Obviously, Shilo should be an innocent character. Someone who hasn't been exposed to this world's horrors yet.

I'm thinking Basil the Dragon.

I was actually thinking either Apple Bloom, Fluttershy, or Twilight.

Mag would be either Fluttershy, Applejack, or Twilight

Spike is Graverobber

edited 5th Sep '11 6:19:49 PM by gingerninja666

In regards to how magic and the world works, I sort of figured the forces of nature just allowed ponies to utilize them - they were a natural and easy conduit, and energy always takes the path of least resistance. If ponies stopped, they would just find another way. Like a circuit that had two paths. If one broke, all the electricity suddenly goes through the other path. That'show things work in the everfree forest - ponies left, so nature reset.

Personal thing. Is the everfree forest the way it is because there are no ponies around to influence it? (implying that all of Equestria would look like that without their meddling) or because there's something magic about the forest.

I personally go with the former

Pony + donkey still equals mule, innit?

I once had an idea about exploring just how many hooved species are out there - I imagined a huge "old continent" out there ruled by even toed ungulates where ancestral wild horses exist in the same state that cows (who are also sentient in canon) do in Equestria. But I gave up because it started to become too distracting from ponies. It's easier to imagine that this is a magical land where ponies exist by virtue of being magical (unicorns and pegasi), and every other species is some sort of legendary creature (gryphon, dragon and such) as well.

On donkeys: on one hand, I like to think that they are sentient and live in some far-off part of Equestria, like, if Equestria is the U.K. then donkeys are Scottish or Irish. (There was this funny fan theory about Rarity being adopted by donkeys, hence her dislike for mules.)

But a fun possibility is if donkeys aren't sentient in Equestria at all, but can still interbreed with ponies. (All equine races - horses, donkeys and zebras - can have offsprings in real life.) That'd explain why mules are looked down upon by the pony populace, why they tend to be idiotic and why they don't have a cutie mark.

The one mule we saw looked quite eloquent actually

Someone should check when the word "horse" was actually spoken in the show. I remember there was the Headless Horse from Twilight's ghost story, and there were horse-drawn carriages...

There's also "hungry as a horse" and "horse apples". And of course the infamous "I'm so hungry I could eat a ..." line.

Has anyone posted this one yet? Because I just discovered it, and DAAAAAAANG, is it well done!

edited 5th Sep '11 6:40:37 PM by SpaceJawa

Uh-huh, precisely. People tend to forget that mules aren't their own species, you can only get one by getting a horse (or pony) mate with a donkey. And if you want more you need to repeat it again because mules and hinnies, like all hybrids, have a strong tendency towards being sterile.

Ergo, if Equestrian donkeys are non-sentient or borderline sentient, that means that the very existence of a mule is an anathema, since it means that a pony probably commited the equivalent of bestiality (explaining the pony bias towards them); and also explains why mules are naturally "stupider and uglier" than ponies, simply by virtue of their genetics.

edited 5th Sep '11 6:47:34 PM by Vree

but you said that mules are naturally stupider than ponies. That's not what I saw, uglier sure, but he seemed pretty intelligent.

Perhaps stubbornness is a sign of stupidity?

Well at least he doesn't take offence easily.

edited 5th Sep '11 6:53:36 PM by gingerninja666

He honestly seemed pretty chill to me.

Nor is stubbornness a sign of stupidity in any degree, thank you very much.

We don't have any indication that donkey's are sub-sapient at any rate - cows seem to be perfectly rational, after all.

Have you ever tried to teach a cow French?

You get nowhere.

this implies that speaking french is a sign of intelligence - something else I vehemently dispute.

Either way, I meant in the show. We do see perfectly reasonable, speaking cows. We've no reason to assume donkey's would be any different.

It's not just that. They completely miss our luncheon appointments.

"all hybrids, have a strong tendency towards being sterile"

Like Half Elfs?

Seriously this is fantasy, where some people image griffin/pony hybrids can exist, so why other still belive in sterile mules?

It seems to be a rule of this fandom: Equestria works exactly like our world does... unless we're specifically told otherwise

edited 5th Sep '11 8:20:31 PM by gingerninja666

Hi, my name is Kuroi and Twilight is my favourite pony. This logically means that I should lay into filly Twilight like a total jerk, right?

You're getting better at drawing.

I want to draw more often, myself.

Because mules exist in real life... and they're sterile.

Not necessarily.

Yeah me too But I have waay to muh work right now. I need to draw fluttershy in her original dress design

edited 5th Sep '11 9:43:08 PM by FallenLegend