Theory how did pegasi evolve

[pteraptor 7]

I believe that pegasi are close relatives of dragons and griffons. they both share a set of six limbs, one pair being a large pair of membranous wings. both are sapient. both can fly.

this would mean that dragons and griffons would have weight-bearing wings, pegasi would be bad at hearing, and pegasi were some sort of predator in the past

Edited June 22, 2017 by pteraptor

[Tiny Hoofs 200]

But that wouldn't explain how Pegasi are members of the same species as ponies if they're exclusively related to dragons and griffons? Normally there would be a bunch of genetic, mechanical and developmental barriers to fertility and Pegasi would not be able to interbreed with other ponies, if that were the case. Pumpkin cake can be born with wings despite being born to Earth ponies; this suggests he has some pegasi ancestry. If you're saying ponies in general are relatives of dragons, and griffons, that's a very odd choice because griffons are mosaic hybrids and dragons resemble reptiles.

But I do get your point that evolution doesn't create radically new parts of the body without first changing existing structures. My personal head canon is that most of the creatures in the show evolved naturally, but some of the more weird, fantastical and mythological creatures came about by magic.

So horses/ponies probably evolved naturally from older creatures with more than one hoof (e.g. Eohippus and Mesohippus) as they did in the real world. But by the time ponies evolved from horses, they discovered magic and were then divided into the Unicorn, Pegasi, Earth pony and alicorn subraces. The very few alicorns ultimately being the most susceptible to magic.

Edited June 28, 2017 by Tiny Hoofs

[pteraptor 7]

pegasi and ponies could have convergently evolve, ending up with similar enough breeding practices to create fertile offspring together