the parliament. However local/provincial administration is something that the Royal Sisters avoid on principle.
7. Does Shining Armor rule The Crystal Empire along side of Cadance?
Yes.
8. Other than Twilight, Luna, and Cadance, what relationships have been important to Celestia in her lifetime (students, close friends, lovers, family)?
Philomena is considered by Celestia as friend, rather than a pet. She also has a fond place in her heart for the memory of Clover the Clever and Starswirl the Bearded. There are also a few dragons she wishes she could visit more often, they're the only other creatures as old or older than she is.

Ponies and Equestrian Culture:
9. Are there still cultural differences between earth ponies, pegasi, and unicorns, or is the culture homogeneous by the time shown in canon? Are there cultural stereotypes (positive or negative)?
The culture is homogenous in terms of how each group's practices are valued by the others as expressions of themselves, if not necessarily shared. Stereotypes are fairly weak, a general impression walking into a new group. It usually decides where ponies lead first conversations.
10. Are there foods or items native to Cloudsdale that are uncommon on the ground? Are there foods or items on the ground that are uncommon in Cloudsdale?
Pegasi occasionally eat fish or bugs, though other ponies can they tend not to. Cloudsdale foods normally have higher salt content for preservatives. Getting a pegasus some candy is considered a nice change of pace for them.
11. Can all unicorns learn all spells, given the time and effort spent practicing them, or is magical talent usually limited in some way?
Limited in some way, the energy spent on spells lying outside of basic telekinesis and a pony's special talent regularly becomes prohibitive. That said, within those limits there is still a broad slough of options available.
12. Earth pony magic: Does it exist? What is it?
Yes, it contributes to having crops grow faster, animals to gain more intelligence and produce more wool/milk/etc. (I.E. domesticating them) and allows the growing of rocks. It also can cause confusion in predatory animals due to the magic attempting to domesticate them. Lastly it contributes to augmenting their strength.
13. Some pony families we’ve seen seem to have naming conventions (the Apples, Twilight’s family) and others don’t appear to (Rarity’s family, Pinkie’s family), which is more common? Are there reasons for one or the other?
Wait, Pinkie's family doesn't have a naming convention? The whole Pie thing? Fine I'll give you an answer. Convention, because just because we can't immediately observe the convention of pony naming doesn't mean that one does not exist.
14. How much formal schooling is an average, middle class pony expected to complete?
Eight years of primary/elementary school, eight to ten in secondary/high school, and then about 5-10 years in apprenticeship or university. National stability for the win!
15. What’s the average lifespan for a pony? At what age is a pony expected to be independent of their parents?
250 years, with earth ponies occasionally reaching 310. This is why ponies aren't too intimidated by 1000 year imprisonments for cosmic horrors, that's only 4 lifespans for them. A pony is expected to be independent of their parents by age 20 and independent of their expanded network of vocational trainers by age 30-40.
16. Are there roughly an equal number of male and female ponies?
In second through to twenty-fifth generation rural communities, females regularly outnumber males in a ratio of 3:1. In frontier towns and urban centres the ratio becomes 110:100 in favor of females.
17. How informed are most ponies about things that happen in other parts of Equestria? What about other parts of the world?
They know it's peaceful within the country, and the general travels of celebrities. Not much else happens to capture national attention. Knowledge of the rest of the world is sharply less.

The Main Characters:
18. How old are the Mane Six? Spike? The CMC?
In order: 20-somthing, mid-teens, and 8 as of season 4.
19. Did Fluttershy remain on the ground after getting her cutie mark? Were she and Rainbow Dash friends all along, or did they drift apart for a while?
Fluttershy quickly became apprenticed under a veterinarian, but soon started teaching herself. She was mostly alone while teaching herself.
20. Rarity and Applejack both seem to have grown up in Ponyville. What were their interactions like before the show?
They both knew each other to be honest dealers in their trades, but otherwise had little reason to socialize. A nod of acknowledgement as ponies of business was the extent of relations.
21. What do Twilight and Spike consider their relationship to be?
I wrote an entire story about that, go read it, I
22. When did Pinkie move in with the Cakes? Is she a worker who rents a room, an apprentice, or is there some other relationship?
Approximately two years prior to meeting Twilight. She is an apprentice. Keep in mind that apprentices are considered part of the family, it's a holdover from older times that's proved resilient.
23. Who among the Mane Six had the best parents growing up? The worst parents?
Best parents: Rainbow Dash, Worst Parents: Fluttershy.
24. Why didn’t the CMC hang out more/know each other before Call of the Cutie?
They were only just starting school, and were only just getting used to the idea of spending time with ponies of other tribes.
25. Is Scootaloo an orphan? Will she ever be able to fly?
No and yes respectively.
26. Will Apple Bloom’s cutie mark involve an apple in some way, even if it’s unrelated to farming or baking?
Is the Pope Catholic? Does a bear shit in the woods?
27. How is Sweetie Belle’s relationship with their parents different than Rarity’s was?
Sweetie Belle has not developed a neurotic need for perfection as Rarity has, therefore Sweetie can abide by her parent's behaviours with greater skill.

Side and Background Characters:
28. Is Mr. Cake the father of the Cake twins or not?
Yes. Ponies are just barely beginning to understand how their genetics work.
29. Are Big Mac and Cheerilee an item, romantically?
Big Mac and Cheerilee would prefer it if you respected their privacy. Now please allow me to tend the broken collarbone I got when I had tried finding that answer out by hiding in a tree outside of the Ponyville Schoolhouse.
30. How did Prince Blueblood get his title?
By having proven incredibly useful to Celestia when she needed to make someone angry in a negotiation. Just the way his father had.
31. Is Silver Spoon equally as bad as Diamond Tiara?
Yes.
32. Is Zecora’s magic common among zebras?
Yes.
33. Why does Daring Do publish her stories as fiction?
Real life is stranger than fiction, and Daring would prefer to keep adventuring and home life somewhat separated.
34. Do you have a strong headcanon for any non-speaking or one line background ponies that you want to share?
Not really. Octavia comes from a noble family, Colgate has won awards in dentistry, and Screw Loose suffers PTSD from being captured by diamond dogs further to the south of Equestria, she is now well on her way to recovering.

Other Species:
35. Does Equestria differentiate between speaking and non-speaking species, in terms of respect, rights and legal responsibilities? Is there some other line or scale used? (For example, how are cows classified? Diamond Dogs? A chimera?)
Domesticated animals are often regarded as children or seniors. Faculties of speech are less important in assessing how one should interact with another species. Diamond dogs speak, but a pony would by far prefer speaking to a phoenix or even a cow. It's basically all more of a matter of the individual spoken.
36. Do other speaking species form their own nations, or are all nations largely integrated, with some having larger populations of a species than others?
Mostly separate nations. However several dragons run cosmopolitan city-states containing ponies, zebra, minotaur and diamond dogs. Saddle Arabia also has extensive blending and is home to Equestrias only three known Longma, two Quagga, and was the origin of the pairings producing four hippogryphs.
37. Are minotaurs related to cows at all?
Nope.
38. Do all zebras rhyme?
Yes.
39. Do zebra cutie marks work the same way as pony cutie marks?
Mostly.
40. Do any species have types of magic, other than ponies and zebras?
Ponies and zebra have the most control of their magic, though other species possess it. Most cases it serves as a passive reserve of energy. Diamond dog digging magic is the most notable controlled and directed magic after zebra, then dragons.
41. Is the lack of buffalo presence in Equestria cultural, or simply because most pony towns aren’t built to accommodate a full grown buffalo?
Buffalo seldom get along with anybody other than their own.

Headcanon and You:
42. Do you consider official sources other than the show (comics, card game text, movies, novels, etc.) to be canon?
Yes, and I regard canon as a toolkit rather than an impenetrable bastion of self-consistency.
43. Do you have one headcanon that you always use, or do you switch depending on projects?
Switch according to the project.
44. Can you easily accept the headcanons of different writers? Do you prefer when stories match your headcanon?
Most writers don't really touch on elements of their headcanon. That said so long as they keep it to stuff immediately relevant to the story, or where world-building has an enchanting character to it, I'll be pleased by seeing someone put thought and effort into their work.
45. Is there a part of your headcanon that you wish was more popular among writers?
Yep, how long alicorns live. (Approximately 24,000 years, like a dragon.)
46. Is there a popular piece of headcanon that other writers use that you dislike?
If you need stock-villain race, you already have three options better than gryphons: changelings, diamond dogs and dragons. Honestly one gryphon was a fussy teenager, another was a chef. The crystal empire has statues of gryphons and they participated at that flying competition this season. Also casual sex among ponies. I think it was Bookplayer who put it well when pointing out that those who are romantic or sentimental put more value on sex, therefore don't have it casually. I used to do the casual-sex thing, but you know what they say about the harshest critics of alcohol.
47. Have you ever written a story or blogpost just to explain some part of your headcanon (other than this one)?
I don't believe I have, unless you count that developer's diary from a while back.
48. Does your headcanon influence things like your favorite pony, ship, or episode?
Yes.
49. Would it bother you if the show proved part of your headcanon wrong? Any specific piece that would really bother you to lose?
Not necessarily, as I said I like canon as a tool kit, and already use the Alternate Universe tag. That said if they go out and finally give a solid answer on alicorn life-spans after having gone on for so long with leaving us in the dark I'd be disappointed, mostly because they hadn't done it sooner.
50. Is there something that wasn't asked about here, but you feel like you need to explain to everyone?
Yes, Magic A is Magic A, Minovsky Physics are my favorite tropes.

Comments

[theRedBrony]

Well, it's better than the regular version.

[Minimoog Voyager]

I noticed our headcanons for Luna and Tia are similar. I, too, believe that they're around 3,700 years old (give or take a few years), and that they'll simply live a very long time; not forever.