Suggested by: Ducksquack

Identification - Pony evolution

Observation - In "Hearth's Warming Eve", the tale doesn't explain where ponies came from.

Goal - How did the ponies of Equestria come to be? How did the different types of ponies evolve in their unique ways? Did they evolve like ponies on earth, or did they evolve a different way?

Intro

This is an intriguing topic to discuss, given that even humanity has troubles proving how evolution occurred for themselves... Although, I have come to find an idea that may have some sense in why ponies in Equestria are different from "horses" here on Earth.

Theory so far

So far we know that life forms in the poniverse are somewhat similar to those here in our universe. I presume they work off of a DNA code sequence, and therefor follow the basic evolutionary laws that we have discovered so far with humans (which may be subjected to change...). Although, something that is different in Equestria is the fact that it works with magic... which is a whole different laws of physics involved. Whatever these laws of physics may be, it has effected the equine race in their evolution.

There isn't really any proof that can be shown directly from specific moments in the episodes, but rather from general ideas that are shown. In the land of Equestria, there are three pony races. Earth, Unicorns, and Pegasi live in harmony with a mixed breed, called alicorns, taking responsibility as rulers. Alicorn are mainly referred to as princesses, but may be subjected if we find that there is in fact stallion alicorns. As well, in countless episodes, we see alicorns all around in the background, but mainly are believed to be animation errors... but is still a curious thing to think about. Although, the most curious thing about alicorns is their evolution into becoming one... They don't rely on the evolution through time, but rather create their own evolution. (see evidence #1 in spoiler below {spoiler alert})

Now, as with the evolution of where ponies came from, we find no evidence that there are the same type of horses that we find on Earth. Perhaps they exist, perhaps they don't, either way I can assume that they evolved a larger brain than the average horse we see in our universe. We can see everywhere in Equestria how creatures tend to be influenced by magic, so I can assume that the same goes for ponies.

Earth ponies are the first race to appear. The branch somewhat is linked to the evolution of the zebra, but it's only the pony race that appears to have evolved into having a magical horn. How they evolved into having this horn is a mystery to me, but I am going to have to make a guess that it's because of the magical influences of the environment. Ponies one way or another could use magic, as seen with Pinkie Pie and Zecora, but once unicorns came about they were able to harness the magic of their universe.

As for the evolution for pegasi, I find it quite intriguing. Horses have no association with birds whatsoever, but yet ponies have evolved into having wings! We can of course assume that magic was involved, but in what way? We know that there are griffons and dragons in Equestria, so I am going to have to say that they are somewhat involved for this evolution. Where they come from is a great mystery to me, and would be hard to assume anything given our lack of data.

End of File

I suppose this was a relatively small file, but I felt that it was still quite enjoyable. Also, thanks to Ducksquack for bringing up this topic... Thanks! As always, feel free to reply if there was anything I could have possibly missed (including either evidence or plain speculation).

May you have your own topic that you would like me to speculation on, go to the link below:

http://mlpforums.com/blog/1359/entry-8407-science-files-entries/

Thankyou to you all who took the time to read this! If you liked this, don't hesitate to comment on it or follow the blog for future files to come. I plan to start doing show reviews which should focus on individual episodes that come out, so I suppose you can look forward to that. Have a fantastical day!