How are crystal ponies even possible?

[KillerKingBakudan 702]

I know it's just a cartoon, but I never understood how certain characters from different shows could be made out of, or turn into, some kind of mineral or metal and actually be alive. I thought Iceman and Colossus took the cake, but these Crystal Empire ponies just take it to another level.

 

For one thing, crystals are just rocks. How are the ponies even able to move when Twilight got turned to stone by a cockatrice and almost died? Now that I think about it, how was Twilight able to survive for so long? If her whole body was petrified, her bloodstream should have solidified and cut off any flow of oxygen to her brain, which would also have lost its functionality. But these crystal ponies are safe?

[cider float 2,538]

They're organic crystal ponies just like Colossus is organic steel.

[Ashen Pathfinder 16,162]

It largely has to do with the influence of the Crystal Heart; which is no ordinary crystal or gem. Granted we have no idea as to the origin of that thing, but it's essentially an entity in it's own right.

 

As such, crystal in regards to crystal ponies doesn't necessarily refer to geologic crystals.

[Time Shield 402]

(Not sure what happened to my post, it seemed to have vanished.)

 

Magic, obviously.  There's a lot of magic in the world, and there was clearly magical things going on as they became more crystal-like during the Crystal Empire episodes.  As soon as magic is involved, you can throw scientific explanation out the window.

[cider float 2,538]

Also don't forget White Queen can also undergo a diamond form.

 

I would say it's just magic though.

Edited July 25, 2015 by cider float

[Mesme Rize 15,687]

(Not sure what happened to my post, it seemed to have vanished.)

 

Magic, obviously.  There's a lot of magic in the world, and there was clearly magical things going on as they became more crystal-like during the Crystal Empire episodes.  As soon as magic is involved, you can throw scientific explanation out the window.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJp86_tj9KQ

 

Sorry, i couldn't help myself.

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 41,885]

I feel like it has to do with the magic of the Crystal Heart. Seems to be their kingdom has always been centered around that, so that would make them a 'crystal pony race'  I suppose.

[she-brony9088 1]

I suppose it has to with their environment, and the magic of the crystal heart. I think they adapted to it's magic and the crystal pony race came to be.b

[Untitled Goose Q 5,138]

How can Pegasi fly? How do Cutie Marks work? There's more of course, the answer to them being the same as the answer as to how the Crystal Ponies are possible, that the FiM universe does not follow the same rules as ours does.

[Banul 3,831]

 

 

Thinking too much about this, yo. 

[Megas 27,828]

Cartoon/Magic is really the only reasonable explanation

[cider float 2,538]

 

It follows the Edward Cullen principle.

[Daring_Do 552]

I'd say they're not actually made of crystal (in fact, I think I used to think that), but a couple bits of flavor text in the MLP CCG seem to imply they are (at least, I remember it implying that about the Mane 6's crystally forms from the episode's end).

 

Yes, I take CCG flavor text as canon. Sue me.

 

Don't remember if any other EU material (comics, books) have had anything to say on this, though.

Edited July 25, 2015 by Daring_Do

[PoisonClaw 8,166]

I know it's already been said...but...

 

Magic is pretty much the go to answer for most fantasy settings. To answer your second question, petrification is usually implied in both mythology and fantasy to be a kind of magical stasis, putting the afflicted into a state of suspended animation so they don't die when their body turns to stone. So long as the body isn't shattered, it is possible to reverse the effects.    

[They call me Loyalty 1,949]

Pretty inaccurate assessment, being carbono the base of all life.

Soon will be crystal-like here as well. Pressure is sometimes required in order to achieve sentient development within seeded races, on earth and many other star systems.

Overflowing the sentient system develops further sensitive growth.

 

Consciousness is born within our fractal creation.

Unconditional love is the result. It tickles when you think about such a "coincidence" with the show. Star seeds all around.

[Aleh 481]

its a show about magical unicorns, psychic hyperactive earth ponies ,talking horses and sentient sludge that likes eating jewelry  

Crystal ponies are kind of low on things to worry about tbh

 

[MoltenKitten 342]

You are questioning this when:

They can speak

They can use magic

They apparently don't need to use a bathroom

They are pastel colors

They can grab things with hooves

 

But the most serious answer to this question is magic

[Cwanky 17,612]

While we're on that topic you may as well ask:

 

how can pegasi fly when their bodies make it near anatomically and physically impossible to fly?

 

how can unicorns perform the feats that they do?

 

The answer is of course magic. Of course in the case of crystal ponies, I highly doubt they actually have real crystals in or on their bodies naturally. They're powered by the Crystal Heart, which is magic. 

[Arylett Charnoa 4,919]

Answering "magic" is really missing the point of the thread. That is a lazy explanation used when one can't be bothered to think. Although honestly, it's probably the canon one as I doubt the MLP staff actually thinks about the logistics of such things. That said, I believe the point of this thread is to speculate a fan explanation, not to kill conversation with an obvious answer.

My personal theory is that they're not made of crystal, but that they just have a sparkly sheen similar to it. I don't really see anything on their bodies to indicate that they are crystalline. They don't look significantly more solid or jagged than normal ponies. They just look shiny. Coupled with the ease with which the Crystal Heart is able to turn normal ponies into crystal ponies and the fact that crystal ponies aren't necessarily shiny all the time lends credence to this theory in my opinion.

[Prince Firemane 309]

It seems to me that they're not actually made of crystal, but is just a reflection of their symbiotic relationship with the Crystal Heart.

[S.F. 1,560]

I actually think that they are made of crystal, or at least take on the properties of crystal, as you can see in this screen shot - they do gain some transparency when crystallised (you can see the tent in the background through their bodies but can't see through the non-crystallised pony)

 

 

The magic explanation may be an easy one, but there is no conceivable way that this could work biologically - so am afraid that it has to be magic in my book, with the crystal heart most likely being the source. They do seem to have slightly different characteristics even when not crystallised, like the reflections in their eyes are jagged (like crystals) instead of smooth like on the ponies in the rest of Equestria. 

 

In regards to the second half and Twilight's petrification, that would be true - except that we can see with Fluttershy that the petrification is pretty rapid and starts from her rear hooves upwards/forwards. This results in the heart being petrified not long before the brain, which while reducing the blood flow to the brain during the petrification, it won't be cut off entirely until the heart gets hit (assuming that the ponies carotid artery is similarly placed to our own). This means that the brain won't have all that long to wait being starved of oxygen, before it gets petrified itself, at which point its oxygen requirement drops to zero - a short enough time that brain damage etc won't really be much of a risk. We also saw with Fluttershy that the de-petrification was pretty instantaneous too, which will bring all her organs back up and running again almost instantaneously.

 

(I recognise that we are ignoring her lungs here, as her diaphragm would get hit before the heart, but I don't think that the timing of it would have a massive impact on her blood oxygen levels, especially if it was petrified with her lungs containing some air in them)

 

And that folks is my overanalyses of the day