I’ve been meaning to do something like this ever since I introduced Diletto, but forgot/didn’t come around to it until I was reminded of it by Spuds-McFrenzy’s Multi Headcanons for their Beautyverse, which included ponies splitting their hooves in two to mimic cloven hooves. Which… yeah. My headcanons does not include something quite so gruesome, but I was reminded of my hoof-carving headcanon, so here we are. Body Modifications headcanon by someone who doesn’t even have their ears pierced, let’s go!
 
(Oh, and also many of these were inspired by Jayrockin, who does really fun speculative biology -including what body mods their aliens would do. Go look at their stuff, it’s amazing. My favourite are their Scuds, they are so cute :D )
 

 
–Those they have in common with humans–
 
Piercings  
You know human piercings? Yeah, now you pretty much know pony piercings too. Pre-discovery of metal, ponies would wear piercings made of bone, tusks, feathers… stone in unicorn settlements, where carving it was easier. Nowadays metal is the most common material -gold in particular since it’s less likely ponies will be allergic to it.
 
Ponies also have much of the same type of piercings we have -most commonly those that go through a body part, like ears, but also surface piercings (has an entrance and exit point, but is flat under the skin) and dermal piercings (only has one point).
 
The absolute most common place ponies pierce are their ears (most ponies who often wear fancier clothing have their ears pierced it’s not even really considered a body modification by most people) but aside from that they also pierce their eye-brows, tongue and lips. Those who shave (part of) their tails often get piercings along it. And piercing more …“private areas” (various parts of the groin and teats) are also very common, though not as immedietly obvious. But technically, if there’s skin, a pony can (and somepony probably has) get it pierced.
 
-Subdermal implants  
Not as common as in humans; ponies haven’t discoved silicone yet. There do exists metal versions, but they’re not terribly popular.
 
Split tongue  
Pretty much exactly the same as humans. The tongue is split down the middle from about halfway down. Some split only the tip, to give a more draconian look.
 
Tattoos and other Body Art  
Tattoos:  
Since ponies have fur, tattoos the way we have them are not very popular -they do work somewhat on those with a very light and fine coat, and then consists of large fields of very strong color, in order to be visible through the fur.
 
Shaving:  
Shaving part of your body is instead the more popular alternative, and it’s often done in combination with a tattoo. The drawback is that you will have to maintain it diligently -however, most unicron barbers know hair removal spells, so it’s mainly a matter of going in, them casting the spell, and you’re out in then minutes. There are also fur-removal creams used by pegasi and earth ponies.
 
Dyeing:  
In the same vein, and not shown here, dyeing part of yourself is an alternative. Though, one again, it has to be maintained carefully.
 
Branding:  
A very controversial and risqué form of body-art is branding (specifially heat branding). These are often associated with gang-activities or cults, where they are usually placed over the cutie-mark. As such, the general populous tends to be very suspicious of ponies who have braded themselves, and it’s considered very… extreme. Ponies will think twice about hiring you if you’ve braded yourself.
 
Scarification:  
Another similar form is scarification. Like the name implies, ponies purposefully scar themselves in patterns in order to keep the fur from growing there -like a permanent version of shaving. It’s usually limited to thin brands, as having large wounds can be quite dangerous.
 

 
–Unique to ponies–  
Melanin Spell  
There exists a spell that was invented relatively recently, which allows a unicorn to modify the hair follicles, making them produce more or less melanin than before (provided they have the ability to produce melanin at all, it does not work on albino ponies). This lets them make “tattoos” of different colored fur. Since it only lets the pony make the dur darker or lighter, they can only work in “grayscale” so to speak. It does not work as well on those with longer coats, as te fur can move around more and ruin details. You will also have to shave the area and wait for it to regrow with the new colors. Howerver, it is completely reversible by performing the spell again to bring the levels back to normal.
 
Crystal Tattoos  
Previously unique to the crystal ponies; they go into their crystal form and paint the tattoo on with a special paint. After leaving the it on for a few hours, the crystal beneath will have been stained the color of the paint. Returning back to normal form, the fur now grows the same color as the stained crystal. Once again, does not work as well on those with long coats. It is also less easy to reverse, as you will have to color-match a new layer of paint to the pony’s original color, and itäs hard to get that exact.
 
Partial Shave  
Ponies don’t have uniform fur all over their bodies, they also have manes, tails and sometimes beards. If a human wants to shave their head or beard, they just do so. But if a pony did that, they would have naked portions, which isn’t usually the look they’re going for. So instead they carefully cut it to the same length as the fur. However, since manes/tails/beard are a different color than the coat, you can still see where they used to be -patches of seemingly different colored fur. No pony with a beard can ever appear completely clean shaven, unless they also dye (or somehow else change) that part to match their fur.
 
Tail Docking  
Quite rare, but some ponies do want their tailed docked. Good luck finding someone who will agree to perfom the procedure without charging you your left hind leg though.
 
Ear Cuts  
Human ears are small and made of ridged cartilage, with soft fleshy dangly bits. Pony ears are much larger and made almost entirely of cartilage, covered by skin and fluffy fur on the inside (not true for irl ponies, they usually have very naked ears). So while humans can and do make holes in the cartilage part, they are usually small and can’t be very complex shapes. Ponies, on the other hand, have a very large area to work with. They cut holes in complex shapes into the cartilage, or cut the outside of the ears to make different profiles. They then either shave the ears (or they’re a bat-pony who already have naked ears) so it’s completely on display, or they let the fur grow out again, making the cut mainly visible from the back-side of the ears.
 
Ear Docking  
Alsongside this comes the notion of cutting of the entire ear. It’s even less popular than the tail docking, as it does hinder your hearing significantly, but some still opts to do it. Once again though, very expensive to have done.
 
There are a few who have to have it perfomed at hospitals though, for medical reasons. If someone sufferes from a lot of ear-infections the first step they try is to shave the inside (to not trap heat and moisture). This isn’t always enough though, especially among older patients who’s ears are beguinning to flop. In those cases, ear docking might be perfomed just to try and help keep the inner ear healthy. It’s usually a pretty late resort though.
 
Eye Melanin Spell  
Like the nomral melanin spell, this changes the amount of melanin the iris has. Theoretically allows a pony to have small “tattoos” in their iris using darker and lighter shades of their normal eye-color, or change the entire iris lighter or darker. It’s illegal in equestria though -why? In practise, it’s nearly impossible to do without causing partial of full blindness to the eye. Next to no ponies can be precise enough not to. If you really want it, you might find a unicorn living in some lawless part of the world who will charge you your firstborn to do it, and still risk losing your eyesight. It’s very very rare to see someone with this.
 
You might wonder why docking is still legal to do then? If ponies really want their tail/ears docked, there’s nothing stopping them from just doing it to themselves. Celestia prefers them have the theoretical option to get a professional is a sterile environment to do it -plus, then you might catch those with mental probelms as their reasons for wanting the procedure (It’s not entirely uncommon for some who have auditory hallucinations to want their ears removed). There’s also the fact that you techically don’t need a tail. And while docking ears does impair hearing, you can still hear. You can also get a prothesis in the remaining part, which gives you almost as good hearing as before. The eye melanin spell is impossible to to on yourself, you need someone else to cast it -and should it fail, there is nothing to be done to give you your sight back.
 
Hoof Carving  
Hooves consists of an inner part, made from bone and soft tissues, and a very thick outer layer made from keratin. While the inner part is very sensitive, the outer layer is dead material -ergo, completely without feeling. Still, ponies have to be careful with their hooves, as cracks could harm the inner part, and an unbalanced hoof can lead to the ponies walking wrong and casing damage their legs. But it’s not so sensitive that carving the hoof isn’t possible. Especially the outside, as it’s the underside that’s the most important part to keep balanced and healthy. (…Since that’s the part they walk on. Also, once again, probably not true of irl horses. But mlp ponies are very much not irl horses).
 
Hoof carvings can be just shapes cut into the top layer. These can be very simple, to extremely detailed, going around the hoof. The drawback to these is that as the hoof grows, the shapes will move further and further down the hoof, until they disswpear (along the part of the hoof they were on) from the wear and tear of walking. Therefore, they are usually quite shallow, so the section of hood can be filed down to “erase” them.
 
The most common hoof carving is the groove down the center, as it gives the impression of cloven hooves. In my nextgen verse, unicorns don’t have cloven hooves, no ponies do. So ponies tend to find it interesting and cool to have. It used to be very fringe, but some upperclass ponies have recently taken to it, calling it “exotic”looking and “attractive” (-the same ponies who look down on cows). It also has the added bonus of being in the same direction as the hoof grows, so it’s easy to just carve more as it grows out.
 
As previously mentioned, the underside of the hoof is the most important part to not mess up. Still, there are some a opt to carve it too. In these cases, making it appear as “claws” is the most popular version, as it looks dangerous and cool. And is dangerous; they have to be very very careful to keep the balance of the hoof, so the owner doesn’t hurt themselves. Many refuse to perform this type of carving for this reason.
 
It’s worth mentioning the mountain-living ponies here as well. Before metal was discovered, the majority opted to carve their hooves to add two downwards facing “spikes” in the front, which (supposedly) helped them grip better when climbing. Nowadays, special shoes are preferred.
 
-Hoof Insets  
Bedazzling is very common among ponies, where they glue halfed gems to their hooves (often inside matching carved shapes). A less-likely-to-fall-off-as-soon-as-you-trot version of this, is where they actually nail the gem too the hoof. As long as the nail is short enough that it doesn’t reach the inner part, it’s perfectly safe.
 
Nailed Shoes  
A few ponies who work in fields that put a lot of strain of their hooves, opt to skip having to put and keep on shoes, and just nail a metallic “sole” directly to their hooves. Saves time and mental energy, as normal shoes are quite prone to falling off (no pronounced “foot” means shoes usually need have some type of elastic band to keep them on, which doesn’t work as well on heavier ones). Not uncommon, but still not terribly common either -most shoemakers are also farriers for this reason, as the market is too small to just be a farrier.
 
Melanin Spell pt 2, electric boogaloo  
Applying the melanin spell very precicely to the band of the hoof, can make the hoof grow in darker or lighter colors, without affecting the fur above. Since the hoof grows out, these will appear as stripes along it. Often combined with the false-cloven-hoof-carving to give each side a different color.
 
Split feathers  
Ponies have to carefully preen their feathers to keep them healthy and able to do their job. Some do the opposite and actually mess up and split their feathers, giving the area a rough and “fluffy” look. Usually not done on the flight feathers (y’know, since you can’t fly without them), but the front/“arm” of the wing is free game. Causes drag and makes flying slightly more difficult… but unless flying is your job, not enough to really matter.
 
Horn Modifications  
The actual horn, the part that controls their magic, is small and made from bone and filled with nerves and soft tissue. It’s covered in a thick layer of ceratin, which grows slowly throughout the pony’s life. It’s an evolutionary modification of the fur (hence why it’s the same color), in order to protect the horn. A bit like a rhinoceros horn, but with a bone core. Some ponies’ horns start to curve slightly as they grow, which is usually filed down to keep a straight profile.
 
This means that the outer part of the horn can be modified, as long as the inner part is unaffected. Sharpening the tip to a point is the most common one, but ponies might also make it jagged and such to give it an interesting profile. Ponies might also drill small holes, or nail things into it -as long as the inner core isn’t touched, it’s safe. It’s extremely uncommon though, as while it’s not harmful, it usually gives the caster less control over their magic. It can also be dangerous if performed improperly, causing cracks in the horn which reaches and damages the core.
 
Most of these modfications are removable by just waiting long enough and filing the horn down.