Ponies are in fact, not limited by their own species. Rainbow Dash can totally hook up with Big Mac, and Applebloom would be perfectly fine with Snails.
Whether they prefer ponies of their own type is another question entirely though!
I'm pretty sure dragons aren't a subset of pony though, so Spike remains out of luck. (Please... don't go ask Lauren if spike is compatible with Rarity!)
77 comments:
Well, I'm off to go ask Lauren if Spike is compatible with Rarity. See you all later.
ReplyDeleteHa ha, good luck, Anon #1.
ReplyDeleteStill though, it's nice to have clarification, even if all it does so far is give merit to some fan-ships.
Love conquers all, right?
ReplyDeleteAm I wrong for wondering which subset is more dominant though? Maybe they don't mix it up too much because earth ponies always make more earth ponies (regardless what he partner is) and w/o the other two the infrastructure collapses and...alright I'll stop before this becomes twisted :P
(Please... don't go ask Lauren if spike is compatible with Rarity!)
ReplyDeleteWell, it worked with Donkey and Dragon from Shrek
And suddenly a new era of weepy abuse fics were born...
ReplyDeleteQuickly bronies, to the ship cave!
ReplyDeleteNah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah, shipping ponies! Shipping ponies!
>Applebloom would be perfectly fine with Snails.
ReplyDeleteNo... no, that wouldn't be fine. Oh god. Bad image. Why would you even think of that?
As if we didn't have enough shipping already :I
ReplyDeleteMy mind instantly began putting together punnet squares to determine what kind of pony the baby would be. What characteristics ride on dominant genes? I MUST KNOW!
ReplyDeleteActually, I don't even know if it works that way. One day, I'll unravel the mystery of pony genetics. Mark my words.
It begins.
ReplyDeleteMy question is that how often would Ulicorns be born into the world of equestria. They seem like they are a rare occurrence. Or due Unicorns get wings after being enlightened in magic.
ReplyDeleteSo that leads me to wonder:
ReplyDeleteCan a pegasus pony and unicorn pony produce a unipeg (like Celestia) together?
Could Celestia/Luna reproduce with any of the normal pony types?
Speaking of ponies and biology, have this long and informative tumblr post.
ReplyDeletehttp://pinkiepiebakery.tumblr.com/post/4453395995/a-dissertation-on-pony-population-genetics-by-maxtion
That eruption you hear? Thats the sound of a thousand ships being launched.
ReplyDeleteGonna have to build a bigger harbor to handle all those ships.
ReplyDeleteSo. Derpy having Dinky? Totally possible.
ReplyDeleteMy personal theory is that if two different types of ponies have a foal, the foal is the third type. Just because it can somewhat explain a roughly even mix between the three types.
ReplyDeleteOh god, I'm speculating on pony reproduction. The corruption consumes us...
I wrote a fan fiction to Ellis1342 's art that had Dash's mom an earth pony, and I had it were some mixed ponies will have wings or horns but can't fly or use magic, I didn't state it but I figured that a unicorn and a pegasus might have a colt with a no wing, a horn but can't use magic but can control the weather
ReplyDeleteMust... resist... asking Lauren... if Spike is compatible with Rarity....
ReplyDeleteCelestia probably did have kids...a long time ago.
ReplyDeleteShe doesn't do that anymore cause, ya know, immortality, watch your kids/grandkids/great-grandkids grow old and die, that sorta thing.
er I ment to say, A colt from a unicorn and a pegasus might have a horn and no wings but instead of magic he can control weather....there we go, I need to reread my stuff before hitting post comment
ReplyDeleteCrud. This kinda makes me wish I voted for that one option in the next CMC episode that shows Dash's parents.
ReplyDelete"Could Celestia/Luna reproduce with any of the normal pony types?"
ReplyDeleteThey're Legendary Ponymon, so no!
@JenovaII This was the first and only thing in my mind when I read this. I'm grinning like an idiot now that the d'awww fics with Derpy and Dinky could fit with canon. Half the Top 10 d'aww fics for me are are with Derpy and Dinky.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of having the rare crossbreed pony who has abilities from one parent and their general form from the other.
ReplyDeleteThis could explain Fluttershy's unusual ability with animals -- she's got earth pony blood.
It could explain what Lyra was doing wandering around Cloudsdale without requiring her to know about the obscure Cloudwalking spell -- she's half pegasus and inherited that part but not the wings, which makes it hard to get up TO cloud level but allows her to walk freely once there.
Ooh, or how about a unicorn-blooded earth pony that can't actually use magic but is sensitive to it? Not a particularly useful talent unless something plot-related comes up.
@Anonymous
ReplyDeleteSo you're saying that this ruling has a beauty of one Helen?
@Escher
ReplyDeletePinkie Pie!!!!!! HALF UNICORN!
@Anonymous
ReplyDeleteAnother of Lauren's comments was talking about Celly's family tree. Rarity's prince does exist, but he's technically Celly and Luna's "many-times-great nephew (around 52 times removed), on their mother's side".
Which is interesting because it means the princesses had mortal parents, and then she also noted that Luna and Celly have no other siblings and no children (so that jossed the "Twilight is Celestia or Luna's daughter" thing).
http://ponibooru.413chan.net/post/view/6157
@crazyredemu
ReplyDeleteWhat do you mean -- that's how she teleports around and breaks the 4th wall?
Take that, rigid pony caste system!
ReplyDelete@Chakat Firepaw
ReplyDeleteIn that case I think Rainbow Dash measures 1.21 gigahelens.
@Escher yes it is, her earth pony blood with unicorn magic made a demigod!
ReplyDeleteRandom Anonymous here~ :)
ReplyDeleteExcuse me, I never put any comments here.
but I can't help it seeing this.
But I've always wanted (even before FIM) to ask this question to somebody (Lauren Faust)
Thank you~ Thank you Sir/Madam!
>this makes Lyra & BonBon half-canon
ReplyDeleteI love Lauren's response - "mix it up a little". That's probably Dash's friday night slogan right there.
ReplyDeleteI love how Lauren not only acknowledges how creepy this fandom can be, but feeds into it by providing answers like this.
ReplyDeleteShipcannons at the ready, cap'n.
This is pretty much what I thought all along. Genes are not destiny, they are not blueprints either. They are a complex set of tools an organism *can* use to adapt to it's environment, but there is no guarantee that said organism *will* use all of them.
ReplyDeleteThus it's perfectly reasonable to assume that there's no meaningful genetic difference between an earth pony, a unicorn, pegasus or even the Royal sisters. Not to mention it's a lot simpler, all things considered, if the genetic differences between the types of ponies amount to little more than "flags" here and there that tell a developing pony to use this set of genes and grow a horn, or skip that set over there to not waste energy on growing wings. Furthermore, there's the additional issue of epigenetic effects, which can activate, suppress or even partly re-write genes as an organism matures.
And all of this is without mentioning the possible effects of magic, which brings in a whole new set of issues to deal with...
in my most sincere look, I say yes, but you have to account, depending on the recessive or dominant genes, the product leaves being of a single species, such as a unicorn and Pegasus crossing what would come out would be, depending of course, a pegasus or a unicorn. is too simple
ReplyDeleteI'd say the most basic explanation would be:
ReplyDeleteEarth pony: Dominant trait
Unicorn: Recessive trait
Pegasus: Recessive trait
Let's just pretend that two recessive traits equal a random pick here, and alicorns are about a one-in-a-billion chance. Therefore there could easily be more alicorns than just the princesses, just not as prominent.
Before we all delve deep into discussion, and start applying real science as well as Magic Science, and all kinds of theories: Can we all all agree that REGARDLESS of pairing, a foal will always be just one type of pony, without any particular abilities that are found only in the now-recessive genes?
ReplyDeleteI think it is important that we all have that accepted as a postulate ASAP, because I do not like the thought of future fictions and artwork starting to believe that Pegasi with Unicorn-like magical powers are not only possible but common, too.
If there are going to be Frankenponies, they shouldn't be natural-born Frankenponies - something should drastically change them in their life, not their genetic makeup.
^Anon of 9.17pm
ReplyDeleteI also hasten to add, that even if both parents posess all three genes of Earth, Unicorn, and Pegasi ponies, no species have a handicap or dominant/recessive relationship with any other. Basically, all three types of genes have an equal chance of becoming the developing foal's true species. Think of it as a spin of a wheel or roll of a dice.
>mix it up
ReplyDeleteBLANDA UPP!
And the infant science of pony genetics gets some more answers, yay!
ReplyDeleteI love this explanation because it helps explain ponies like Fluttershy. It's not that she gets any of one of her parents natural earth pony affinity for animals, it's that she learned such affinity from that parent.
Suddenly I've developed all this headcanon about how Pinkie Pie was raised by her single mother and there were always whispers about "that hotshot unicorn from Fillydelphia" who blazed into town one day, had a brief but torrid affair with Pinkie's mom and then left for the city without looking back. One pony gestation period later, Pinkie appears.
ReplyDelete...shut up.
More ships were launched than the fleet for Helen of Troy!
ReplyDeletePeople needed to ask about this?
ReplyDeleteHell, half-caste ponies were one of the themes of this war fanfic im thinking of writing
^
ReplyDeleteMy Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Upping the ante in anything it touches!
@Anon of 9.56pm
So you theorise that Fluttershy has at least one Earth pony parent, and learned about nature and gained her Cutie Mark through parental guidance? Rather than through her genetic makeup being part Earth-pony?
That, is EXACTLY what I'm thinking, not just about Fluttershy, but everypony and everything in general. It seems that Cutie Marks are earned both through being taught something (with some raw talent behind it), and natural talent derived from species.
Take Applebloom, she isn't talented in the Apple family's business, but she has talent in construction - which is something that a creature with either opposable thumbs or telekenesis would normally be better suited to since they can handle tools more efficiently.
There are plenty of examples of ponies having talents in things not related to their species, even being as extreme as being something heavily related to a different species - like Fluttershy's talents in nature.
I'm veering off topic, but there's no better place to discusss it.
@Anon of 10.04pm
That would make a good fic, and it is quite plausible. Though I like to think that Pinkie Pie had something happen in her life that granted her such strange abilities. Nothing as epic as eating an apple from the tree of knowledge (but that would be a potentially awesome concept for a fic too), but something that could have been accidental or intentional, and resulted in Pinkie Pie having her 'Pinkie Sense' and a strange ability to teleport and break physics.
That said, she could just be an ordinary Earth Pony that has those weird traits about her due to her personality. Really, there's far too much with Pinkie Pie that can interpreted differently.
Why would Rainbow hook up with Big Mac when there's Pinkie? 0.o
ReplyDeleteOh god, what have I wrought with my silly post about this on Ponychan?
ReplyDeleteI always thought it was like Pokemon. No matter what race of pony breed, the offspring will always be the race of the mother.
ReplyDeleteI guess you can get away with passing on father traits, like a pegasus father passing on speed or an earth pony father passing on strength.
I never was one to make a franchise any more complicated. But I was always comfortable with this theory.
I choose to believe that the race of the baby is equally likely to come from the mom or dad.
ReplyDeleteSimply because this makes Dinky more close to canon.
@Anonymous
ReplyDeleteI know right? Pinkie and Mac go great together!
YES! THIS MEANS THAT DERPY CAN BE DINKY'S BIOLIGICAL MOTHER! HALELUJA!!!!
ReplyDeleteOf course Rarity and Spike are compatable. It worked in Shrek so why not in MLP! :)
ReplyDeleteEven if we take the genetics seriously for a second, there is no reason all 3 "types" of pony can't interbreed and still produce the same 3 "types" of pony. In equestria, having a horn or wings is pretty much like a magical version of being blue-eyed or having straight black hair, it's only a small part of what a pony is. I would guess that Celestia style god-ponies are a result of the interaction of rare combinations of recessive genes plus maybe some kind of magical awakening event not directly related to their genetics.
ReplyDeleteIn other news, we are seriously discussing My Little Pony population genetics. We're doomed.
Well in Shrek donkey was the male and not a dragon if Spike and Rarity were t- aaargh get the picture out of my head, GET THE PICTURE OUTTA MY HEAD!!
ReplyDelete@Anonymous
ReplyDelete"I do not like the thought of future fictions and artwork starting to believe that Pegasi with Unicorn-like magical powers are not only possible but common, too."
No, no, no. You're missing it.
A pegasus pony with unicorn blood (that is, one unicorn parent) would never be able to cast magic because they lack the essential equipment, just as much as a half-pegasus that has no wings can't fly.
But they might inherit a certain sensitivity to magical energy. That could manifest in strange ways as a sixth sense. They might have a precognitive talent, like Pinkie or it could be something else entirely.
Actually, as far as the direction I'm thinking, a half-unicorn who inherited some unicorn traits but not the horn would be getting a little screwed in the genetic lottery. It may well be a useless ability for them, or something that comes up very rarely (eg, plot related), like being able to sense when somebody is casting a spell nearby.
In any case I think that sort of talent-mixing should be rare in most cases; most of the time a pony's abilities fit their apparent subspecies (phenotype).
In any case it would follow cartoon genetics, which means the child always resembles one of its parents, with none of this "genetic throwback" nonsense about two half-earth pony pegasi having an earth pony foal.
ReplyDeleteLet us initiate...the Pony Genome Project.
ReplyDelete@crazyredemu
ReplyDeleteMore like half alicorn with her level =P
Spike's not really out of luck...it just means Dragon/Pony hybrid is just still unknown. Besides worse case scenario if it's not possible, it just means Spike & Rarity can't have kids together....but they can still get it on.
ReplyDeleteThat brings up an interesting question though, do people think it would be wrong for Spike & Rarity to be together if they couldn't have kids? That if they're not a compatible species it would be "wrong" or "unnatural"? If it's okay for them to be together, how is this different than the strange people IRL who have....uh...relationships with animals? Is it just the fact that the animals are not sentient, so therefore if the animal was sentient it would be alright?
LOL, never thought a cartoon aimed at young girls would prompt this question.
@Anonymous
ReplyDeleteI don't think that kids are the first topic on Spike's mind when he's thinking about Rarity. In situations like this, a total lack of prospective fertility might even be seen as a boon.
Plus, it not like they can't adopt if they really want to start a family. They've got killer references and even though spike is still pretty young, nothing says 'long-term financial stability' like being a dragon.
Well personally I don't agree with that Earth ponies and dragons can't crossbreed.
ReplyDelete>Rainbow Dash can totally hook up with Big Mac
ReplyDeleteWHO ARE YOU AND WHAT DID YOU DO WITH SETH?
The great Author in the Sky bless Faust ;)
ReplyDelete>Ponies are in fact, not limited by their own species.
-I already knew that, but confirmations are always good (except for Scootaloo... *grumble-mumble*) and often important.
Now that I think about it...
This mean...
!CONFIRMATION! for the (strongly suggested) Derpy-Dinky (biological) Family ! :D
Well with this.
ReplyDeletePinkie Pie
She has unicorn genes whitcj make her unable to use magic directly but it does effect her.
Take a look at her unexplained twichy tail. Unicorn blood might explain that. hell if we realy want to go into it, it might explain her abbility to break the fourth wall.
Just my 2 cents
>Rainbow Dash can totally hook up with Big Mac
ReplyDeleteBig Mac is a weird way to spell Pinkie Pie.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteMaybe Lauren said that because she didn't want to get yelled at about not approving of mixing races.
ReplyDelete"I should add:
ReplyDeleteAs long as they are married."
http://i.imgur.com/Y5nQ7.png
ah. well I guess she would say something like this I guess. Maybe she doesn't wanna catch flack for encouraging premarital relations or anything
Just because they CAN doesn't mean they DO...
ReplyDeletePersonally, if I were making the show, I wouldn't be bothering with set genetics tables or anything like that. I'd roll a dice.
ReplyDelete1-2 = Earth pony.
3-4 = Pegasus pony.
5-6 = Unicorn.
Then introduce winged unicorns as deities and leave the concept there :P
<3 Coffeebean.
Pony Crosses
ReplyDeleteUnicorn - recessive genes
Pegasus - in the middle
Earth pony- the dominant gene
Unicorn - Pegasus
36% that the product will be an unicorn - add 0.2% for each ancestor unicorn
64% that the product will be a pegasus - add 1.5% for each ancestor pegasus
Earth pony - Unicorn
80% that the product will be an earth pony - add 2.3% for each ancestor pegasus
20% that the product will be an unicorn - add 0.2% for each ancestor unicorn
Pegasus - Earth pony
41% that the product will be a pegasus - add 1.5% for each ancestor pegasus
59% that the product will be an earth pony - add 2.3% for each ancestor unicorn
crosses of the same species have 100% chance to be of the same .But if it has ancestors of other species we add the corresponding percentages
1.5% is added to the probability that will be a pegasus. If they have ancestors of this species
0.2%is added to the probability that will be a unicorn. If they have ancestors of this species
2.3% is added to the probability that will be a earth pony. If they have ancestors of this species
obviously, maybe the ponies have a magical instrument on genetics that make them have what they want (which is expensive and difficult to find or develop), something like in the movie Gattaca
no cross gives an alicorn or modify the development of the pony cutiemark, even with magic
dragons and ponies are not compatible (no means no, Spike)
no, I'm no expert on the subject of genetics, just a brony with his mad
And I thought Trekkies were obsessive about the finer details of their fandom.
ReplyDelete@Anonymous
ReplyDeleteExactly...
I think it's about the genes, I can't imagine why they wouldn't mix up, but I bet ONE gene would be stronger than the other, which would decide whether they'll be earth ponies, unicorn og pegasi.
ReplyDeleteI'm studying Biology, and the thing is that any genetic rules can be made out of the blue. I tried determining this, I managed to come up with 6 entirely different sets of genetic rules in 5 minutes flat, even some that don't exist. The only logical way to determine this if there were more examples in the show. The only sure-fire way to develop a semi-logical theory about genetics would be to get your hands on a pedigree chart for each pony phenotype. You can figure out how the traits are inherited and figure out the probabilities involved and see how each trait is passed on. Since the show offers no examples of a pony's family tree traced further back than grandparents (Applejack, but we're missing the parents), we can't do this.
ReplyDelete