Raven Rawne

The tape was originally used to stick a letter to the bottom of a plate. Pinkie then held the letter in her hoof and it did seem like the letter was taped to it, but in fact it wasn't.

You're heading in the right direction. Crossbreeding between pony races witch produces fertile offspring means they're the same species. Or atleast it would on Earth. Like You've said, all ponies have magic in them. It's just that pegasi and unicorns use it in an obvious way, whereas Earth ponies are more subtle. I've made a post in relevant thread about it. And so it is rather natural to assume that the ability of all ponies to hold objects in their hooves is magically assisted. The exact method through witch it manifest could be either micro telekinesis (making stuff balanced because it's magically supported in the air) achieved through "charging" the object on touch, or perhaps pony skin may act like that grabbing cushion form page 1. Overanalysis is just so much fun.

A friendly looking changeling at my doorstep? Well, I know he/she could very well murder me the moment I look away, but there's no need to assume the worst. I'd invite it inside and have a chat, see what brings it here. Who knows, maybe it's a prelude to something fantastic! Or not, and I'll be dead in a few minutes. Either way, it's a win in my book.

A hammer about to strike a scroll. You know, like the old blacksmith signs, but with a horisontal scroll instead of an anvil. It symbolises "hammering out" my ideas into shape through incremental changes. It's frustrating at times, when I made a post in the morning and no longer agree with it in the evening, but that's how it works.

Ventilate my cranuim on the first live fire excercise during weapon familiarisation course. Even if the ponies would win, they war would've changed them. Probably not in a good way. So yeah, I'd pass on the opportunity to befriend a pony in this scenario.

My vote on the most sinister villain goes towards Sombra. He not only enslaved a nation, but also prepared traps and hidden passages that required outside (unicorn) help, so that his subjets couldn't free themselves in a million years. On top of that, he survived the fight against both royal sisters and, as a last resort, zapped the whole city out of the face of the earth, in order for it to reappear once he's more or less ready to make a comeback. Not bad, I'd say. Principal Cinch wins on best voiceover. (Muh reputation!) Also, the poll is missing the most vile, deranged and outright evil being of all of Equestria, disguised in a cute and cuddly form - the dreaded Angel Bunny! (lightning strikes for dramatic effect)

I thoroughtly agree with Your point, although with a little twist, and Ill explain it later. For starters, I think she doesn't have enough magic in her to fly (pegasus flight is a magical ability, since their wings are waay to little to work the regular way). Fortunately, it seems that scootering requires less "juice". Technical stuff aside, I think Scoots is an important character whe way she is, because of her struggle with flight. For her, being unable to fly is a big deal, because flight is a core pegasus ability, and thus a flightless pegasus is no pegasus at all. She's the ambassador of all of us who have to became lawyers, because they come from the lawyer family. People who have to join the military and have a distinguished service record because their military family ancestry dates back to War of Independence. She's there to remind us about all those individuals who feel they have to follow the way of their fathers, and the resulting tragedy when they just can't. Being unable to be who you're supposed to be is a great pain, and it takes even greater courage and resolve to tell yourself, and the world, that you are the one to decide who you'll become, even if it breaks a 200 year family tradition and all your family may very well think you're a failure for the rest of their days. That's why Scoot's continued attempts at learning to fly are so significant, and I would throw all my money at Hasbro if they made a good episode about her deciding that being unable to claim your "birthright" doesn't equal being a lazy failure. That it's OK to buck the tradition if it's effectively killing you.

I ponify my electronics all the time. My smartphones always rock a pony themed wallpaper and lock screen. I also use songs form brony musicians for ringtones. Other than that, I keep a pony themed wallpaper on my home PC (I used to do the same at work but lately decided to stop in order to aviod weird looks). Unfortunately importing stickers and other accessories all the way form US is to expensive to even bother, so I have to content on digital art. On an unrelated note, since cars aren't exacly electronics, I shamelessly refer to my Lancia by her name - Rarity.

I joined the Herd around June 2012, just after Canterlot Wedding. I remeber seeing awesome pony art in every corner of the internet and I just had to know what it's all about. Marathoned Seasons 1 and 2 in a week and I was this close to catching up before Season 2 finale aired. Interestingly, I took notice on the show's fandom rather late: during the hiatus that followed S2. With no more pony episodes to satisfy my newfound need for cute cartoon equines, I found that the whole fandom thing can be a positive and enritching endeavour, as opposed to my previous experience of enjoying a show all by myself. All in all, I wish I've found the show, and it's fandom, sooner - it's been a great experience all things considered.

As far as I'm concerned, You may very well be right. We have little concrete information about unicorn magic in general. My take is that each pony has a base value of magical power (as if engine horsepower, rather than battery stored power) in them since birth, witch they use in daily tasks, and in case of unicorns and pegasi, also in magic spells and flight. So when a unicorn discovers their special talent and refines their "natural" spells, they're free to learn new ones as well, but some are too complex for them to handle. Also, it is said in "Boast Busters" that most unicorns never learn anything outside their natural skillset. Maybe learning new spells is hard? And keep in mind that magic is an academic subject on it's own in Equestria, so there's bound to be boatloads of information to take before attempting anything more complex and out of one's natural skillset. Well, maybe we're thinking about the same thing, but just formulate it differently. I don't know. With so many blind spots there are just so many possible answers. All I can tell for sure is that we're both not wrong. That's a good place to start, if anything.

Lord Pomergranate, I see Your point towards body altering spells being within reach of unicorn magic. Sadly, Twilight Sparkle is a bad example to support it - she's basically a magical nuclear reactor when other unicorns are potato batteries. She's got so much raw power to start with, plus her special talent is magic itself, when other unicorns generally specialise in one field related to their vocation or never get past basic levitation. Sure, there are unicorns with both more and less raw magical power than the average, but TS is a nuclear option. Also, I've mentioned commercial use of magic, performed by a specialised magic user who guarantees their results and makes a living from it. It is possible, but we just lack evidence to support it. Magically assisted plastic surgery just seems easier to nail down, since it would require a unicorn doctor (perfectly doable) with a bit tweaked spell set. There are possibly dozens of clinics providing cosmetic surgeries in Canterlot alone. But it's just a theory, and since it's not supported with evidence from the show or comics, I have no idea whenever it would hold any water or not. Also, since I myself can't gain weight even if my life depends on it I do not feel qualified to talk about why people with obesity related health problems sometimes don't change anything in their lifestyles, even if it causes them serious harm. On the other hoof, I can offer insight about the issue from public health perspective, since it corresponds with my academic eduaction, so feel free to ask about general trends. Halloweeny Britty, I think the topic is not about lack of "fat acceptance", but rather why do ponies have unhealthy habits even though they potentially lead to serious health problems. Atleast that's how I understand it, so please correct me if I'm wrong.

I'm afraid it's more complicated. First, we have no actual evidence of any "cosmetical" spells (for example, Rarity could just magically grow her eylashes rather than use fake ones), so it would be safer to assume weight reduction works the same way it does on Earth. I guess plastic surgery would heavily rely on magic, so there is a possibility for magically assisted liposuction and stomach shrinking. Secondly, here on Earth obesity is a major public health scare (witch, as a public health specialist, I partially approve) AND there's lots of plain wrong "fat shaming". Education about risk of obesity is ok, firing people from jobs and shaming them like it's 15th century and there's a plague in town just after they moved there - isn't. We already know that pony society is founded upon the base of accepting each other's differences, since there are 3 races of ponies, but also donkeys, mules, griffons, you name it. And even though there has to be some common canon of beauty among ponies, their tolerant nature prevents them from picking up torches and pitchforks just because somepony is obese. And since there is no evidence of any organised healthcare going on (the whole sector may be running on commercial rules), the risk of excessive care costs and possible premature death is their own alone. I think the average pony thinks "not my stomach, not my purse, not my problem".

It's been told countless times in the show that earth ponies do have magic. But in order to see it for ourselves, it would be beneficial to step back a little and start form the beginning. Ponies as a species are magical creatures (the pony races can crossbreed so they're the same species), and so we can assume that all races have magic inside them. From this start point, we can further observe that two races have "extra bits" - wings and horns, through witch they can magically interact with outside world. Unicorn magic seems rather intuitive, or maybe it's more like learning to move an extra limb, or visualize some complicated pattern - there are no incantations, magic words or accessories, the spells seem like complicated metal tasks. Pegasi fly because their magic allows them to, since their wings are way too small in order to work the regular way. Plus, they interact with clouds like they were solid objects. Earth ponies lack those extra extremities, BUT they can use their tails as a fifth limb - meaning they can magically control them with much more dexterity than other races, plus they seem to harden at will (you can't pull a rope with just loose hair). Also, they appear to posess (magically assisted) superior balance, witch makes them able to stack multiple items on their nosetips like it's no big deal. And they climb ladders. Their superior agricultural skills are mosty informed, but I think it has something to do with speeding plant growth and getting bigger crops, since all the races can plant and collect with equal results, if not better. And there's also "super" strenght and stamina to take into account. I guess because they lack an extra channel witch makes their magic act outside of them, all of it is kept inside, thus strengthening their bodies. Oh, and the good heart thing is a race cultural thing rather than magic in my opinion. Other races had it easier so they didn't develop the adamant work ethic of their earth cousins. I hope any of this made any sense. My mode of thinking can be hard to explain at times.