The Guidelines i'm following for all of my designs, written out in a nice little list!
General
-Ponies with particularly strong magic within them may have cutie marks that travel down their legs with striations. (a common mane6 redesign concept, but i'm adapting it for ponies in general and not them. Example though: Applejack might have vines travelling down her leg, or Rarity might have ribbons.)
-Colour genetics, as in canon, is sort of shaky. as long as they look somehow related its all good. Eye colour is always a direct copy of a parent.
Alicorns
-Adopt all unicorn traits (Hooves, Tail, Horn)
-Adopt Pegasus feathered body
-Are often much taller than average ponies.
-Adopt base species' traits in greater strength (Pegasus: Larger wings, gradient. , Unicorn: Larger Horn, gradient. , Earth Pony, Gradient hooves.)
-May develop a gradient in mane.
-Natural born alicorns will display a gradient in all extremities.
Unicorns
-Have cleft hooves, with dew claws at the back, like goats.
-Have slender, tufted tails, the tuft growing along the base of the tail.
-May also have small beards, regardless of gender. Same colour as body. Male unicorns are more likely to have defines, differently coloured beards.
-Horns curve with stronger magic ability
-If magic ability increases too dramatically too quickly, it can fracture, break, or simply grow in crooked.
-Magic colour usually follows eye colour
Half Unicorns
-If the unicorn species is adopted (I.e have a horn) , they will almost always have cloven hooves, but always an average tail.
-Are often smaller than an average pony.
Pegasi
-Are feathered on various extremities.
-Do not have defined hooves like the other two, but they may be differently coloured the the body.
-Are often slimmer than an avergae pony.
Half Pegasi
-If the pegasus species is adopted (I.e have wings) , They will be feathered, and will usually not adopt a hoof trait. May adopt the earth pony hooves, but almost never the cloven hooves.
Earth Ponies
-Have defined hooves.
-Are more likely to have fluffier coats.
-Are more likely to be bulkier than an average pony, and always stronger.
-Are more proficient in certain skills based on region of origin. E.g: Coastline ponies have natural skill in ocean-related tasks, even if their cutie mark talent is unrelated, Tundra ponies may be more naturally resourceful, ect.
Half Earth Pony
-If the earth pony species is adopted (I.e do not have wings or a horn) , They will almost always have defined hooves, but never cloven.
-Regional talents are next to irrelevant in non-earth pony offspring.
Zebras
-Have prominent hooves like earth ponies,
-Tails similar to unicorns, with the difference that the tuft comes from the end of the tail as opposed to along it.
-They are almost never fluffy.
-They are taller than an average pony.
-Have natural coat colours.
Half-Zebras
-Usually adopt the hoof trait of the pony parent, but will always have dew claws.
-Will always adopt zebra tails.
-They tend to have weaker magic than a full pony.
-Are more likely to have smaller wings and horns.
-Tend to have more natural colours still, but brighter than a full zebra, may partially be colourful. (I.e a mane stripe, or secondary coat pattern)
-Usually have stripes, but may vary in colour, density, and opacity.
-Often do not develop cutie marks. They wait until adolescence before tattooing the zebra 'cutie mark' on, if one has not appeared already. If a cutie mark appears after this, it will just override the ink.
Crystal Ponies
-Will have shinier manes.
-Will have geometric eye shines.
-Are generally more monochromatic.
-Eye colour is usually higher contrast with the coat/mane colour.
-Otherwise adopt traits from species.
Half Crystal Ponies
-Adopt the shiny mane trait.
-Adopt Monochromatic trait.
-Do not have geometric eye shines unless recently crystalised.
[Other species unaccounted for, i need to re-familiarise myself]
