mjangelvortex 
Lady of Ships and Birbs
Here we can discuss boculth diuret, headcanbionslogy, and bdiologicetalry headcanons for not just the ponies, but for other various creatures as well.
**Rules:** This thread is mostly for safe for work headcanons. But lewd ones can be brought up too (as long as they're spoilered).
--
This thread mostly started due to a bit of a derailing on the"[Shipping Thread":](/forums/pony/topics/next-gen-shipping-and-fan-au-discussion). So with that in mind, I wanted to copy-paste that part of the discussion here.
--
"
[@Ranch":](/pony/next-gen-shipping-and-fan-au-discussion/post/3627735#post_3627735
[bq="Ranch"])
> Do you think ponies eat meat??
[/bq]
"@PonyPon":](/pony/next-gen-shipping-and-fan-au-discussion/post/3627754#post_3627754
[bq="PonyPon"]) "
> [@Ranch":](/pony/next-gen-shipping-and-fan-au-discussion/post/3627735#post_3627735
)
> Not regularly.
>
> There might be a social stigma against it, but they certainly shouldn't have any physical issue with it.
[/bq]
"@Ranch":](/pony/next-gen-shipping-and-fan-au-discussion/post/3627768#post_3627768
[bq="Ranch"]) "
> [@PonyPon":](/pony/next-gen-shipping-and-fan-au-discussion/post/3627754#post_3627754
)
>
> They do obviously consume dairy with 0 issue. But I always felt the few times we saw meat on screen [AJ's ham sandwich for example] was just an animation error or miscommunication.
[/bq]
"@Depressed Knoll":](/pony/next-gen-shipping-and-fan-au-discussion/post/3627775#post_3627775
[bq="Depressed) Knoll"]
>" [@Ranch":](/pony/next-gen-shipping-and-fan-au-discussion/post/3627735#post_3627735
)
> Unlikely. At most, it's eggs and milk.
[/bq]
"@Ranch":](/pony/next-gen-shipping-and-fan-au-discussion/post/3627796#post_3627796
[bq="Ranch"]) "
> [@Depressed Knoll":](/pony/next-gen-shipping-and-fan-au-discussion/post/3627775#post_3627775
")
>
> [@PonyPon":](/pony/next-gen-shipping-and-fan-au-discussion/post/3627754#post_3627754
)
>
> Maybe they can digest meat but not in large amounts? Like it won't kill them but if they go to Bubba's Steakhouse and pile up their plates with ribs at the all you can eat buffet they'd get sick.
[/bq]
"@Frustration in Excelsis":](/pony/next-gen-shipping-and-fan-au-discussion/post/3627850#post_3627850
[bq="Frustration) in
>Excelsis"]No. At most, I headcanon pegasi as eating fish every now and again, but they can go without, and most pegasi don't eat seafood. The other pony races I see as strictly herbivorous with the exception of the earth and crystal ponies, who can eat rocks like dragons do -- like Igneous Rock was shown doing in the episode where the Apples visit the pies -- but even then, it's optional and rare (although I'd say less rare among the crystal ponies).
[/bq]
"@Ranch":](/pony/next-gen-shipping-and-fan-au-discussion/post/3627855#post_3627855
[bq="Ranch"]) "
> [@Depressed Knoll":](/pony/next-gen-shipping-and-fan-au-discussion/post/3627814#post_3627814
")
>
> [@Frustration in Excelsis":](/pony/next-gen-shipping-and-fan-au-discussion/post/3627850#post_3627850
)
>
> I say its possible just not likely that meat is a regular part of their diet. The show goes out of its way these days to give us meat substitutes. Or whatever comes close. Hamurgers are hayburgers for example. There is probably a lot of Vegetable substitutes for meat. A pony wouldn't find this strange or unappealing, it'd likely be natural for them. They can eat meat but choose not to (possible acception being seafood?) and if they do eat meat its likely not every day because of social stigma and maybe also health reasons.
>
> I'm curious. Why do you think pegasi would be more inclined to meat more than the other races?
[/bq]
"@Frustration in Excelsis":](/pony/next-gen-shipping-and-fan-au-discussion/post/3628195#post_3628195
[bq="Frustration) in
>Excelsis"] "[@Ranch":](/pony/next-gen-shipping-and-fan-au-discussion/post/3628046#post_3628046
)
>
> Not so much for any inherent reason in and of itself as much as... hmm, let's call it a headcanon of convenience.
>
> I picked up the idea somewhere -- I can't quite recall where, although probably over time from one or several fanfics -- of pegasi being omnivores facilitating their ability to cross stretches of ocean. If this were the case, a pegasus would be able to cross vast stretches of sea by using clouds for rest and water and the sea -- at least for a time -- as a source of food.
>
> I like this idea on its own merits, so I keep the bit about meat-inclined pegasi because it's required for it to work.
[/bq]
"@mjangelvortex":](/pony/next-gen-shipping-and-fan-au-discussion/post/3628312#post_3628312
)
> [bq]"@Frustration in Excelsis":](/pony/next-gen-shipping-and-fan-au-discussion/post/3627850#pst_3627850
")
> [@Frustration in Excelsis":](/pony/next-gen-shipping-and-fan-au-discussion/post/3628195#post_3628195
)
> That honestly makes quite a bit of sense. It could also explain why Fluttershy was able to feed fish to some of her animals. Maybe she catches and eats them herself once in a while. I think I might accept some of those headcanons of yours for my own sort of stuff. Mostly the fish and rock stuff at least.
>
> As for me, I'd like to think that most ponies are vegetarians. Ones who are completely vegan are less common but not unheard of.
>
> And there's a very small select few ponies that eat meat for a multitude of reasons. The first reason would be out of necessity due to health problems (like a deficiency of some sort). Some people have had to give up being vegan or vegetarian due to that sort of thing. Some real life horses and deer will occasionally eat meat for the protein or calcium too (or if they're extremely in a desperate need for food).
> 
> !
>
> Another reasons a pony might go omnivore is if they have a spouse or family members that are non-ponies. I like to headcanon that dragons, dragon hybrids, and hippogriffs are omnivores while griffons lean towards having a more carnivorous diet but will occasionally eat plants and plant products (birds of prey and big cats eat meat so it makes sense). They might see their family eating meat and get curious on how it tastes and eventually try it.
>
> So with that being said, meat eating ponies are not part of the norm and I can picture eating meat might even be taboo in certain places of pony society. That being said, ponies do keep non-sapient animals around for eggs, milk, finding truffles (in the case of pigs), and for making pet food (Winona and Opal have got to eat too).
>
> I'm honestly glad this talk of meat came up though. Because I kind of have a bit of a pickle in regards to some OCs, namely Griffon ones. I was thinking of some foods for them to make and I accidentally was also going to have one of them eat beef (but thankfully I remembered that bovines are sapient in the MLP universe before making that mistake).
>
> I kind of want to try going for goats and sheep too but I'm not too sure if I should. There was that one-off gag a while back with the talking sheep but the show seemed to contradict it by later having non-sapient sheep being kept as pets/livestock for the Crystal ponies. The goats Iron Will kept around seemed more like pets than actual assistants. Their eyes and behavior came off as rather animal like[spoiler]||but at the same time, Grogar might appear in the show[/spoiler]|| so I'm getting mixed signals on that as well. Same goes for deer. They're shown as pets in the show but the comics flops back and forth on them being non-sapient animals and being sapient and intelligent enough to have their own civilized society.
>
> I want the griffons I have to have some hooved animals to eat. Not just for variety's sake for what I can have them eat. But also because I had the idea of ponies possibly being grossed out or creeped out at the idea of this sort of thing. So perhaps that oddity due to their differences in their diets might cause some griffons to be misunderstood by some ponies at first, before the griffons just reassure the ponies that they don't eat ponies and any rumors of that sort of thing is an Old Mare's Tale.
>
> For now I'm thinking pigs and giraffes are okay. And antelope, sheep, and goats are maybes for me for now. But I wouldn't mind a second opinion or two on this.
[/bq]
"@LightningBolt":](/pony/next-gen-shipping-and-fan-au-discussion/post/3628346#post_3628346
[bq="LightningBolt"]) "
> [@mjangelvortex":](/pony/next-gen-shipping-and-fan-au-discussion/post/3628312#post_3628312
)
> Griffons would certainly be carnivores, being hybrids of two of them already. Dragons can be whatever they want to be. No one mentioned them, but Hippogriffs could go both ways, same for Sirens. Seaponies or Sea Ponies are probably herbivores too.
[/bq]
"@mjangelvortex":](/pony/next-gen-shipping-and-fan-au-discussion/post/3628361#post_3628361
[bq="mjangelvortex"]) "
> [@LightningBolt":](/pony/next-gen-shipping-and-fan-au-discussion/post/3628346#post_3628346
)
> Can't believe I forgot the undersea creatures. Given those fangs, I can see sirens being omnivores or carnivores. Seaponies being herbivores makes sense too. So I agree with you on those points.
>
> And I think we only had one Kelpie in the comics but given the folklore surrounding them, I think they'd likely either be carnivores or omnivores.
[/bq]
"@LightningBolt":](/pony/next-gen-shipping-and-fan-au-discussion/post/3628461#post_3628461
[bq="LightningBolt"]) "
> [@mjangelvortex":](/pony/next-gen-shipping-and-fan-au-discussion/post/3628437#post_3628437
)
> Seaponies and Sirens have very distant ancestry to each other, and by extension, land ponies. While most Seaponies lived in oceans full of plant life, they were able to thrive and build huge populations. However, some Seaponies lived in barren underwater wastelands, and the only sources of food were fish and other sea creatures, so over thousands of years, those few Seaponies that could manage to survive off meat evolved and adapted to that way of life exclusively, holding a vestigial ability to still digest plants in critical times. They were also far less numerous in nature compared to their herbivorous Seapony cousins, and their rarity and the scarceness lead to them gaining longer lives from needing to so they could find mates.
>
> Also magic and shit I haven't weaved in there yet, but yeah. Headcanons on aquatic ponies that I like way too much! Also there's unicorn Seaponies and Sirens but idk if they'd have Pegasus equivalents as, water, and Sirens can float anyway.
[/bq]
"@mjangelvortex":](/pony/next-gen-shipping-and-fan-au-discussion/post/3628488#post_3628488
[bq="mjangelvortex"]) "
> [@LightningBolt":](/pony/next-gen-shipping-and-fan-au-discussion/post/3628461#post_3628461
)
> For Pegasus equivalents to Sirens and Seaponies I do have two different ideas. For the Seaponies, there are some Hippocampus artwork and statues that gives them wings or fin like wings.
> 
> So perhaps, maybe their Pegasus equivalent can breach from the water and glide (kind of like how flying fish do).
>
> As for a possible Pegasus counterpart to Sirens, there's the"[Ceffyl Dŵr":](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceffyl_D%C5%B5r). They're water horses capable of flight and shape shifting (like the sirens) and they can also turn into mist.
[/bq]
"@Frustration in Excelsis":](/pony/next-gen-shipping-and-fan-au-discussion/post/3628491#post_3628491
[bq="Frustration) in
>Excelsis"] "[@mjangelvortex":](/pony/next-gen-shipping-and-fan-au-discussion/post/3628312#post_3628312
)
>
> Yeah, I heard about livestock and deer eating meat. Biologically, it makes sense that they're able to metabolize it -- it's a lot easier to make meat out of more meat than it is to make meat out of plant matter. The issue with eating plants is that they tend to be very fibrous or waxy, and depending on the situation reinforced with lignin or silicate crystals. Cellulose, especially, takes a lot to digest. That's why most herbivorous mammals have huge grinding molars and long, complex guts, and that's also why cows chew their cud -- it's all about extending the digestion system to break down all that fiber. Birds achieve the same goal with enlarged crops where they grind food with swallowed stones before passing to the stomach, and termites rely on a truly potent intestinal flora.
>
> The difficulty with meat, by contrast, is mostly down to chasing down and subduing ornery animals that object to being eaten. Once it's past the mouth it's a lot easier to process.
>
> Anyway, in regards to MLP: dragons I tend to see as omnivorous in the sense that they need a balance of meat and gems, and possibly other stony material. They can also eat fruit and processed sugars fine, although they can go without, but more fibrous stuff gives them trouble. And also gas. In regards to potential next gens... hmm. I could see an earth dracony having the same overall diet as their dragon parent (because, as I said, I see earth ponies as partially lithivorous in addition to being herbivorous), with a greater tolerance for plant matter. Unicorn and pegasus draconies might have more varied or complex diets. Perhaps they might have issues with finding proper food because they're a mix of species with such different diets and feeding strategies -- that's not an issue I see raised in next gens with draconies, but it seems like an interesting one to me.
>
> As for non-sapient ungulates to serve as food for predators... well, all equines and bovines seen so far have been sapient, so that's two groups I'd stay away from on principle. In the unlikely situation that we'd see, oh,"[quaggas":](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quagga) or "[onagers":](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onager) or "[wisents":](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_bison) or "[gaurs":](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaur), they'd almost certainly be sapient. Maybe deer? That one comic arc had them as sapient, but both the show and the Ponies of Dark Water arc treated them as animals, so that's... weird. Giraffes do sound safer, and I suppose also okapis. Maybe tapirs?
>
> Or else, there are these creatures called"[musk deer":](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musk_deer) and "[chevrotains":](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevrotain). The latter especially are both small -- around cat sized -- and physically very similar to the earliest ruminant ungulates, or at least more similar than their various bigger and more specialized relatives. I could see them being the setting's monkey equivalent, insofar as being seen by the sapient ungulates as a smaller, intelligent but not sapient and alike but unlike version of themselves, like we see other primates. They'd be animals, so theoretically okay to eat, but other ungulates might find it unnerving, like some people find eating monkeys and apes unnerving.
>
> On this general subject, does anyone else have strong opinions on how changelings and changeponies feed? I have a fairly complex headcanon on the subject to try and reconcile with what's been seen on the show, but I'd like to hear what everyone else thinks. Also, I really don't want to drag this post on too much.
[/bq]
"@LightningBolt":](/pony/next-gen-shipping-and-fan-au-discussion/post/3628494#post_3628494
[bq="LightningBolt"]) "
> [@mjangelvortex":](/pony/next-gen-shipping-and-fan-au-discussion/post/3628488#post_3628488
)
> I like the sound of that, I did a report on flying fish in school so I always found them cool. Evolutionary advantages to that would probably be in eating bugs that fly across the surface of the water, which isn't a bad skill to have. Of course in fictionland it's just cool, but I like things to exist with reasons beyond just "it looks cool" hence my reasoning for trying to make sense of Sirens in FiM and making believable diets for all the main species.
"
>
> [@Frustration in Excelsis":](/pony/next-gen-shipping-and-fan-au-discussion/post/3628491#post_3628491
)
> Maybe we should make a 'Dietary headcanons' thread? :P
>
> I'd be up for it, but to answer your question, I haven't thought of anything specific for Changeling diets, but I have theorized them rarely doing what Chrysalis did, but more so just living the lives as ponies or whatever and making friends with others to channel love that way, often playing roles as cupids to pair two ponies up for that sweet sweet delicious love. However they rarely get themselves involved in pairings as lovey dovey emotions tend to fuck with shapeshifting and risk blowing their disguises. Some ponies don't care of course, but others are deathly afraid, mostly because of Chrysalis's army.
[/bq]
"@LightningBolt":](/pony/next-gen-shipping-and-fan-au-discussion/post/3628536#post_3628536
[bq="LightningBolt"]) "
> [@Frustration in Excelsis":](/pony/next-gen-shipping-and-fan-au-discussion/post/3628529#post_3628529
)
> I could nerd out about my stupidly specific species headcanons for hours. (And that's not even getting into my undead headcanons. (oh lord I need to finish those vectors)
>
> The only reason I'm not recommending any of the myrid of headcanon threads that already exist is that those tend to be focused on canon characters and lore, while I'm more into extended universe and species lore. History, legacy, future, past. I like to play with the possibility of how things work.
[/bq]
"@mjangelvortex":](/pony/next-gen-shipping-and-fan-au-discussion/post/3628553#post_3628553
[bq="mjangelvortex"]) "
> [@LightningBolt":](/pony/next-gen-shipping-and-fan-au-discussion/post/3628494#post_3628494
)
> I'm glad I could help.
>
> They might also catch seabirds like what some Orcas do. They will sometimes catch them when they get close to the water to catch fish. (They even have been seen setting bait up for the birds by making their own chum by leaving behind chewed up pieces of fish.)
>
> And I don't blame you. I like adding a bit of realism in fiction too sometimes. It helps give these worlds a bit more weight and familiarity there.
"
>
> [@Frustration in Excelsis":](/pony/next-gen-shipping-and-fan-au-discussion/post/3628491#post_3628491
)
> The Musk Deer and Chevrotains sound like perfect animals for the carnivores to eat to me. Now that you brought those two up, perhaps"[Dik-diks":](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dik-dik) would be good too. Thank you for your suggestions.
>
> As for you question on Changelings, we have seen them eat actual food now that they've gone through their metamorphosis. But I have a few ideas that I don't mind sharing with you.
"
>
> [@LightningBolt":](/pony/next-gen-shipping-and-fan-au-discussion/post/3628514#post_3628514
)
> A dietary headcanons thread sounds like a perfect idea to me. Maybe we can even copy paste our comments from here over to there.
>
> EDIT: Maybe call it "biology and dietary headcanons"?[/bq]
--
"
[And that's how-~~Equestria-~~ this thread was made!":](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Cm9dM7JEd0) If you made it this far, congrats! Have a pony and a cookie.
>>1663243p
Anyone can feel free to chip in and add their ideas. Have fun! :D
**Rules:** This thread is mostly for safe for work headcanons. But lewd ones can be brought up too (as long as they're spoilered).
--
This thread mostly started due to a bit of a derailing on the
--
"
[@Ranch
[bq="Ranch"]
> Do you think ponies eat meat??
[
"
[bq="PonyPon"]
> [@Ranch
> Not regularly.
>
> There might be a social stigma against it, but they certainly shouldn't have any physical issue with it.
[
"
[bq="Ranch"]
> [@PonyPon
>
> They do obviously consume dairy with 0 issue. But I always felt the few times we saw meat on screen [AJ's ham sandwich for example] was just an animation error or miscommunication.
[
"
[bq="Depressed
>
> Unlikely. At most, it's eggs and milk.
[
"
[bq="Ranch"]
> [@Depressed Knoll
"
>
> [@PonyPon
>
> Maybe they can digest meat but not in large amounts? Like it won't kill them but if they go to Bubba's Steakhouse and pile up their plates with ribs at the all you can eat buffet they'd get sick.
[
"
[bq="Frustration
>
[
"
[bq="Ranch"]
> [@Depressed Knoll
"
>
> [@Frustration in Excelsis
>
> I say its possible just not likely that meat is a regular part of their diet. The show goes out of its way these days to give us meat substitutes. Or whatever comes close. Hamurgers are hayburgers for example. There is probably a lot of Vegetable substitutes for meat. A pony wouldn't find this strange or unappealing, it'd likely be natural for them. They can eat meat but choose not to (possible acception being seafood?) and if they do eat meat its likely not every day because of social stigma and maybe also health reasons.
>
> I'm curious. Why do you think pegasi would be more inclined to meat more than the other races?
[
"
[bq="Frustration
>
>
> Not so much for any inherent reason in and of itself as much as... hmm, let's call it a headcanon of convenience.
>
> I picked up the idea somewhere -- I can't quite recall where, although probably over time from one or several fanfics -- of pegasi being omnivores facilitating their ability to cross stretches of ocean. If this were the case, a pegasus would be able to cross vast stretches of sea by using clouds for rest and water and the sea -- at least for a time -- as a source of food.
>
> I like this idea on its own merits, so I keep the bit about meat-inclined pegasi because it's required for it to work.
[
"
> [
"
> [@Frustration in Excelsis
> That honestly makes quite a bit of sense. It could also explain why Fluttershy was able to feed fish to some of her animals. Maybe she catches and eats them herself once in a while. I think I might accept some of those headcanons of yours for my own sort of stuff. Mostly the fish and rock stuff at least.
>
> As for me, I'd like to think that most ponies are vegetarians. Ones who are completely vegan are less common but not unheard of.
>
> And there's a very small select few ponies that eat meat for a multitude of reasons. The first reason would be out of necessity due to health problems (like a deficiency of some sort). Some people have had to give up being vegan or vegetarian due to that sort of thing. Some real life horses and deer will occasionally eat meat for the protein or calcium too (or if they're extremely in a desperate need for food).
> 
> !
!
>
> Another reasons a pony might go omnivore is if they have a spouse or family members that are non-ponies. I like to headcanon that dragons, dragon hybrids, and hippogriffs are omnivores while griffons lean towards having a more carnivorous diet but will occasionally eat plants and plant products (birds of prey and big cats eat meat so it makes sense). They might see their family eating meat and get curious on how it tastes and eventually try it.
>
> So with that being said, meat eating ponies are not part of the norm and I can picture eating meat might even be taboo in certain places of pony society. That being said, ponies do keep non-sapient animals around for eggs, milk, finding truffles (in the case of pigs), and for making pet food (Winona and Opal have got to eat too).
>
> I'm honestly glad this talk of meat came up though. Because I kind of have a bit of a pickle in regards to some OCs, namely Griffon ones. I was thinking of some foods for them to make and I accidentally was also going to have one of them eat beef (but thankfully I remembered that bovines are sapient in the MLP universe before making that mistake).
>
> I kind of want to try going for goats and sheep too but I'm not too sure if I should. There was that one-off gag a while back with the talking sheep but the show seemed to contradict it by later having non-sapient sheep being kept as pets/livestock for the Crystal ponies. The goats Iron Will kept around seemed more like pets than actual assistants. Their eyes and behavior came off as rather animal like
>
> I want the griffons I have to have some hooved animals to eat. Not just for variety's sake for what I can have them eat. But also because I had the idea of ponies possibly being grossed out or creeped out at the idea of this sort of thing. So perhaps that oddity due to their differences in their diets might cause some griffons to be misunderstood by some ponies at first, before the griffons just reassure the ponies that they don't eat ponies and any rumors of that sort of thing is an Old Mare's Tale.
>
> For now I'm thinking pigs and giraffes are okay. And antelope, sheep, and goats are maybes for me for now. But I wouldn't mind a second opinion or two on this.
[
"
[bq="LightningBolt"]
> [@mjangelvortex
> Griffons would certainly be carnivores, being hybrids of two of them already. Dragons can be whatever they want to be. No one mentioned them, but Hippogriffs could go both ways, same for Sirens. Seaponies or Sea Ponies are probably herbivores too.
[
"
[bq="mjangelvortex"]
> [@LightningBolt
> Can't believe I forgot the undersea creatures. Given those fangs, I can see sirens being omnivores or carnivores. Seaponies being herbivores makes sense too. So I agree with you on those points.
>
> And I think we only had one Kelpie in the comics but given the folklore surrounding them, I think they'd likely either be carnivores or omnivores.
[
"
[bq="LightningBolt"]
> [@mjangelvortex
> Seaponies and Sirens have very distant ancestry to each other, and by extension, land ponies. While most Seaponies lived in oceans full of plant life, they were able to thrive and build huge populations. However, some Seaponies lived in barren underwater wastelands, and the only sources of food were fish and other sea creatures, so over thousands of years, those few Seaponies that could manage to survive off meat evolved and adapted to that way of life exclusively, holding a vestigial ability to still digest plants in critical times. They were also far less numerous in nature compared to their herbivorous Seapony cousins, and their rarity and the scarceness lead to them gaining longer lives from needing to so they could find mates.
>
> Also magic and shit I haven't weaved in there yet, but yeah. Headcanons on aquatic ponies that I like way too much! Also there's unicorn Seaponies and Sirens but idk if they'd have Pegasus equivalents as, water, and Sirens can float anyway.
[
"
[bq="mjangelvortex"]
> [@LightningBolt
> For Pegasus equivalents to Sirens and Seaponies I do have two different ideas. For the Seaponies, there are some Hippocampus artwork and statues that gives them wings or fin like wings.
> .
>
> As for a possible Pegasus counterpart to Sirens, there's the
[
"
[bq="Frustration
>
>
> Yeah, I heard about livestock and deer eating meat. Biologically, it makes sense that they're able to metabolize it -- it's a lot easier to make meat out of more meat than it is to make meat out of plant matter. The issue with eating plants is that they tend to be very fibrous or waxy, and depending on the situation reinforced with lignin or silicate crystals. Cellulose, especially, takes a lot to digest. That's why most herbivorous mammals have huge grinding molars and long, complex guts, and that's also why cows chew their cud -- it's all about extending the digestion system to break down all that fiber. Birds achieve the same goal with enlarged crops where they grind food with swallowed stones before passing to the stomach, and termites rely on a truly potent intestinal flora.
>
> The difficulty with meat, by contrast, is mostly down to chasing down and subduing ornery animals that object to being eaten. Once it's past the mouth it's a lot easier to process.
>
> Anyway, in regards to MLP: dragons I tend to see as omnivorous in the sense that they need a balance of meat and gems, and possibly other stony material. They can also eat fruit and processed sugars fine, although they can go without, but more fibrous stuff gives them trouble. And also gas. In regards to potential next gens... hmm. I could see an earth dracony having the same overall diet as their dragon parent (because, as I said, I see earth ponies as partially lithivorous in addition to being herbivorous), with a greater tolerance for plant matter. Unicorn and pegasus draconies might have more varied or complex diets. Perhaps they might have issues with finding proper food because they're a mix of species with such different diets and feeding strategies -- that's not an issue I see raised in next gens with draconies, but it seems like an interesting one to me.
>
> As for non-sapient ungulates to serve as food for predators... well, all equines and bovines seen so far have been sapient, so that's two groups I'd stay away from on principle. In the unlikely situation that we'd see, oh,
>
> Or else, there are these creatures called
>
> On this general subject, does anyone else have strong opinions on how changelings and changeponies feed? I have a fairly complex headcanon on the subject to try and reconcile with what's been seen on the show, but I'd like to hear what everyone else thinks. Also, I really don't want to drag this post on too much.
[
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[bq="LightningBolt"]
> [@mjangelvortex
> I like the sound of that, I did a report on flying fish in school so I always found them cool. Evolutionary advantages to that would probably be in eating bugs that fly across the surface of the water, which isn't a bad skill to have. Of course in fictionland it's just cool, but I like things to exist with reasons beyond just "it looks cool" hence my reasoning for trying to make sense of Sirens in FiM and making believable diets for all the main species.
"
>
> [@Frustration in Excelsis
> Maybe we should make a 'Dietary headcanons' thread? :P
>
> I'd be up for it, but to answer your question, I haven't thought of anything specific for Changeling diets, but I have theorized them rarely doing what Chrysalis did, but more so just living the lives as ponies or whatever and making friends with others to channel love that way, often playing roles as cupids to pair two ponies up for that sweet sweet delicious love. However they rarely get themselves involved in pairings as lovey dovey emotions tend to fuck with shapeshifting and risk blowing their disguises. Some ponies don't care of course, but others are deathly afraid, mostly because of Chrysalis's army.
[
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[bq="LightningBolt"]
> [@Frustration in Excelsis
> I could nerd out about my stupidly specific species headcanons for hours. (And that's not even getting into my undead headcanons. (oh lord I need to finish those vectors)
>
> The only reason I'm not recommending any of the myrid of headcanon threads that already exist is that those tend to be focused on canon characters and lore, while I'm more into extended universe and species lore. History, legacy, future, past. I like to play with the possibility of how things work.
[
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[bq="mjangelvortex"]
> [@LightningBolt
> I'm glad I could help.
>
> They might also catch seabirds like what some Orcas do. They will sometimes catch them when they get close to the water to catch fish. (They even have been seen setting bait up for the birds by making their own chum by leaving behind chewed up pieces of fish.)
>
> And I don't blame you. I like adding a bit of realism in fiction too sometimes. It helps give these worlds a bit more weight and familiarity there.
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>
> [@Frustration in Excelsis
> The Musk Deer and Chevrotains sound like perfect animals for the carnivores to eat to me. Now that you brought those two up, perhaps
>
> As for you question on Changelings, we have seen them eat actual food now that they've gone through their metamorphosis. But I have a few ideas that I don't mind sharing with you.
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>
> [@LightningBolt
> A dietary headcanons thread sounds like a perfect idea to me. Maybe we can even copy paste our comments from here over to there.
>
> EDIT: Maybe call it "biology and dietary headcanons"?
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[And that's how
>>1663243p
Anyone can feel free to chip in and add their ideas. Have fun! :D