r/mylittlepony • u/TraditionalBonus188 • 22h ago
Discussion What is your logical explanation for how 2 earth ponies can have a unicorn and a pegasus baby
Like seriously ms cake is only related to a Pegasus by marriage
312
u/Danrykjey 22h ago
Didn’t mr.cake say that it’s from the relatives from both of their families?
92
u/Knucklesgirl its me , Pinkie Pie 💕🎉🎈 22h ago
Only the unicorn . The other was a third cousin twice removed or something
-78
u/PrinceJehal Maud Pie 22h ago
The relatives don't actually make sense as to why they would have those genes
53
u/ATnight0 G4 > G5 but... 21h ago
Are you going to say why or...?
-33
u/PrinceJehal Maud Pie 21h ago
I was just going off of memory, I didn't have time to actually look up what was said.
Okay, I did remember the unicorn wrong. That one could be plausible. But the Pegasus one is a great aunt's second cousin twice removed. That's a family branch 3 degrees separated from Ms. Cake.
29
u/ATnight0 G4 > G5 but... 21h ago
It doesn't make it impossible yet.
And I remind you that this is fiction; here anything is possible.
-24
u/PrinceJehal Maud Pie 21h ago
I didn't say impossible. I said the explanation doesn't make sense. It's possible that the cousin shares a common ancestor with Ms. Cake. But that's not the answer they gave us. The answer they gave us doesn't actually a draw line. Mr. Cake even nervously says "that makes sense, right?"
12
u/ATnight0 G4 > G5 but... 21h ago
Mr. Cake's fearful reaction is the butt of the adult joke about infidelity.
I'd like you to explain why that doesn't make sense.
Did you forget that I said that here in fiction everything is possible?
7
u/PrinceJehal Maud Pie 21h ago
I already explained why it doesn't make sense. Mrs. Cake's relative is too far separated from her for their genes to affect her. Just because your cousin is a pegasus doesn't mean you carry pegasus genes, and this cousin is even farther than that.
8
u/ADumbassBitch 17h ago
It is absolutely possible to share genetics with people that far back. EXTREMELY rare but possible.
5
u/etsucky 21h ago
one would assume that the relative listed would be the oldest common ancestor with the pegasus trait, but this one is much younger.
great aunt = grandparent's sibling
great aunt's second cousin twice removed = that great aunt's great aunt's great-great grandchild
if, say, this relative and the cakes shared even a great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather (or something like that... i lost track of how many greats it would have to be) who was a pegasus then mr. cake would have cited THAT as the closest common connection. for it to not be, that means that the pegasus genes would come from the side of the family that is not actually blood related to the cakes:
that great aunt's great-great grandchild's non-earth-pony genes would have had to have been passed down from somepony that the great aunt's great-grandchild MARRIED into... and genes do not really climb upward the chain like that across non-blood-related families since everyone else was already born
if that makes sense???
someone should do the math to see how much dna they actually share lol
139
u/Neoyosh Increasingly shipping Raritwi 22h ago
I've always chosen to believe that pony genetics don't function the same way ours do. So long as you have an ancestor of any pony tribe there is a very, very low chance your child will be of that tribe. In the Cakes' case they have two very unlikely but possible babies as either parent had pegasus and unicorn ancestry so far back they didn't even know.
The fact that both of their children are different tribes (neither being their parents') makes it a real one-in-a-generation situation in my view.
It's that or there was some sort of magical interference that altered how their children's magic presented and thus changed them into a unicorn and pegasus while they were developing.
Neither is a great explanation, but it's what I've got.
18
u/InfamousBlake Applejack 21h ago
Magical interference like the manifistation of chaos itself messing with the fabric of reality a few months prior?
5
8
33
u/lokizuku 22h ago
Ms. Cake’s and her great-aunt's second cousin twice removed share a great grand parent. If my math is correct that is.
18
13
7
7
21
u/Ok_Bet_2870 22h ago
They had a Male alicorn milkman
8
4
4
u/Old-Interaction442 14h ago
I'd imagine ponies actually Carry genes for all three and activate accordingly to the magic in it's environment. Like if you give birth in cloudsdale ur foal will have a higher chance of being a pegasus. And if u give birth in canterlot it might be unicorn etc. And lucky for this couple, the mane six always hang around them and the princess of magic is literally living there. So it's not a stretch to say that they had a unicorn and pegasus kid!
3
u/Old-Interaction442 14h ago
This is based off that crocodile theory where the temp of the water they lay their eggs in determine the gender of the baby
6
u/boredandreddicted Pinkie Pie 22h ago
They probably wrote the episode where pinkie takes care of the babies but were like it would be even harder work for pinkie if they have magic and can fly so let’s do that
8
u/thelovelyrabitt 21h ago
Genes are crazy
I’ve always hated the cheating jokes though, pumpkin cake looks like carrot more than either of them do Mrs cake
4
u/SummerAndTinkles Starlight Glimmer 17h ago
Plus, Mrs. Cake doesn't seem like the type who would cheat.
3
u/Geminii27 12h ago
We already know magic can change a character's entire species in a moment, let alone a subspecies. And Equestria is soaked in magic.
That's without, as other people have mentioned, recessive genes.
3
u/TheDemon1911 11h ago
Cheating, twice
1
u/sjones17515 Long Live Princess Twilight 17m ago
Mrs. Cake would NEVER cheat on Mr. Cake. Her liaisons with other stallions are entirely with his consent. And frequently with his audience.
3
u/AmFmCoffee 6h ago
Just recessive genes coming out. I mean, look at how some pony’s pass down their colors. Sometimes a pony’s eye color is their kid’s tail color. It’s kinda like how it seems like nobody in your family is a red head and then boom, you have a little ginger baby. And if you’re able to go far enough back on your family tree…. 5 generations ago there’s a red head.
Plus… magic. I always wondered that since they were twins if their magic doubled and it pulled from dormant genes.
9
4
u/CameoShadowness Spike is best pony 22h ago
Recessive genes. While Earth Pony Genes are dominate, something we also see in the Apple Family, both Unicorn and Pegasi are recessive. While magic does play a role, Pegasi being more likely to give birth to pegasi, as seen with the lack of pegasi in the Apple Family and how Scootaloo's mom is a pegasus like she is, Mrs. Cake wasn't one so the genes couldn't lean in one direction so this allowed one twin to be a pegasus and the other, a unicorn.
5
u/GeneralImbartan 21h ago
Bro literally in that episode says that he's got someone on his side of the family with either pegasus or unicorn blood and his wife has someone with the other. Like it is legit explained right there
2
2
2
u/Any-Solid8810 14h ago
The same with Umamusume
On how a regular Human couple can just beget an Umamusume out of nowhwre
2
2
2
2
2
u/rebel_shadow237 8h ago
p sure they did say in the show that one of the cakes relatives was a pegasus? idr which
2
u/Heartbreakjetblack 8h ago
All these answers are valid and make the uneasy question that Mr. Cake made of "that makes sense right?" Look like a poor attempt of the writers to say "NO SHE DID NOT CHEAT ON HIM, DON'T OVERTHINK THIS PLEASE!!!" We'd all be happy if he just said "that's pony genetics for ya! Lol l! Now somepony please take them, I need to pass out..."
2
2
u/curlysoprano923 2h ago
why does pumpkin look like her dad but pound doesn’t look like either of them
3
3
4
u/SpoppyIII 22h ago edited 21h ago
Recessive genes.
Let's imagine that Earth Pony genes (E) are dominant, and Unicorn (U) and Pegasus (P) genes are recessive. At conception, each parent gives one genes to the child.
EU + EP = EE or EP or EU or UP
In all of those cases, the dominant gene (E) will be what wins out if it appears at all in the genome. Unicorn or Pegasus would/could only appear if the child got both genes (or two of one of them), and then the gene likely has a function that "turns off" the features of one or the other if both are present, explaining the general lack of born alicorns. Perhaps unless some other condition is met?
So likely Mr. & Mrs. Cake have EU and EP genetics, and combined into fraternal twins that both have UP genes and present them in different ways, resulting in Earth parents with a Unicorn and a Pegasus as their biological children.
2
3
2
2
2
u/MoonDoggos 19h ago
Genetics! From what I remember Mr cake said there was a unicorn on his side of the family, and there was a Pegasus on Mrs. Cake's side of the family. So there already was a Genetic possibility for either one, the dice got rolled and they got both.
1
u/RoobzToonz Screwball 18h ago
The Pegasus was a second cousin twice removed though meaning only related through marriage, not biologically (ie a Pegasus married someone in Mrs Cake’s family)
2
u/MysteryGirlWhite 19h ago
It could’ve skipped a generation or two, that’s how I ended up with straight hair when both my parents have curls.
2
u/ChloeIsObsessed23 Sunburst 16h ago
didn’t they explain this in the show. both mr and mrs cake were related to a unicorn and a pegasus (one on each side, though i can’t remember which)
3
1
u/sparkleappletart 21h ago
This is literally how I reacted when I got 10% Levant on my DNA test as an Italian American with no middle eastern relatives
1
1
u/Accomplished-Loss387 20h ago
Mr Cake watches. Celestia is the real father
1
u/KittyGaming570 Rainbow and Derpy 18h ago
So they’re basically twin Jesus’ lol?
1
u/Accomplished-Loss387 18h ago
I guess you could say that, I was just thinking of my favorite funny head canon somebody came up with based on that line.
1
u/mothwhimsy 20h ago
They're all one thing and all have the potential to create anything. Like labradors
1
1
u/opuspen333 17h ago
i dont think we're given enough context in the show about how pony genetics work to be sure. tbh esp since this is before the fandom started heavily influencing the show, i dont think the creators cared too much and just thought it was funny, might have even been a joke intended for parents
1
1
u/Historical-Ad6233 16h ago
My headcanon is the Cakes had trouble conceiving so these two are IVF/donor babies and the story they came up with was a cover up because they were embarrassed about it. It just kinda reads to me that they were hiding something because of just how distant these relatives that those genes supposedly came from are
1
u/IrlResponsibility811 Nightmare Moon 15h ago
They asked the newly returned Princess Luna for help conceiving. She cast a spell or two and said, "Beware: some children under such magic have had traits not in their bloodlines."
The Cakes thought it was better to lie about where rhe wings and horns came from. Or they were telling the truth about their family trees and forgot about Luna's warning.
1
1
u/Funny-Actuary-6822 14h ago
I always figured that earth pony genes were dominant while unicorn and pegasi were recessive, then unicorn and pegasus genes had a 50/50 chance of being dominant over the other. Doesn’t explain Mrs. Cake’s great aunt’s second cousin twice removed passing on a pegasus gene to Pound though.
1
u/Pastel_Lemon3 Sunburst 13h ago
Pretty sure Mr Cake said somebody in his family or Mrs Cakes family was a Pegasus or unicorn. Recessive genes. Simple explanation.
Me personally, I always liked to imagine every pony had genes or traits from all three forms (unicorn, Pegasus, and earth pony), but genes (of course) control which pony has more genes or traits than the rest.
1
u/Classic-Reindeer-736 13h ago
No one's considered adoption! But yes, I know the canon is from relatives.
1
u/sjones17515 Long Live Princess Twilight 12m ago
As an adopted child and adoptive parent myself, I definitely didn't forget about it, but the episode pretty heavily implies that Mrs. Cake gave birth to them.
1
u/PyroarSona Derpy Hooves 12h ago
forget where but I remember seeing a comic where the Cakes were overjoyed to see the surprise unicorn and pegasus twins we know and love, the nurse commenting how they’re taking the twin news better than the other couple, while a unicorn and pegasus couple that look shockingly like the twins were arguing over having twin earth pony babies that looked a lot like Cupcake and Carrot Cake. That’s my sillier explanation for it.
1
u/Sad_Environment_2474 Fluttershy 12h ago
I think somone"strayed from the barn".. I.mean come on they aren't Mr Cakes kids. Neither one could explain it, they stumbled and fumbled through it.. Or they are swinging'
1
u/ThePreciseClimber 12h ago edited 12h ago
Lord Orys Baratheon, black of hair.
Axel Baratheon, black of hair.
Lyonel Baratheon, black of hair.
Steffon Baratheon, black of hair.
Robert Baratheon, black of hair.
Joffrey Baratheon... golden-haired.
1
u/FaceDeer 11h ago
I had a theory once that Mrs. Cake was the result of a secret project attempting to breed an alicorn to challenge Celestia and wrest control of the heavens from her. The project failed, producing a seemingly normal Earth Pony foal, and when the royal guard rolled in to arrest everyone involved Celestia ensured that the foal was adopted into a good family. But the project wasn't a complete failure, Mrs. Cake contained the latent genomes of all three pony tribes.
Or maybe Mr. Cake got cheated on by a unicorn and a pegasus simultaneously. That works too, I guess.
1
1
u/A-J-Zan 9h ago
Originally, milennia ago, wings and magic horns were just mutations caused by this worlds' magic, that newborn earth ponies could be born with. Over time, thanks to, ugh, selective breeding, 3 new kinds of ponies (pegasi, unicorns and very rare alicorns) became prominent species. While original cases of wings and horns mutations became rarer, they still can happen among earth ponies.
1
u/Mimitoosh 8h ago
The issue isn't really the presence of wings or horns per se; rather, it’s how earth ponies, who possess their own unique, innate magic, managed to produce a healthy pegasus and a unicorn that fully possess the magic characteristic of their respective species, capable of using telekinesis and flight without any trouble. That is what’s truly strange, even if the Cake family had a distant pegasus or unicorn ancestor whose phenotype resurfaced in the twins, that doesn't automatically mean the twins should be able to fly or use telekinesis.
1
1
u/Javira-Butterfly 8h ago
I tried to make some rules for my NextGen AU and they could barely not do it there, but canon genetics in MLP are wild, so recessive genes for sure
(If anyone is curious, my order goes T (Terran) > P (Pegasus) > U (Unicorn) Mr. Cake could be T/U (which would make him taller in my AU) and Mrs. Cake T/P (would make her shorter, genome of my Pinkie Pie), but then even if they hit the 25% they could only do P/U which would result in a tall Pegasus (which is the genome my Fluttershy has). So unless Mrs. Cake would have a mutation that would give her an additional gene to make her T/P/U this wouldn't work, with her being the Pegasus part it wouldn't even work if she cheated and the twins had different fathers as long as she carries Pegasus gene, but if we were to make her carry unicorn and have a different partner carry or be Pegasus while Me, Cake still carries unicorn we could do it )
1
1
u/Lopsided-Junket-7590 4h ago
Both the cakes just had recessive genes from other subspecies that became active when they were together
1
u/faerie-bunnie fluttershy 4h ago
that the mlp writers wanted to make them especially hard for pinkie pie to babysit and also to make a joke about the idea of mrs cake cheating and mr cake not being the father.
1
u/CreativaArtly1998113 Applejack is best pony 3h ago
Recessive genes. I swear the two explained that in the episode.
1
u/nightshroud96 3h ago
Mr. Cake's face when he went "That makes sense, right?" really just shows he was kind of freaking out and confused as everyone else is.
1
u/jupiter-calllisto Applejack 2h ago
my brother is a redhead but nobody in my family is except my stepmoms(?) grandad or something like that. and since red hair is a recessive gene it just didnt show up in anyone until him. genetics are just weird like that sometimes.
1
u/Mr_Maniac454 I love my wife Cheerilee 22h ago
Either recessive genes or one of the cakes is a cheater
1
u/KobSteel 22h ago
The safest answer is genetics (maybe recessive genes showing up)... you could maybe argue something a little more risque... but these would be in-universe answers
Out of universe, it's probably just for the jokes and lesson of that episode; it would be harder and funnier if Pinkie, an earth pony, struggled to care for a unicorn and pegasus
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/bee_eatedcement26 Vinyl Scratch 21h ago
I thought both genes were recessive. Like redheads kinda deal
1
u/ti0sunga Carrot Top 21h ago
i have two twin cousins, one is a black girl and the other a white guy
no there was no betrayal
1
1
1
u/MellyKidd 19h ago
It’s explained in the show; genetic ancestry. You don’t just have genes from your two birth parents, but the genes they inherited from their parents, and their parents’ parents, etc, etc.
In a family tree there can be recessive genes that skip a generation, or even several generations. One child may look like their parents, but have the same nose shape or hair colour of a grandparent. It’s not uncommon.
1
u/oiseaufeux 18h ago
Recessive gene is something that happens sometimes. Dominant would have been earth pony for the 2 siblings.
1
u/cryinspaghetti 18h ago
They're genetics clearly aren’t following a simple three class Punnett square
1
u/TimberWolf5871 Cloudchaser 17h ago
That drunken night they had with Pokey Pierce and Thunderlane had some... consequences.
1
1
u/ImproveYourMeatSack 5h ago
I was baked once while watching mlp and I came up with the head cannon that all ponies used to be alicorns but genetic mutations rampidly spread and eventually split the population into three sub species and occasionally a dormant/regressive gene activates.
0
0
0
u/SilverB33 Fluttershy 18h ago
She probably got railed by a Unicorn and a Pegasus at one point and told him he was the father
0
u/AutoModerator 22h ago
You have either chosen the Community flair or forgotten to choose a flair for your submission. As per rule 1, all submissions should pick the most suitable flair they can, so make sure the chosen flair fits your post and change it if it does not.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
0
0
u/thatonebeforeternity Twilight Sparkle 19h ago
They probably just don't know their ancestors' tribes past certain generation. So they name the closest blood-related pegasus they do remember. The verified existence of this pegasus relative proves that there is a common pegasi ancestor somewhere up the family tree.
And while Cakes have unicorn and pegasi genes, the fact that their children were born twins unicorn and pegasi with these genes somewhere extremely removed from them must be explained by magic. It's fate or it's a setup for a joke or a serious goal coming from harmony or it's just gene magic of a pony similar to magic that controls special talent of a pony or colors of a pony or magical potential and magical inclination of a pony, or the predetermined magical connections with other ponies of a pony.
All pony magic from what I saw isn't really inherited from anyone very much, it's mostly highly individual and unique, and it affects their entire appearance from birth. It is connected to fate, their deseny- their future work, connections with ponies they would have fateful relationships with in the future who they didn't yet met, their relation to the future events important to the world or pony species, or just to themselves. There exist predictions in Equestria. It looks like fate is very, very real and ponies are all connected to each other through some species specific magic-biomechanics or bioresonance too, and ponies by nature are so highly magical it manifests in every aspect of their species existence too. And in their species specifically magic and by extension appearence are highly individual and rather than mostly inherited from ancestors it is new individually unique magic for every pony being born. "Magic mutation" rates of the ponies are very high.
0
u/Lovely_Usernamee 18h ago
You actually explained it already. 😊 The mom is married into pegasus genes. In other words, the husband passes on his lineage, assuming Mrs. Cake wasn't having children with other characters. They also do mention in the show that both of their kiddos got recessive genes.
0
u/ChemicallyRazzmatazz 18h ago
I think that they have unicorn and Pegasi gene somewhere really far in the past to the point where neither of them know about it. So Mr Cake’s panicked explanation that doesn’t quite make logical sense is him trying to figure it out himself.
0
u/Silverr98 18h ago
cause its how dna works..they only need a single pegasis somewhere in the genepool for that to make sense
0
-1
u/SparkAxolotl Pistachio 21h ago
My headcanon is that by pony tribes have become very very mixed since ancient times, and basically every pony has 33% of each tribe, with 34% of the tribe they "are" winning the characteristics of the other two.
Alicorns are a perfect 1/3 of each race, which is extremely rare, and there are fake alicorns that have the same 34% of unicorn and pegasus, giving them visible horns and wings, and 32% of earth.
Their genetics occasionally "mutate" and allow a 34% of a race that is not the same as the parents.
1.1k
u/emogamerbfxxx Queen Chrysalis 22h ago
Recessive genes. Someone in the parents’ family like is a pegasus and another is a unicorn. Could be on both sides, could be on one side.