Most of the mane 6 have easily rationalized names. Twilight has a very even sort of coat - the kind of colour one might see at twilight. It's also lighter than her mothers and darker than her fathers, making it a sort of in-between. Same sort of thing goes for pinkie and rainbow dash - both names are clearly based off of physical traits. Applejack has tradition/theme naming on her side, and Fluttershy could easily have been based on how she acted as a foal. Rarity is the odd one out, but even then her name sounds complimentary, the sort of name one would want to give their daughter.

Pie being a family name seems suspicious to me, since her family works on a rock farm. Applejack, Applebloom and Big Macintosh are the only related ponies we know the names of, so based on that I'd say there isn't a strict surname system in place, but families tend to have a theme for their names.

Maybe their family started off as bakers or something and then Ma and Pa decided to be different and go a rock farming.

none of that viking shit here

Anyway, for some reason I find it weird that I like Vinyl Scratch and yet got puzzled at the fanbase for latching onto Octavia after doing "nothing".

And pinkie does work in a bakery as her job...rock farming may sound silly but is probably really provitable...gems grow in rocks rememeber

That's possible. Actually, I could see the Pie family being a bit more strict about naming conventions than most families. "Pinkamina Diane Pie" is a bit more stuffy than any other name we've seen in series.

Yeah, but her last name was Pie before she started in the bakery. Unless she was lying in her flashback, which is actually really likely. And I can't imagine gems are actually that valuable in Equestria if you can dig up a mountain of them with a shovel in a few hours.

edited 30th Jun '11 9:43:59 PM by Crowfall

Well, Pinkie should still be glad her parents didn't decide to name her Rockette Diane Pie.

Also, Granny Smith?

edited 30th Jun '11 9:44:10 PM by blueharp

That would have been awesome. Then she would have been an astronaut!

I'm sure they all have middle names so their parents can use the dreaded Full name call, far as we know it's 'Rainboom Astro Dash Jr. shorted to Rainbow Dash and her mother is a Earth Pony

Now I'm picturing Dash with an embarrassing middle name she doesn't want anypony to know about.

"And I can't imagine gems are actually that valuable in Equestria if you can dig up a mountain of them with a shovel in a few hours."

Considering Dragons horde and eat them, I'm sure someone sees some value in gemstones besides decking out dresses.

Rainbow Sugar Dash!

the fact dragon hoard them like squirrls and dress makers use them they are probably a lot like normal acricultural farmers mixed with some fashion industry benefits

I wonder how viking ponies would act. Obviously they wouldn't pillage and rape since ponies are nice(r) than vikings...
Simply being adept at travelling land and sea would work, I suppose. Maybe make them more aggressive than the average pony...
Are there any Thor pony... things? I should look that up...

I'm sorry. That one post was going to be all I did, but telling me not to do something is the easiest way to get me to do it. No more viking stuff I promise.
Unless provoked...

I'm not suggesting that gems are worthless, just that they aren't nearly as valuable as they are on earth.

They could be like the How To Train Your Dragon vikings. Tough, but without any of the actual pillaging vikings are known for.

Should I not be encouraging this?

edited 30th Jun '11 9:55:04 PM by Crowfall

Gemstones in Equestria do seem rather... common.

That works. Don't worry. I won't be a problem.

edited 30th Jun '11 9:57:10 PM by Zeromaeus

I wasn't sugesting they were, just that Rockfarming, and by extension Gem farming, is probably a viable profession. more then it would seem from our world view

edited 30th Jun '11 9:56:38 PM by NekoLLX

Like making candy. But for dragons.

Think of it this way, there are wild apple trees, probably a lot more in equestria but Sweet Apple Acres makes them a specility, and the producs made from them, i see Granny Apple Pie and Mr. Pie sharing a lot o trade secrets as there in similar fields (one makes food for ponies one feeds the dragons...and Rarity's dresses)

Mmmm, candy.
Mmmm, rubies.
MmMm, MoThErFuCkInG rOcKs.

edited 30th Jun '11 10:01:17 PM by Zeromaeus

Now you've got me wondering if Rainbow Dash's mane is naturally rainbow-colored or if she dyes it that way.

(This is probably a dumb thing to wonder about)

Given, well, magic ponies, I believe its natural hair.

"... if Rainbow Dash's mane is naturally rainbow-colored or if she dyes it that way."

Well if her mother is a Certain Earth Pony....

I used to wonder how Twilight's mane got the way it did, but not Rainbow's.

Strange.